Baltimore Ravens (12-4) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4)

Ravens – 22nd

Steelers – 14th

Ravens – 10th

Steelers – 2nd

Remember when I asked after Week 13, “was that a season defining play” by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu against the same Baltimore Ravens.  Well, Baltimore now has a chance to right that play and continue their run at another Super Bowl title.  The most glaring problem the Ravens have had with Pittsburgh is their lack of a running game.  It’s really every teams problem when they play Pittsburgh.  Baltimore did a great job of getting Ray Rice involved early and often against Kansas City last week and they will need to do that again this week.  Joe Flacco probably won’t have as much success passing this week.  Especially to his tight end Todd Heap.  The Ravens will have to adjust and find Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason for the passing game to be effective.

The Steelers one flaw is with their offense and the lack of scoring.  Even with the return to form of their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, they’ve had some difficulty scoring against good defenses.  They will have to do what Kansas City couldn’t do and that’s run the ball for a full 60 minutes not 30.  Rashard Mendenhall hasn’t had tremendous success against Baltimore in his young career.  Pittsburgh does have a deep threat in Mike Wallace who will help open up the ground game, but the Steelers will have their work cut out for them.  They won’t admit it to anyone, but they probably do wish their opponent had been someone else.  Every time these two get together it wears both the players and coaches out.  This is sure to be the biggest chess game of the weekend.

Matchup to watch for: Terrell Suggs vs. Pittsburgh offensive line

Green Bay Packers (10-6) vs. Atlanta Falcons (13-3)

Packers – 9th

Falcons – 16th

Packers – 5th

Falcons – 16th

Easily the matchup that everyone is looking forward to in the NFC.  Many would’ve liked to have seen them face off in the NFC Championship game, but the time is now.  Aaron Rodgers didn’t have to prove anything to me last week, but did to others who said who couldn’t win a playoff game.  A ludicrous thought, but he proved all those naysayers wrong.  He got a tremendous lift from the running game and rookie James Starks.  Fresh legs really do mean something this time of year.  Rodgers had favorable coverage almost the entire game and was picking apart the Philadelphia defense.  Green Bay will need to establish a similar gameplan if they are to upset the heavily favored Atlanta Falcons. 

Matt Ryan just doesn’t lose in Atlanta.  He’s only lost two games at the Georgia Dome and you can credit a lot of that success to the Falcons running game.  Michael Turner has been a big help in Matt Ryan’s development.  With less pressure on the passing game, it’s been overlooked a lot of the time.  Now it won’t thanks to the big play ability of Roddy White and the sure hands of tight end Tony Gonzalez.  The Falcons have a dynamic ball control offense that helps keep their defense fresh and tenacious when they take the field.  The Falcons might find it harder this time around as the Packers are sure to use that kind of gameplan to expose the Falcons defense and keep Matt Ryan off the field.

Matchup to watch for: James Starks vs. Atlanta Falcons defense

Seattle Seahawks (7-9) vs. Chicago Bears (11-5)

Seahawks – 28th

Bears – 30th

Seahawks – 27th

Bears – 9th

Seattle stunned everyone except myself by advancing.  I didn’t think they would win the way they did against the New Orleans Saints, but they are a NFL team with NFL players.  When you play at home, you’re supposed to win.  They did and now they have an even bigger hurdle, playing on the road.  The plan is simple if you’re head coach Pete Carroll.  Run the ball.  It worked against the Saints, why wouldn’t it work again?  Yes, Chicago is a better defensive team than the Saints, but they were exposed in a number of games this season.  Rest assured that Seattle will use a lot of play-action type plays as well to take advantage of single coverage.  Chicago will probably force Matt Hasselbeck to throw it down the field and there is a good chance it could back fire on them.  Seattle did beat the Bears earlier in the season in Chicago.

The Bears and this playoff run rests on the right arm of Jay Cutler.  Like with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassell, Cutler hasn’t played in a playoff game before.  This is a lot to ask of Cutler, but I’m sure that head coach Lovie Smith and his offensive coordinator Mike Martz know they have to run the ball more at this point in the season, right?  Chicago barely averaged over 100 yards rushing per game during the regular season and they have two running backs capable of taking over the game in Matt Forte and Chester Taylor.  I just don’t know if Chicago’s coaching staff knows that.  Now I will say that they’ve gotten this far thanks in large part to Jay Cutler.  He will have to remain consistent and not get happy feet against the Seahawks.

Matchup to watch for: Seattle Seahawks defense vs. Jay Cutler

New York Jets (11-5) vs. New England Patriots (14-2)

Jets – 11th

Patriots – 8th

Jets – 3rd

Patriots – 25th

Put all the trash talk aside and the weird front page covers of the New York Post, you have a pretty compelling matchup.  The Jets will have to commit to running the ball to repeat the success of their win over Indianapolis.  Mark Sanchez will have to be just as good if not better than he was at the most crucial point in the game last week.  New York figures that New England will be putting seven to nine players in the box to stop the ground game and dare Sanchez to throw it.  The Jets will need Mark Sanchez to make the right decision in those situations and their defense will have to do pretty much exactly what they did last week against the Colts.  Although New England is far more capable of running the ball on a consistent basis than the Colts were.  To the Jets this is their season in a nutshell and they will be looking to put themselves back in the conversation for the Super Bowl.

The Patriots have been waiting patiently like they always have under Bill Belichick.  The opponent makes the first move and the Patriots wait idly by for the game to start.  It’s a strategy that has work time after time.  You would think the opponents would just stop doing it at some point.  The Jets are looking for revenge for their 45-3 Monday night beatdown at the hands of the Patriots towards the end of the season.  New England is just looking to prove that what they did wasn’t a fluke.  Tom Brady has been nearly perfect all year and the Patriots defense was getting better towards the end of the year.  Everyone is expecting a trash talking brawl, but I’m expecting someone to go home empty handed.

Matchup to watch for: NY Jets defense vs. Tom Brady

Ravens over Steelers

Falcons over Packers

Bears over Seahawks

Patriots over Jets