NFL Championship Round Preview

Lucas Oil Stadium - venue of the 2012 Super Bowl

Before I continue, another big milestone - 11,000 reads on this blog.

So here we are.. it's virtually the semifinal stage when it comes to the Super Bowl but winning this weekend means you win some form of silverware - reward for winning your respective championship/conference.

AFC Championship Game - 
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots, 9am NZT

Two teams who are as similar to each other as ebony and ivory. One team tries to win a game by scoring more points than the opposition while the other stops the opposition from scoring points.

The Patriots defence may have been the 2nd worst in the NFL this season but has so far started the playoffs quite impressively, effectively stopping the heavy pass rush of the Denver Broncos. Pro Bowl linebacker, Pat Chung, made a huge difference to the Pats D.  

Perhaps then, they do have a chance against the Ravens whose offence was neither here nor there last weekend. Ray Rice in the rush game was well shaded by Arian Foster last weekend and the wide receivers were well covered by the secondary too. Joe Flacco was also easy sack fodder.

As for the offence, plenty has been said about Tom Brady and the form the offence is in right now. It is easily the most innovative and effective in the league at the moment but after weeks of fairly easy opposition, the Ravens with Haloti Ngata, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis in D will be a much different proposition.

It should be a cracker - it probably won't be high scoring but the Ravens aren't shy of scoring spectacular touchdowns especially with Torey Smith and Anquan Boldin in the lineup.

If the Patriots can score plenty of points early, they should win this game. But if the Ravens start well, expect the stuffing to be knocked out by the Pats - it happened in the ill-fated divisional game two seasons ago and the Pats need to be aware of that.

Prediction: Patriots to do it. Just.











NFC Championship Game - 
New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers, 12:30pm

The Giants scored a highly impressive win against the previous favourites, the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. They'll now need to do it again away from home at another ground where the home team has been nearly unbeatable - the 49ers only lost once this season and that was early in the season against the Dallas Cowboys.

However, the San Francisco 49ers defence will be much tougher than the pathetic effort put up by the men from Wisconsin. Patrick Willis is one of many Pro Bowl selections in this quite brilliant defence - a D which has laid the foundations for an offence which can be dangerous at times.

The Giants are definitely the form team of the playoffs. Mind you, so were the Saints before last weekend and the 49ers just about beat them.

With that win too, the 49ers feel that destiny might be in their favour. But the Giants have always had something to say about destiny and with their defence all fit and fighting again, there are plenty of similarities between this year's Giants and the one that won the Super Bowl 4 years ago.

Another cracker - and another low-scorer that could explode in the last quarter just as it did last week.

Prediction: 49ers. It might require the Catch IV.

This means Tom Brady could be playing the team he supported as a boy in the Super Bowl.