NFL Championship Weekend Picks

I cannot believe how annoying this week has been with the National Football League has been this week. People spent two days talking about what kind of pants San Francisco's coach wears for Christ sake. Those same folks talked about OMAHA, OMAHA for the entire week. People are asking Tom Brady and Bill Belichick about marijuana use in Denver. People are making ridiculous comparisons for Kaepernick versus Wilson. Needless to say, I am happy football will be here at 2:00 pm on Sunday. It is about damn time. 

New England at Denver 2:00 pm CBS - We all know about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and I promise we will get there shortly, but let's talk about the other pawns in this elaborate chess game. LaGarrette Blount is currently having a hot streak in the last several games, and become the key cog in New England's offense. Blount is a bruiser whom can wear Denver's defense down. New England could do many of the same things San Diego did the first time around. I think it would be foolish to not expect a big game from Blount. That being said, big ole Terrance Knighton has to be like his weight and be huge in this one. 

Knighton is having a breakout year for Denver manning the middle. It would be lazy and blogger-like to call him like Vince Wilfork, but honestly, he is having a Wilfork-like impact on Denver's defense. If there is one player on Denver's defense that can affect Blount running the football it is Knighton. He would be my defensive player to watch for the Broncos although I am willing to assume all eyes will be on Quentin Jammer as he fills in for the injured Chris Harris who is out with an ACL injury.  

Tom Brady has to be licking his chops with guys like Jammer and Champ Bailey playing in the secondary. Both are past their prime. These guys can be contributors on a good team, but they can be your starters especially when you are staring at Tom Brady. I understand the receivers Brady has right now are comparable to Taco Bell ground beef, but still, Brady found all sorts of ways to make it work despite the lack of talent. 

What is sort of lost on people when talking about New England is how good their cornerbacks are and if the officials let them play, I could see Peyton Manning have some issues and forcing some balls. To that point, Manning needs to be in control and look for shorter passes underneath to tear up the weak linebacker core. It is really not a game where Manning should be looking deep rather take his time and control the clock. 

In the end, I like New England. I feel like the Patriots are completely patch-worked but still know how to win this game. Blount becomes the key while Brady delivers some big plays taking advantage of a vulnerable secondary. NE 38-34  

San Francisco at Seattle 5:30 pm FOX - Did you know there is no love lost between these teams? Do you know these coaches do not like each other? Seriously, we all get it. Just like the Steelers-Ravens in 2010, we get the best rivalry going right now playing for the right to get to the Super Bowl.   

Russell Wilson is really the player to watch in this one. People hate saying bad words about golden child Russ, but he has not been in good in a month. He is essentially Alex Smith'ing or Trent Dilfer'ing his way through the playoffs. Wilson needs to come up with a couple big plays for Seattle to win this game. Not having Percy Harvin this week I actually think does not hurt as much as others might believe. They had to rework their offense a bit to get Harvin in on more plays, and now they are back to what they have been for the whole year.

One thing I noticed when watching a limited amount of tape is Colin Kaepernick tends to underthrow the football against Seattle. I assume this is a problem for him overall, but for whatever reason, Kaepernick still goes for the vertical option. Wilson is a game manager right now (I am not saying he is one for the record, rather that's what he is doing to help his team while he struggles if that makes sense), and Kaepernick needs to play that way as well. If he makes an early mistake, the demons of his struggles against Seattle with the 12th man will all return. If Kaepernick comes out blazing hot in this game, we could be in for quite the show from here plus it would probably put him on a special pedestal if he pulled off the upset.

The thing about Seattle's defense is I struggle to find a weakness for this team. Seattle did give up 300 yards of passing last week, but that was not indicative of how they played throughout the game. While with San Francisco, I am looking at how they struggled with Eddie Lacy earlier this playoffs and now face Marshawn Lynch, a guy whose been great against San Francisco in years past, seems like all sorts of trouble for San Francisco. The biggest thing for stopping Lynch is not letting him to get to the second level, and when the first hit happens, it needs to be the last one.  

I hope this game has some flow to it. I am worried we will get a lot of penalties, one team might take advantage early and not look back from it. I hope I am wrong though. I have Seattle in this game. I think Lynch is too much and Wilson will have his first big day in a long while. SEA 24-16 

Charlie.  

Divisional Round Recap: Blount Bullies Colts Advancing New England

Indianapolis-New England never really struck me as a rivalry like CBS Sports tried to claim on Saturday night. It was more like Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning, an individualistic rivalry, with the two teams being caught in the middle of it. But as individual rivalries can spring up overnight, ask any PGA golfer, meaning that if Andrew Luck could beat Brady in Foxboro on a wet, windy night, we could have a new NFL rivalry. Yet that did not happen as New England used their newfound power running game along with Luck's inconsistent performance to win this football game in blowout fashion.

New England really uses three running backs, and it seems to be a flavor of the week sort of thing like you might see at a Baskin Robbins or if you catch yourself listening to American Hi-Fi. Usually the flavor happened when the other two running backs find themselves in Bill Belichick's doghouse. LaGarrette Blount has been the bees knees in the last month for New England, and he delivered one of the best performances of his career with a physical rushing style the Patriots have not had on their team in a quite some time.  It is hard to remember a game where Tom Brady really had no hand in the game. Blount rolled Indianapolis' defense for 166 yards and four touchdowns on only 24 carries for nearly seven yards a game. 

Given Blount's recent explosion, is New England the 'hot' team in the playoffs? This team is completely different than some of the previous Patriots teams who rely on Brady to push them ahead. They actually have a running game where New England can control the clock and dominate time of possession. This is something the Patriots have not been able to do since the days of Corey Dillon. Brady threw for under 200 yards, did not throw a touchdown and granted he did not turn the ball over, but this team still scored 43 points. That should scare the remaining three teams in the playoffs. This team might have more injuries than anyone else, but they are the most dangerous team left. 

While he is one of the better young players in the league, Luck really did look like a young quarterback on Saturday night. He threw four interceptions albeit two were receiver issues; Luck made critical mistakes setting up New England in the best possible field possession. He also made some unreal passes especially the 38 yard touchdown to LaVon Brazill where you can see a Most Valuable Player award in his future. Inconsistency in a big game should be an expectation for a quarterback playing in only his third playoff game in his second full season. Indianapolis will definitely have another chance to make it in the coming years. The future is bright with this team, and Luck will only get better.

New England now heads to Denver where the reason people thought Indianapolis-New England was a rivalry, is why this is a rivalry game. These two teams have also met countless times in the playoffs adding more meaning to it. New England came back to win their first matchup where Blount only carried the ball two times for 13 yards. I have a feeling it will be a lot different this time around. 

Charlie.