Vincent Frank
We brought you the top storyline for each game during all 17 weeks of the NFL regular season. Instead of repeating that theme heading into conference championship weekend, we figured it made sense to go a bit more in-depth for these two games.
From Andrew Luck leading his Indianapolis Colts into New England to take on Tom Brady and the Patriots to the Seattle Seahawks attempting to earn a second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl, there is a lot to look at.
Will the old guard come out on top once again or will these two young quarterbacks, one in each conference, tell the NFL world that we are clearly in a new era? Is dynasty talk in Seattle much ado about nothing? What about the defending champs home-field advantage?
Check below for answers to those questions and more.
Dynasty in Seattle?
With two more wins, Seattle will become the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since the New England Patriots in 2005. It will attempt to do so with a third-year quarterback making just his seventh career NFL postseason start. But no one in their right mind believes that this stage is too big for Russell Wilson, who is currently playing the best football of his young career.
If Seattle does find itself hoisting the Lombardi next month in Arizona, we will have to start talking about dynasty here. After signing defensive stalwarts Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman to extensions in the past 24 months, general manager John Schneider turned his attention to a couple of under-the-radar stars on that side of the ball back in December. The team agreed to four-year contract extensions with both linebacker K.J. Wright and defensive end Cliff Avril.
Now that some major contributors are locked up on defense, reports indicate that Seattle is prepared to make Wilson the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL when its season comes to an end.
With all the pieces apparently in place for long-term success, a Super Bowl championship in February might not be an end to Seattle’s ability to add to its trophy case. And in reality, it could just be a continuation of an era in which the Seahawks will be seen as a dynasty. Sunday’s game against Green Bay will go a long way in deciding this.
Tom Brady’s Ninth AFC Championship Game Appearance
NINE. For comparison’s sake, Dan Marino won a total of eight playoff games in his extensive 17-year Hall of Fame career. With five wins in his previous eight AFC Championship game appearances, Brady can also become the first quarterback in NFL history to start in six Super Bowls, passing John Elway. At 37 years old, this could also be Brady’s best last chance to earn a fourth Lombardi trophy.
Regardless of what happens moving forward in his career, Brady will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. He’s the only other signal caller we can even come close to comparing Joe Montana to, at least in terms of postseason success. However, Brady and the Patriots are just 5-5 in the playoffs since the 2009 season. In reality, they just haven’t seen a ton of success in January over the past few seasons. A loss here against a less-talented Colts team could potentially do some harm to Brady’s legacy moving forward. It most definitely is an interesting dynamic to look at.
Aaron Rodgers’ Injured Calf Against the Legion of Boom
Rodgers may have been able to navigate his way through an average Dallas Cowboys defense with an injured calf last week. But it was readily apparent that the MVP candidate was nowhere near 100 percent in late-game win over Dallas. Now heading to CenturyLink to take on the best defense in the recent history of the NFL, things are going to be a tad different for Rodgers in this one.
Tasked with going up against a front seven that includes the likes of Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett and Bruce Irvin is going to be no small task for a Packers offensive line that performed a lot better in 2014 than in previous seasons. Doing so on the road in front of the 12th Man magnifies this further. Doing so with a clearly limited Aaron Rodgers makes it a near impossible task.
A New Colt Against an Old Patriot
Andrew Luck was just 13 years old the first time Brady took on the Colts and Peyton Manning in the playoffs back in 2002. This goes to show us just how much success Brady has had over a long period of time. Now that Luck has disposed off the aforementioned Manning, it’s clearly his chance to prove to the world that a new era has arrived in the AFC.
Going into Gillette Stadium and defeating Brady will prove to be a much more difficult task than beating Manning, who now boasts a sub .500 postseason record. The Patriots signal caller is 13-3 at home during his postseason career and has thrown 30 touchdowns compared to 14 interceptions in those 16 games.
CenturyLink and Seattle’s Home-field Advantage
Not only has Seattle won seven consecutive games since a Week 11 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s been absolutely dominating in those outings. Pete Carroll’s squad has yielded 56 points and forced 13 turnovers during that span. At home since the start of the 2012 season, Seattle is yielding less than 14 points per game and boasts a 25-2 record, postseason included.
In order for Green Bay to upset the defending champs on the road, it is going to have to play the very same game that the San Francisco 49ers played in the NFC Championship game last season. It will have to do so without turning the ball over like San Francisco did in that game. This is to say, Green Bay needs to control the line of scrimmage, one of the few areas it has an advantage over Seattle. If that happens, the Packers have a fighting chance. If not, Seattle will repeat as conference champs.
Photo: USA Today
