Brett Favre – NFC Championship Clock Is Ticking
It is an unlikely NFC game of the year, and while the fate of two great NFL franchises are decided, the clock is ticking on Brett Favre’s career. Ticking so loud that you will hear it over the riotous scene that will be Lambeau Field. Brett Favre is fighting back time. His weapons, once lethal on the football field, have stayed by his side just long enough for him to go into deep January combat, paving the way for an NFC Title game in the Frozen Tundra that is Green Bay. Time is an enemy that no one can defeat. Brett Favre has an opportunity to make it otherwise.
The scene will be pure NFL marketing, much as it was last week in Green Bay. A timeless picture of the storied stadium, a deep-freeze blowing the arctic air of “Ice-Bowls” and other great days gone by, and #4 as always under Center.
In the darkest recesses of Brett Favre’s mind, there is the knowledge that time is drawing thin. The pressure to win for Favre is here, and it is now. His counterpart, Eli Manning, can play without that kind of pressure on him, courtesy of Father Time not standing over, watching, waiting. Brett Favre knows better than anyone how infrequent these opportunities are. This may be his last, great chance.
Once upon a time Favre had the clock on his side. If Green Bay lost a playoff game, it stung but they were a team on the come. Next year would be their turn. They had Mike Holmgren calling shots. They had the late, great Reggie White anchoring a bruising defense. They too had Favre. Favre too had time.
Opportunity in this NFL is a fickle mistress. At 14-3, the Packers are the surprise darlings of the NFL. Having retired from the big stage in recent seasons, the Packers have this opportunity, bright lights and all, to once again steal the spotlight. Favre knows this stage. Many of his teammates do not. Some say their 14-3 record has been accomplished by smoke and mirrors. Favre has his fingerprints all over these Packers, and their 14 wins are real enough.
Green Bay and Favre have caught second-wind. Critics who called for Favre to step aside in recent years, have had their voices shouted down by the steel of his play. The bigger question is: now that the Packers have this last chance with Favre at the helm, are they and he ready to beat the clock one more time?
Time races forward towards the Super Bowl. Time races forward for Brett Favre. Opportunity is racing just ahead of Brett Favre for perhaps the last time in the Favre era. Can he catch it before time catches him?
AFC Championship Game – Patriots / Chargers Prediction, Preview
The San Diego Chargers wrecked all neat plans made by everyone waiting for another Patriots-Colts death match for AFC supremacy. The Indianapolis Colts were defending Super Bowl Champions. It sure didn’t feel that way this season, due to the NFL death grip applied by the New England Patriots, reeling off 17 straight in maniacal fashion. The Colts nature is not to go parading for attention, as opposed to their alter-ego that also got flushed, the Dallas Cowboys.
The Chargers have the opportunity to slay the best regular season NFL team ever this weekend in New England. The Patriots appear unbeatable, but as San Diego proved last weekend they are capable of winning on the road, against a Super Bowl-caliber team. Here though, we must differentiate between very good and 17-0. These Patriots are the goods. They can smash you, they can beat you by a field goal, they take what you give them, and have kept the right side of the ledger oval since Labor Day.
Quarterback Tom Brady is truly patient, a surgeon with a red, white and blue scalpel, initialed by Bill Belichick. Belichick has this team primed. I cannot imagine a letdown, especially after what the Chargers did to Indianapolis. You know that Coach “sky is falling” will preach the message that anything can happen, and to not take a team that was not expected to be in the AFC Championship Game lightly.
San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers may not go thanks to an injured knee. If that is the case, backup Billy Volek will again be pressed into action. Look, I was impressed as anyone by what Volek did when all the chips were down versus the Colts. However, that was one big series, while here he will face 17-0 for an entire game.
The Chargers are a great story. They are fire hot and are not afraid obviously of playing on the road in a big spot. They have the heart of a champion, but the Patriots have the same, are at home, don’t mind playing in the cold, are 17-0, and are arguably the best team ever. This is not a knock against the Chargers. The task is too much for anyone. San Diego’s time is coming for a title perhaps. Just not in the middle of 19-0. Patriots, 31-20.
