An offensive-driven team is going to win the Super Bowl this year, but the defense that plays the best over the next two games is still going to be the one holding the trophy. I would expect a game-changing turnover to highlight this weekend.
Green Bay at Atlanta
Both games are rematches, but I think this one is more likely to resemble the first matchup, a 33-32 shootout won by the Falcons in Week 8. I think both offenses and quarterbacks are going to be very good, but I do have some concerns with the health of Green Bay’s receivers; Jordy Nelson in particular. I also think in a game with two bad defenses, Atlanta should be able to run the ball better with the duo of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman compared to Green Bay with Ty Montgomery. This isn’t going to be a game where one defense surprises everyone with a dominant performance. Both offenses are going to move the ball and score frequently. It’s just a matter of situational stops, like on third down, forcing a field goal attempt or coming up with an unexpected fumble recovery. If the Packers get the hot start they so need like in Dallas last week, Matt Ryan can’t afford to press and throw a terrible pick like he did to Tramon Williams before halftime in his last playoff meeting with the Packers. But that was a long time ago, and Ryan is playing the best ball of his career. He’s been the MVP this season. Aaron Rodgers has been on an incredible hot streak, but this is the time of year where I start looking at how teams have done against good teams. With Green Bay, you’re talking about a team that’s 9-18 on the road against teams with a winning record since 2011. There was a 2-15 stretch going there before these last two wins in Detroit (31-24 in Week 17) and Dallas last week (34-31). Last week was the first time Rodgers won a game in his career as an underdog when Green Bay allowed more than 26 points. He was 0-17 before that. The Falcons are favored at home and have scored at least 24 in every single home game this year. Similar research also led me to this crazy stat.
Packers are 0-35 with Aaron Rodgers at QB when trailing by more than one point in the fourth quarter against a team with a winning record.
We knew Rodgers had the 10-34 record at 4QC opportunities, but I was reminded this week that only two of the 10 wins came against teams with a winning record (2014 Cowboys in Dez Caught It game, 2015 Seahawks), and both of those were 1-point deficits erased early in the quarter. Throw out a 2008 Minnesota game where he only trailed by 1 late (28-27 loss after long FG missed by Mason Crosby) and a 2008 loss in OT to the Bears in which he only had the ball in a tied game, and that’s how you end up with 0-35. Matt Flynn led GB’s only win in this situation against the Lions in 2011 (his 6 TD game).
It’s very important for Atlanta to start hot. You might recall Ryan had the Falcons up 17-0 in his last NFC Championship Game (2012 against the 49ers), but that lead was blown and the Falcons came up 10 yards short of the Super Bowl, or maybe Harry Douglas keeping his feet away from the big game. This time is the last game in the Georgia Dome. I think the crowd will understand the magnitude of this one and help the home team to victory in another high-scoring game.
Final: Packers 28, Falcons 34
Pittsburgh at New England
I already cranked out over 4200 words on this one at FO, so please read that. I rarely read my own articles, but I read this one on Friday evening and thought it came together very well. If you know me well, you know that I am sometimes not truthful in my game predictions in big games involving the Patriots. I always pick them anyway, but it’s hard to tell when I honestly believe them to win or I’m just conjuring up a reverse jinx. I think the first paragraph in my outlook for this game subtly hints at my real feelings about this one on Sunday night. But as I wrote back in Week 7, Tomlin vs. Belichick is like checkers vs. chess. If Tomlin wants to win this game as an underdog, he’s going to have to make some ballsy calls, whether it’s a fourth-down attempt at midfield or a two-point conversion try to win the game. And when Antonio Brown drops the game-winning 2PC in the final 20 seconds, maybe I start looking for work in a different field on Monday. But I think Brown will play well, Bell will play well, and Roethlisberger usually plays well against the Patriots, but not good enough to overcome the defense. Still, the loss of Gronk should be felt in this one, and I still believe the Patriots defense is vastly overrated and can be exposed by a top quarterback. We just need to see top QB play from Pittsburgh again, and it’s rarely been there even during this winning streak.
Go figure, I like the home teams, both of which I picked to get to the Super Bowl a few weeks ago.
Final: Steelers 21, Patriots 28
Season recap
- Week 1: 7-9
- Week 2: 10-6
- Week 3: 8-8
- Week 4: 8-7
- Week 5: 7-7
- Week 6: 12-3
- Week 7: 10-5
- Week 8: 7-6
- Week 9: 8-5
- Week 10: 7-7
- Week 11: 12-2
- Week 12: 12-4
- Week 13: 10-5
- Week 14: 9-7
- Week 15: 12-4
- Week 16: 9-7
- Week 17: 11-5
- Wild Card: 4-0
- Divisional: 3-1
- Season: 166-98
Captain Comeback: NFL Analysis by Scott Kacsmar 
That 0-35 Rodgers stat is wrong. A lot of those games listed the Packers were winning in the 4th quarter, like the Indianapolis game. In that game at the end of the 3rd, the score was 21-19 Packers, not Colts.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/game?gameId=321007011
Doesn’t matter if they were leading. They trailed by more than 1 point in all of those games.
I see. That makes the Packers’ defensive performances even more integral to the stat than it has to be.
Rodgers has had notoriously bad defenses that are well-known for giving up game-losing points in the clutch. Maybe isolating his bad defenses from the equation as much as possible will give a more accurate result.
The stat puts all the blame on the QB when the problem with the Packers in the clutch has always been their defense, not Rodgers.
Glancing through the list, the Fail Mary game is included. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers is too blame for losing a game in which the Packers never trailed until a bad call on the final play of the game.
It’s a bad stat to judge a QB on in the first place. It’s taking a team record and acting like the QB is solely responsible for it.
What we’re seeing here is that fact that Rodgers has had terrible defenses in the clutch. Rodgers leads comeback drive after comeback drive only to have his defense give up the game-losing score in the clutch.
This is not how to determine how clutch a QB is.
He’s 0-35 guys against winning teams when trailing by more than 1! Not 18-17 or 10-25 or 5-35 or even 1-34. ZERO for THIRTY FIVE! It’s very, very difficult to contextually explain this away. It is, in fact, a significant stat. It really is. Significant blame can be laid on the QB for NEVER winning EVER in these situations.
No, really!
It’s a team statistic that shows how bad Rodgers defenses have been vs good teams when starting the 4th quarter. It doesn’t have anything to do with how clutch Rodgers is, which he continually proves. You know, like during the play that was named NFL Play of the Year when he made that 3rd and 20 to win the game vs the Cowboys in the playoffs. You know, like The Miracle in Motown. This stat is bunk.
Exactly. Blaming the defense 35 times? Rodgers couldn’t pull it off once? There defenses haven’t been known too be that bad as people are previously stating. If it wasn’t for that Charles Woodson led defense they would have never won the super bowl.