NFL Picks 2015: Conference Championship round

The road teams ruled the wild card round. Home teams came back with a vengeance in the divisionals.

It was a four-game sweep, with Tony and John hitting them all.

Anthony hit three of four. Andy foolishly thought the road dominance would continue. He was 1-3. Here are the standings:

And here’s who we think is winning this weekend:

And, as a bonus, you get our random thoughts on the weekend’s games:

Tony’s Take: I’m not sure if I really believe that Denver will beat New England, or if I’m just hoping. Actually, not even sure why I’m hoping—not like I WANT to see Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl, other than for the hope that he will in fact retire afterwards. The biggest factor in this game may come down to the Denver defense, and whether or not they can cover New England’s receiving corps long enough to generate pressure on Tom Brady. The only time Brady seems to fail is when he’s been hit a few times early. If they can jump out to a lead, or keep it close enough for the kicking game to matter, New England has the huge advantage. It is interesting to see Peyton Manning have to try and win with defense and running game, rather than relying on his arm, which never seemed to take him far enough in Indianapolis. On the other side, I think I’d like to see the Cardinals take it, but I just don’t know if they will be able to keep up with the Panthers—in fact, the Panthers biggest issue, as was displayed against the Seahawks, might be the lack of a killer mentality when they have their opponent down.

Maggio’s Take: Denver barely got by a Pittsburgh team missing its top two (or three, if you count DeAngelo Williams) weapons on offense last week. I don’t think the Broncos stand a chance against a Patriots team that just got theirs back. I actually thought the Chiefs would give New England problems as they worked Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola back into the fold, but instead they drew the requisite attention to let Gronk be Gronk again. That Denver defense is the truth, but I think Brady continues the football air pressure F-U tour for another week.

Carolina is simply firing on all cylinders, while Arizona was fortunate to escape the Packers last week. If Carson Palmer looks like he did in the second half (sans the nice scramble to get Fitzy the ball and let him do his thing), the Cardinals don’t stand a chance. I anticipate the Panthers defense making it hard on Arizona to take advantage of all their skill position weapons and marching on to the Super Bowl.

John’s Take: Carolina absolutely dominated the first half against Seattle last week before letting its foot of the gas, further solidifying this club’s place as the Super Bowl favorite. And Tom Brady and the Pats looked really good against a tough Chiefs squad. Things are shaping up for the best team of the year (Panthers) to square off with the best team of the century (Patriots) in the Super Bowl. What more could you ask for?

Andy’s Take: I was ready to go with the chalk this week when I heard Trent Dilfer talk with Patrick Reusse on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities Radio earlier this week. Dilfer says, more or less, that New England’s reliance on the passing game plays into Denver’s hands defensively and he says the Cardinals will be able to use its three- and four-receiver sets to take advantage of vulnerability in Carolina’s secondary. I don’t know if I buy it or not, but it sounded good. And if I’m right I can make up some ground in the standings. So … what the hell. Go Fitz.