Changing of the Guard

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 Simon B

    It's NFL conference championship weekend! Tampa vs. Green Bay in the NFC and Buffalo vs. Kansas City in the AFC. These are the 4 teams I was expecting to make it to the Final four but each game is a different story in itself. Will Tom Brady return to the Super Bowl with his new team in Tampa? Can Kansas City repeat as champs? Will the Bill exorcise demons and make it back to the final game for the first time since 1991? All these questions will be answered this Sunday. Let's take a look at each matchup a bit more in-depth.

NFC Championship - Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Green Bay Packers

    This is the battle of the veterans. Brady vs. Rodgers. The best player in NFL History against another quarterback great. Rodgers and the packers were dominant this season. They won the NFC with a 13-3 record. Rodgers is the favorite to win the MVP this year as well. However, one of the 3 losses the Packers was against the Bucs back in mid-October. They did not look good in that game at all. The Bucs on the other hand had a very up-and-down season but when you have Tom Brady on your side, it's likely you finish on the up. Tampa was 11-5 this year finishing second in the NFC South behind the New Orleans Saints. They did beat the Saints in last week's divisional-round though. Brady had much better targets this season compared to what he had in New England. The six-time champion reunited with Rob Gronkowski, fixed up Antonio Brown's career, and got a lot out of wide receiver Mike Evans. 



    What's going to happen Sunday? I can see a scenario where both teams come out on top. For Tampa to win, they're going to need to be elite on defense. Green Bay had the Number 1 offense in the league during the regular season and nothing has slowed down during the playoffs. They're going to have to stop Rodgers from getting the ball from Devante Adams which is an insanely tough task. On top of that, they have Aaron Jones to slow down on the run side of the ball. Tampa probably won't win if the game is controlled by the offense. For the Packers to win, it's simple, do what you've been doing all year. Let Rodgers be himself and don't go away from your gameplan. If they can do that, Tampa is simply not good enough to compete.

AFC championship game - Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Cheifs

    The NFC game is a battle of veterans, in the AFC it's two young quarterbacks. One is a proven winner and the other wants to make himself one. Kansas are once again favorites to win it all this season. A cast of Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and Le'Veon Bell is a very talented group that can at any point go off and drop 40 points on a team before they even realize what hit them. For Buffalo, they have made huge strides this year. Josh Allen has come into his own this season. Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasly, and Devon Singeltary have all been massive reasons why Buffalo has their first shot at a super bowl in 30 years. 



    For Sunday night, it can really go either way. Patrick Mahomes is still questionable after missing last week's game with a concussion. However, he's been practicing regularly with the team now and it looks like he'll be good to go. If they can get their offense clicking the way it can, they are clearing themselves a path towards the Super Bowl. On defense, stopping Josh Allen is no easy task. If the pressure him though, I can see him folding a little bit under it. In Buffalo, they're going to have to be extremely creative on defense. Blitzes won't work with Mahomes because he just takes advantage of those. Smart plays and unexpected ones could slow the Chiefs down. Not only that but they're going to have to be just as solid on offense. Give Allen time to make the right plays and he probably won't disappoint.

The Wrap

I'm a Packers fan. I tried to stay neutral while writing this but in all honesty I really want them to win. Being in Toronto, there are many Bills fans around as well. Plus seeing a team break a long drought will probably do me some good. Both of Sunday's games will not disappoint at all and were probably set for an exciting Super Bowl no matter the outcome of these games. It's young guys in one game old guys in the other. A changing of the guard perhaps?

    Thanks for reading! I’d love your comments and questions. 

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Comments

  1. CorinneJanuary 22, 2021 at 4:37 PM

    Great read, you almost make me want to watch.... almost !

    ReplyDelete

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