NFL Conference Championship Picks

Colts (-8) over Jets

Well the Ravens finally met their end at the hand of the Colts, and I can do nothing but applaud an Indianapolis team that had incredible drive both on defense and offense. Baltimore actually stood strong, holding the Colts to just 20 points, not an insurmountable amount, but the real kudos go to a Colts' defense that hustled over the entire field, covering both the run game and the passing game. Even Reed's interception was foiled by an adamant Garcon who forced a fumble, giving Indy the ball back. This Indy team was just looking too good. So will they be able to beat the surpising Jets...

Last week I knew that these youngins were gonna give the Chargers a hard time, but a victory was unexpected. Kaeding should be taking some time off from kicking a football this offseason and kicking himself instead, missing all three field goal attempts including shorter ones from 36 and 40 yards, but San Diego was just unable to get anything going at all. Jackson and gates combined for 204 of Rivers' 298 passing yards, but neither were able to reach the end zone. With only 61 combined rushing yards between the entire offense, San Diego just couldn't find a balanced attack, a criticism of them all season.

Now the Jets have to face the team with the best record in the AFC that seems set on winning it all this year. Ironically, by sitting all their starters against the Jets in week 16, Indy allowed New York to make the playoffs and now face them in the conference championship. This time around though there will be no letting up and with a tenacious defense and Manning at the helm, a team that only made it into the red zone once last week (Sanchez scored a 2 yard touchdown, which left them 1/1, 100% conversion in the red zone, not bad!) has a very slim chance of winning this game. I would like to think it's gonna be a close game, as there have been so few of those this postseason, but honestly, this might be another blowout. I think I'll have to wait until the Superbowl for another nailbiter.




Saints (-4) over Vikings

So Favre isn't too old to compete and maybe coming out of retirement wasn't such a bad idea. The Vikings looked back on point against the Cowboys, despite a late season crumble that had a lot of people, including myself, picking the Boys to win that one. Favre threw for 4 touchdowns, giving him a total of 43 postseason touchdown passes, only 2 behind Joe Montana's record of 45, and despite another mediocre appearance from Peterson, the Vikings managed to plow through a Dallas defense that had held the Eagles to only 14 points in their 2 previous games. Peterson was unable to match his early season rushing totals, gaining only 63 yards against the Cowboys and has been limited to under 100 yards in his past 8 games. Well Minnesota is going to need help from him when facing the Saints, a team that seems to score at will while putting up key stops, even against the mighty Kurt Warner last week.

Arizona just couldn't seem to keep the momentum alive despite scoring a 70 yard touchdown off the opening play of the game. New Orleans held Warner to 205 passing yards and hit him so hard late in the game that it looked like, with all the retirement rumours circulating, that we might have seen the last of Kurt. He eventually came back in to relieve his replacement Leinert, but it was too little too late. The Saints put 45 points on the board, 35 of those in the first half, and Brees showed why New Orleans is so dangerous. The Saints got touchdowns out of 5 different players in the game, went 3-3 in the red zone, and allowed 0 turnovers. Brees had a stratospheric 125.4 passer rating. This New Orleans team didn't seem to miss a beat after dropping the last three games of the season and having a week off. I don't see them slowing down against Minnesota.

New Orleans is certainly Super Bowl bound with the range of artillery they have on offense. Even if Favre is able to score some of his miraculous, keep-your-head-above-water, mad scrambling touchdowns that make him so memorable, the Saints just have too many weapons. There's no one go-to guy that Minnesota has to cover, they have to police the whole field. Combine that with Peterson's lackluster performances as of late, and Minnesota seems to be in a lot of trouble headed down south. This should be another lopsided affair, much like the Jets/Colts matchup, and I see the Saints topping 40 points once again. The question is whether Minnesota will be able to come close to that total. Let's just see what Favre has left in him.