Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons
Load em' up boys because we has a shoot-out a-brewin'! This matchup between scorching offenses led by Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Falcons QB Matt Ryan against already-lackluster defenses has a 61pt over/under in Vegas. The highest over/under in NFL playoff history.QB Aaron Rodgers has the headlines, the highlight throws, the thrilling finishes and the video game stats. QB Matt Ryan meanwhile has led one of the Top 10 scoring offenses of All-Time (tied for 7th with the 2000 Rams, actually). The sports media has fallen all over themselves during this 8-game "run of the table" for Aaron Rodgers. We know the stats for Rodgers, this ongoing 8-0 masterpiece win-streak where he has accumulated 21 TDs, 2385 yards and only 1 INT. During this same span (but in one less game, the wildcard round) Matt Ryan has 17 TDs, 2,035 and only 2 INTs. Video game stats, both.
Rodgers will be without healthy versions of WR Jordy Nelson, breakout WR DeVante Adams but it just has not yet mattered who he is throwing to. He does not come up against an elite defense- the Falcons defense has struggled mightily to run the Seahawks' style without the Seahawks' players. The Packers' D is even worse- the secondary is woefully ill-equipped to handle the duality of RB Davonta Coleman and RB Tevin Coleman, the speed of WR Taylor Gabriel, much less the prototype WR Julio Jones, whose health is also in question.
KEYS FOR GB: Rodgers has only thrown 1 interception in 8 games. To beat Atlanta in the Georgia Dome against a Top 10 All-Time Offense without his top two targets this season that number will need to remain at 1 at the end of this 9th game of table-running. Rodgers simply needs to stay hot, and avoid giving the Falcons any additional drives.
KEYS FOR ATL: Matt Ryan's last NFC Championship appearance was forged around the talents of a trio of receiving targets (White, Gonzalez and a young Julio). This appearance in O-Co Kyle Shanahan's offense is built around spreading the ball around. Matty Ice simply needs to stay cold-calculating, utilizing every 2nd-string RB/WR or TE with four umlauts over his name available to him.
Pittsburgh Steelers @ New England Patriots
Well, here we are in the un-changing AFC where 3 QBs (Tom Brady, Ben Rothlisberger and Peyton Manning) have appeared in 11/12 Super Bowls since 2002. Soon, it will be 12/13 because it's down to a Brady vs Rothlisberger AFC Championship. Interestingly, with these three QBs dominance of the AFC this will be their first playoff meeting since Ben's rookie year in 2004.
QB Tom Brady and the Patriots are their usual blend of unheralded playmakers on offense (RB Dion Lewis, WR Julian Edelman) and a disciplined but sometimes over-matched defense. Six straight AFC Championships, wow. It goes without saying the Patriots have the edge of experience. The Steelers will be the underdogs on the road but they come into the game with two default All-Pros (RB Le'Veon Bell and WR Antonio Brown), a healthy offensive line and a defense molding together at the right time.
This is not the shoot-out of the GB/ATL game. There are pieces of both these defenses that when performing well can prove to be formidable. Eyes will be the performances of key players on both sides. For the Patriots, LB Dont'a Hightower has blossomed into a leader and the young playmaking secondary of CB Malcom Butler, CB Logan Ryan and S Devin McCourty all had an interception in the Divisional win over Houston. For the Steelers it always comes down to linebackers- LBs Ryan Shazier and Lawrence Timmons but especially the young potential of possible superstar LB Bud Dupree and grizzled vet LB James Harrison.
KEYS FOR PIT : I don't know if I want to sound like a broken record but I just will... generate pressure with the front four on Brady! Houston had alot of success rattling Brady, using their linebackers in creative ways to get pressure up the middle- Pittsburgh will be finding ways to do that as well. That combined with an NFL QB (which Houston lacked) remains the only formula to defeat Brady in the playoffs.
KEYS FOR NE : Coach Bill Belichick has made a career of taking away a teams' top threat- will it be Antonio Brown? Maybe. But my money is that Bill is focused on limiting the impact of the "Steel Cobra" Le'Veon Bell. The Steelers are not the high-flying offense you'd expect, if Bell cannot find room to accelerate, Pittsburgh will not thrive in pass-only mode.
This is not the shoot-out of the GB/ATL game. There are pieces of both these defenses that when performing well can prove to be formidable. Eyes will be the performances of key players on both sides. For the Patriots, LB Dont'a Hightower has blossomed into a leader and the young playmaking secondary of CB Malcom Butler, CB Logan Ryan and S Devin McCourty all had an interception in the Divisional win over Houston. For the Steelers it always comes down to linebackers- LBs Ryan Shazier and Lawrence Timmons but especially the young potential of possible superstar LB Bud Dupree and grizzled vet LB James Harrison.
KEYS FOR PIT : I don't know if I want to sound like a broken record but I just will... generate pressure with the front four on Brady! Houston had alot of success rattling Brady, using their linebackers in creative ways to get pressure up the middle- Pittsburgh will be finding ways to do that as well. That combined with an NFL QB (which Houston lacked) remains the only formula to defeat Brady in the playoffs.
KEYS FOR NE : Coach Bill Belichick has made a career of taking away a teams' top threat- will it be Antonio Brown? Maybe. But my money is that Bill is focused on limiting the impact of the "Steel Cobra" Le'Veon Bell. The Steelers are not the high-flying offense you'd expect, if Bell cannot find room to accelerate, Pittsburgh will not thrive in pass-only mode.
No comments:
Post a Comment