NFL Conference Championship Picks

It all comes down to this weekend. A trip to the Super Bowl is at stake and we have four great teams that are very evenly matched set to duke it out in the AFC and NFC championship games. I wouldn't be surprised if any of these teams won their respective games, but here are my picks for the conference title games this weekend

Last Weekend's Record: 2-2 (2-0 for the AFC and 0-2 for the NFC ironically)
Overall Playoff Record: 3-5

New England Patriots over Baltimore Ravens: There is a lot on the line in this one. The Patriots want to show that they can recover from the beatdown the Ravens gave them in the playoffs a couple of years ago. The Ravens want to show that Joe Flacco can step up in the playoffs and that they can take out the greatest team of the past 10 years out in front of their hometown fans. While this should be a very entertaining and close game, I see the Patriots taking it. Tom Brady has a chip on his shoulder and that is never a good thing for opposing defenses. It also helps he has the near unstoppable tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. The Patriots defense is terrible, but Baltimore's offense is too inconsistent and the Patriots offense is too good for that to be a deciding factor in the game.

New York Giants over San Fransisco 49ers: This has the potential to be as good as the Saints/49ers game last weekend (which might have the best football game I've ever seen). This game is going to be a defensive struggle. These two defenses are arguably the two best in the league and are going to bring tremendous pressure on each other's offenses. At the end of the day, it's going to come down to a couple of big plays and that's where the Giants have the edge. They live for the big plays (which has been proven in their two playoff games so far). Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz are extremely explosive wideouts and I think one of them will end up scoring the game winning touchdown. Expect a tight one, but the Giants should be able to pull it out.