Talking NFL

Championship weekend has arrived, and let all football purists rejoice! Both games will be played as they should be in January; outside in the freezing cold. Unfortunately, there won’t be any snow in either New England or Green Bay, but we would have seen some white stuff if the Carolina Panthers were hosting the NFC title game (Put that in your Global Warming pipe and smoke it, Al!).

In addition, both match-ups have historical significance as well. The Giants and Packers are two of the most storied teams in NFL history, and both franchises have combined for 18 championship titles/Super Bowl victories since 1927.

Ah, but did you know that the Patriots and Chargers are two original members of the old AFL league? And that the Chargers destroyed the Patriots 51-10 in the 1963 title game? Revenge game, baby!!

Let’s take a closer look at both contests, starting with the NFC:

Giants at Packers

First, let me join a long and not-so-distinguished line of sports bloggers & writers who owe the New York Giants a big fat apology. I completely wrote them off at the start of the season & predicted they’d finish 6-10. Whoops. And how about that Eli Manning kid, huh? Talk about clutch…good to see he stopped learning from big bro.

(yes that was a completely unwarranted cheap shot on Peyton. Expect roughly 58 more before kickoff ‘08…)

Anyways, this should be a great game. Both teams have an excellent running game (assuming Ryan Grant has fully recovered from his early case of fumble-itis early last week), and a swarming front seven that can get to the quarterback. Both quarterbacks have been playing mistake-free football, and both kickers are hitting over 80% of their field goals.

But there seems to be one area where Green Bay has a decidedly huge advantage, and that’s with their wide receivers. A great deal of Brett Favre’s resurgence this year needs to be credited to Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, and Donald Lee, who combined for 3,219 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns.

Add this to the fact that Giants cornerbacks Sam Madison and Aaron Ross are hobbled with injuries, and it should be a big game for the Packers passing game. Manning, Jacobs, and Burress should keep it close, but the Packers defense has the advantage in healthy playmakers, and that should be the difference.

Prediction: Packers 27 - Giants 17

Chargers at Patriots

Most pundits/pros/websites that we deeply respect are calling for the Patriots to blow the doors of the Chargers. As much of a homer that I am, and as much as I enjoy ripping certain players from San Diego, I have to disagree for the following reasons:

1) Yes, Rivers, LT and Gates are all less than 100%. But they all should play, and San Diego has several other weapons that are healthy, like wide receivers Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers, and scat-back Darren Sproles. All three got in the end zone against Indy last week, and keep in mind that if the Patriots do have a weakness, it’s on defense. Specifically with their #2 cornerback play and slowing linebackers.

2) The Patriots are near 100% healthy, except of course for Rosevelt Colvin who was placed on IR after Week 12. While the Pats obviously have been able to keep winning without Rosey, it’s important to realize that in his last 2 games against the Chargers (Week 2 and the Divisional Playoff Game last year), Colvin was huge - registering 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 2 interceptions combined. Those big plays will be missing from the defense this week.

3) Even if Philip Rivers does have a partially torn ACL in his right knee and can’t go on Sunday, don’t sleep on Billy Volek. Remember that four years ago he threw for 18 touchdowns and 2,486 yards in 10 games for the Titans. And the one thing that worries me the most is a QB who Belichick doesn’t have tons of game film on to pour over & find faults.

Bottom line, I think the Chargers will hang with the Patriots for at least the first half. But there are two huge reasons why they won’t pull of the upset:

1) The Patriots offense. With Laurence Maroney finally putting up the numbers I expected when I drafted him in the 2nd round of my fantasy draft this year (bitter?! No, not at all!), the Patriots offense is the most well-rounded it’s been all year. True, the Chargers have a few new weapons in the secondary (Antonio Cromartie, Eric Weddle) that didn’t play a role in Week 2. However, Peyton Manning was still able to throw for over 400 yards and 3 TD’s on the Chargers last week. Imagine what an even better quarterback will do on Sunday…

2) The coaching match-up. Belichick vs Turner. Who ya got? Thought so…

Prediction: Patriots 34 - Chargers 28

AFC Championship, NFC Championship, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers, predictions