Saturday, January 21, 2017

2016-17 NFL Playoffs -Championship Sunday

We've now reached Championship Sunday, and the last four teams standing with a chance to get to Houston to play in Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium will be colliding.

I've gone 7-1 in these playoffs picking games with my only wrong one being the Pittsburgh-Kansas City one that was decided by a holding call and failed two point conversion.

Two teams will move on to play for the Vince Lombardi Trophy while the other two will see their season come to a bitter end,

So let's get to it.

NFC Championship

#4 Green Bay Packers (11-7)  vs  #2 Atlanta Falcons  (12-5)  at 2:05 PM CST on FOX

This is a rematch of a Week 8 October 30 class at the Georgia Dome in which the Falcons scored late  on a Matt Ryan to Mohammed Sanu TD pass to edge the Packers 33-32.

The Falcons are coming off their 36-20 playoff demolition of the Seattle Seahawks in which their number one ranked offense shredded the vaunted ;Legion of Boom; while the Packers after building an 18 point lead, needed a clutch throw from Aaron Rodgers and a 51 yard Mason Crosby field goal with 3 seconds left in the game to escape with a 34-31 win over the Cowboys.

Image result for Green Bay Atlanta 2016
The Falcons defense has stepped it up another level, while the Green Bay defense has lost some key players to injury.. This is the last NFL game in the Georgia Dome, and it should be a fun one to watch with two of the best quarterbacks in the conference in Rodgers and Ryan slinging balls all over the field.

But as the saying goes, it's defense that wins championships, and Atlanta's is slightly better than the Packers right now.  Been a wonderful ride for the Pack, but the Falcons are going to close out the Georgia Dome in style.

Falcons to win the George Halas Trophy when this game concludes.  

AFC Championship 

#3 Pittsburgh Steelers (13-5) vs  #1 New England Patriots (15-2) at 5:40 PM CST on CBS

The Steelers didn't score an offense touchdown in their playoff game against the Chiefs, but still won 18-16 thanks to an NFL playoff record six field goals by Chris Boswell.  The Steelers became the first NFL team since the 2006 Super Bowl XLI champion Indianapolis Colts to win a playoff game without scoring a touchdown.

The Patriots got an unexpected challenge from the Houston Texans, whose number one ranked defense hit Brady early and often and only trailed by 8 points going into the fourth quarter until Brock Osweiler became Bad Brock and started throwing interceptions to the Patriots and threw away their chance at a huge upset as the Patriots rolled to a 34-16 Divisional Round victory. .

Image result for Patriots vs Steelers 2016
This AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium is also a rematch of a Week 7 game in which the Patriots marched into Heinz Field and marched out with a 27-16 win.

The Steelers committed ten penalties in that October 23 game, and one of them wiped out a second quarter TD pass from Landry Jones to Darius Heyward-Bey .They were also missing Ben Roethlisberger in that one to a knee injury as well

He's back for this one , but it probably won't make a difference, especially if the Steeler offense doesn't find the end zone early and often this week.  

Patriots to win this game and the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

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