Picking Winners for Conference Championship Round in the NFL

It's down to the final four of the NFL. All of these teams play good defense. Here is how I see the two games going.

New England Patriots at Denver Broncos New England. It would have been a very close call, but if Bo Nix was able to play, I would have picked Denver. He's out, and Jarrett Stidham is in at quarterback for the Broncos. Stidham hasn't started a game in a long time. He was drafted by the Patriots as a possible replacement for Tom Brady. That never materialized, but Stidham does have some skills. He has a very capable head coach in Sean Payton. Payton is a master play caller, and he will have some plays ready that will work. The Patriots are young, but they have a good quarterback in Drake Maye who will put up some points against the Broncos very good defense. In the end, I don't see the Broncos keeping up, but I do expect a close game.

Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks Los Angeles Rams. If you watched the Seahawks blow out the 49ers last week, you might be wondering how in the world I can pick the Rams to win. The Seahawks have an excellent defense, and they have a tremendous home field advantage. The Rams had to play mistake free football to beat the Bears last week. They had no turnovers and no penalties. Amazing! I don't think they can play another game with no penalties, but I do think Matt Stafford is on fire as a quarterback. I would still take the Seahawks if not for one thing... Sam Darnold will have to play better than average for Seattle to win. He has played way better than average for most of the year. However, he played very average for three quarters when the Seahawks beat the Rams by one point about a month ago in Seattle, then he played great in the 4th quarter and overtime. Based on his history, I will have to see it to believe that he can play well enough to win in this game that has so much pressure. He has not historically played well in super big moments in super big games. I'll take the experience of the Rams and the stone cold approach of Matt Stafford to pull it out at the end.

May God always be your number 1 draft pick!

Draftman Rick