How will Sunday's Divisional Games Go?

With half of the conference championship games filled the four teams playing Sunday know what they have in front of them, it is just the getting there that they have to take care of. Both of the games are an interesting draw in their own right, but it is obvious which one will garner the most attention, and which one the people are looking forward to witnessing.

The New England Patriots and the New York Jets have been going back and forth all week, well most of the season, alright in the preseason too I guess, and yeah they were talking last year too. It has really reached a breaking point though, whether it is Antonio Cromartie swearing at and about Tom Brady, or Rex Ryan's newest personal grudge match, or a tussle of words in pressers and on Twitter.

When it comes down to it though, they have to play the game, and the last time that happened the Patriots dominated the Jets. Why will tomorrow be different? Well to be honest I am not sure that it will be, but there are steps to be taken if it will.

First, the Jets will need to establish the run game. Without the run game, without taking time off of that clock, they will be giving Brady that much more time to dissect them. He did a pretty good job of that last time tossing four touchdowns in the 45-3 romp.

Second, put Mark Sanchez in positions to make plays, but not in a position where that play is going to be something impromptu. He is still at the point in his career, or maybe peaked in his career growth, where he gets into more trouble more often than not when improvising. Schottenheimer it is your job to call plays and put your offense in the right positions to succeed, tomorrow would be a good time to do that for Sanchez. Quick slants, go patterns, screens galore, they have to put him in position to be a player, but not have to win the game.

Third, get your match ups straight on defense. If you want to shut down the short game, put Darrelle Revis on Wes Welker. If you want to try and limit the downfield throws put him on Deion Branch. If you want to lose put him on Brandon Tate. But seriously though, if it were me I would want quick Revis on Welker to try and force Brady to hold the ball more, because if Revis is grabbing and holding Welker (like he does to everyone) then that safety valve is gone and Brady is taking up more time in the pocket, giving your rushers a chance to make a play. Jets you rely on your defense, give them a chance.

Finally, the Jets have to go for it. You lost by six touchdowns last time, you know that overused phrase of 'leaving it out on the field'? Do that. If Sanchez is going to struggle again, because he absolutely did with three interceptions last time, then don't be afraid to give LaDanian Tomlinson a throw. Have Brad Smith, given he is playing with his groin injury, take 15-20 snaps in wildcat. Do whatever is needed to outscheme...or trick, the Patriots.

When it is all said and done, the Jets will make it closer simply because that last game was pitiful. But the Jets are lacking secondary depth, and even if the receivers are taken away by Cromartie and Revis, which is possible, those tight ends on the Patriots can carve them up all by themselves. And with the Patriots forcing Sanchez to beat em, and probably mixing up some crazy blitz packages for the kiddo, it seems hard to think that they will survive and advance to Pittsburgh. I will say though, their offensive line plays well, similar to against Indianapolis, then their chances do increase greatly. But as it is, gotta go with the Patriots 31 Jets 16, they will start quick and not look back. They will not run away with it immediately, but rather let the lead grow through the second and third quarters, a slow decisive win with Wilfork and Gronkowski taking the leads on their sides of the ball.

Yeah I do not really like Wes Welker, but that is priceless. Oh and Nick Mangold, your retort was not that great. Please tell me what "open the gate" means. At least Welker's flowed, you were just saying that to say it, like to make sure we understood. Yeah, we got it.


The first game tomorrow is between the Seattle Seahawks, Cinderella if you will, and the Chicago Bears, pretty much the team that everyone else looks at like a real life Cinderella (dirty, low and unimportant that is). The first time these two teams met the Bears allowed six sacks of Jay Cutler and the Seahawks were able to go into Soldier Field and grab a 23-20 win.

This game is a little bit more easy to change the outcome, because the Bears are simply just a much better team since then and the Seahawks are roughly the same. The Bears have cleaned up their pass protection from its abysmal beginnings, and they are getting to be a more and more balanced offense under Mike Martz.

For the Bears to win they have to do three things, number one is to protect Jay Cutler. Cutler has the ability to light teams up, and while he is obviously no Drew Brees, Brees was able to throw for a ton of yards last week, and move the Saints up and down the field. Cutler was able to do it recently against the Jets defense, so the capabilities are there, he just needs to be protected.

Number two thing that the Bears have to do is get pressure on Matt Hasselback. Last week he was great against the Saints, and really led them to that win with wonderful touch passes to a variety of receivers. He was just dead on. With the pass rushing attack that the Bears have, along with a solid secondary and covering linebackers, they should be able to get him out of his comfort zone and be able to force some mistakes by Seattle's offense.

Lastly, the Bears have to ironically not start slow. The Seahawks are flying high right now as they are coming off to very big and emotional wins to get into the playoffs and to start them, they can not let them get started quickly and keep that momentum and confidence. If the Bears score first I think that will go a long way in winning the football game, because putting them in a hole early on the road might lead to the critics and criticism to start to creep into their minds. Get self doubt flowing throughout their sideline.

Now for Seattle to win they have to only do one thing, find a way to get Roman Harper onto the Bears and have him start. Seriously though, they have to make sure that they do not forget about Marshawn Lynch and the running game. The more pressure taken off the passing game by running the ball 20-30 times the better, especially if they are controlling the clock and ultimately their own destiny. If they are able to control the ball with their running game, and opening things up down the field and across the middle, they are putting themselves in a position to win and unbelievably host the NFC Championship game.

So when it comes to picking this game it is not me picking against the team that is below .500, it is picking against the team that simply should not win this game. Have to go with the Bears winning this one, 23-13. I think it will be close throughout the first half, but a quick score in the third quarter will really hurt the Seahawks and will eventually lead to the Bears controlling the game from there.