Keyes Foresees Conference Championships

Let me start off by saying this has been the year of the unforeseen. Which is quite ironic that I am trying to foresee the future. Green Bay vs Atlanta, of course there was a chance the Packers would win, but like that? Jets over the lack luster Patriot offense? I have to use the "Come on man..." Seriously congratulations to both of those teams but I clearly didn't pick them. I was only correct on 2 games last week Bears and Steelers so saving grace means I would have to stick with them till the end. Let's do the match ups and find out.

Packers vs Bears - This is probably the simpler game to analyze. The Packers go as Rodgers goes. The only way the Packers win this game is with Rodgers playing like he has all season minus the concussions. It's very likely he may light up the Bears defense. Weather calls for 11/21 degrees. That's some awfully cold weather to pass and catch the ball consistently through out the game.  Kickoff is at 3 PM so the later part of this game will be close to night fall. So if the Packers can't pass the run game becomes huge. Can Starks carry them? I have my doubts. On the Bears side the Defense is playing good, not great. They did let up last week towards the end which scares me against Rodgers. Jay Cutler has been phenomenal. I am amazed at what Mike Martz can do as OC with  QB's. Add the next level performance by Matt Forte and Greg Olson the Bears have an offense that can sustain and drive the ball. In all the Packers seem to have the offensive edge, but the Bears have home field. Both teams cold weather tested so  no edge there. On this one I am going with my thick head Bears 30  Packers 20 

Jets vs Steelers - Rex Ryan is one smart coach. When you can talk that much and put a game plan together you deserve the accolade. The man called himself to the carpet, it's me vs him. I mean technicaly it wasn't but that's a huge pill to swallow if it doesn't turn out the way you expected. Mark Sanchez is looking like he will be an elite QB in the coming years, LT finally got passed the Pats and New York is talking Super Bowl. Being from New York I can only imagine the craziness that's about to ensue this weekend. So lets get to the game. Steelers are a team of resolve. A team like that is always one of the hardest to beat, especially at home. The match up for the Jets defense is much better against the Steelers offense then it was against the Pats. If Revis can shut down Ward it becomes about how much can the other receivers contribute. I don't see Mendhall's style running for over 100 yds against the Jets. This is a game where 14 pts can win it. Ben can't do it by himself, they are going to need players to step up and I am sure Mike Tomlin will be making that statement all week. The Jets could be the beneficiaries of excellent field position all game if they can shut Ben down. Rex seems to motivate and push the buttons at all the right times, minus that one loss to the Pats. The offense has confidence, Brian Schottenheimer has been making some good calls along with some bad ones but you can't always get them right. He's got his team in position to win again this week and that's all you can ask for. I am looking forward to this game because this is the best chance the Jets have had in a long time of reaching the Super Bowl and the Steelers just seem to keep turning out great teams with out great names. On this one I am going to go Jets 17 Steelers 13


Hopefully I get this one right....