Michael Kasdan previews what promises to be a stellar weekend of NFL football and offers his Super Bowl predictions.
—
Sunday’s NFC and AFC Championship games are amongst the best championship weekend matchups in recent memory. It’s almost like having two Super Bowls, albeit with less compelling commercials.
The AFC Championship Game – New England at Denver
Kicking off at 3 PM (EST) in Denver, the AFC match-up pits the Denver Broncos against the New England Patriots. This marquee matchup features Peyton Manning against Tom Brady for the fifteenth time, with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line.
For Denver, NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, Peyton Manning’s record-breaking season (55 TD passes and 5477 passing yard) is bringing out the Elway-Manning comparisons: a late-career Super Bowl run for the veteran QB with the golden arm. (His comedic stylings in advertisements and on Saturday Night Live are also nothing to sneeze at.) With Manning at the helm, the Denver offense has proved difficult to contain. Manning is throwing—often and well—to trio of excellent wide receivers: the hulking Demaryius Thomas, good-hands-man Eric Decker, and slot-man-extraordinaire Wes Welker, Brady’s former favorite receiver who the Broncos signed away from the Patriots last year. Manning has also made a superstar of athletic tight-end Julius Thomas. Finally, the versatile and resurgent Knowshon Moreno leads an efficient ground game. On the defensive side, injuries to the secondary and to stud pass rusher leader Vonn Miller have caused this unit to lose some of its early season luster.
For New England, many are saying that this year’s 13-4 team represents Belichick’s finest coaching effort to date. Despite losing superstar tight-ends Rob Gronkowski (to injury) and Aaron Hernandez (to suspension) as well as their best receiver Welker, Belichick and Brady have led the Patriots back to the brink of the Super Bowl. Brady has made due, throwing to smurf wide receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola. Brady has been Brady. While he hasn’t put up gaudy stats, but he is still one of the most lethally accurate and clutch quarterbacks the game has ever seen. And the ground game has been particularly potent, led in recent weeks by the hard-charging LeGarette Blount (6 TDs and 350+ yards in the past two games).
♦♦♦
The NFC Championship Game – San Francisco at Seattle
On the NFC side, kicking off at 6:30 PM (EST), the Niners head into Seattle to try and keep their road-magic alive against the toughest home-team in the league. If the AFC matchup represents a rivalry matchup between the league’s quarterback royalty, the NFC game features the next generation of dynamic signal-callers of the NFL. A new rivalry for the ages.
The Niner’s Kaepernick and the Seahawk’s Russell Wilson could be the class of the NFL quarterback position for years to come. Both have rifle-arms, are highly mobile, and have demonstrated poise and confidence in leading their respective teams to the championship game. Kaepernick has shown freakish arm-strength, and his runs eat up chunks of yards like no other quarterback in the league today. Wilson has led and won at every level. Despite his size, he has demonstrated the ability to make every throw, whether from the pocket or on the run. Both teams also feature tough running games. Frank Gore is still toting the rock for the Niners. And for Seattle, Marshawn Lynch has been in Beast Mode throughout the playoffs. Both teams also feature fiery, confident, and charismatic coaches who inject swagger into the two best and heaviest-hitting defenses in the game.
Super Bowl XLVIII Picks
I’m consistently terrible at this prediction business, but here goes. The call here is that we will be watching the Seahawks take on the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2, 2014. On the AFC side, I know enough not to bet against Brady-Belichick team in the playoffs. The Patriots are the pick. On the NFC side, in a near-toss up, I’m going with Seattle on the strength of their home-field advantage, running game, and the efficiency of the offense.
♦♦♦
Photo Credit: Steven Senne/AP
Man. What dufus picked the Patriots! Oh wait. That was me…
Doh!
Precisely!
I assume you meant to say that you know enough not to bet against Brady and Belichick in the playoffs unless they are playing the Giants in the Super Bowl, right?