Championship Sunday Preview

AFC Championship Game: Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots
Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning. Two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, meeting for the fifteenth time, and the fourth time in the playoffs. While the postseason series between the two is dead even at 1-1, the total record leans toward Tom Brady, with 10 wins as compared to Manning's four. This looks to be an offensive shootout, so let's take a deeper look at the match-up itself.

Denver X-factor: Wes Welker
The former New England slot receiver in his first year with the Broncos has had a pretty good season, catching for over 750 yards and 10 touchdowns. In the match-up between these two teams earlier this season, however, he was only able to bring in four receptions for only 31 yards. That is an average of 7.8 yards/reception, which was third-lowest total of the year. If the Broncos want to win, Welker will need to have a better game against his former team.

New England X-factor: Lagarrette Blount
Lagarrette Blount is an absolute beast of a running back. Against the Colts last week, the 250 lb. running back ran for a whopping 166 yards and four touchdowns. In addition to being a gigantic power back, he also showed excellent vision on his 73-yard touchdown run. Blount will be sure to make his presence known in this game, moreso than he did in the first match-up where he ran the ball twice for 13 yards.

Match-ups to watch:
Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady
Two of the best quarterbacks of all time going head to head for the fifteenth time, fourth in the playoffs. There's always been a debate about which of these two is the better quarterback: Brady, with his multiple Super Bowl victories, or Manning, with his multiple MVP awards. It will remain an ongoing debate, regardless of the outcome of this game. In three postseason match-ups, the winner of the game has gone on to win the Super Bowl.

Denver's front seven vs. Lagarrette Blount
Like I said earlier, Lagarrette Blount is an absolute beast of a running back. He has come a long way since punching a Boise State player while he was at Oregon, to being a 1000-yard rusher for Tampa Bay, and now is competing for a Super Bowl birth. If Denver's front seven cannot find a way to stop, or even slow down, Blount, it will be a long game. If Blount is terrorizing the Broncos defense, then Tom Brady will start exploiting play-action passes and it will be a long afternoon for the Broncos.

Denver wins if...
Peyton Manning and Knowshon Moreno propel the offense. Even with Peyton Manning's offensive records, Knowshon Moreno quietly rushed his way to his first NFL 1000-yard season. If Manning and Moreno can continue to produce like they have all season, New England will be hard-pressed to find a way to win this game.

New England wins if...
Lagarrette Blount runs wild. I have been talking about him for, what feels like, this whole blog. Lagarratte Blount is an absolute beast. The key to victory for the Patriots is Blount and the running game. If Denver's defense makes the Patriots one-dimensional, Denver wins easily.

Bold Predictions:
1. Knowshon Moreno rushes for more yards than Lagarrette Blount.
2. The winner of this game wins the Super Bowl in a couple weeks.

Score Prediction:
This will be a shootout all the way to the very end of it. The difference will be the running game, and if you look at my bold predictions, you will not be surprised that I am picking the Denver Broncos to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Denver wins 38-35

NFC Championship Game: Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers
NFC West rivals Seattle and San Francisco are meeting for the third time this season. In week 2, in Seattle, the Seahawks completely dismantled the 49ers 29-3. However, the 9ers got some revenge in week 14 in San Francisco, winning 19-17. Whereas the AFC Championship game looks to be an offensive shootout, this game looks to be a defensive struggle.

Seattle X-factor: The Twelfth ManSeattle is home to the loudest football crowd in the entire NFL. Earlier in the season, Seattle's twelfth man set the Guinness World Record record for the most crowd noise, with a whopping 137.6 decibels. That is almost the amount of a jet engine 100 feet away.

San Francisco X-factor: Navorro BowmanOne of the two beastly middle linebackers for the 49ers, Bowman finished fifth in the NFL in tackles with 145. He and Patrick Willis will once again have the unfortunate task of tackling Marshawn Lynch. If the 49ers want to win this game, they will have to, though.

Match-ups to watch:
Navorro Bowman and Patrick Willis vs. Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch
Like I said earlier, these two linebackers have the unfortunate task of attempting to tackle Marshawn Lynch. Lynch has shown time and time again just how difficult he is to tackle. If the 9ers want to win this game, Bowman and Willis will have to find a way to slow him down.

Colin Kaepernick vs. Russell Wilson
Another great quarterback match-up. These two young quarterbacks, though not taken in the first round of the NFL draft, have proven that they are both more than capable of leading their teams to victory, by leading their respective teams to the playoffs the last two years. There is a good chance that whichever quarterback plays better will win this game.

Seattle wins if...
They get inside of Colin Kaepernick's head. Seattle's tenacious pass rush will prove to be a handful for San Francisco, as they have been for a lot of teams. Couple that with Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas playing in the secondary for the Seahawks, and it appears that this may not be the hardest thing for Seattle to do.

San Francisco wins if...
They can slow down Seattle's rushing attack. I feel like I am talking about Lagarrette Blount again. Running the football is vital to winning in the NFL. If you do not believe me, just look at the remaining teams in the playoffs, and good grief does Seattle know how to run the football. If San Francisco wants to win, they will have to slow them down.

Bold Predictions:
1. Marshawn Lynch goes "Beast Mode" and rushes for over 200 yards and at least 3 touchdowns
2. San Francisco comes out one-dimensional, and it costs them

Score Prediction:
Before I started researching this game, I was dead set on picking the 49ers to win this game. After doing my research and writing this blog, I have no doubt that Seattle will be representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. Seattle wins 28-17.