And Then There Were Two

Father Time waits for no man, and this past NFL season was no exception. It feels like just yesterday fans were rooting incredibly hard for their respective team and laughed collectively at the Browns week in and week out. January has come and the playoffs are here, the road to Super Bowl LI is officially under-way. One question though: Who will arise as the top dog on a late February 5th night? Hopefully, these predictions tie in close to the reality football fans will witness soon enough. As of January 20th, the final four that were destined to reach this mark have arrived and set the conference championship games in stone. The Green Bay Packers hope to run the table even farther when they meet up with the red-hot Atlanta Falcons in Georgia, while the Pittsburgh Steelers will fly into Foxboro to face a seemingly unstoppable New England Patriots team. The winner from said games will punch their ticket to Houston for the next two weeks.

Green Bay vs. Atlanta

All season long, the Packers have been an up-and-down team, showing glimpses of greatness just now. Better late than never right? Although that does seem to be the case, Aaron Rodgers doesn’t seem to mind the pressure, amassing 718 passing yards in just 53 completions (out of 83 passes) and 6 TDs in the Wildcard and Divisional Round alone. Facing a formidable pass rush and decent secondary in Atlanta, Rodgers and his offense will more likely than not put up numbers. After all, this is a defense that is ranked 27th in allowed points and 25th in total yards and they are playing probably the most clutch quarterback in the playoffs. None of this is to disregard “Hotlanta” and their explosive offense either. With a steady MVP (candidate) QB in Matt Ryan and top 3 WR in Julio Jones, there’s no way that the number 1 leading offense in points won’t shootout against the Cheeseheads. It’ll be a close one, but I’m sticking with the Packers winning it in a tight battle, 33-30.

Pittsburgh vs. New England

At 39 years old, Tom Brady is STILL playing like his old MVP self, totaling 28 TDs and eclipsing the 3,500 yard mark (keep in mind his suspension at the beginning of the year that sidelined him for 4 games). With an offense equipped with play-makers such as Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola, Martellus Bennett, Dion Lewis, Legarrette Blount, and James White, it’s hard not to hand Bill Belichick his 8th AFC Championship and ship them all off to Houston in an effort to save time. Except it is. Turning the attention to Pittsburgh, it is actually terrifying to even fathom what “The Killer Bs” might do to New England when the time comes. An offense that feeds off of Le’Veon Bell’s rushing attack, Antonio Brown’s receiving game, and Ben Roethlisberger’s aerial assault is a force to be reckoned with. It’s never an off game with them and seeing how playoff teams consider each game a “one-game season”, it won’t be easy to breeze by this one for the Patriots. New England, however, shows a different type of promise in the playoffs than in the regular season, with a lock-down secondary in Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Devin McCourty, and Patrick Chung starting to emerge. The pass-rush is real for them as well, noting Dont’a Hightower’s and Rob Ninkovich’s ability to blitz and hurry the quarterback. Judging ahead of time, I believe the New England Patriots will join the Packers in Super Bowl LI after they defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-19 (Don’t @ me).