patriots

The predictions of the favorite to win the Conference Championship and the Superbowl might not favor the Patriots, but what we do know about this edition of the Pats is that they will go down fighting to the end.

You can look into the last NFL Conference Championship news here, but how can we expect the two teams to attack each other? We can break down the first time the two teams met this season or even 2012’s matchup, however the 2013 game was a turnover-fest, adversely affected by weather and turnovers, and both teams are far different than they were in 2012.

This time around, expect a cleaner back and forth game that doesn’t necessarily revolve around two quarterbacks taking to the air on every snap.

Usually when Brady and Manning meet, it’s the Patriots racing out to a lead, only to see Manning claw back into it and force a deciding play late in the fourth quarter.

While it’s impossible to know who will come out hot to start the game, it’s a safe bet that the game will come down to the final quarter, if not the final play. Why should we expect anything different?

For the Patriots, we know they can run the ball and Denver knows it as well. The running game has keyed New England in winning six out of their last seven games.

If Denver stacks the box, they’ll be daring New England to attack through the air, a spot where Denver is weakened after losing starting cornerback Chris Harris Jr.. But this isn’t the Patriots of old, who preferred to take to the air. Now they’d prefer a traditional attack based on having the run set up play action. 

Can they win when they have to throw the ball more than they run it, whether they have to comeback from a deficit or if Denver plays seven or eight in the box? That could decide the game.

Julian Edelman, Shane Vereen and Danny Amendola will be huge keys, and rookie Aaron Dobson, who fought a foot injury much of the second half of the season, could be an X-factor.

As for Denver, they’ll be tempted to attack New England’s porous run defense that will be without Brandon Spikes, their best run-stopper. Denver took a similar approach in Week 12, putting up XXX yards on the ground but they still lost.

Can they afford to make Peyton Manning a game manager? It’s a tough choice to make, but the strength of New England’s defense is clearly in the secondary.

As always for the Patriots’ defense, it will come down to turnovers and pressure. If they can force Manning into mistakes, they’ll have a good chance to win the game, but that is certainly not an easy task.

Football fans are lucky to see two of the all-time greats meet once again in the playoffs and as always, it should live up to all the hype and then some.