Online Sportsbook Picks for NFC/AFC Conference Championships

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Bryan Sheridan

Kam Chancellor and the Seattle Seahawks are just two wins away from repeating as Super Bowl champs.

We’re mere days from the NFL Conference Championships and you couldn’t ask for two better matchups. In the NFC, the conference’s top seeds face off in a grudge match between two teams that have battled repeatedly, and controversially, in the last few seasons. In the AFC, Tom Brady and Belichick are planning for Andrew Luck and the Colts, who are coming off a victory over Peyton Manning in what was possible his last game…ever.

According to Vegas, the home teams are clear favorites in both games. Odds at online sportsbook TopBet have the Patriots and Seahawks each favored by at least a touchdown, but there is more to these games than meets the eye.

Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks

Aaron Rodgers is hurt, but he’s still the likely regular season MVP, and he just beat the Dallas Cowboys on one leg, throwing some of his most accurate passes of the year. Don’t count this man out.

The issue for the Packers against Seattle remains their run defense. The Seahawks ran all over the Packers in Week 1, putting up 207 yards, and while the Packers have (at times) found the ability to make plays against the run, most recently causing a key DeMarco Murray fumble, they are still unlikely to stop Marshawn Lynch from clearing the century mark. The Packers will need Rodgers to outscore Lynch if they hope to book their ticket to the Super Bowl.

Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots

Bill Belichick pulled off some vintage trickery in the divisional round of the playoffs against Baltimore. Belichick ran an entire series with a tight end and running back checking in as linemen, and milking the confusion it caused for a touchdown even while the Pats couldn’t run the ball (at all) after their starting center, Bryan Stork, went down with an injury.

The Colts have shown some resilience in their defensive line play in recent weeks, and if they can get the kind of penetration that the Ravens were in the second half against New England, Belichick would be forced to abandon the run again. Without the run game that has helped the Pats to destroy the Colts twice in the last year, including in last season’s playoffs, this game would come down to an aging Brady vs the young stud Luck. Which QB would you rather have in 2015?