Conference Championship Weekend

So last week I went 3-1 and should have gone with my gut feeling that NY was going to take down GB. I was really happy with how things turned out last week.

Looking at the Ravens game I know a lot of attention has been turned on how bad our offense looked. In addition to that Flacco has taken a TON of criticism this past week. Heck he has taken flak all season. Look Flacco is a good QB, has he been inconsistent this season? Yes. All QB's have had a down season. With that said he has still quarterbacked this team into the playoffs 4 straight years and for 2 of those years we were 1 game away from the superbowl. I'll definitely take that over what we had before. We were never getting that from Boller or the should have been retired McNair. Look at the film from this past game in Houston and if anyone should get the criticism our O line and receivers should get some of that heat. Houstons front 4 pushed through our line like it was nothing. To the point we had linemen knees bent hands up to block and the guys they went to block already had Flacco on the ground. They need to step up this week. Again looking back at the film our receivers had NO separation from Houstons defenders so Flacco had to throw in other places to try and make a play. I for one am not putting everything on Flacco's shoulder's for the lack of production last week or for the season in whole. The receivers have had their share of drops this season. I also want to add that the Ravens struggles last week are also contributed to the fact that they played a very good Texans team and nothing should be taken away from their performance. In fact if they had Schaub we probably wouldn't be talking about the Ravens/Patriots game.

Now looking forward to this weeks games:

Ravens @ NE

• Comparing the 2 teams.
• QB: NE gets the advantage with Brady being the more polished and talented QB
• RB: Baltimore with both Rice and Williams have the better backfield
• O Line: Ravens right side struggled last week. I'm going to say they're even with Baltimore having a very slight edge. Both QB's have been sacked 31 times this year.
• TE: Both teams have 2 very capable TE's a piece, although the Patriots TE's have been used more and are bigger threats. Edge goes to the Patriots
• WR: As it stands right now I'm giving the edge to the Patriots. If Lee Evans was producing I would say it's a push, but he hasn't given anything so far. He had an amazing catch last game so here's hoping he does something this week. Patriots have Branch, Welker, and Edelman while the Ravens have Boldin, Smith, and Evans
• Offense as a whole: You have to say that the Patriots and their pass game get the edge but the Ravens threat with the running game keeps the 2 close
• Defense: I'm just going to save time and say that the Ravens not only have the edge when it comes to defense but it's not even close. The talent and production the Ravens defense lines up with is something that is not comparable when you look at the Patriots D which is ranked 31st out of 32 teams against the pass this season.
• Another note with the Patriots D and it's something I have heard from a lot of Patriot fans on their local sports station was that they have given up a lot of yards but only average 17 points a game. Now you can say yeah that stat is a little skewed but you give a team like the Ravens and they will move the ball enough in the air and on the ground to eat up game clock. Doing that you're keeping Brady and their offense off the field. Want to see an example of this? Look at what the Steelers did to them earlier this year. That's what I expect to see this Sunday with the Ravens.
• Ravens will eat up game clock and will keep the Patriots offense off the field enough to not be a factor. You look at Brady's stats against the Ravens defense and there is no other team that has played worst against than our very own Ravens.
• Ravens win and move on to "Festivus Maximus" winning 24-20
• Let me add here because it appears weather may be moving into the area this weekend up in Mass. If that's the case I am definitely giving the Ravens and their running game the edge.

NYG @ SF

• I can't wait to see this game as well. 2 great games this week.
• SF's QB Smith had a great game last week but there's no sense in getting carried away and start comparing him to the likes of Brady, Manning, Brees, and Rodgers. He had a good game but he needs more than one game like he just had to make me think he's anything other than a game managing QB.
• Weather also may play a factor here as rain is predicted. Which may favor the 49ers and their run game.
• Manning has been playing great for the Giants and has proven in my opinion that he is one of the top QB's in the league. Up there close to his brother.
• Giants defense now that they are healthy are playing great and are right there with the 49ers and their defense.
• Since both have great D's I'm giving the edge to the better QB in the Giants. Again if it rains that could change if the 49ers have success running the ball.
• Giants win 20-16 setting up a rematch of the Ravens first SB trip.