These teams haven't met since mid-2009 w/the Giants winning 34-31 in OT. The Giants went 4-4 at home TY w/a +30 yd edge (+3 TO's) for a 23.3-23.1 avg score. ATL went 4-4 on the road w/a +47 ypg differential (+1 TO's) getting outscored 23-20. ATL went 2-3 vs the common foes of PHI, SEA, GB, and NO getting outgained by 28 ypg (+2 TO's) and outscored 31-24 on avg. The Giants earned a 1-4 record w/a -46 ypg margin (-1 TO's) and was outscored 31-25 on avg. Over the last four weeks, the Giants have the #8 and #16 units (+3 TO's) vs a good Dallas offense, a tougher than advertised Washington team and a physical Jets defense. Atlanta has the #4 and #17 units (+9 TO's) but has faced a weak Carolina def, a depleted Jacksonville team, was hammered by New Orleans and beat a Tampa Bay team that quit at Thanksgiving. We now have a dome team in cold weather vs a Giants team playing with confidence with a brutal DL and home crowd. I'm going with the more physical team at home here.

The last meeting was in 2009 when PIT beat DEN 28-10. This is also the 1st playoff game for DEN since PIT beat them 34-17 back in '05. The Steelers have gone 5-3 on the road TY despite being +62 yds (4th best) due to a -11 TO mark. DEN has been outgained by 39 ypg at home (28th) and are -10 TO's for a 3-5 record. PIT beat Fox's Panthers 27-3 LY. DEN has struggled vs winning teams TY going 1-4 being outgained by 82 ypg (29th) with -11 TO's losing 35-19. PIT has outgained their winning foes by 62 ypg (3rd best) but -12 TO's have them 4-4. PIT has a massive edge in postseason experience with most of LY's team that made it to the SB still on the roster. For all the excitement that Tebow has brought to the Bronco's he's clearly their biggest weakness. DEN has been held to under 20 pts in 8 of his starts and by keeping him in the pocket he can be controlled. He now matches up vs a PIT defense that is allowing 258 ypg and 8 ppg since its bye week. In losing Mendenhall with a beat up OL (again) the Steelers will be challenged to go downfield more in a hostile venue. With Roethlisberger not having as much mobility to extend plays and Dick LeBeau having a disciplined, aggressive unit to contain Tebow look for a lower scoring game with the Steelers coming out on top.