Well, this season has gone about as well as expected from the CF perspective heading into championship weekend. The most ideal outcome which is a NE-GB Super Bowl is still in play. The schedule is the same as 2 years ago, the last time we were hoping for this white-friendly match-up. NFC championship game is first, followed by the AFC game. I remember 2015 like it was yesterday.
GB was in Seattle and had dominated the first half, up 16-0. GB was leading 19-7 in the 4th quarter with about 3 mins to go. They had that game won, but Mike McCharthy went too conservative with a couple of offensive plays instead of truly putting the score out of reach. The Blackhawks rallied, GB's affletic defense went into full meltdown mode, a couple other miraculous plays for SEA and they lost in OT. That was some gut punch. NE destroyed the Colts in the next game and eventually beat Pete's plantation in an epic SB 2 weeks later.
I also watched the replay of the Week 8 game between GB and ATL. ATL won 33-32 on a last second (well, about 20s left) TD, and GB's secondary (surprise,surprise) could not stop Matt Ryan on that final drive. It may sound outlandish, but if it's a similar situation where GB is up 6 points or less and ATL is driving, they should just let them score. This will give Aaron Rodgers enough time and have the ball last to march his team downfield for a game winning drive. In fact, I strongly suspect this will be a game where whoever has the ball last will win.
For the second game, I'm expecting NE to be ready, sharp, and play much better on offense than last week. The HOU game was a wake up call and a good way to get rid of that rust.
Brady has owned PIT, however that was with a 5/5 white Oline and Gronk. As Thrashen mentioned, the play of the 2 sumos is a cause for concern and we know Brady gets rattled very easily with a strong pass rush, as opposed to Rodgers who can just leave pocket and make incredible throws on the run. I hope homefield will be the difference here.
