The Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs is in the books and we can look to see when the conference title games are going to take place.
NFC Conference Championship Game
#4 Green Bay Packers at #2 Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, January 22nd; kickoff is at 3:05 PM EST on FOX
The NFC Conference Championship will feature the two best quarterbacks in the NFC, both considered the top favorites for the MVP award. The Falcons defeated the Packers 33-32 back in week 8.
To get to the conference title game, the Falcons dominated the Seattle Seahawks 36-20 at home, while Packers QB Aaron Rodgers dissected the Dallas Cowboys defense and led the Packers to a 34-31 road victory.
Both teams feature explosive offenses and nonexistent defenses, as the Packers and Falcons ranked in the top 3 in points scored per drive, and in the bottom 7 of the NFL in points allowed per drive. The over/under is floating around 60.5, the highest ever over/under for a conference title game or a Super Bowl, as Las Vegas is expecting a high scoring affair.
AFC Conference Championship Game
#3 Pittsburgh Steelers at #1 New England Patriots
Sunday, January 22nd; kickoff is at 6:40 PM EST on CBS
The AFC Conference Championship will feature the two best quarterbacks in the AFC (sound familiar?). The Patriots defeated the Steelers 27-16 in week 7, but Pittsburgh was without star QB Ben Roethlisberger.
The Patriots throttled the Houston Texans 34-16 in the Divisional Round, while the Steelers held on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 18-16.
While the Steelers feature the best wide receiver and running back in the AFC- Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, respectively- they don’t have many other options in the offense; Bell and Brown combined for 274 of the Steelers 389 yards against the Chiefs. If the Patriots can limit either player, then New England should have plenty of success.