The NFC and AFC Championship Games

I hope the today’s games will be good ones, but I don’t see the Packers hanging close to the Seahawks.  I would have loved to have seen a totally healthy Aaron Rodgers against the Seahawks defense.  He might have been able to take his game to such a high level that he might have been able to carry the Packers to a victory.  He’s not healthy and I don’t see any way they’re going to be able to beat Seattle.

It’s going to be very windy in Seattle and there’s a 82% chance of rain.

If Eddie Lacy and the Packers are able to run the ball effectively, it will take the pressure off of Rodgers, but I don’t think they’ll be able to run the ball against the Seahawks.  Perhaps the Packers will try to throw the football on first down, but the bad weather will make that very dangerous.

Seattle will jam Packer receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb to delay their releases, so it gives their pass rush time to get to Rodgers.  The Pack must figure a way for Rodgers to get the football out of his hands.

Turnovers could doom the Packers, if they try to do too much through the air.  Even with Rodgers pinpoint throws, the conditions will take the deep passing attack out of the game plan.

The Seahawks are likely to pound the football with Marshawn Lynch and let Russell Wilson throw short.  Lynch allows the Seahawks to enforce their will on the opposing defense.  Once he takes over the game with a few bruising runs, it seems to take the heart out of the other team.  Pairing that with a defense imposes it’s will on the other offense with physical play against both the run and the pass, usually causes the other team to break.  We saw the Eagles

Wilson will use bootlegs and the read option to move the Seattle attack, as the Packers stack the box to stop Lynch.  Wilson is a very good decision-maker, who takes care of the football and he has great confidence in the “Legend of Boom” defense.  The third-year signal caller will take few chances and look for his defense to force a turnover to put the offense in great field position.

I see a low scoring game with Seattle coming out on top – 20-6.

In the other game, I think the Patriots will beat the Colts, but I did see an Indianapolis defense against the Broncos, which is playing at a level that they never played at previously.  Still, Brady isn’t likely to miss the open receivers that Manning missed last week.  New England also has the ability to run the football.

Andrew Luck will need to take his game to another level for the Colts to win.  Colts number one wide receiver T.Y. Hilton will need to have a big game, but he’ll be shadowed by Darrelle Revis or double-teamed all day long.  You can believe that Bill Belichick will make it a point to take away Hilton and force some of the other Indianapolis weapons to beat them.

Luck will be under pressure to not turn the ball over while passing the football against a secondary, which is capable of making plays in big games.  Luck is a great young quarterback, but I don’t know if he’s mature enough to carry this football team against one of the best New England defenses since their championship years.

I see the Patriots defense tackling the football when Daniel “Boom” Herron carries it because he had some fumbling problems earlier in the playoffs.  An experienced team like New England knows that mistakes will decide these games.

I could see this being a close game because Luck is a special talent and he can make throws that only a few quarterbacks in the league can make.  They’ll be times when the defense can be right because of his pinpoint accuracy.  Still I don’t think Indy has enough weapons or a defense good enough to beat them.

I’ve got the Patriots heading to the Super Bowl again after a 31-20 victory over the Colts.

That’s my predictions, now what do you think.