By Brandon Simmons
Buccaneers vs. Packers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers will meet in the NFC Championship in a rematch of their Week 6 game. That was the game in which the Packers were handed their first loss of the year, due to a strong performance of the Buccaneers defense. Despite that, both teams ended up in different places of the playoffs. The Bucs finished 5th in the NFC playoff seeding, while the Pack ended up claiming homefield advantage. The 2 teams are coming off big wins in last weekend’s Divisional Round. The Bucs pulled out a close, emotional win over the New Orleans Saints, while the Packers flexed their strengths over the Los Angeles Rams. But what has remained a consistent spot for both teams, is their quarterback play. Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers is playing some of the best football of his career and has found himself in his 2nd straight NFC championship. In his first year, Tampa Bay QB Tom Brady has taken this team from 7-9 to the NFC title game. However, there is a little bit more to these teams than who is under center for them.
The Packers offense is tough with Rodgers alone, but it’s the skill position players who can make this unit much more dangerous. Aside from wide receiver Devantae Adams, there are receivers Montes Valdes-Scalding and Allen Lozard. In the divisional round game, it Was Lozard who dropped a pass early in the game but was able to make the go head touchdown catch in the 4th quarter. The running game is stable itself, which featured running back Aaron Jones. However, it has seen a little more usage out of their running backs, Jamaal Williams and A.J. Dillon, who combined for nearly 200 yards rushing in their dominant win last week. On the defensive side of things, their biggest upside is the pass rush, lead by linebacker Zadarius Smith, who finished the year 5th in the league in sacks. Another important detail in last week’s game, the Packers defense put up 4 sacks., including 1.5 apiece between nose tackle Kenny Clark and linebacker Rashan Gary.
The Tampa Bay offense had firepower last year with quarterback Jameis Winston; but with Tom Brady under center, that firepower became enhanced just a little, metaphorically and literally. When Brady came on, Tampa added his former Patriots teammates, tight end Rob Gronkowski, in the offseason, then during the season, brought in Antonio Brown. The result has been seeing this unit survive a small rough patch during the year and finish strong after their bye week, all the through to this point. The plot twist is that the defense has been just as good at different times during the year. Lead by linebacker Devin White, this unit ranks number one against the run. They have not been the most consistent unit overall, but they have come alive when needed. Last week’s win against the Saints is the perfect example. They forced 4 turnovers, with 3 of them going for touchdowns on the ensuing drives.
This Buccaneers offense has had some big games throughout the season, and they will continue to do so to help win this game. Despite being without Antonio Brown this Sunday, because of a knee injury, Brady can spread the ball around to other playmakers. Gronkowski, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and possibly Scotty Miller, will look to be a handful for this Green Bay secondary. Something that might be counting against Aaron Rodgers is his history in NFC title games. This is the first time he will be hosting the NFC championship, but he has only won one of them, which was the year he went on to win the Super Bowl. He’s going up against Brady who’s won conference titles at home, and on the road, against teams who were just as stacked as the Packers. Tom Brady’s experience and leadership is going to get his teammates prepared to go into Lambeau and snatch this win up.
Bills vs. Chiefs
The top 2 teams in the AFC will clash as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills. This game Is also a Week 6 rematch, that was rescheduled due to COVID protocol, in which the Chiefs won 26-17. It is a game in which the Chiefs had a whopping 245 yards rushing, with 161 of them going to rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire. That loss did not slow Buffalo down in any shape or form, as the Bills stormed through the rest of the year with just one loss, which included big wins over the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks. The lone defeat during that stretch came from the Arizona Cardinals, courtesy of the Hail Mary catch from Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Speaking of receivers, that is the commonality that both teams share: deep threat wide outs and the quarterback who can deliver it to them.
The Kansas City combo of QB Patrick Mahomes and wide receiver Tyreek Hill are the things that defensive nightmares are made of. Mahomes finished 2nd in the league in passing yardage and QBR but finished as the leader for passing yards per game, averaging 316 each contest. When it comes to yards, Hill has not given that big splash a lot of weeks during the season and that’s likely because he draws a lot of double coverage. Why wouldn’t you do that for a guy who can score a touchdown from any part of the field or formation? But every once in a while, a team will screw up on their coverage unintentionally, and he will put on a show, just like he did in the Buccaneers game when he put up 269 receiving yards that afternoon.
Buffalo trading for wide receiver Stefon Diggs not only helped the team, but it made QB Josh Allen better, and propelled him into a lot of MVP discussions. Allen has gone from throwing 20 TD’s to 37 TD’s this season; he has improved his completion percentage form 58.8 to 69.2; and his QBR shot up from 49.4 to 81.6. While Allen is a young QB, still learning on getting better, it helps when you have a receiver like Diggs, who is in the top 3 of a lot of receiving categories, including leading the league in yards and catches.
This game may very well come down to who has the better skill position group, and that will go to the Kansas City Chiefs. Both teams can put the ball in the air for phenomenal results, but what will happen when that breaks down? The Bills have a tough secondary, featuring cornerback Tre’Davious White, that did hold Tyreek Hill to 3 catches for 20 yards, but the Chiefs have proven that they can run the ball on this Buffalo defense. Kansas City should be seeing the return of Edwards-Helaire, in addition to having Le’Veon Bell available. Buffalo does not have the luxury of relying on their running game as a backup plan. In the Wild Card, they had 96 yards rushing with Josh Allen being the leading rusher; the following week they finished with 32. It also doesn’t help the Bills that Zack Moss suffered a high ankle sprain during the Wild Card win a couple of weeks ago and recently had surgery on it. The Chiefs are stacked on offense to run an efficient attack and will be taking the win in this game.
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