Only three games remain in the 2011 NFL season, and two of them will be played on Sunday. The first game will be the AFC Championship game in Foxboro between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens; the second will be the NFC Championship in San Francisco between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants.
In the first round, we went 2-2, but last weekend, we went 3-1. Let’s try to make it 2-0 for this week.
Games are listed in chronological order, all times are Eastern, and the point spread is for informative purposes only.
Baltimore defeated the Houston Texans in Baltimore last weekend, 20-13, in what could be described as a defensive performance, but could also be described as a poor offensive performance. Joe Flacco complained that he wouldn’t get much of the credit even if they did win, and last week, I would say he deserved some, but not a lot. Flacco didn’t turn the ball over and threw both touchdowns, but only completed about half of his passes. Mostly, the Ravens won because of their defense and TJ Yates remembering he’s a rookie. One can argue that if Matt Schaub were quarterbacking, the Texans would be in Foxboro right now, but you could also say that they might have had a different seed and matchups might not have worked out this way. Whatever the case may be, Baltimore is here and they must be handled with respect.
New England made it this far by annihilating the Denver Broncos last weekend, 45-10. The Fightin’ Tebows were never really in the game while Tom Brady had a record day at quarterback, throwing six touchdown passes in the victory. Generally speaking, 8-8 teams don’t go on playoff runs, and New England had already soundly beaten Denver earlier this year, so it was an imaginable outcome. Baltimore is much better than Denver, however.
The last time these two teams met in the postseason, back in January 2010, the Ravens went up to Massachusetts and cleaned New England’s clocks, 33-14. Baltimore jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter and that was all they would need. I’m sure Bill Belichick and Tom Brady remember it quite well, and avoiding a repeat will be foremost on their minds. These two teams did not see each other in the regular season, so we’re just guessing here, but here’s what we know for sure: New England’s offense is better than Baltimore’s, and Baltimore’s defense is better than New England’s.
Still, with New England on a roll dating back to November 6, their first of nine-straight wins, it is hard to pick against them in their building. The Ravens will be able to keep the game close, but ultimately, one has to like the Patriots’ chances of returning to the Super Bowl.
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