Championship Weekend

          Alright ladies and gentlemen, our championship weekend has been set. The Patriots dismantled the Denver Tebows and cruised into championship weekend in dominant fashion. The Ravens... well the Ravens made it. I'd have to say that of the final four teams the Ravens were the least impressive, and honestly minus the Texans costly turnovers they shouldn't have won the game. For the NFC we have the 49ers and the Giants. The 49ers have to be damn proud of themselves after the game they played against the Saints. In what will certainly go down as one of the best Playoff games in NFL history, the 49ers held off Drew Brees and the vaunted offense of the Saints to advance in a wild finish with multiple late lead changes. Then you have the Giants, who only beat the 15-1 Packers in Lambeau Field in very convincing fashion. Blame it on the extra time off, blame it on the dropped passes, blame it on whatever you want, but the Packers were not ready to play yesterday. However, the Giants were very ready, and it showed.
          Now I'm going to make a few predictions on how championship week will play out. The Patriots will win, that should be an easy choice to make. Tom Brady played like a man possessed against the Broncos. Five TD passes in the first half (new playoff record) and six TD passes overall (tied playoff record) showed that the golden boy has arisen from his playoff slump and is back to strike fear into the hearts of his foes. His counterpart for next Sunday, Joe Flacco, is not prepared in any way to keep up with the high-scoring offense in New England. What I find interesting is that analysts were saying the same thing about San Francisco last week. "Alex Smith can't make enough plays to keep up with Brees, and their defense can't stop him enough times to win." I guess those guys were wrong, but this week I think picking the strong offense of the Pats is much safer than it was last week. Plus, even when the Ravens should have had the game in hand, Flacco couldn't make enough plays to put them away. Ray Rice is great, an absolute beast running and catching the ball. I just don't think he can do it by himself. The Ravens defense will slow the Brady Bunch down more than Denver did, but in the end Gronkowski, Hernandez and Welker will be too much for Ed Reed and Ray Lewis to handle. Patriots 31 Ravens 17
          On to the NFC. Even as I write these words I haven't made my pick. The Giants look ready to take on anyone right now. Their D-line is strong and fast and if they can slow Frank Gore down early and force 3rd and 7+, Alex Smith had better watch out. Jason Pierre-Paul is one of the premier young D-lineman in the game, and Umenyiora and Tuck can still make plays with the best of them. However, if Frank Gore can get going early and pick up enough yards to get into 3rd and 4 or less, that will force the Giants D-line to be more patient instead of flying up the field at Alex Smith like a pack of hungry dogs. On the other side of the ball, the 49ers are tough, really tough. Running the ball against them is very difficult, I believe they only allowed one rushing TD all season. Aldon Smith is another fine young defensive linemen, and Patrick Willis is one of the best linebackers in the league. Here's the wild card that no one has really payed attention to all year. Eli Manning. You might say, "Eli Manning isn't a wild card, he's the quarterback, EVERYONE knows about him," but not so fast. Did you know that Eli Manning was only 67 yards away from 5,000 this year? And that Eli Manning threw for an average of 308 yards per game? His numbers are better during this postseason than they were in 2007, when they beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. I don't have the exact statistics, but against the Packers yesterday Eli Manning was converting 3rd downs like it was nobody's business. 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, 3rd and 11, no problem. He was playing like an elite quarterback, and there is the wild card. Can the 49ers defense get the Giants off the field on 3rd down. And now I've convinced myself of who I'm picking. I'm taking the Giants. Eli is playing like Peyton, he's got Hakeem Nicks playing incredibly well, he has Victor Cruz and he has a pretty good running game with Bradshaw and Jacobs. Giants 24 49ers 20.

          Should my picks hold true, there would be a rematch of Super Bowl XLII. The undefeated Patriots vs the Giants. Eli Manning escaped from several Patriots defenders and threw up a prayer to David Tyree who caught it against his helmet, then he hit Plaxico Burress in the endzone on a slant-and-go and all of New England fell silent. The Patriots had all the records, Brady had 50 TD passes, Moss had 23 TD catches, their offense had many other ridiculous numbers that I won't bother to list here. But Eli got the win. And if this rematch occurs, it will be Tom Brady, Peyton Manning's nemesis, pitted against Eli Manning, Peyton's little brother, in Lucas Oil Stadium, which just so happens to be Peyton Manning's homefield. I though that was an interesting tidbit. I won't bother to pick a winner of that game because it doesn't exist yet, and with my luck I'll be wrong about at least one of these picks anyway. Next week I'll have an analysis of Championship weekend and a Super Bowl pick!

These are for anyone who doesn't remember...