Devils Advocate: Championship Weekend

This is an interesting week since I'm writing this already having my official picks for the games made. I won't spoil the picks with this post as I'm pointing out the reasons why BOTH teams will win their game.

San Francisco at Atlanta

• Why the Niners will win: Did you see what they did to the Packers? Jim Harbaugh spat in the face of all things coaching by replacing a winning quarterback with an uproven QB that he THOUGHT could get the job done better and make his offense more dynamic. Up til now, it's worked tremendously, as the Colin Kaepernick bandwagon keeps growing and Alex Smith's job interviews look about ready to start. The Niners win with a crushing defense, corners that can go 1-on-1 with the Atlanta wideouts and linebackers that can neutralize Tony Gonzalez. The Smiths up front on the D-line will force Matty Ice into some bad throws and the Niners win in a cakewalk.......
• Why the Falcons will win: ......unless it's not a cakewalk, then look for Falcons to use their superhuman ability to win games on 1-minute drives to "escape" from their own home stadium as a #1 seed underdog. The Falcons are one of the few teams that can really play the respect card, as NOBODY seems to want to give this team a chance. The talk of division week was the Seahawks and Russel Wilson's amazing rookie campaign, followed by the talk this week of the Kaepernick show and the genius of Jim Harbaugh. The Falcons are an afterthought. They will win if they feed off the negative energy and a frenzied Georgia Dome and unleash the offense for a full 60 minutes versus the 45 minutes they showed up for against Seattle. The Atlanta run game suddenly reappeared last week, giving the Niners just enough to worry about to open up some holes in the secondary.

Baltimore at New England

• Why the Ravens will win: After knocking off Denver in a game for the ages, the Ravens will clamp down on their special teams woes and build off only giving up 21 points to the Bronco offense. The Ravens do not fear the Patriots as some other teams do, and will not be intimidated by the no-huddle attack that Brady runs to near-perfection. The Pats are missing one of their best weapons in TE Rob Gronkowski, and while the stat sheet might not show he was missed, it's one less weapon for Brady, possibly his best weapon. The Ravens win if Joe Flacco continues to play in full-on Mad Bomber mode. In the Denver cold, the Ravens "throw deep" philosophy worked early and often, from early torchings of Champ Bailey to the last minute 70 yard heave to Jacoby Jones. The Pats secondary strikes no fear in anyone, and if Flacco comes out gunning deep, and hitting some home runs, look for things to open up underneath.
• Why the Patriots will win: Other than just being the Patriots, which was more than enough against Houston, the Patriots will win with their relentless offense. This team never takes a break, and every time they get the ball, you assume that a seven is going up on the board. The defense seems to coax big plays out of nobodies (I'm looking at you, Rob Ninkovich) and summon a Vince Wolfork sack at just the moment they need it. New England is also sneaky good on the ground, and the runningback by commitee approach worked well last week, as Danny Woodhead exited early only to watch Stevan Ridley and Ben, I mean, Shane Vereen combine for over 120 yards and two touchdowns. A not-so-one-dimensional Patriot offense could spell doom for any opponent, and will get them into their obscene sixth Super Bowl of the Brady-Belichick era.