The NFL playoffs continue on Sunday and by the end of the night we will know the two sides who will be heading to the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ as the Championships are decided in both the AFC and the NFC.
Four sides are left with a chance of glory but only two can head to Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco so a pair of competitive matches with everything on the line are guaranteed.
The night begins with the AFC decider which is the match up of this era. It is legendary quarterback vs legendary quarterback as Tom Brady takes his New England Patriots to Denver to take on the Denver Broncos.
The Patriots are one win away from going back to the big game to defend their title but if they are to get there they have to overcome arguably the best defence in football. In many ways New England had a slight preview of what to expect in their match against Kansas City last week but the Denver defence is a huge upgrade on the Chiefs one.
Denver came past Pittsburgh last week to ensure they host the Championship game and all eyes will be on their quarterback Peyton Manning to see if he can make it back to the Super Bowl in what could be his last season as a professional footballer.
The quarterback battle is very interesting. Legendary status for both is assured but Peyton still has his critics. Another Super Bowl appearance and ring would silence them once and for all but with his offense stuttering you get the feeling Denver might need to win this with their defence which is far from easy.
Whenever you think New England are struggling for men on offense someone pops up and makes an impact. They might need someone to do that here because their main weapons might be confined by better coverage from the Denver defence.
I think this will be a really intriguing battle. If Denver can establish the run they have every chance here but it is a brave man to take on the Patriots at this stage of a season. With Denver’s defence so good and their offense looking unsure of themselves I’m expecting a lower scoring match than we might expect so I’m going under 45.5pts here.
The NFC Championship match has the pulses racing. Unfortunately it can’t be the Super Bowl but you could easily make the case that it features the best two teams of the season as the Arizona Cardinals head to the Carolina Panthers.
There were just the 28 regular season wins between these two sides and neither slowed up in their first playoff match last week either. The Panthers put Seattle to the cleaners early on last week before lasting home while the Cardinals tried hard to throw their match with Green Bay away but won it with a piece of brilliance in overtime.
Defensively these two sides have been strong throughout the season but they both come in here with one or two injuries which could be significant and could ensure this match is higher scoring than we might expect for this stage of the season.
Both quarterbacks have been in ridiculous form this season and if either wins the MVP for the season there can be no complaints. Cam Newton has been magnificent all year but there has been no better passer on the season than Carson Palmer so this one is set up perfectly.
The difference here could just be the potential weakness of the Panthers’ secondary. It took a while for Seattle to exploit it last week but when they did they opened it right up and I expect with all their receiving options that Arizona will do likewise this week.
Defences have tried all season to contain and stop Newton and one by one they’ve failed so it will be interesting to see what plans Arizona have in place to contain him. Based on the season so far they are going to struggle so I’m seeing an offensive battle taking place here.
The points line for this one is 46.5 which doesn’t look high enough to me. I’d be surprised if both these teams don’t rack up more than 20pts each and then a score on top of that sees this line comfortably covered.
Back New England @ Denver – Under 45.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back Arizona @ Carolina – Over 46.5pts for a 5/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
