With all due respect to Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, there’s a reason why the NFL decided to put the NFC title game on primetime TV.
Over the past two – maybe even longer – years, the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks have turned into the biggest and most hostile rivalry in the NFL. And with the two teams scheduled to lock horns yet again for the right to represent the NFC in SuperBowl XLVIII, the obvious move was to showcase the game in the evening.
So here we are: the 49ers travel back to Seattle to face a Seahawks team that’s currently laying 3.5 points against the visitors. It’s worth pointing out that the home team has had the visitors’ number in the Northwest, thanks to a pair of dominating wins in the last two games played between both teams in CenturyLink Field.
But with so much at stake, bookmakers have been apprehensive of moving the line over 4 points, careful to note that the 49ers have quietly won eight games in a row, including two wins on the road in the playoffs against Green Bay and Carolina, after a pedestrian start to the season.
Both teams feature some heavy hitters on the defensive end and the popular belief heading into the game is that it’s going to be a low-scoring affair that will be ultimately won by the defense that dictates a majority of the game. It’s easier said than done picking between the Niners’ mammoth front seven and the Seahawks’ Legion of Boom secondary so ultimately, the game will inevitably decided by two people: Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson.
Both quarterbacks have repeatedly shown that they can win these types of games on the biggest of stages. But both also have their flaws, something that the defenses will be looking to exploit as fast and as soon as possible. So chalk this one up to a grind-it-out affair that will hover around the 40-point total.
The public has been enamored with the 49ers throughout the week and that’s not all that surprising considering the belief that both sides are all even on either side of the ball. Take the points, people will tell you.
But doing so comes at a risk, and as far as we think, a decided one at the very least. We like the Seahawks to take this one, if for the simple fact that it’s playing at home and San Francisco has been blown out in the past few years when they go up to Seattle. It’s going to be ugly, but we’ll give this one to the home team, allowing it to book its ticket to New Jersey to vie for its first Lombardi Trophy.
