For the first time so far in this year’s playoffs, the home team finally lost a game as the Giants shocked the defending champion Packers with a dominating effort late Sunday. Equally as shocking, the Saints were beaten in San Francisco by an Alex Smith-to-Vernon Davis touchdown with nine seconds left in the game. The AFC games, however, went as I predicted, as both the Ravens and Patriots won, leaving me at 2-2 for the weekend. Here are my Conference Championship Picks:
Ravens @ Patriots
Matchup
In this high-powered matchup, the AFC’s best defense and offense will square off against each other. Tom Brady leads the Patriots passing attack, which averaged 317.8 yards per game, against a Baltimore defense, led by Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, which allows only 196.3 passing yards per game. These teams also feature opposite styles of offense as the Ravens look to run the ball effectively with the NFL leader in yards from scrimmage, Ray Rice, who struggled against the Texans.
What to Watch For
Watch for how the Ravens attempt to cover Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has been a touchdown machine this season with a league leading 17 end zone appearances. The Ravens will have a difficult task trying to cover Gronkowski and it will be interesting to see whether they attempt to stick a defensive back, like Ed Reed, or a linebacker, like Terrell Suggs, on him.
Prediction
Ravens- 31, Patriots- 28. The Ravens offense finally clicks and the Patriots weak defense is exposed.
Giants @ 49ers
Matchup
The 49ers and Giants both come into this weekend’s game after pulling major upsets over the Saints and Packers. The 49ers barely squeaked out the win in a shootout, which consisted of 28 points in the final 5 minutes, while the Giants shocked the defending champs by dominating them on their own turf at Lambeau Field. Both the Giants and 49ers feature dominate defensive lines, ranking 3rd and 7th in sacks respectively, and efficient quarterbacks, with only 21 interceptions between both Manning and Smith, making for what should be a very mistake-free, classic smashmouth game.
What to Watch For
Pay attention to whether the 49ers or Giants win the turnover battle, as both teams dominated that category in their wins last weekend. The 49ers forced five turnovers in Saturday’s game against the Saints while only committing one themselves. On Sunday the Giants nearly mimicked the 49ers performance, only committing one turnover, while forcing four against the Packers. Whichever team can finish with the least amount of turnovers should be heading to Indianapolis next week.
Prediction
Giants- 28, 49ers- 24. Giants are too hot right now and roll into Indy looking for their second Super Bowl win in 5 years.
