Championship Game Preview

Championship weekend has arrived. We started this crazy journey with 32 teams in the hunt, and now we are down to the final four. It's a battle of the top two teams in each conference. The best of the best remain standing. In the NFC its a battle of two outstanding running games. While the AFC has a battle of two top flight passers. Should make for a highly entertaining day of football. Enough waiting lets get right into it. Here's a breakdown of the two games this weekend.

First up at 3:05 its the NFC West Champion Los Angeles Rams taking on the NFC South Champion New Orleans Saints. New Orleans got here after a first round bye and then beat the Cowboys 30-22 in the divisional round. This now marks the 11th NFC title game for the Rams, who are playing in their first one since 2001. Los Angeles is now 20-24 lifetime in the playoffs. New Orleans is coming in after an opening round bye and a 20-14 win over the Eagles in the divisional round. This marks the 3rd time ever that the Saints are making the NFC title game, and their first such appearance since 2009. New Orleans is now 9-10 lifetime in the playoffs. This marks the 2nd ever meeting between the two clubs in the playoffs, the Saints beat the Rams in the divisional round in 2000. They met once during the regular season, a 45-35 Saints win back in week nine.

This is going to be a battle of the run games. CJ Anderson and Todd Gurley both rushed for over 100 yards in last week's win over Dallas. Because of this powerful duo of running backs, it has allowed head coach Sean McVay to use a lot more play action passes and open up the pass attack more often. It gives another element of depth to that game from Los Angeles. Oh and lets not take anything away from the Rams defense, who did a fantastic job shutting down the best running back in the league last week in Zek Elliott. They can also hold a pass game in check, they did that against Dak (to a degree) last week as well. Los Angeles has been pretty balanced on defense, with Aaron Darnold getting plenty of pressure on the opposition. Los Angeles can't really seemed to be stopped, they are in fact 13-3 on the road over the last two seasons combined. Oh and unlike in week nine, they got Aqib Talib back and healthy this week.

Lets not forget that the Saints have a pretty good one two punch at running back as well. Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram are both kinda good. Those two guys together have a combined 24 touchdowns this year. Impressive to say the least. And they are just as comfortable in the receiving game as they are at running the ball. If the running game isn't tough enough to deal with, the passing game is just as hard. Drew Brees can still sling it and Michael Thomas is pretty good. Thomas had 125 receptions on 147 targets in the regular season, for an absurd 85 percent catch rate. And to add to those eye popping numbers, He had 12 catches for 171 yards in the win last week. He's somebody that the Rams are going to try to have to key in on. New Orleans hasn't lost at home yet in the playoffs with Sean Payton and Drew Brees teaming together, they're 6-0.

So how to pick this game? There's no doubt that the Rams are going to come out hungry and want a little revenge for what happened to them back in week nine. Just have this feeling that the result maybe the same. CJ Anderson took the bulk of the carries last week. Sure Gurley had over 100 yards last week, but come on lets face it, he hasn't really looked the same the last couple of weeks. New Orleans keeps the Rams in check and keeps right on rolling along.

Prediction: Saints 37, Rams 30

Finally in the 6:40 kickoff its the AFC East Champion New England Patriots taking on the AFC West Champion Kansas City Chiefs. New England came away with a 41-28 divisional round win over the Chargers. This now marks the 8th straight AFC title game for the Pats and the 15th overall for the Pats. New England now sits at 36-20 lifetime in the playoffs. Kansas City got here by beating the Colts 31-13 in the Divisional Round. Kansas City is playing in their 4th AFC title game and first one since 1993. Kansas City is now 11-18 in the playoffs. This marks the 2nd ever playoff meeting between the teams, with the Patriots getting the win in the divisional round in 2015. New England beat the Chiefs 43-40 in week six.

Sony Michel has been a straight up beast for the Patriots this season, and in the playoffs as well. With him and James White doing damage out of the Patriots backfield, it makes things tougher for Patriots opponents to try and deal with. They still have Rob Gronkowski in the pass game, while he hasn't been as effective as in years past, Gronk is still a force. Then There's Julian Edleman, who now has the 2nd most playoff receptions in NFL history, only Jerry Rice has more. Lets face facts New England is one of the most balanced teams in the game and they know how to prepare better than almost every other team in the League. One of the down sides for the Patriots is that they are 3-5 on the road this year, so this could be a bit tougher on the Pats. Also worth noting that New England hasn't won a road AFC title game since 2004 and have lost their last three AFC title games on the road.

Kansas City is now slouch though. Patrick Mahomes is playing at an MVP level. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelcie have been playing at a really high level with Mahomes this year, both guys playing at career year levels. Some thought that Kansas City was going to falter after Kareem Hunt got in trouble for his off the field issues. Not the case as Damien Williams had a big week last week. So things look like they might be in OK shape for this game for the KC running game.

New England hasn't been as good on the road this year and their past track record in the playoffs hasn't been that great away from Foxbrough. New England will come prepared. Kansas City will topple them this year. The last time these two teams met was in New England. Now its out at Arrowhead and the Chiefs are pretty good at home. New England struggles on the road and won't have an easy time in this game. New Egland's run ends here

Predictions: Chiefs 34, Patriots 31.