Photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images
With a historical duel of living legends that seems epic and a team that has resurfaced three decades later trying to stop a possible dynasty, the NFL Championship games will take place this Sunday .
For when everything ends around 10 of the Eastern night, we will meet the teams that will play the Super Bowl LV on February 7 in Tampa.
NFC Final: Tampa Bay in Green Bay
Sunday, 3: 05 pm East / 12: 01 Pacific, TV: FOX
First the National Conference championship game will be played at Lambeau Field, with the confrontation between the man considered the best quarterback in history and the most complete quarterback of the last times : Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers .
It will be the first time they meet in the playoffs, something that is now more viable for be in the same conference. And while the Buccaneers first-year quarterback has all the experience in the world in games of this caliber – it will be his Championship Game No. 12 -, most of his team does not have much travel in January games.
# Packers Forecast: Snow showers will be winding down after kickoff on Sunday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Otherwise lots of clouds and a bit chilly with temps in the 20 s. Catch the game on FOX WZAW starting just after 2 PM Sunday. #GoPackGo #TBvsGB pic.twitter.com/GNg8gwakUU
– Jeremy Tabin (@Jeremy_WSAW) January 22, 2021
The climate factor can be decisive: the Packers dominate it very well, especially Rodgers , as he demonstrated last week by dismantling the Los Angeles Rams’ strong defense. The forecast at the time of Sunday’s game ranged from 29 to 25 degrees F (-2 to -4 C) and obviously the vast majority of the Florida team is not used to those temperatures.
Two big questions arise before the kickoff: Can the Buccaneers defense put pressure on Rodgers like in the Game of Week 6 when he captured him 4 times and intercepted him 2 passes en route to a comfortable win, and can the Packers run well against the defense that was the best against the race in 2020 and thus open the door to Rodgers’ full arsenal?
Brady is cut from a different cloth 🔥 @TomBrady @Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/40 O3DnDWM9
– The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) January 22, 2021
Rodgers will be looking to reach just his second Super Bowl, something surprising considering his excellence, while Brady is on his tenth, an astonishing figure.
For being in their freezing environment and for being the best team in the NFC in the regular season, Green Bay is a favorite by 3.5 points.
Forecast: Green Bay 24 – 23
AFC Final: Buffalo in Kansas City
Sunday, 6: 40 pm East / 3: 40 pm Pacific, TV: CBS
Until last Sunday morning, before the divisional game between the Chiefs and Cleveland Browns, It was easy to point to the current NFL champions as clear favorites to return to the Super Bowl by virtue of being the best team in the American conference, something that is still undisputed.
But then, during said meeting Another, Patrick Mahomes injured the big toe on his left foot and shortly thereafter suffered a dramatic concussion that knocked him out of action.
The Kansas City superstar He has already left the concussion protocol, which allows him to play this Sunday, and ensures that his toe feels much better, but anyway his team no longer arrives as favorite as was believed to face some Bills who are in great shape , as they demonstrated by putting down the dangerous Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round.
Video from Patrick Mahomes at #Chiefs practice today. Clyde Edwards-Helaire also at practice today. pic.twitter.com/M2ijYZwUfX
– Harold R. Kuntz (@ HaroldRKuntz3) January 20, 2021
Mahomes’ health is what will clearly decide this battle: if he is well and plays as usual, the Chiefs should impose conditions ; but if he plays diminished, Buffalo will have a very good chance of going to their first Super Bowl since XXVIII, the fourth they lost in consecutive years .
And is that at this moment, even with Mahomes recovered, the Bills seem to have the quarterback who is playing the best in the AFC: Josh Allen.
BUFFALO vs. THE WORLD @ KyleBrandt | @Surface pic.twitter.com/3t1hNvOHik
– Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 23, 2021
Kansas City is a favorite by only 3 points. This team has too much “punch” and the always important experience, something that the Bills lack . But the doubt about Mahomes will be cleared until the ball flies across the grid.
Forecast: Buffalo 28 – 24
