NFL Championship Weekend Preview

The time has arrived. We started this crazy journey with 32 teams, now were down to four. Sixty more minutes of football to decide who's gonna play for the biggest prize in American Football. The biggest game of the NFL year is just over the horizon and the four teams that are looking to play for the big prize have got a lot to look forward to. New England has been here for the 7th year in a row, so this is nothing new for them. Jacksonville is doing something they've done only twice before in the history of the franchise. Philadelphia is trying to break a slump of having never won the big game. Finally, there's Minnesota, who has the pressure of trying to be the first team ever to play in the big game on their home field. So lets get right into then shall we. Here's how the games break down this week.

First up we have the AFC South Champion Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the AFC East Champion New England Patriots. Jacksonville got here by winning the South with a 10-6 record. They started off with a 10-3 win over the Buffalo Bills and followed that up with a 45-42 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach the AFC Championship game. This marks the 3rd time ever that the Jags have gone this far in the playoffs, losing in both 1996 and 1999.Jacksonville is now 9-6 lifetime in the Playoffs. As for New England, they went 13-3 to win the AFC East for the 9th straight year. After dispatching of the Tennessee Titans, 35-14 in the divisional round, New England has reached the AFC Title game for the 7th straight year and 15th time overall. New England is now 33-19 lifetime in the playoffs. This game will mark the 5th time that the jaguars and Patriots have met in the postseason, with the Patriots winning three of the previous four meetings.

Jacksonville played a sound football game last week against the Steelers. Yes they gave up 42 points, but it was enough to get the win. Sure they gave up 545 yards of total offense to Pittsburgh, the Jags did just enough to get a win. They are going to need to be able to get that kind of pressure against Brady and Co again this week. They have a good secondary and pass rush, as Pittsburgh found out last week. It doesn't just all fall on the defense, the Jags offense has to come alive against the Patriots as well, with the bulk of the load falling on the shoulders of  Lenoard Fornette and Blake Bortles. Both guys, and the rest of the Jacksonville offense for that matter, is pretty much going to have to play mistake free football. After what happened against Buffalo in the opening round, Bortles made up for it against the Steelers and is going to have to almost do the same thing again against New England in order to give his team a chance at victory. Jacksonville is going to have to be mentally prepared to go up against a team that is better prepared for any situation then the one they just faced last week.

New England is going to have a tough test in its own right, going against one of the best front sevens in all of football. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will have a gameplan for how to handle the Jaguars. As far as Brady is concerned, he's going to have to find a way to get his receivers open against Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye in coverage. The matchup between tight end Rob Gronkowski and the Jaguars defensive backs will become a deciding factor down the stretch. Gronk can cause matchup problems for anybody he goes up against because he's as big and talented as he is. New England is very versatile in how they approach the pass game. They do have a run game that can be put to great effect at times, but if recent weeks, and playoff years, have been any indication, they have no problem letting their soon to be Hall of Fame quarterback do what he does best.

New England has the type of defense that can keep the Jags receivers under control, which is going to put more pressure on the backfield. Bortles and Fornette are going to have to play out of their minds if they want to give Jacksonville a chance. It won't matter anyway, because New England is just too good of a football team. The Pats may get off to a slow start at the outset of the game, but by the time all said is done, New England will find its groove and will be back in the Super Bowl once again.

Prediction: Patriots 31, Jaguars 17

Now we have the NFC North Champion Minnesota Vikings taking on the NFC East Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Minnesota got here on the strength of winning their division with a 13-3 mark. They got into the playoffs and beat the New Orleans Saints 29-24 in a thriller to reach the NFC Championship game. This marks the 10th appearance for the Vikings in the NFC title game and their first since 2009. Minnesota is now 21--28 lifetime in the playoffs. As for the Philadelphia Eagles, they also finished the year 13-3 which was good enough to run away with the NFC East. Philadelphia beat the Atlanta Falcons 15-10 in the Divisional round to reach the NFC title game. This marks the 7th time that the Eagles have played in the NFC title game and the first time since 2008 that they've got there. Philadelphia is now 20-21 lifetime in the post season. This marks the 4th time that the Vikings and eagles will have met in the playoffs, with Philadelphia having won every meeting prior to this one.

This one is going to be a battle of defenses. Minnesota and Philadelphia finished the year one and two in defense in the NFC during the year, so its going to be a tight defensive battle. Philadelphia squeaked by Atlanta last week to reach this point, and it was a huge statement game made by the Eagles. It was a wonder as to how well the Eagles would play without Wentz in the lineup. Filed goal kicking was the name of the game and it worked for Philly on Sunday. For as good a quarterback as Nick Foles is, he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass since Christmas day against the Raiders. Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz are going to have to step it up and have big games if the Eagles want to advance. Same thing with Jay Ajayi, who needs to do a better job of hanging onto the football, because he had trouble with it against the Falcons last week. They have the defense to be able to get to the big dance, but can the offense hold up and keep pace?

Minnesota is coming off one of the biggest miracle weekends in the history of football. Case Keenum has thrown at least one touchdown pass in every game since Week 7, which is huge for the Vikings. He threw one last week as well and it was the biggest pass of his entire career. He was able to out duel Drew Brees last week, so there's a good chance he can be able to out duel Nick Foles this week (at least on paper).  They have the defense that should be able to shut down the Eagles run game and put plenty of pressure on Nick Foles. Its going to be a fun one to watch.

Minnesota has the defensive horses to be able to hold the Eagles run game in check and keep Foles on his toes all day long. On the offensive side of the ball, Minnesota has enough talent to be able to make the big plays when needed. Its going to be a close one but at the end of the day Case Keenum will have more of an answer then Nick Foles will.

Prediction: Vikings 21 Eagles 17