And then there were four. After the first two rounds of the NFL playoffs, there are just four teams remaining with a Super Bowl appearance and title in their crosshairs.
The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and the once red-hot New Orleans Saints are out of contention for another title after failing to come through in the NFC Divisional round, but the last two teams in the NFC Conference are more than worthy of contending for a Super Bowl title. The New York Giants did the seemingly impossible last week by dominating the Packers at Lambeau Field and pulling off arguably the biggest upset of the NFL playoff thus far. Eli Manning stepped up his game against the defending champs, but it was the defense that stole the show and led this team to an appearance in the NFC Championship game.
Even though the New York Giants are playing at an extremely high level on both sides of the football coming into the NFC Championship game, Eli Manning and company will have their work cut out for them against the resurgent San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park in the Bay Area.
Not only will the 49ers be playing at home, but they are coming off one of the best performances in NFL history against the New Orleans Saints. The Saints may have been favored to get the win over the 49ers in the NFC Divisional round last week, but San Francisco exceeded expectations on both sides of the football and proved that they could be the team to beat in the remaining four teams.
Coming into this matchup in the NFC Championship game, the 49ers will have the edge in terms of home field advantage and coming off such an emotional win over the Saints. This may be enough to lead San Francisco to a win over New York, but the Giants could be an even tougher team to beat this week as they have a defense that can rival the 49ers.
This game will be defensive battle from the word go with each team trading field goals all day long. There is potential for this game to be boring for the avid football fan with great defenses dominating, but in the end I would have to go with the San Francisco 49ers as I believe they are the better all-around team as of right now.
As for the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, the New England Patriots will be looking to keep this offense firing on all cylinders after lighting up the Denver Broncos for 45 points. The problem is that they will be facing a very good Baltimore Ravens defense led by future Hall-of-Famers Ed Reed and Ray Lewis.
This should be a classic matchup between a lockdown defense and a potent offense as three-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady could struggle against this Ravens’ secondary. If anyone quarterback in the league were able to light up the Ravens’ defensive it would be Tom Brady. With that being said, I believe the Patriots advance to yet another Super Bowl in the Bill Belichick era.
Super Bowl Prediction: New England Patriots vs. San Francisco 49ers; 49ers win Super Bowl
