Championship Sunday

Championship Sunday

The best Sunday of the year is here. I have my pizza and beer ready in the fridge and the day off from work on Monday!


Patriots @ Broncos +3 
Here we go then for what is surely the final time. Yes it's Denver hosting New England but we all know that this game will be won by the performance of the two quarterbacks. It may be a simplistic view but in truth the story is can the great Peyton Manning lead this defensive minded Denver team to victory. Brady is. 11-5 in the meetings of the these two future Hall of Fame QB's but it's been 2-2 in the Play Offs. Denver have the stronger defense and home advantage but will it be enough? You'd expect the Pats to run a similar quick hitting offensive game plan that they used last week against Kansas City. Tom Brady hardly had the ball in his hand before he rifled it out for small short yardage gains. The task for Denver is somehow to find a way to stop that and get pressure on Brady but it will be difficult. Denver seem committed to getting Manning under centre as opposed to any shotgun/pistol packages and they will want to run the ball as much as possible. All the money is for New England and the bookmakers have a huge liability on them going into the game. It is the 'square side' but I like the Patriots to take the game and I sense their under rated defense will put a lid on the offensive success for Manning.
Denver 13 New England 23


Cardinals @ Panthers -3 
This should be a barnstorming game between two of the lesser storied NFL franchises.   This line opened as high as Carolina -6 in some places before it was quickly brought back to -3.5 and it now sits at minus 3. Both head coaches came under criticism last week for their cautious approach to the Divisional Weekend games. Despite Carolina racing to a huge early lead Ron Rivera ensured his team went into their shell in the second half and Cam Newton made sure his coach knew he wasn't happy after the game! Arizona had some nervous moments in their game against Green Bay as Carson Palmer had quite frankly an awful game and if he performs like that this week then it should be a routine victory for the home team. These are two of my favourite teams to watch this season and I sense given the issues of last week either will want to lose because they were accused of being overly cautious. Cam Newton should be able to be very dynamic against this Cardinals offense and Palmer will take his shots against a weakened Panthers secondary. I lean to the Panthers on the handicap line but I LOVE the over 47.5 points.
Carolina 31 Arizona 24


Well there we have it, the season is nearly over bar one game (please don't say what about the Pro Bowl?). It's been a great year and I've really enjoyed writing each week and hope it's at least been of some use for you.


All the best
Jimmy