Despite what I may have predicted last week, it did pretty much go with the seedings in the NFL Wildcard Playoffs. Only Seattle went above their seeding, and they had actually won more games than their opponents anyway.
This week, the top seeds enter the race, and the participants in the Conference Championships will be decided. Who will be playing for a place in the Super Bowl next week?
Will this be Ray Lewis' last stand? The veteran linebacker will retire when the Ravens' post-season run is over, and he would love nothing more than a second Super Bowl, twelve years after his, and the Ravens' last. But last week's final home game seemed like a goodbye, not just to Baltimore, but to the league as well. The Ravens travel to Mile High to face Peyton Manning and his Broncos side who haven't lost since the first week in October. After starting the season 2-3, Denver have won 11 in a row, tying up the #1 overall seed in the process. Peyton Manning returned from missing the whole of last season with a neck injury to have an MVP candidate season in his first year in Denver, lifting the Broncos to their best season since winning the Super Bowl in the 1998 season.
The Ravens can't be counted out though, as good as the Broncos are. They haven't allowed a touchdown pass in their past 3 playoff games, with six interceptions in those three games. Indeed, since John Harbaugh took over in 2008, the Ravens have 18 post-season interceptions, no other team in the league has more than 16 overall turnovers. It should be noted that Peyton Manning is one of only 2 quarterbacks with more touchdown passes than interceptions against the Ravens in the postseason since 08. Joe Flacco had a very good game against the Colts last week and does come in with some good momentum. It should be a good game in Denver, but I fully expect to see the home side preparing Mile High for a championship game next weekend.
It's going to be a primetime showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers at Candlestick, and the winners will feel like they have a great chance of becoming the NFC Champions next week. The Packers overcame an understrength Minnesota Vikings last week, but looked a team in form when doing so. The 49ers lost two of their last five in the regular season, but have looked like a strong side throughout the year.
Aaron Rodgers is once again in the MVP frame, but the emergence of Colin Kaepernick has revitalised a 49ers offence that was beginning to stagnate with Alex Smith under centre. There is going to be a lot of offence in this game, as good as both teams' defences are, the quarterbacks coupled with the running games on both sides should light up the field. The 49ers win over the Packers in Week 1 can almost be written off as an irrelevance due to the way the Pack have come on since then. This is gonna be a classic.
Predictions
Saturday
AFC Divisional Match: Denver over Baltimore by 10
NFC Divisional Match: San Francisco over Green Bay by 3
No comments:
Post a Comment