TransGriot 2014 NFL Picks-Championship Sunday

I had an identical 3-1 record picking games during the Divisional Round, and just like last weekend, I benefited from a controversial call in a Dallas Cowboy playoff game in compiling my 6-2 playoff prognostication record.

This time (snicker snicker), the controversial call didn't benefit the Cowboys to the consternation of their fans and their legions of bandwagon riders.  

Oh well, the karmic NFL officiating wheel rolls that way sometimes, but now Cowboy Nation don't wanna hear that or get over it.

Life has moved on, and the NFL playoffs are in the Championship Sunday round.   Four teams battling to see who will face off in Glendale, AZ for the NFL title February 1.

And one of them ain't the Dallas Cowboys.

So now that I've gleefully gotten my hate on for the Cowchips, time to get serious and get back to NFL prognosticating.   I'll be predicting who will be the two teams you see fighting for NFL supremacy during Super Bowl XLIX.


NFC Championship
Green Bay Packers (13-4) vs Seattle Seahawks (13-4)

The early game on Championship Sunday is a rematch of the September 4 season opener at CenturyLink Field in which the Seahawks raised their Super Bowl championship banner and subsequently smacked the Packers 36-16.

But this one is for a trip to the Super Bowl.  I don't think the game will be a blowout, or Aaron Rodgers will be 'scurred' to throw to Richard Sherman's side of the field like they were earlier this season.

But Rodgers is basically playing this game on one leg, and while he got away with that against the Cowchips, the NFL number one ranked Seahawk defense is light years better.   If the Green Bay offensive line doesn't protect Rodgers or open holes for Eddie Lacy to run through, it's going to be another long day for the Cheeseheads in the Pacific Northwest.

The 12th Man will be very happy after this game.   Seahawks to win the George Halas Trophy


AFC Championship
Indianapolis Colts (13-5) vs New England Patriots (13-4)

The nightcap features the New England Patriots, who were expected to be here against the precocious Indianapolis Colts, who knocked off the Denver Broncos last week to get another crack at the Patriots.

It's Tom Brady vs my Houston homeboy Andrew Luck, who I get to hate on twice a year as the Texans biggest AFC South rival.

The Colts got drilled at Lucas Oil Stadium 42-20 back on November 16 as Jonas Gray ran over, through and around the Colts defense for 199 yards and four touchdowns.. 

Nobody gives the Colts a chance at beating the Brady Bunch (myself included) except for people inside the Indianapolis metro area, and even they are probably hedging their bets.   But an interesting stat to throw out there in that the Colts are 12-0 in rematch games.  

But this one is being played in Foxborough, the Patriots are 13-3 in home playoff games, and the Colts aren't the Baltimore Ravens. 

We'll see if the Colts pull off another upset, but I doubt it.  This is their fourth straight AFC title game appearance, and the Patriot fans at Gillette Stadium will finally get to see Tom Terriffic hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

Patriots to win this game.