Conference Championship Picks

Ravens @ Patriots
I might not live through this game, so in the event that I go into cardiac arrest, I leave this blog to Dan.  Keep the name though.  The first 3 times the last decade that New England played in the conference championship, I still had enough other interests to not really be too invested in the outcome of the games.  The year that the Patriots were up 21-3 at halftime vs the Colts, the Bears were already in the Super Bowl, but that AFC Championship still fucked me up.  The next year, the Patriots were the best NFL team I'd ever seen and were hosting a Chargers team that had Billy Volek as their starting quarterback.  I was not worried.  Since then, 3 disappointing seasons (by Patriots standards) have left me hungrier (pun intended) to get back and avenge that Super Bowl loss.  I want this win so badly.
Obviously, the Ravens play better defense than a majority of the teams that the Pats have faced this year.  They will put pressure on Brady and have the kind of personnel that can take away some of the Patriots offense (as well as the Pats run game).  However, this doesn't change the fact that they can beat you deep with Branch, over the middle with the tight ends, or with Welker.  It's going to be up to Belichick and O'Brien to call a good game to keep the Ravens on their heels.  I don't think that the Pats will struggle to put up 25ish points.  As far as the Ravens are concerned, Joe Flacco has played so inconsistent at quarterback, I really don't know what to expect.  The Patriots, as the media loves to point out 13092 times a game, have the worst defense in the league.  New England is going to have to win the turnover battle to win this game (something they have been quite good at this season).  I also would like to address the fact that Patriots haven't beaten a winning team this entire season.  They are 14-3 this season and 2 of those losses were on last second field goals.  The other was playing a very good Steelers team in Pittsburgh.  Also, it's not like the Patriots were playing nail biters against these .500 teams.  They won their games by an average of over 12 points this season, playing the schedule that the NFL provided them.  You can't criticize teams for not beating teams that they weren't scheduled to play.  I'm taking the Patriots in a close game that has my heart rate hovering around 130bpm for a majority of it.

Giants @ 49ers
I'm not buying the fact that the weather is going to give this game to the 49ers.  Eli Manning is, and has been, an elite quarterback.  I watched Tom Brady put up 30+ points against the Bears in a blizzard last season.  Having said that, I think the Giants are in trouble elsewhere.  Alex Smith is surprising everyone by playing quarterback at a very high level this season.  Again, I don't know a great deal about the 49ers because they're never on TV, but their offensive line might doing something right.  The Giants had trouble getting to Rodgers last weekend and will need to hit Alex Smith early and often to get ahead in this game.  The 49ers will need to play smart football (short passing game, Gore runs) and try to get the ball into the end zone instead of just piling up field goals.  The 49ers defense held one of the best offenses in NFL history down last weekend for 50 minutes, before the end of that game just got crazy.  I have no doubt that they will be able to contain Eli.  However, the 49ers must be careful of how good Eli is in the 4th quarter and will have to look to keep him off of the field with the game on the line.  The Giants crazy-good pair of receivers are going to need to repeat last week's performance in order to have a chance in this game.  Okay, so a paragraph later, I really haven't shown any sort of favoritism in this pick.  I don't think the momentum of the Giants really matters as much as the media is writing.  This 49ers team has been overlooked all season and I don't think the enormity of what their trying to accomplish will effect them.  49ers in a good game.

I'll write something else tonight or tomorrow regarding my happiness/heartbreak, as well as some random thoughts on JoePa, the Aussie Open, internet porn, and other related subjects.

Go Pats!!!!!!