NFL Conference Championship Predictions

Last Week's Record: 2-2 (Correct: Seahawks, Packers Incorrect: Ravens, Broncos)
Overall Record: 6-2
Seattle Seahawks over Green Bay Packers: This is the matchup pretty much everyone expected for the NFC Championship game. The Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers have been the two best teams in the NFC by a pretty wide margin for a majority of the season. These squads met all the way back in Week 1 at CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks throttled the Packers 36-16. I'd be surprised if this second showdown at CenturyLink Field went anything like the first one. The Packers are just too damn good of a team to get blown out again. This game is going to come down to the Packers offense's ability to move the ball and put up points on this stout Seahawks defense. The Seahawks are not a team you can afford to fall behind against. Their defense is built to maintain a lead once they get it, so the Packers are going to need to put up points early and prevent Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch from making big plays if they want to pick up the victory. Even when not 100%, Aaron Rodgers is the type of quarterback that could exploit this defense and their defense is certainly capable of creating problems for the Seahawks offense, they're just going to have to play with more consistency and finesse than they did against the Cowboys last week to do so. Even though the Packers have an undeniable hungry to avenge their early season loss and possess an absolutely loaded offense, I just can't pick against the Seahawks right now. Their defense has been flat-out horrifying of late, allowing under 10 points game over the last month and a half of the season and Wilson is playing arguably the best football of his career right now. With the way they're playing right now, they're going to be an incredibly tough out, regardless of how talented their opponent is. The Packers should push the Seahawks to the brink, but if the Seahawks keep up their high level of play on both sides of the ball, they should be able to make it back to the Super Bowl for a second straight year.

New England Patriots over Indianapolis Colts: The  New England Patriots showed their resilience last week, rallying from two 14-point deficits to defeat the Baltimore Ravens in a nail-biting thriller of a game. This week probably won't have nearly as much drama as the Indianapolis Colts head into Gillette Stadium for the AFC conference championship game. Andrew Luck has been absolutely awful against the Patriots (6 TD's, 8 INT's, 53.9 CMPL%, 68.8 QBR in 3 career meetings) in his young career so far and I don't expect that to change today. If this game plays out like the rest of the Patriots/Colts meetings in the Luck era, you can expect the following to happen: Luck will throw multiple ugly INT's, some random running back on the Patriots will run for 150+ yards, Tom Brady will put up decent but not great numbers and throw a couple of effortless TD's, and every one of the 2-3 Colts touchdowns will involve someone on the Patriots D getting absolutely torched in coverage. Don't get me wrong,  the Colts are a pretty good football team with a lot of promise for the future, they just don't have the skills right now to take out established juggernauts like the  Patriots, especially on their home turf. Unless Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the entire defense becomes collectively incapacitated before kickoff, I fully expect the Patriots to lay down an absolute beatdown on the Colts and cruise to their first Super Bowl appearance since 2011.