Pick Six - Conference Championships

Hello everyone, this is the second week of Pick Six, my NFL predictions blog and it's the Conference Championship matches this weekend. We've got two massive games to look forward to, with the Brady-Manning Bowl followed by Kaepernick's 49ers facing the Seahawks and their '12th Man' back to back on Sunday.

Last week I finished 3-1 with my predictions, only getting the Colts-Pats game wrong. All in all it was a good start in my first week and I hope to build on that this week. Let's have a look at the games.

New England Patriots @ Denver Broncos - Sun 20:00
Tom Brady only attempted 25 passes against the Colts last Saturday compared to the 41 that Luck threw. It's a sign of the changing times in New England, with a much improved running game filling the hole that Rob Gronkowski has left in the offence. Blount, Ridley and Vereen had a shared 43 carries for 235 yards and six touchdowns. The Patriots run offence won them the game against the Colts and effectively took Pass-rusher extraordinaire, Robert Mathis, out of the game for Indy. If they can do the same against Denver then they'll be hard to stop.
The Broncos also went with a ball-control offence against the Chargers in their divisional round match. Peyton Manning averaged 6.4 yards per attempt whilst Knowshon Moreno rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown. Von Miller will still be missing on defence for the Broncos which could make the difference.
These two elite quarterbacks have met 14 times before with Brady winning ten of them and eight being decided by seven points or fewer. But we have to remember it's about much more than just Brady and Manning and I think that the Patriots running game will prove the difference, as much as I hate to bet against Peyton.
Prediction: New England Patriots

San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks - Sun 23:30
The Niners beat the Panthers in Carolina last weekend with a score of 23-10. Kaepernick throwing for 196 yards and a touchdown, adding a second with his legs. Crabtree, Davis and Boldin were clutch for San Francisco in the victory with a combined 163 yards and a score and will need to do even better against the 'Hawks. They'll have a tough match though, coming up against a defensive secondary with 28 interceptions on the season.
Seattle have a massive home advantage; CenturyLink Field has been a fortress this year and the fans have created so much noise that at points they've caused earthquakes! Last weekend they beat the Saints thanks in no small part to Marshawn Lynch, who rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns. The 49ers will need to shut him down if they want a chance of getting through.
Prediction: Seattle Seahawks

What an evening/ night/ early morning that's going to be, two games which could easily go either way between four great teams, playing good football with fantastic quarterbacks, it will be well worth staying up late if, like me, you're in the UK to watch those games. I'll see you next week for the Pro-Bowl.