NFL Conference Finals Picks

Some picks for this year's NFL Conference Finals games:

San Francisco 49ers/Atlanta Falcons: Atlanta pulled off a huge win in the game's dying moments yesterday afternoon and extinguished an incendiary Seahawks comeback. From what I've heard, watched and read, the 49ers dominated Green Bay and Colin Kaepernick played an outstanding game, rushing for 181 yards and passing for 263. The Falcons didn't play San Francisco during the season and their stats are comparable. It seems crucial that they contain Kaepernick to make it back to the Super Bowl, contain him without giving his receivers a clear path to the end zone. The last time they made the Conference Finals, I don't think anyone outside of Georgia thought they would beat the Vikings. But they did. This fact has little bearing on Sunday's game, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Picking Atlanta.

Baltimore Ravens/New England Patriots: rematch of last year's AFC Conference Finals which New England struggled to win. Not happy with the Baltimore Ravens at this point in time, but I'd dislike seeing them make the Conference Finals 3 out of 5 years without ever playing in the Super Bowl afterwards. At the same time the Patriots have destroyed opponents many times this season, although Baltimore did beat them 31 to 30 in week 3. That means nothing now of course, and the Patriots have scored more than 40 points in 6 games since. Can New England's secondary defend the Ravens's striking passing game while scoring on multiple occasions against a defence fired up by Ray Lewis's upcoming retirement? I doubt Baltimore would rely on such an offensive strategy two weeks in a row, but if it keeps working, why not? Taking the Patriots. *Oh whatever, last fall, after I posted my Terminator 3 review, I went for a walk in the woods, returned to my place, and discovered like 80 redwing blackbirds cawing and croaking away. That's a huge number. Figuring this was simply a bunch of birds going about their birdly business, I thought nothing of it. But perhaps this was a sign that I should pick the Ravens in this Sunday's game. Probably shouldn't make picks based upon birds showing up after taking walks months in advance of non-related events, and redwing blackbirds aren't Ravens, but some of my friends really like corvids (redwing blackbirds aren't corvids), and it would be nice to see Falcons playing Ravens in the Super Bowl. Changing my pick to Baltimore. **Wait, wasn't redwing blackbirds, I think they were grackles. Also not of the corvid family. Makes little difference!