Betting tips / Ed Wyatt / 20 January 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now

Ed Wyatt is pretty pleased with how his NFL selections for last weekend played out and is here to bring you a few more pearls of his football wisdom for the upcoming Conference Championships.

I felt pretty good about my New England pick last week: I thought the Patriots were going to be too good for Denver and the 45-10 score-line proved it.

I also felt good about leaning towards the New York Giants -- who upset Green Bay 37-20 -- as well as calling the San Francisco/New Orleans game a "stay away."

Only Baltimore let me down by not covering the spread against Houston, despite Texans' quarterback TJ Yates throwing three interceptions.

Now we're down to the AFC and NFC championship games and once again we have some intriguing match-ups.

AFC: Baltimore @ New England

The New England Patriots are the last of the good offense/bad defense teams left in the playoffs after the exits of the Packers and Saints. But this is an exceptional offense, led by three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady, dynamic wide receiver Wes Welker and two of the NFL's best tight ends, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

Baltimore's defense is solid, but ageing, and I think they'll struggle to keep up with some of the offensive sets the Patriots can throw at them. The Ravens will have to play a perfect game, getting to Brady early and roughing him up. On offense, they'll need to establish the running game with Ray Rice and hope that quarterback Joe Flacco doesn't throw any interceptions.

The line is Baltimore +7.5, which is a lot of points in a championship game. In fact, conference championship favourites of 7+ points are only 3-7 against the spread since 1997.

And even though the Ravens are 7-0 against playoff teams and the Patriots have played one of the easiest schedules in the league, I think New England will be good enough to win and they might just be able to beat the spread as well.

Back New England -7.5 at $2.10 or better.


NFC: New York Giants @ San Francisco

Last week San Francisco was the only home underdog, but this week the 49ers are favoured by 2.5 points against the visiting Giants.

It's a different dynamic for a team that has confounded the critics all season.

Rookie coach Jim Harbaugh has had the Niners playing incredible defense all year, but in last week's 36-32 win over the Saints, the offense came through in crunch-time. Quarterback Alex Smith, tight end Vernon Davis and running back Frank Gore all made big plays in the second half.

The Giants, meanwhile, are probably the hottest team in the league and they have that "Super Bowl feel" about them.

Head coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning were both part of that Super Bowl team that stunned the Patriots in 2008. Manning has been tremendous in the post-season, with receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks also coming up big.

On defense, Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora have been monsters up front and will put plenty of pressure on Smith.

The two teams met in Week 10, with the Niners winning 27-20. Manning threw two touchdowns, but also two interceptions. David Akers, the NFL's best kicker, booted four field goals for San Francisco.

I suspect this one will be just as close, and to be honest, it could go either way.

So I'm sticking with my gut feeling: I think the Giants - who have already won in Green Bay - can do it again in San Francisco.

Back the New York Giants +2.5 at $2.04 or better.