{"id":364,"date":"2006-01-20T10:58:42","date_gmt":"2006-01-20T15:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=364"},"modified":"2006-01-20T10:58:42","modified_gmt":"2006-01-20T15:58:42","slug":"nfl-conference-championship-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2006\/01\/20\/nfl-conference-championship-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Conference Championship Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Patrick Stanton
\nJetNation Senior Columnist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carolina Panthers @ Seattle Seahawks <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I get serious about this NFC Title match up, I have to ask: Is Jake Delhomme\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high school act getting old for anyone else besides me? Yes, I know Delhomme is a good QB, I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done well leading his team, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not knocking that. What I am knocking is his constant \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwe just won the state championship\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reaction after every play. Jake, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a NFL QB. Congratulations Jake, now shut the hell up and go back to the huddle.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s better. Now that I have that off my chest it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to get back to football. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to lie, this game has me all mixed up inside while trying to decide who is going to win it. Carolina is riding a hot defense right now and the Delhomme to Steve Smith connection has never been better. Meanwhile the Seahawks, who are no stranger to a strong defense either, have a QB with playoff experience of his own and, oh by the way, the NFL MVP in their backfield<\/p>\n

The case for Carolina:<\/p>\n

If Carolina is going to win this game, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because their defense continued to build upon the success they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed against the Giants and Bears. Carolina needs it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s A+ game from their defense if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have a chance at stopping the 2 headed offensive monster of Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander. They did a great job at shutting down Tiki Barber, managed Thomas Jones effectively and can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t accept anything less against Alexander. With Julius Peppers banged up and the Panthers offense without Davis or Foster, the defense, and the defense only, will be the deciding factor between a trip to Detroit (lucky them) or a trip to the first tee for their Monday morning tee time. Look for John Fox and company to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbring the noise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 against Seattle, with frequent blitzes in an attempt to disrupt Hasselbeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rhythm. On offense, while Nick Goings is a capable backup, losing Foster hurt whether they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit it or not. With the loss of Foster came a loss of speed and in essence, big play ability from the running game. While Goings isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to lie down and die, this offense is in the hands of Delhomme and Smith come Sunday. If the Seahawks can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shut Smith down, Delhomme will make them pay and take some of the pressure off of Goings and the running game.<\/p>\n

The case for Seattle:<\/p>\n

Hasselbeck and Alexander. Case Closed! Well it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that easy but considering what the Seahawks did to Washington last week with Alexander on the bench no less, the thought of these two together is enough to give any defensive coordinator headaches. Hasselbeck has been the guy behind the scenes really, with Alexander getting all the credit and coverage, not a lot of people have given Hasselbeck credit for leading this offense to an outstanding regular season. While Tom Brady was demanding respect, Matt Hasselbeck was winning games. With Alexander out last week, Hasselbeck stepped in, put the game on his shoulders and took control. Entering Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game, Hasselbeck needs to be prepared to be the man again as Alexander has a habit of disappearing in playoff games. On Defense, Seattle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job got a little easier with DeShaun Foster going out but not by much. Goings isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that bad and Delhomme can easily take this game over if the Seahawks don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get pressure on him and take him off his game. I think if the Seahawks stop Steve Smith, they stop the Panthers.<\/p>\n

The Verdict:<\/p>\n

I like both teams here and commend them for their respective successful seasons. Two solid teams with likable players and coaches makes for what should be an excellent NFC Title game. Unfortunately I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pick a tie so I guess I had better stop beating around the bush. I like Seattle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chances here and pick them to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. In the end, I think Seattle will just be too much for the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Denver Broncos<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brother, can you spare an extra tank of oxygen? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home field advantage and then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mile High Stadium, where if the lack of oxygen alone doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get you, the weather and noise will. Teams have to hate coming into this place (ask the 98 Jets) and I expect it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no different for the Steelers. A mere month ago, if you had told anyone, myself included, that the Steelers would be in Denver for the AFC Title game you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been taken seriously but after seeing them dominate Indy last week, only a fool would take them lightly.<\/p>\n

The case for the Steelers<\/p>\n

Last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance against the Colts has to have the Broncos a little concerned. While Plummer has had an excellent season, in the end he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still Jake Plummer, a man who if placed too close to an ignition source could explode at a moment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s notice. Last week, the Steelers blitzed and caused havoc in the offensive backfield like nothing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in a long time and with Plummer back there Sunday, I fully expect more of the same. Plummer may very well have to pull his \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsnakeness\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 out of retirement if he wants time to find an open receiver before getting blindsided. The Steelers do an excellent job of masking their blitzes and as good as the Broncos OL is, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll handle the repeated attacks. On offense, the Steelers hope to establish their running game behind the speed of Willie Parker and the power of Jerome Bettis and keep the Broncos offense off the field as long as possible. Big Ben has been doing well with Ward through the air and last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emergence of Miller from the TE position can only help spread the wealth and take some of the pressure off the Roethlisberger to Ward tandem.<\/p>\n

The case for the Broncos<\/p>\n

Zone blocking, beasts up front and one Mike Anderson. The Steelers are going to be returning a lot of salutes this week if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find a way to stop the Broncos running game and solving Denver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s zone blocking schemes should prove to be tough. What can you say about Jake Plummer this year other then he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been surprisingly solid and has really overcame his knack for single-handedly derailing games. With sound decision making and relatively mistake free football, Plummer has the Broncos one game away from an all expense paid trip to beautiful Detroit, Michigan, where carjacking is a national pastime. After watching Pittsburgh shut down the running game in Indy, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s safe to say that Shanahan and staff are making sure that the same fate doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t await them. The Broncos need to have a strong offense to keep the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcblitzburg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 defense off balance if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have a chance. While Indy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s line is good, Denver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offensive line is better and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see them giving the Steelers the luxury of harassing Plummer on every play. If they can defeat the blitz, they will find open receivers and should easily begin to burn the Steelers repeatedly.<\/p>\n

The verdict:<\/p>\n

There are so many reasons why Denver should win this game: Home field advantage, a great running game, a steady passing game, and an extremely solid run defense. Then again I thought the same thing about the Colts last week and the Steelers absolutely shut them down. The thought of a #6 seed defeating a #1 and #2 seed on the road in consecutive weeks is crazy, but no one ever said I was normal. I think the Steelers, through ridiculous defense and just enough offense, knock off the Broncos and head to Detroit as the AFC Champions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Patrick Stanton JetNation Senior Columnist Carolina Panthers @ Seattle Seahawks Before I get serious about this NFC Title match up, I have to ask: Is Jake Delhomme\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high school act getting old for anyone else besides me? Yes, I know Delhomme is a good QB, I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done well leading his team, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured-editorials"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-5S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}