Originally posted on 01/09/2013:

should be one of my biggest plays this year as i am confident in this play.

Atlanta O: this is a group that struggles to run the ball. they will have to throw in order to win this game. this group features 5 main players in the passing game. roddy white, julio jones, tony g, harry douglas, and jacquizz rodgers. roddy and julio are both fast and physical WR that can run crisp routes, that is the weakness of the seattle corners, they were consistently beat on double moves and comebacks last week by the skins and i expect the falcons to exploit this, the problem last week? skins receievers were dropping balls. then comes tony g, i expect him to get open in the middle and have a soft zone without having to chip chris clemons at the line on passing downs giving him a free release. then comes jacquizz rodgers, with clemons in this would be a problem as he is an every down player and run stopper, but since there will be pure pass rush specialist on the edges, i can see irvin, scruggs, and chukwurah (just signed to rotate in on passing downs) all running upfield to the qb letting the screen and draws get past them. last time seattle played a physical recevier by the name of brandon marshall, he hit them up for 10 rec/165 yards. last time the played a team with 2 viable receiving options? they shut down calvin johnson, but titus young ran loose for 100 yards. this team has 5 viable receiving options. 3 deep, and all can play down low and make screens go for long distances due to the receivers willingness to block on the outside.


atlanta D: we all know they have a weak rush D. but i expect the falcons to come out to an early lead like the skins did last week. when the falcons jump out to an early lead, seattle CANNOT stick with the run the whole time. even if they do, the falcons have seen the zone-read before. i'm sure mike nolan will have something to contain this after having 2 weeks to gameplan around that. they have seen it with washington, carolina 2x, and somewhat with TB 2x. the atlanta pass D has the obvious advantage here. they rank top 5 in opponent QBR. i expect william moore or weatherspoon will spy on Russell Wilson majority of the time to limit his running. with asaunte samuels, daunte robinson and decoud lurking in the back, i can see russell wilson being forced into some mistakes especially when he is trying to read mike nolan's "amoeba" defense. and talking about hard hitting secondaries, dunta robinson and william moore are not scared to go and lay a hit on anyone.


seattle O: we all know their bread and butter is the run game. but will pass if they have to. their D will have to prevent the falcons from jumping out to an early lead and i will get to that later on. RW will have to be able to read the defense. he had trouble last weekend against the skins and i expect him to have trouble this weekend as well. he went 15/26, 187 yards, 1 td, and was sacked 5 times for a QBR of 36.7 yes he got loose for 8rush/67 yards but they will HAVE to be able to throw to beat the falcons at home, especially if they fall behind early.


seattle D: first and foremost, chris clemons. HUGE lost and is being extremely overlooked. i see a lot of people saying that irvin will easily replace him. he is their every down DE. yes falcons are a passing team, BUT with chris clemons in, offensive lines are forced to double team him on passing downs, he is their best pass rusher, freeing irvin on the other side to get to the QB. now, you have 3 pass rushing specialists rotating in for 1 spot and irvin is forced into a starting role playing twice the amount of snaps. pass rush specialists are a liability on the edge and like i stated above, i can see atlanta runnings draws and screens to the outside. now onto pass coverage. whats not known about these guys? heavy hitting ball hawks. they're weakness, double moves. if they face someone that can run routes and do double moves, they will be a few steps behind. seattle has not fared well with teams with physical receivers and more than 1 viable passing option like said in the atlanta O section. i expect them to shut down either Julio or Roddy, but not both. the X-factor will be Tony G and Harry Douglas. tony G is not like any TE they have played this season. what people fail to see as well is, the seattle D has not faced a passing team since they played detroit, they have played minnesota, NY, miami, chicago, zona, buffalo, SF, and st. louis. the highest ranked passing O out of that group is st. louis and they are no where near the caliber of atlanta's passing attack. if the corners are able to shut down BOTH julio and roddy, seattle will have a chance, but as the past has suggested, i dont see that happening.


i will be on atlanta ML for one of the biggest plays this year.

some other pieces of info that i found after i decided atlanta would be my play, no i did not base my plays off of this info and it is just food for thought.

Schedule is everything in the NFL, and the Falcons benefited by playing the league's easiest schedule. They won 13 games against a schedule with a .422 opponent winning percentage, a schedule that featured teams with combined records of 108-148. The good news for the Falcons is that of the past five times a team was the No. 1 seed after facing the league's easiest schedule, four made it to the Super Bowl. The St. Louis Rams parlayed a schedule with a .375 opponent winning percentage in 1999 to a Super Bowl victory over Tennessee. That was the third-easiest schedule in NFL history. The 2005 Seattle Seahawks, 2006Chicago Bears and 2009 New Orleans Saints had the easiest schedule and made it to the Super Bowl. Only the 2001 Pittsburgh Steelers failed to convert. That Steelers team lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. All five of those teams went 13-3 during the regular season, like this year's Falcons. For what it's worth, the Falcons were 3-0 against teams with winning records in 2012.


Over the past five seasons, the Seahawks have won once when faced with a 1 p.m. ET start. And don't discount this: By the time the game starts, they will have traveled more than 8,000 miles in little more than a week.


According to STATS LLC, the 1989 Los Angeles Rams are the only West Coast team to win back-to-back postseason games on the East Coast -- at Philadelphia and the New York Giants. STATS' research included teams from Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Arizona.