Charles Brossy, Reporter
@cbrossycourant
Even though I may have predicted one of the four Divisional playoff rounds games correctly, other sports reporters such as Joe Manniello from newsday.com got all of them incorrect. There were no upsets at all during the Divisional rounds. Home field advantage theoretically gives a three point boost to the home team so we will see what is going to happen in the upcoming Conference Championship games.
NFC Championship
Los Angeles Rams (2) at New Orleans Saints (1), Jan. 20, 3:05 (Fox)
Projected Winner: Saints by 3.5 points, according to NFL.com
The day of Sunday is pretty special and the best day for coaches named Sean. It’s Rams coach Sean McVay against Saints coach Sean Payton and I think we should all agree that the winner of this Conference Championship game can officially call themself an offensive genius.
The last time the Saints were on the field, they fell early on against the Eagles 14-0 during the first quarter. All of the Saints’ players came to play as the second quarter started. The Saints stopped the Eagles and kept them to only 15 first downs and only 250 total yards. The Saints offense was efficient in controlling the game with 71 total plays on offense with the Eagles only having 47 plays. The Saints are coming off of their Divisional Playoff game hot and that’s going to be a lot for the Ram’s defense to stop.
The make or break player of this game is Jared Goff, in my opinion. Every time I watch Goff, he becomes more and more impressive as an all-around quarterback. Some people say he is a combination between the DNA of Tom Brady and Blake Bortles. Goff has on and off games, though, so it will come down to whether or not he comes ready to play. The Rams are 2-3 this season when they don’t hit the 100 rushing yards mark. The bad news for the Rams is that duo running backs C.J. Anderson and Todd Gurley will be going up against a Saints defense that ranked second against the run during the 2018 regular season. If they’re not hitting that rushing mark, the game is going to be in Goff’s hands, which isn’t the greatest news for Rams fans to hear.
The Saints beat the Rams in week nine, 45-35, however, the Rams rebounded in week 12 and defeated the Saints 26-20. The game is going to be tight, however, I think one team has improved defensively throughout the season more than the other so they will be able to slow the other teams offensive down enough to put their team in the lead.
Prediction: Saints 35, Rams 28
AFC Championship
New England Patriots (2) at Kansas City Chiefs (1), Jan 20, 6:40 (CBS)
Projected Winner: Chiefs by 3 points, according to NFL.com
Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes is a big matchup and is a big deal for television so all the stations are hyping up this big game. With a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, I think this will be an interesting game especially since one quarterback is as old as the other quarterback’s mom.
The last time they met, the Patriots put up 500 yards on offense, which ended up being their highest number of the season. The Chiefs have the 31st overall defense against the pass and second worst in the league while trying to stop the running, letting up 5.0 yards per carry. The Chiefs defense might have looked good against the Colts in the Divisional round game, but that kind of performance has about the same chance of happening as me winning the Powerball two weeks in a row.
With the Patriots offense likely rolling through the Chiefs in this game, it doesn’t look like an automatic trip to the playoffs. If there is one coach in the NFL that may be one step ahead of Bill Belichick, it’s Andy Reid. With everybody talking about Brady and Mahomes, Belichick and Reid have been in the shadow these past couple days. The Chiefs have put up 40+points three times against the Patriots and the only other team to do that are the Eagles. The weather is projected to be freezing temperature so that may play a role in this game, but only the future will reveal that for us.
The Patriots are just 3-4 in road playoff games with Brady and have lost their last three AFC Championships that they played on the road. Also, teams that have that extra day of recovery from the Divisional game coming into the Conference Championship are 14-4 on game day since 2009.
Due to the potential freezing conditions, I think Brady passed the torch onto potential MVP quarterback Mahomes as the Chiefs battle off the Patriots in the Conference Championship, winning the first of many in Mahomes career.
Prediction: Chiefs 31, Patriots 27
