NFL: The 'good' and 'bad' sides of the Final Four
The NFL season is winding down, with the Conference Championship Games being held on Sunday to determine who will play in Super Bowl 50 on February 7 in Santa Clara, California.Each conference gets to see the number two seeds go on the road to take on the number one seeds, a field of four that has features four of the top defenses in the league and quarterbacks who have proven in their careers to be able to take the reins of a team and lead them to great heightsUp first is the AFC Championship game, a rematch of two years ago when the Denver Broncos beat the New England Patriots to advance to Super Bowl 48. The game is once again in Denver, where the two teams played earlier, but with New England coming from the cold confines of Massachusetts, they should have little trouble adjusting to the elements.In the NFC, we get Arizona Cardinals traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on the Carolina Panthers in a game featuring the two best teams over the course of the season. Both teams excel on offense and defense and this should be the marquee match up of the season. Let’s dive in and see what each team does well and what they struggle with.
#1 New England Patriots
The Good
Tom Brady and the Patriots pass offense looks to be clicking just at the right time. The Patriots rely on Brady’s ability to diagnose coverage quickly and his receivers to work fast in their routes to find little openings in the pass defense to slowly march down field. With tight end Rob Gronkowski and recevier Julian Edelman looking to be back at full strength in last week’s win vs the Kansas City Chiefs, Brady has his top two pass catchers back after seeing them on the sidelines at various times late in the season. The Patriots defens has also rising to the occasion of late, being opportunistice and setting up their potent offense.
The Bad
Plain and simple, the Patriots can’t run the football. Last week vs the Chiefs they ran the ball a total of 14 times for 38 yards (2.7 per carry), and six of those runs were by quarterback Tom Brady. At this stage of the season, it seems like the Patriots have all but given up on idea of running the ball which could prove detrimental when facing a defense as good as Denver’s. The Patriots need to hope the short pass game is clicking so they can use it as their run game.