If you haven't been watching playoff football thus far, you must live under a rock. All jokes aside, if you've missed any of the NFL playoffs this year, you've missed a series of incredible performances by a multitude of players.
To give a quick recap, the Colts fell to the Patriots last weekend as the Patriots' defense stepped up and intercepted Andrew Luck four times. In the middle of a torrential rainstorm in Seattle, the Seahawks defeated the Saints by eight on the back of Marshawn Lynch's 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The heavily favored Broncos also advanced to the Conference title game after knocking off the Chargers 24-17 as Peyton Manning received some help from Knowshon Moreno and Monte Ball, who combined for 134 rushing yards. In his first playoff game, Cam Newton proved that inexperience is costly. The 49ers knocked off Newton and the Panthers 23-10 as Collin Kaepernick threw for 200 yards and a touchdown.
This weekend's matchups can be described as somewhat predictable. The Seahawks and the 49ers, since the beginning of the season, have been the two favored teams in the NFC. The two have clashed many times in the past few seasons, with the winner usually being the home team. In this season's matchup, the 49ers beat the Seahawks 19-17 when the game was played in San Francisco. Earlier in the year however, the Seahawks proved their dominance at home, demolishing the 49ers 29-3.
As many fans and sportscasters have been noting, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks have struggled as of late. Despite their strong early-season play which included blowing out teams at home, they lost their home-field invincibility when they lost to the Cardinals 17-10 in Week 16. Even looking back to last week's matchup against the Saints–though the Seahawks came away with the win–they let up over 400 yards of offense in the process. Though the 49ers' offense isn't as impressive as a powerhouse like the Saints' offense, this doesn't mean that the Niners can't put up points. In fact, I think the winner of this game will be whichever team has the better offense.
Defensively, these two teams are two of the best in the league and it's likely that not a lot of points will be put up on the board this weekend. As the 49ers' offense has been in better form recently, I believe that the 49ers will go into Seattle and knock off the favored Seahawks in a tightly contested game that will come down to the wire.
Shifting to Denver, the Brady-Manning saga continues. In the 14 games that the two have played against each other over the course of their careers, Brady has won 10 of the 14 games. Despite being without superstars Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes, Vince Wilfork, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez amongst others, the Patriots have still managed to make it to the Conference title game once again. The Pats' defense made a huge statement to the league last weekend, proving that they're a force to be reckoned with. The experienced Tom Brady had a relatively quiet game last weekend as he took a step back and let the Patriots' rushing attack dominate the game. Though they're underdogs this week in Denver, expect the Patriots to put up an extremely competitive fight.
The Broncos have had an extraordinary season behind the god-like ability of Peyton Manning. Playoffs have always been a big red flag for Peyton, as he's had his fair share of struggles. Though he can be considered one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, he's only won one Super Bowl. Last weekend Manning completed 25 of 36 passes for 230 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The Chargers' defense wasn't considered to be a stellar one, although they did put up a good fight against Manning. In Week 12, these two teams faced off in New England in a game that was decided by a Stephen Gostkowski field goal in overtime. Certainly it's tough to say which team was better after a 34-31 showdown, but the game did shed light onto each team's strengths and weaknesses.
Essentially, I believe that as long as the Broncos' defense shows up to play, it'll be tough for LeGarette Blount and Stevan Ridley to run the ball. If the Broncos' defense can force Brady to throw an upwards of 50 passes, they'll give their team the best possible chance to win the game. Peyton's too determined and too pissed off to let Tom Brady beat him twice in one season. Look for the Broncos to take home the AFC title and advance to the Super Bowl to take on the 49ers.
– By Adam Troyetsky
