LITTLE ROCK — 2 p.m. Central, FOX
LINE - 49ers by 3LAST MEETING Atlanta beat San Francisco 16-14 on Oct. 3, 2010.
LAST WEEK San Francisco beat Green Bay 45-31. Atlanta beat Seattle 30-28.
RANKINGS 49ers: offense (11), defense (3); Falcons: offense (8), defense (24) NOTES Atlanta has won past 4 games in series since 49ers took 2 OT victories in 2001. Teams meeting in playoffs for second time. Super Bowl-bound Falcons beat 49ers 20-18 on Jan. 9, 1999 in divisional playoffs as Jamal Anderson rushed for 113 yards and 2 TDs. Falcons set NFL records for 16-game schedule with 55 penalties for 415 yards. New York Giants had second-fewest penalties with 72 this season. Falcons are 1 of 2 teams to rank among top 7 in NFL in scoring offense (26.2 points per game) and scoring defense (16.7). Denver was other team. QB Matt Ryan’s 56 regular-season victories are most by starting quarterback in first 5 seasons. Including playoffs, Ryan is 34-6 at Georgia Dome. ... San Francisco won NFL-best 16 division titles since 1980. Jim Harbaugh is only eighth coach since 1970 to win division titles in each of first 2 seasons. QB Colin Kaepernick has passed for 12 TDs with 4 interceptions and rushed for 4 TDs while posting 6-2 record as starter. In first career playoff start last week, Kaepernick had 263 yards passing with two TDs. He set NFL record for QB in any game with 181 yards rushing with 2 TDs.
Sports, Pages 25 on 01/20/2013