Note to Commissioner Goodell: Keep the Pro Bowl

We're two days past the 2013 Pro Bowl, and the Super Bowl hoopla has taken full effect in New Orleans and all over every major sports network. But I still feel the need to address this past season's Pro Bowl. Then, and only then, can we get on to the last couple of days leading up to the big dance.

First off, I know the Pro Bowl is a seemingly pointless game in terms of effort and competitiveness. Players often only give half an effort in attempting tackles, blocking kicks, running routes, etc. out of fear of suffering a major injury that could effect the respective player's offseason and heading into the following year.

Fans constantly complain about the lack of effort in this NFL all-star game, and commissioner Roger Goodell has threatened to do away with the game earlier this year. I, however, am here to tell you that doing away with the Pro Bowl would be a mistake.

Sure, the NFC once again dominated in Hawaii on Sunday evening, defeating the AFC all-stars by a score of 62-35. And sure, a tight end (Minnesota Vikings Kyle Rudolph) won the game's Most Valuable Player award for catching 5 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.

The fact that the Pro Bowl is now in between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl was a good move, although it does take away the players from competition. Taking Baltimore and San Francisco players out of the mix, and adding to that the players that back out due to injury, and the Pro Bowl pool is watered down.

All this being said, there's no way the commish can cancel the Pro Bowl.

That's right, I said it.

Lop-sided scoring, lackluster tackling, watered-down all-stars to choose from, yet I still believe we should keep the game around?

The players and their families get a week-long vacation together after a long five months apart, plus don't fans enjoy high-scoring fiascos?

Pro Bowl selections have been used to gauge a player's career successes, it's tough to take that away after all these years. This game isn't about the fans, in my opinion. It's all about the players, and I think it's a selfish move to take this event away from the guys, and the state of Hawaii––they don't have an NFL team and this is the one time of year they get to watch a game in person.

The players have so much fun with the game, so who cares that they don't give it all 100%. The league has done a couple of things to make it more enjoyable for fans such as putting mics on players and allowing players to tweet on the sidelines throughout the game. But this past year's Pro Bowl was incredibly memorable in a couple of different aspects.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

J.J. Watt plays wide receiver

Second-year Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt lined up wide against the Chicago Bears cornerback for the AFC offensive squad and ran a quick slant in the end zone. Watt nearly caught a touchdown pass from Peyton Manning on the play. He gave offense another go later in the game as well. Unfortunately I had trouble finding a video of the play(s), but I guess next time you'll just have to tune in yourselves.

Watt bloodies finger, requires stitches

Shortly after lining up at wideout, Watt was seen on the sidelines with a bloody finger (photo shown below). It's unclear whether he injured the finger on offense or defense, but either way there's no doubt he was giving it his all. In a sideline interview during the game, Watt said to reporter Michele Tafoya: "Hey commish, we're playing hard."

Jeff Saturday snaps ball to Peyton Manning

Old teammates in Indianapolis, center Jeff Saturday snapped the ball to future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning for a majority of his 13-year career in Indy. Now playing for the Green Bay Packers, Saturday was the starting center for the NFC, while Peyton was the starting quarterback for the AFC, representing the Denver Broncos.

With Saturday announcing his retirement from the NFL, the 14-year veteran snapped the ball to Manning one last time early in the game. After the play Manning gave Saturday a hug and handed him the game ball. Things like this is what the Pro Bowl should be all about.

Referee Ed Hochuli has some fun with PI call

There were very little penalties throughout the game, surprisingly enough. In fact, the first one was pass interference called on Denver cornerback Champ Bailey in the end zone and didn't even come until late in the first half.

Hochuli, the famed buff-armed referee and attorney from Milwaukee, WI, had a little fun with the call, stating "yes, there are penalties in the Pro Bowl" before announcing the infraction to the crowd over his microphone. Video evidence below (sorry, it's not the best quality):

Watching Larry Fitzgerald play with a real quarterback

Sorry, Arizona. But I had to throw this one in here at the end. Fitz, playing with the Cards and all, has played with quarterbacks such as Josh McCown, John Skelton, Matt Leinart, Derek Anderson, Max Hall, Kurt Warner and Kevin Kolb throughout his nine-year professional career. Warner is a borderline Hall of Fame signal caller, but the rest are downright scrubs. This means that the Pro Bowl is the one day of the year that the All-Pro wideout gets to catch passes from a legitimate quarterback.

Being a 7-time Pro Bowler, Fitz has gotten to play with some great quarterbacks, but in games that don't mean a thing. Fitzgerald caught six passes for 59 yards and a touchdown on Sunday evening.

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With all the above moments in the seemingly pointless all-star game held in Hawaii each season, does this change your mind about the Pro Bowl?

Note to Commish: Keep the Pro Bowl!

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Championship Sunday Preview: All-Out Blitz's Picks

It's here, the second-most important day of the NFL season: Conference Championship Sunday. We're now about a half an hour away from kick-off in Atlanta, with the second game kicking off in Foxboro 3.5 hours after that.

So far this postseason we've put up a 5-3 record when it comes to picking games. Starting out strong with a 4-0 Wild Card record, but then hitting a free fall after a 1-3 Divisional round record last week.

There are 3 major games left in the 2012-13 NFL season, with two of them coming today. Here's our Conference Championship preview and game picks.

San Francisco @ Atlanta

3pm (eastern time), Georgia Dome

Ah, yes. Two teams that I highly underestimated in last week's Divisional round. Unfortunately I will be forced to pick against one of these two teams for a second consecutive week. And it's going to be very tough to go against these Niners after dismantling Green Bay's defense both on the ground and in the air.

Second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick set records against the Pack, running for the most yards in a single game by a quarterback (181) with 2 TDs in addition to passing for 263 yards and 2 more TDs. Atlanta's Matt Ryan had an elite first half of play against Seattle's top-ranked defense, putting the Falcons ahead 20-0. But the second half was a different story.

Atlanta's defense allowed rookie Russell Wilson to lead the 'Hawks to 28 second-half points, including 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter. While the 'Hawks mounted a comeback, Ryan threw two picks for the Dirty Birds.

Luckily, Ryan's final drive ended in a game-winning 49-yard field goal from Matt Bryant with :08 to play. But there's no doubt the Falcons backed into the win and didn't play a full four quarters of elite football. Against San Francisco, they will absolutely need to play flawless football, because Kaepernick and the Niners' offense proved that they can score quickly and rather easily. San Fran's 21 fourth quarter points, led by 323 total rushing yards throughout the game, is a scary feat that will keep Atlanta's 21st-ranked rushing defense on its toes.

Unfortunately for Matt Ryan, who has proved to be an elite regular season quarterback in his five-year career, the Falcons aren't likely to reproduce its 167 yard rushing performance. In 17 games this season, Atlanta has broken the 100-yard mark just seven times. The Falcons have clearly been forced to rely on Matty Ice's right arm and top-tier receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones, but San Francisco's hard-nosed defense has also limited opposing offenses to under 200 yards passing on eight different occasions this season.

San Francisco's No. 2 overall defense has recorded 38 sacks, forced 25 turnovers and limited opposing rushers to just 1,507 yards (4th in league) this season, with quarterbacks posting just a 78.0 QB rating. There's no doubt that they'll put the pressure on Ryan and force some errant throws. The question is, did the Falcons figure out the correct formula for stopping Kaepernick? Because the Packers surely couldn't find an answer for him last week both in the passing and run game.

Prediction: I'm not going against these Niners, I'll take them in a close one over Matt Ryan's Falcons. San Fran wins on the road, 38-31.

Baltimore @ New England

6:30pm (eastern time), Gillette Stadium

It's rather disappointing that the current temperature in Foxboro is an unseasonably 53 degrees. Between one game in a dome, and the other approaching 60 degrees outside, we wont witness any cold games such as last week's BAL/DEN or HOU/NE games. But this is the matchup to watch, nonetheless.

It's Ray Lewis' final showdown with New England's head coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady as he and his Baltimore defense will fight for one final game two weeks from today.

All-time the Patriots lead the series between these two teams by a count of 7-2, including the postseason (1-1 in the postseason). But, as of lately, the head-to-head matchup has been somewhat of a stalemate. Week 2 of this season Baltimore got the best of Tom Brady & Co. thanks in part to a game-winning field goal from rookie kicker Justin Tucker.

In the postseason, this game last season the Ravens traveled to Foxboro and were knocked off a game shy of the Super Bowl after then-Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff missed a potential game-tying 31-yard field. New England won 23-20 and went on to fall to Eli Manning's Giants in the Super Bowl.

Eight days after upsetting the No. 1 seed Denver Broncos, 38-35 in double overtime, the Ravens get set to knock off the No. 2 seed in New England as 9-9.5 point underdogs yet again. In that game the Ravens overcame vital special teams mistakes (allowing two Trindon Holliday return TDs) and quarterback Joe Flacco proved all of his critics that he can take the reins and lead the team to a postseason victory.

It was, by far, Flacco's finest postseason performance, throwing for 331 yards and 3 TDs in the victory. But, most importantly, he limited his mistakes and showed confidence. Ray Rice's 131 yards was key late in the game and the offense managed to take advantage of Denver's mistakes and hold on for the victory.

However, this week may be a little different. Yet another elite postseason quarterback will square off with Flacco as Brady and his high-powered offense take the field against Ray Lewis. But, lately the Ravens have been able to get pressure on quarterbacks and I'd expect pass-rusher Paul Kruger to have another big day against Brady. Houston failed to force any turnovers, and that cost them big time, surrendering 40+ points to the Pats in the 41-28 loss.

Baltimore allowed 35 points last week, but that didn't matter as Flacco and his offense managed to keep up with Peyton and force a couple of turnovers. If Baltimore's defense can force some Brady mistakes, which I believe will end up happening with the pressure that will be put on him all game, then they have a good shot at knocking off another top AFC team today.

I picked against Baltimore last week, but I don't think I can do that again this week and they'll hold on for a second consecutive road postseason win. I mean, I had the Ravens in the Super Bowl (losing to the Packers) back in August, so I might as well just stick with my preseason pick.

Prediction: Another high-scoring game in this evening's AFC Championship. Baltimore prevails, 31-28.

According to our predictions, we'll be seeing an all-Harbaugh Super Bowl in New Orleans two weeks from today. It'd be a very interesting storyline, don't get me wrong. I just hope that (if it happens) the topic isn't worn out. Two weeks is a very long time between games, and there's always something that the media chooses to talk about for the full two weeks.

It's highly possible that we could either see the final games from two legends: Ray Lewis and ATL's Tony Gonzalez, who is also likely to retire at the end of the season. Both will end up being first ballot Hall of Famers and are in consideration for the best all-time at their respective positions. Wouldn't it be an interesting storyline if they ended up in a Super Bowl showdown? If anyone deserves a Super Bowl ring, it's Tony G. Sorry I can't pick Atlanta, Tony!

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"What Just Happened?": Recapping a Wild Weekend of Football

The Divisional round slate of games trumped last weekend's wild card games by a long shot. But I guess that's to be expected when you have the top four teams in the postseason squaring off against four teams who just picked up some extra self-confidence a week prior.

Plenty of shocking outcomes and high-scoring games to talk about today. Here's what we learned after this weekend:

Ravens upset No. 1 seeded Broncos at Mile High

This was an instant classic. On one hand we have arguably the best team in the postseason and an MVP candidate/Hall of Fame-bound quarterback looking to further cement his legacy. On the other, we have a motivated and rejuvenated Baltimore defense whose legendary linebacker was facing possibly his last game ever. What did we get? A shocking upset that went into double overtime.

We, along with all 18 NFL Network analysts, picked the 13-3 Broncos to manhandle the Ray Lewis-led Ravens. Instead, we got a match-up for the ages and finally saw quarterback Joe Flacco step up and prove he can keep up with the big boys of the league.

Running back Ray Rice got his touches and went for 131 on the ground while adding a touchdown, but what impressed me the most was the fact that Flacco stuck in there and was able to out-pass Peyton Manning (Flacco: 18/34, 331 yards, 3 TDs, 116.2 rating; Manning: 28/43, 290 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs, 88.3 rating). Denver failed to put any pressure on Flacco as they sacked him just one time all game, and he was able to hit WR Torrey Smith on a couple of clutch touchdowns.

I mentioned that it would take a flawless game from Flacco for Baltimore to pull this one out (which even then I wasn't so sure they'd manage to do so), and that's exactly what he did. Shocking, right? That's not the only shocking feat we saw on either side. Denver stayed in the game because of great special teams play from former Houston returner Trindon Holliday. The 5'5" Holliday returned a punt 90 yards for a TD and a kickoff 104 yards for a TD in the game, accounting for close to half of the points.

The game was back-and-forth from the start, as each team traded touchdowns all the way through. This game, which didn't end until Justin Tucker nailed a 47-yard field goal with 13:18 to play in the second overtime period, saw five different ties and never saw a team leading by anymore than seven points. Down 35-28 with under a minute to play in the game, Flacco hit Jacoby Jones (another former Texans return man) on a 70-yard TD bomb to tie the game with :31 to play.

The play saw a blown coverage on Denver's defense and could have easily been avoided had he not taken a bad angle. Either way, Baltimore was back in it and finally came away with the victory thanks to Tucker.

Key mistakes was the difference in this game. A Manning interception returned for a TD (there was a questionable pass interference non-call on the play that may have overturned the play) early in the game cost the Broncos seven points. Two interceptions and 10 penalties for 87 yards made all the difference in the world as Flacco and his Baltimore offense managed to take advantage of those opportunities and make the most of them.

Key Stats:

*This was the first double overtime game since the Panthers defeated the Rams 29-23 in two overtimes on January 10, 2004.

*Flacco improves to 7-4 in postseason, recording his second career 300-yard passing game in the playoffs. His 3 TDs are a career-high in postseason play.

*Ray Lewis made 17 combined tackles

*In Peyton's 20th career postseason start he falls to 9-11 and it was the eighth different time that he's been one-and-done in the postseason.

Kaerpernick, Niners Pull Away from Packers in 2nd Half

The Saturday night cap was poised to be yet another great match-up, and that's exactly how it started out. Much like the previous game in Denver, this one saw multiple tie games and lead changes, as the two teams swapped touchdowns and field goals on its way to four ties, three of which came in the opening half.

Green Bay got the scoring going with a 52-yard Sam Shields interception touchdown. Second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick came right back, however, scoring and tying the game at seven with a 20-yard TD dash. DuJuan Harris, Green Bay's leading rusher with 52 yards on 11 carries, gave the Pack the lead back late in the first quarter with an 18-yard TD run. Back-to-back Kaepernick to Michael Crabtree touchdowns gave San Fran the 21-14 lead as Crabtree broke out for the game of his life (9 receptions, 119 yards, 2 TDs in his third career postseason game).

Aaron Rodgers isn't the kind of quarterback to step down, especially against an unproven, 25-year old Kaepernick. Rodgers came back out and led the Pack on a 69-yard drive, capped with a 20-yard strike to James Jones. Tied once again at 21. But just before the half Kaepernick one-upped the Super Bowl champion Rodgers, driving the Niners 79 yards down the field to set up a 36-yard field goal from seasoned veteran kicker David Akers.

Green Bay managed to tie the game for a fourth time on its second drive of the second half, setting up a 31-yard Mason Crosby field goal. But, it was all downhill from there. Green Bay couldn't seem to stop the running game, between running back Frank Gore (119 yards yards, 1 TD on 19 carries) or the speedy Kaepernick. Kaepernick has been a running threat all season, topping 400 yards with 5 TDs in his seven starts. On Saturday night vs. Green Bay, there were gapping holes which Kaepernick exploited. He finished the game with an NFL record 181 yards on the ground, adding two touchdowns 20 and 56 yards out. The rushing total is an NFL record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game. Any game, not just a postseason game. Michael Vick was the previous record holder.

The Niners' 21 unanswered points in the second half gave San Francisco a 45-31 victory. Not only did Kaepernick outplay Rodgers, but the 49ers held the ball for 38 minutes and completely dominated all facets of the second half. Green Bay's late 3-yard TD pass from Rodgers to Greg Jennings was a result of San Francisco's defense slacking off, and I'd consider it garbage yards/points. It made Aaron's stats look slightly better, but I believe that the score of the game doesn't even tell the entire story. A great first half, but San Francisco absolutely blew the Pack out of the water in the second half.

In the fourth quarter, Kaepernick led an 11-play scoring drive that took nearly 8 minutes. Nine of those plays were running plays by Kaepernick, Gore and Anthony Dixon. By game's end, three different running backs, in addition to Kaepernick, had run the ball at some point in the game. Truthfully, I'm a little concerned for Atlanta's 21st-ranked run defense next week. San Francisco's running game looks to be unstoppable, and I clearly underestimated Kaepernick this past weekend.

Key Stats

*San Francisco combined for 323 yards and 4 TDs on the ground between four different runners. That's the most, by far, allowed by the Packers all season long. As a team, that's 7.5 yards per rush over 43 carries. Green Bay's rushing defense (17th) was ranked slightly higher than the Atlanta Falcons' this past season.

*Like I already stated, Kaepernick's 181 rushing yards is an NFL record for a quarterback in a single game. Any game. Vick previously held the record.

*The total plays of the game: San Fran 75, Green Bay 56

*Aldon Smith didn't record a single sack for the Niners (Patrick Willis had team's lone sack), and he recorded just two tackles all game, with one QB hit. Imagine what damage could be done if he can get to Matt Ryan next week?

Falcons Fend off the NFL's Newest "Comeback Kid" in Seattle's Rookie Wilson

Matt "Matty Ice" Ryan appears to have finally gotten that monkey off his back. As did future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who is likely to retire after the season. Ryan, 27, was in the same draft class as Joe Flacco. But, unlike Joe, Matt is still winless in the postseason. Until yesterday of course.

It didn't come without a bit of a nail-biter, however. After another slow start from Seattle, who was looking to defeat two east coast teams on the road in the past two weeks, the Seahawks didn't give up without a fight.

Seattle's first four possessions ended with two punts, a Marshawn Lynch fumble and a turnover on downs, which came deep in Atlanta territory after head coach Pete Carroll elected to go for it on 4th & 1 (while down 10-0) instead of playing it safe and kicking a field goal. On Seattle's fifth possession of the game, rookie quarterback Russell Wilson drove the 'Hawks down the field on 13 plays but, with no timeouts left, Wilson was sacked for -9 yards on 3rd & 11 at the ATL 11-yard line. Unable to spike the ball and kick a field goal since it was already 4th down, the rookie attempted to just run one more play but the clock ran out prior to the snap. Seattle went into the locker room at the half down 20-0 and with an awful taste in its mouth.

Matt Ryan appeared to be on cruise control to his first postseason victory in four tries, throwing two TD passes to Gonzalez and Roddy White in the 20-point first half. But Wilson came right out of the locker room and led Seattle on a 9 play, 78-yard scoring drive capped off with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate. The scoreboard read 20-7, which gave the visiting 'Hawks hope. But that hope was short-lived as Ryan came out a couple minutes later and marched the Falcons into the end zone on a 5-yard pass to Jason Snelling, capping the 80-yard drive.

This drive is what appeared to put the Seahawks out of the game, despite it still being early in the third quarter. Seattle's No. 10 rushing defense couldn't seem to stop Atlanta's 29th-ranked rushing attack, led by veteran Michael Turner and Jacquizz Rodgers. On 26 carries throughout the game, Atlanta combiend for 167 yards, which was good enough for 6.4 yards per carry.

But Wilson had yet to give up, as he led his offense to two consecutive scoring drives. It started with a one-yard run from Wilson early in the fourth, and was able to continue thanks to a key interception by safety Earl Thomas. Following the rare Matty Ryan mistake, the Seattle offense went 62 yards on four plays, as Wilson hit tight end Zach Miller in the end zone for a 3-yard TD strike. It was now early in the fourth and suddenly Seattle saw themselves down just six points, 27-21.

Seattle's defense finally stepped up its game in the fourth quarter stopping the Atlanta offense to three-and-outs on two consecutive drives and setting up the offense at its own 39-yard line with 3:00 to play. Managing to move up and down the field with seemingly no problems at all in the second half of play, Wilson once again led the Seahawks on a 60+ yard drive and capped it with a game-changing 2-yard rushing touchdown from Marshawn Lynch. After confirming the play in the booth upstairs, a Ryan Longwell extra point gave the Seahawks its first lead of the day, 28-27.

Once again, we saw the incredible take place in the Georgia Dome. Matt Ryan came away with a clutch 3-yard drive with :31 to play, throwing passes of 22 and 19 yards to Harry Douglas and Gonzalez. This set up a game-winning 49-yard field goal from Matt Bryant to send the Falcons to the NFC Championship game next Sunday afternoon.

Key Stats:

*Next weekend is only the third NFC Championship appearance in Atlanta's 47-year history (1-1 in previous two championship games). They are 7-11 in postseason play, and 3-5 in the Divisional round of the postseason.

*This game was Matt Ryan's first postseason victory (1-3) and first postseason game with 3 TDs. His rating of 93.7 is the best he's posted in the playoffs.

*Atlanta ran for 100 yards as a team only six times all season, and their 167 yards in Sunday's win over Seattle was the most in 2012-13 by 21 yards. They went 6-0 in games in which they ran for over 100 yards.

*As a rookie, Wilson posted a 102.4 rating with 572 yards, 3 TDs and just one interception in his first two postseason starts. He also ran for 127 yards and a TD in his two games against Washington and Atlanta while his Seahawks put up an average of 26.0 points per game (39 of the 52 points came in the second half, and there were zero first quarter points). Not bad for a rookie, huh?

*The win was the first postseason win for ATL tight end Tony Gonzalez in his illustrious 16-year Hall of Fame career (he's now 1-5 with the Chiefs and Falcons). The 13-time Pro Bowler is expected to retire at the end of the season, so next week could be both his and Lewis' final game. If not, then Super Bowl Sunday will be.

Patriots manhandle Texans, Move on to Host AFC Championship in 2011 Rematch with Baltimore

The first two possessions for New England's offense was a little alarming, and it looked as if the Texans defense could maintain the tempo and slow down Tom Brady's roll. Ehh, not so much once the second quarter rolled around.

Sure, the Houston defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive while putting up three points thanks to a Shayne Graham field goal with its first offensive possession. Another punt on the second New England drive gave J.J. Watt and Houston confidence, and the Texans trailed just 7-3 at the end of the first.

But Houston quarterback Matt Schaub appeared a little too cautious with the ball and, because of that, Houston had several early drives stall and were forced to punt. Settling for two first half Graham field goals diminished the offense's confidence as they trailed 17-13 heading into the half. A scoreless third quarter for the Texans allowed the Pats to jump 31-13, and then extend that lead to 38-13 early in the fourth quarter.

New England's running backs had busy days. The youngsters Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen combined for 124 yards on the ground in addition to two rushing TDs a piece. The hardly-used Vereen (62 carries in 13 games this year) added in two receiving touchdowns from Brady (Brady threw for 344 yards and 3 TDs on the day), totaling a career-high 3 TDs for the game. Already down by 25 points, Houston's 15 fourth quarter points made no difference as the Pats rolled to a 41-28 victory. Putting up 41 points on the 10th-best scoring defense, in a postseason game no less, is pretty impressive. Even if it is the New England Patriots.

There's really not much to say about this one, as this was expected. Watt and Brooks Reed got Brady on the ground early in the game, but that was the only sack of the day. Despite being hit 7 times, Brady stood in the pocket and hit five different receivers for the second-most passing yards in his 23-game postseason career.

There is one big headline that came from this game and will have a major impact on next weekend's match-up at Gillette Stadium, and that's that tight end Rob Gronkowski re-broke his forearm and will miss the rest of the postseason. He may even require a second surgery on it. This injury is likely to effect the beginning of next season as well, although I expect him to be just fine by the time September rolls around. Luckily for New England, Gronk didn't have an impact in yesterday's game (he was re-injured on the only play he was thrown to), so maybe they'll be able to manage without him next week.

Key Stats:

*The victory is the 17th of Brady's postseason career, surpassing Joe Montana (Tom's childhood idol) on the all-time postseason wins list by a quarterback.

*In this game Brady also became just the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for 40 postseason touchdowns. He now has 41 of them in his 23 starts. Joe Montana and Brett Favre were the other two to accomplish this feat. Montana had 45 in 23 starts while Favre had 44 in 24 starts.

*Thanks to his 8 catch, 131 yard performance, Wes Welker now has 61 receptions for 569 yards and 3 TDs in his eight game postseason career. All coming with New England, the Patriots are 5-3 in those games.

*Arian Foster's 1-yard TD run gives him at least one in each of his four career postseason starts over the last two seasons. Houston is 2-2 in those games and he has a total of 6 touchdowns (five rushing, 1 receiving).

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There's no doubt we witnessed some of the best weekend of playoff football in a long time, as we had a much higher scoring slate of games than the previous week. Each of the eight teams managed to put at least 28 points up on the scoreboard and we got to see the highest-scoring weekend of playoff football, with 276 total points being scored throughout the four games. That's an average of 34.5 per team.

What a weekend. But the best part about this is Championship Sunday may even top the excitement we witnessed these last two days.

The 49ers will look to avenge last year's NFC Championship loss to the Giants as they travel to Atlanta to take on the top seeded Falcons (3 p.m. eastern time on FOX). On the AFC side of things, the Ravens will look to get its revenge on the Patriots after falling just short of the Super Bowl, at the hands of the Pats, in last year's AFC Championship game (6:30 p.m. eastern time on CBS).

How about that, three of last year's Championship teams managed to get back to the big game for a second consecutive season. There's even a chance we could see another Harbaugh Bowl on Super Sunday.

The All-Out Blitz's game picks will come later on in the week––we need some time to mull over the match-ups.

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Playoff Preview: Sunday's Divisional Match-ups

Rough day in regards to picking games yesterday, as the 10-point underdog Ravens upset the No. 1 Broncos in double overtime and San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick literally ran away with a 45-31 victory in the second half against Green Bay.

But today is a new day, and there are still two more games to be played this weekend. Here is a quick preview of both match-ups.

Sunday January 13, 2013

5 Seahawks @ 1 Falcons

1 pm (eastern time), Georgia Dome

The AFC's No. 1 seed has already gone down, and I think later today the NFC's No. 1 seed will fall as well. People don't seem to be giving the Seahawks any credit for its victory last weekend, but the truth is they are probably one of the hottest teams in the NFC right now. A scary combination of defense (No. 1 in the league) and a running game.

Atlanta's offense put up 30 or more points five times this season and has the league's 6th-best passing offense, but a lack of a capable running game may hold back Matt Ryan and his Falcons. Say all you want about this league now being a pass-happy league, but you still need a great defense and a consistent running game to win playoff games and honestly I don't think this defense will be able to limit Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch on the ground.

Seven of Atlanta's 13 wins this season have been by a touchdown or less and, personally, I always found this Falcons team to be overrated. Ryan is 34-6 at home in his career (including a playoff loss to Green Bay), but the postseason has been a different story as he's gone 0-3 with 4 interceptions and a 71.2 rating.

This is a new season, however, and the past postseason games for Ryan do not matter today. With Ryan playing at home, he should have a decent game, but Atlanta's 29th-best running game is likely to be non-existent against Seattle's No. 10 run defense.

On offense, I'm expecting to see rookie Russell Wilson at his finest and we should see a lot of plays coming out of the pistol with some option runs, because Atlanta hasn't seem to be able to stop the opposition on the ground this season. No turnvers from Wilson, and this offense could put up 30-40 points inside Atlanta's dome. Sorry Tony Gonzalez (Atlanta TE), but I think you'll fall to 0-6 in your postseason career today.

Prediction: Seahawks 34, Falcons 24

3 Texans @ 2 Patriots

4:30 pm, Gillette Stadium

Earlier this season, just a couple of weeks ago actually, Tom Brady carved up Houston's 10th-ranked defense for 42 points on the primetime Monday night stage. It was all downhill for Houston after that, as they finished the season 1-2 and backed into the postseason. They had a shot for a couple weeks to clinch home-field advantage and a first round bye, but failed to do so.

A sloppy 19-13 Wild Card victory over Cincinnati last week got Houston to this point, but it's not looking too promising for Matt Schaub's Texans. Of course, the Ravens already proved us all wrong this weekend, so perhaps the Texans can do it again today? I'm playing it safe and going with New England, who always seem to have the highest-scoring offense year-in and year-out.

Going against Brady and head coach Bill Belichick in the postseason is not a smart move. With a 16-6 record in his illustrious postseason career, Brady's level of play elevates once January and February rolls around. In past seasons New England was a pass-oriented team that never really worked at establishing the run, but with Stevan Ridley on the field this season, New England has been a much more rounded offense. On less than 300 rushing attempts, the 23-year old Ridley broke out with 1,263 yards and 12 TDs on the ground.

Arian Foster running for 100+ yards is likely today against New England's defense, but we've seen that a 100-yard rusher isn't going to automatically put a team in great position to beat the Pats. We've seen that all season, as the Patriots have gone 7-3 this season when allowing 100 or more yards on the ground. Nope, Matt Schaub will actually need to make some plays in the passing game (and limit INTs) in order to come away with a win today. A couple of big plays on defense from J.J. Watt or Connor Barwin wouldn't hurt either.

Though he was voted to a Pro Bowl this season, I always thought of Matt Schaub as more of a game-manager in this offense. But if he wants to prove his worth to me today, he'll need to make some big plays. I don't think Houston's defense will be able to limit the damage that Brady leaves, and the Pats will advance to the AFC Championship against Baltimore for the second consecutive season.

Prediction: Patriots 35, Texans 21

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16 Bold Predictions for NFL Divisional Round Weekend

We've already discussed our predictions for today's two Divisional round games between Baltimore and Denver, and Green Bay and San Francisco. But, we have yet to discuss the possible happenings during the weekend's four games.

Will Ray Rice break 100 yards against Denver's defense? Can J.J. Watt get 2-3 sacks on New England's Tom Brady? How about Colin Kaepernick: can he throw 200 yards and run for another 100 against Green Bay?

Here are a couple of stats or feats that we, the All-Out Blitz, believe will happen throughout today's and tomorrow's four games (sorted by games):

Baltimore at Denver

*Bernard Pierce out-rushes Ray Rice for the second consecutive week, but neither breaks 100 yards for the game.

*Ray Lewis makes 10+ tackles again, but Baltimore's defense fails to force any Denver turnovers.

*Joe Flacco throws for 200 yards and a touchdown, but also throws two picks and is sacked four times in the loss.

*Peyton Manning throws for 300 yards and 3 TDs, while WRs Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker both manage 100+ receiving yards.

*Von Miller records two of Denver's four sacks and Champ Bailey makes his third career postseason interception.

Green Bay at San Francisco

*Green Bay's defense keeps Kaepernick to under 200 passing yards and Frank Gore to under 100 rushing yards for the game.

*Aaron Rodgers spreads the ball around the field, hitting 10 different receivers for over 300 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

*Clay Matthews puts pressure on Kaepernick, recording 2 sacks and just causing an overall ruckus against San Fran's offensive line. In seven career postseason games, Matthews has recorded 24 total tackles and 6.5 sacks.

*Aldon Smith records the only two sacks of Green Bay's Rodgers, and San Fran fails to force any turnovers for just the third time all season (Week 6 against New York and Week 13 against St. Louis).

Seattle at Atlanta

*Matt Ryan throws three interceptions against Seattle's defense, and Atlanta gains under 80 combined rushing yards as a team.

*Both Julio Jones and Roddy White are limited to under 100 yards through the air as TE Tony Gonzalez is Atlanta's leading receiver. Unfortunately, the future Hall of Fame tight end will fall to 0-6 in his postseason career.

*Marshawn Lynch will bring extra Skittles to the game and break out for 150 rushing yards and two TDs for Seattle.

*Russell Wilson plays mistake-free football in the dome, as he hands Atlanta its fourth consecutive playoff loss.

Houston at New England

*Houston's J.J. Watt sacks Tom Brady twice, despite the Texans allowing 400 total yards and 30+ points to New England's offense.

*Arian Foster breaks 100 yards for Houston but Matt Schaub is sacked three times and throws two picks, which New England turns into 14 points.

*Tom Brady throws for 300 yards and 3 TDs against Houston's 10th-ranked scoring defense, improving to 4-1 all-time against the Texans (first meeting in the postseason).

Do you have any bold predictions for this weekend's games? If so, share them here!

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Playoff Preview: Saturday's Divisional Round Match-ups

Last week the All-Out Blitz went 4-0 in our Wild Card picks. Can we improve to 8-0 after this weekend? Here's a look at our picks for today's first two Divisional round match-ups, which we are now just over three hours away from!

Saturday January 12, 2013

4 Ravens @ 1 Broncos

4:30 pm (eastern time), Sports Authority Field at Mile High

Heading into halftime last Sunday against the Colts Baltimore led 10-6, but the offense came out in the second half and took the game over. Joe Flacco led the attack with a spectacular showing (12/23. 282 yards, 2 TDs), which I admit is not something I was expecting to see. I predicted that a Baltimore victory would come through a heavy dose of Ray Rice, but it was actually Rice's backup rookie Bernard Pierce who stole the show against Indy.

Rice ran for just 68 yards on 15 carries while losing two fumbles and almost costing Baltimore at critical times in the game, while Pierce stepped in and ran for 103 yards on just 13 carries as the Ravens managed to easily move the ball up and down the field. Flacco hit Anquan Boldin five times in the second half, for 145 yards and a touchdown.

On defense, Baltimore felt the presence of returning linebacker Ray Lewis as he made 13 tackles and nearly made an interception early in the game. Paul Kruger put pressure on rookie signal caller Andrew Luck for most of the day, sacking him 2.5 times and Baltimore forced two Luck mistakes. The Colts' offense held the ball for nearly 38 of the game's 60 minutes as Luck set a rookie record for pass attempts in a postseason game (54), but were forced to settle for three Adam Vinatieri field goals and never got into the end zone against Baltimore's stout defense.

This week will be a much different story for Baltimore, as they get a match-up with the No. 4 overall defense on the road. Sure, Flacco and company could handle the Colts and move on with a 24-9 first round victory, but now they are forced to travel to the Mile High and face a much better defense. Indy was ranked 21st in overall defense, 21st in pass defense and 29th in run defense. The Broncos are 4th, 3rd and 3rd and somehow get overlooked as a top defense around the league.

Indianapolis didn't exactly have a standout pass rusher on its squad this season (Robert Mathis' 8.0 sacks led the team), but the Broncos have two guys in Von Miller (18.5 sacks this season) and Elvis Dumervil (11.0) who don't waste any time getting after opposing QBs and eating them for lunch. Mathis got to Flacco just once last week, but if I'm Flacco I'm not exactly looking forward to this match-up in Denver.

How can the Ravens pull off a victory today? Mistake-free. If this offense makes just one mistake, they aren't winning this game. Peyton Manning and his No. 2 scoring offense will make Baltimore pay dearly for any mistakes they make on the offensive side of the ball. Going for his 5th career MVP trophy this season (hopefully Adrian Peterson will win it instead), Manning is playing a strong as ever right now and has turned Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker into Pro Bowl-worthy wideouts.

Prediction: Broncos 31, Ravens 14

3 Packers @ 2 Niners

8 pm (eastern time), Candlestick Park

Despite the Vikes not playing with starter Christian Ponder last Saturday night, the Packers' 24-10 victory over Minnesota last Saturday night looked pretty impressive. Quarterback Joe Webb couldn't complete a pass to save his life, and I even think he failed to hit a trash can two feet away from while attempting to throw his Gatorade cup away on the sidelines (no joke). Completing just 11 of 30 attempts, Minnesota's offense once again consisted of: Adrian Peterson running a heavy dose.

After allowing 409 rushing yards to Peterson in the previous two match-ups between these two teams this season, Green Bay surrendered just 99 yards on 22 carries. So anytime you hold AP to under 5.0 yards per carry, you're gonna have a good day. The only time Minnesota got into the end zone was on a 50-yard pass from Webb to Michael Jenkins with under four minutes to play in the game, so you can almost call it garbage yards and points. The game was long over by that time.

Aaron Rodgers (23/33, 274 yards, 1 TD, 104.9 rating) played near-flawless football against Minny's 15th-ranked defense, but tonight will be a bit of a different story. Going up against San Fran's No. 2 defense will be a huge challenge for Rodgers and this offense. But with a banged up Justin Smith and after surrendering 34+ points to New England and Seattle late in the season, it's been proven that it's possible for a high-scoring offense to put up points on the Niners.

San Francisco defeated Green Bay 30-22 in the first game of the season, but there's a huge difference between then and now. First off, Alex Smith was the Niners' quarterback back then while now second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick is under center for San Fran and he has zero postseason experience. Second off, the Packers failed to run the ball effectively (14 attempts for 45 yards). Rodgers was the team's leading rusher in that game, running the ball 5 times for 27 yards while Cedric Benson ran 9 times for 18 yards.

This week will be a whole new story, as the Packers have appeared to have found its guy in the backfield. Second-year back DuJuan Harris ran the ball 34 times for 157 yards and 2 TDs this season, but over the last two weeks he's been the guy for Green Bay, running the ball a total of 117 yards on 31 carries with a touchdown. Harris and Alex Green have been splitting carries and make for a formidable one-two punch alongside Rodgers in the backfield.

Now I wouldn't take Green Bay's backfield over San Francisco's Frank Gore, but the fact the Rodgers may finally have a couple of capable runners coming out of his backfield to accompany his high-flying passing offense is a scary thought. Putting pressure on SF signal caller Kaepernick will be key for the Pack's defense, and I'm not so sure I trust this Niner offense with Kaepernick. I'd take Rodgers and his superb postseason track record (plus experience) ove Kaepernick and the Niners defense any day. Don't forget that Green Bay lost a game to Seattle that they should have won (replacement officials gave Seattle a game-winning TD that should've been ruled an interception at the end of the game), meaning Green Bay would have ended up being a higher seed than San Fran.

San Francisco is favored by 3 points, but I'll take the underdog Packers in this one.

Prediction: Packers 24, 49ers 14

A little later this afternoon I will be posting an article with all of our BOLD predictions for all four games this weekend! Plus, look out for more predictions for tomorrow's games as well.

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Putting the RGIII Injury to Rest: Shanahan Played Situation Correctly in Heat of Battle

Okay, here's the deal: We get that there are some Washington fans that are upset about rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III's knee injury towards the end of the Skins' first round playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks. That's understandable.

But calling for Griffin to have been benched before the re-occurring injury happened in the fourth quarter? Now that's where you're wrong.

Yes, Griffin appeared to tweak his sprained knee early in the game and came up limping afterwards. Luckily for the Skins, however, he didn't have to miss a play. It was a failed third down conversion and RGIII went directly to the bench after the play to get it taped up. The next drive he came back out ready to get back to work.

Then, there was a play halfway through the fourth quarter in which Griffin collapsed after once again hurting his knee. Down 21-14, Griffin and the Washington offense started the drive at its own 24-yard line. Griffin was sacked by fellow rookie Bruce Irvin for a 12-yard loss on the first play and, facing 2nd & long, fumbled the shotgun snap on the following play. In an attempt to recover his fumble, Griffin tweaked his injured knee and awkwardly collapsed, unable to get up as the Seahawks recovered the ball at Washington's 5-yard line.

It was at this point that Griffin couldn't get up on his own and needed assistance to get to the sidelines. With Dr. James Andrews on the Washington sidelines, Griffin and the Washington trainers/coaching staff made the decision to take RGIII out of the game. Which was the right move.

Seattle went on to score three more points with a 22-yard Steven Hauschka field goal four plays later. The Skins' second-string quarterback and rookie Kirk Cousins came into the game for the final two drives to attempt the comeback, but failed. Cousins finished 3-for-10 for 31 yards, failing on two fourth down conversions, as the Seahawks pulled away with the 24-14 victory.

Here's where the "controversy" comes in. Should Robert Griffin have been taken out of the game when he came up limping in the first half?

For some reason fans and a select few so-called experts seem to think that head coach Mike Shanahan and Dr. James Andrews handled the situation incorrectly and caused further damage to Griffin's knee injury.

Following the game Griffin stated that he told his coach he was good to go, and that's where another question mark pops up: should the decision to play or sit be put in the athletes' hands? Most say no, but I think this entire conversation is pointless.

If there was a big enough concern on Dr. Andrews' part, the coaching staff likely would have forced him to sit. Watching the game, you could see he was ready to go despite the limp. This is a playoff game, and the only reason that fans have a problem with this is because the Redskins lost the game. If they had ended up completing the comeback in the second half, there would be no concern over his knee and he would be branded a "hero" and/or "beast" by some.

This is ridiculous. You have to respect what Griffin III has done this season, and with his playing-style he will be taking hits and playing injured his entire career. Just look at guys like Brett Favre, Steve Young, Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, etc. They played (or still are playing) injured on most occasions because of their respective playing styles. Favre and Young loved scrambling around for as long as possible and making risky throws on the run. Roethlisberger holds on to the ball as long as his line will allow him, waiting for a receiver to break-free from coverage. Vick, well, he's a lot like Griffin. Loves to take off with the ball himself and doesn't usually run out of bounds.

Fans love seeing players play through the pain and the knee injury clearly had effected his mobility in the previous two weeks yet there wasn't any concern from fans. Why? Because the Redskins won. Seattle outplayed the Redskins in the final three quarters of play and played mistake-free football. The better team that day came out on top, and the D.C. area seems to be making excuses for the loss and throwing their own coach under the bus.

There was no way you were peeling Griffin off the field (until the tweak late in the game that left Griffin unable to move). Also, take note that the injury was a freak accident. Without a bad snap Griffin would have been perfectly okay, but because his momentum took him one way while the ball went another, an awkward fall took place. There was no contact from any defenders.

So, while you guys continue to look for a way out of a third consecutive playoff exit at the hands of Seattle (last two playoff appearances ended at the hands of the 'Hawks), I will continue to believe that Griffin belonged in that game and that Kirk Cousins was not going to bail out the Redskins against Seattle's No. 1 defense.

I expect to see RGIII a bit more cautious when taking off with the ball once next season rolls around. If not, he will continue to play injured, whether you like it or not.

All this being said, for a young guy such as Griffin, he surely handles himself well and deals with the press as well as anyone in the league. We here at All-Out Blitz wish him a speedy recovery.

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By the way, more reaction from this past weekend's games, in addition to a preview of this weekend's Divisional match-ups, will be on the way in the next couple of days. Stick around for it!

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Peterson Comes up Shy of Rushing Record, but Leads Vikes to Postseason

Earlier this afternoon Calvin Johnson failed to accumulate the 108 yards needed to become the first 2,000 yard receiver in league history. Aldon Smith and J.J. Watt fail to record the sacks needed to break the single-season sack record and Adrian Peterson came up just NINE yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record.

But, there is one major difference between these four failed accomplishments: Adrian Peterson's performance won his team a playoff berth. Though he didn't break Dickerson's coveted record of 2,105 yards, his 199 yards put him over the 2,000 yard mark on the season (7th player to ever do so) and put him No. 2 on the list, just ahead of Jamal Lewis' 2,066 yards in 2003.

But more importantly, Peterson's near-200 yard and 2 TD performance allowed the Minnesota Vikings (10-6) to knock off their NFC North counterpart Green Bay Packers, 37-34, to clinch the 6th and final seed of the NFC playoffs.

On the verge of field goal range with under a minute to play in a tie ball game, Peterson broke free for a 26-yard gain. On the play, Peterson stayed in bounds and put the Vikes at the GB 11-yard line, putting rookie placekicker Blair Walsh in great position to kick the game-winner through the uprights with :03 left on the clock.

His 2,097 yards and 13 TDs (12 rushing, 1 receiving) on 348 carries gives Peterson a much better overall season than Dickerson's 1984 season. Peterson did more with far less as both teams finished with a 10-6 record and a wild card berth. Peterson averaged 6.0 yards per carry while running for the second-most times of his six-year career.

Minnesota's second-year quarterback Christian Ponder has been average-at best this season, but posted a 120.2 rating with 3 TDs in today's wild card-clinching victory today. If Ponder can carry his own in a rematch with Green Bay next week at Lambeau (wild card round of NFC playoffs), then the sky may be the limit for this Minnesota team.

So, no record for "All Day" today, but he got something just as good, if not better: another week of football!

NFC Seedings:

1. Falcons

2. 49ers

3. Packers

4. Cowboys/Redskins

5. Seahawks

6. Vikings

Wild Card Round (next weekend):

6 Vikings @ 3 Packers

5 Seahawks @ 4 Cowboys/Redskins

AFC Seedings:

1. Broncos

2. Patriots

3. Texans

4. Ravens

5. Colts

6. Bengals

Wild Card Round (next weekend):

6 Bengals @ 3 Texans

5 Colts @ 4 Ravens

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Denver and Seattle: Super Bowl Favorites?

The playoff field hasn't been complete quite yet, but that past two weeks of play have really taught us a lot. Some of the match-ups may have even been a preview of what's to come this January.

When it comes down to making a late-January playoff push, it's all about who has the most complete team. After impressive performances yesterday, I think it's relatively clear which two teams have the most complete teams heading into the 2012-13 postseason: Denver in the AFC and Seattle in the NFC.

It's actually quite baffling that more people have not been talking about the Denver Broncos, who happen to be one win and a Texans' loss away from snagging the No. 1 seed in the AFC (can still clinch first round bye with victory over Kansas City on Sunday). At 12-3 with one final regular season game remaining on the schedule, the Broncos are on a 10-game winning streak.

The streak, which may just be the quietest double-digit win streak I've seen in quite a while, includes big wins over teams such as New Orleans, Cincinnati and Baltimore. Peyton Manning (68.1%, 4,355 yards, 34 TD, 11 INT, 103.7 rating) has stated his case for MVP and Comeback Player of the Year, leading his offense to 10 30-point victories this season. The team's only three losses this season have come against playoff teams (Atlanta, Houston and New England), have been decided by 10 or fewer points and all came within the first five weeks of the season.

Since the last loss on October 7, Peyton & Co. has outscored opponents 308-172, and has put up less than 20 points in a game just once.

Sure, the New England Patriots (11-4) beat Denver earlier in the year and have had a more high-powered scoring offense than Manning's Broncos this season. But the Broncos have excelled in a very important area that the Pats have not: Denver's defense has been playing out of its mind this season.

Led by second-year linebacker Von Miller (65 total tackles, 17.5 sacks, 1 INT, 6 FF, 1 TD), Denver's defense has jumped from 24th scoring defense in 2011 to the 5th-ranked scoring defense this season. Atop the AFC in the category (behind SEA, CHI, San Fran, ATL), Denver has surrendered 19.1 points per game.

Having a healthy Elvis Dumervil back in the lineup this season has done wonders against the pass, as they currently rank 7th in pass defense (17th last season) lead the league in sacks with 48––28.5 of those have come from the Dumervil/Miller combination.

Peyton's 2nd-best scoring offense has received some assistance from the secondary in the scoring department, with 5 touchdowns coming off interception returns and one additional touchdown coming from a Tony Carter fumble recovery.

The rookie-led Seattle Seahawks haven't been quite as high-scoring as Denver's No. 2 ranked scoring offense, but in the month of December they've been the highest-scoring team in the league. Clinching a playoff spot in the NFC after defeating San Francisco last night, the 'Hawks have outscored opponents 150-30 over the last three weeks.

At 10-5 and current placeholder of the No. 5 seed in the NFC, Seattle has a shot at winning the NFC West division thanks to a four-game winning streak and a 6-1 record since the end of October. Although only one of its five losses have come against a playoff team (13-6 to San Francisco), all five of them have been by a touchdown or less.

The fact that rookie quarterback Russell Wilson (63.4%, 2,868 yards, 25 TD, 10 INT, 98.0 rating) is leading the team to these wins and is just one passing TD away from tying Peyton Manning's rookie record of 26 isn't even the most impressive thing about this team. Just like Denver, it's the defense that's impressing.

When it comes to playoff football I don't care how much you're passing the ball, defense and a powerful running game wins championships. Top NFC teams Atlanta (13-2) and Green Bay (11-4) have been throwing out of their minds with two top gunslingers Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers. But they don't run the ball consistently well.

Both are top 10 passing teams, but Green Bay ranks 20th on the ground while Atlanta ranks 28th. Running under 4.0 yards per carry as a team isn't going to get the job done on the ground. Interestingly enough, Seattle's Marshawn Lynch, A.K.A. "Beast Mode," has single-handedly outrun the Falcons entire team this season (1,490 yards, 11 TDs to 1,332 yards, 11 TD) and has come close to outrunning Green Bay.

Running the ball 297 times with Lynch has done wonders for Wilson's development as the season has progressed, and actually 431 yards and 3 of the team's rushing TDs have come from Wilson himself. That's also something we haven't quite seen from Matt Ryan in Atlanta, though Aaron Rodgers is usually a threat on his feet if the opposition allows him too much time.

Now, when it comes to the defensive side of things, this is where it gets scary. Quietly the Seahawks have become the league's No. 1 scoring defense. After shutting down Colin Kaerpernick and the Niners last night (something I was not prepared for and didn't think would actually happen), the Seahawks are now 19 points ahead of the No. 2 scoring defense in Chicago and the 49ers fell to No. 3.

Try to digest these defensive numbers for Seattle:

5.0 yards/play (t-5th)

275 first downs allowed (7th)

2,998 passing yards (5th)

14 passing TDs (t-2nd)

17 interceptions (t-9th)

71.6 rating (3rd)

36 sacks (t-12th)

1,570 rushing yards (11th)

8 rushing TDs (t-5th)

13 fumble recoveries (7th)

30 forced turnovers (t-5th)

6 defensive touchdowns (t-3rd)

Individual Defensive Numbers:

Bobby Wagner––129 total tackles, 2.0 sacks, 3 INT, 4 passes defensed

Chris Clemons––38 total tackles, 11.5 sacks, 3 FF, 4 passes defensed

Richard Sherman––60 total tackles, 1.0 sack, 7 INT, 3 FF, 23 passes defensed, 1 TD

Kam Chancellor––84 total tackles, 1 FF, 2 FR, 4 passes defensed

Earl Thomas––58 total tackles, 3 INT, 1 FF, 9 passes defensed

Bruce Irvin (R)––16 total tackles, 8 sacks, 1 FF

In order for a team to be strong enough to make a deep playoff run and compete for a championship in the NFL, it has to be able to be multi-dimensional and have a tough defense. Though passing seems to be taking over the NFL, a strong running game is still vital to postseason success.

Because of this, and the fact that young quarterbacks seem to be taking over the game as well, it appears as though the Broncos and Seahawks are two of the best-fit teams for a championship at the moment and are getting hot at exactly the right time. If you were to ask me back in August if I thought the Seahawks and Broncos would be where they are right now at the end of December, I would probably say no. But Peyton has proven he's back and as strong as ever, and Russell Wilson proved last night that he's a force to be reckoned with coming out of the NFC West.

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Sunday Night Football: Niners Look to Clinch West with a Win

Now that the late games are all in the books and the Baltimore Ravens (10-5) managed to clinch the AFC North title for the second consecutive season with a 33-14 win over the New York Giants (8-7), all focus can be placed on the Sunday night game. And oh boy, will it be a great one.

A lot is on the line for both teams involved: Seattle (9-5) and San Francisco (10-3-1), which is a breath of fresh air. Normally we'd see a late-season San Francisco/Seattle showdown on the schedule and not even give the game a second glance.

This season, however, is a completely different story. The Niners have already clinched a playoff spot with 10 wins, but will have the opportunity to clinch the NFC West division for the second straight season with a victory. The Seahawks find themselves sitting in the 5th seed at the moment, but have yet to clinch a spot. They will need a victory tonight to clinch a playoff spot since the Skins and Vikings both won today as well.

The match-up is so highly anticipated that the NFL rendered the game primetime-worthy and moved the game from 4:15 to the Sunday night slot on NBC.

With two young quarterbacks at the helm for both teams––rookie Russell Wilson for SEA and second-year speedster Colin Kaepernick for SF––the defenses for each team must be licking their chops. The Niners and Seahawks are the league's top two scoring defenses heading into Week 16, and will be bringing their A-games.

Both teams are incredibly similar in all aspects of the game:

San Francisco offense: 26th in passing offense, 2nd in rushing offense, 7th in turnovers

Seattle offense: 27th in passing offense, 3rd in rushing offense, 3rd in turnovers

San Francisco defense: 1st in scoring, 2nd in total yardage, 16th in turnovers

Seattle defense: 2nd in scoring, 3rd in total yardage, 5th in turnovers

With these numbers are win totals eerily similar, it's clear that this game will be a hard-fought game and that the team with the least amount of mistakes will prevail in the end.

Star running backs Marshawn Lynch (1,379 yards, 10 TDs) and Frank Gore (1,118 yards, 7 TDs) have both been having fantastic seasons for their respective teams, and will both obviously need to show up to play tonight to give their team the best chance at coming away with a victory.

Despite all of this, it will be the play of the two young quarterbacks that will have the largest impact on the outcome of tonight's match-up. Seattle's 24-year old rookie Russell Wilson (62.9%, 2,697 yards, 21 TD, 9 INT, 95.5 rating) has gotten better and more comfortable in the pocket as the season has progressed. He has quickly made his case as the dark-horse for the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award this season, though he has not shot at winning the honor over Luck or Griffin.

San Francisco's former No. 1 overall pick back in the 2005 NFL draft began the season as the starter after breaking out with a career-year in 2011 and taking the Niners to the NFC Championship. However a concussion in a Week 9 tie to St. Louis knocked him out of the lineup for a couple of weeks.

Niner backup quarterback Colin Kaerpernick, 25, took over the role for the team and hasn't looked back. The dual-threat signal caller has taken the 49ers on a 4-1 run in his first 5 career NFL starts and has won over the fan base. Even with a healthy Smith back, Kaepernick still has the starting role and is poised to prove everyone he should keep the job in front of a primetime crowd tonight.

Though the rookie Wilson has more experience under center this season, I believe Kaepernick (65.6%, 1,289 yards, 7 TD, 2 INT, 101.4 rating; 379 rushing yards, 5 TDs in 11 games/5 starts this year) proved himself in a 41-34 victory over New England last week. After going into Foxboro last week and putting up 41 and putting up 31 at New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, I have no doubts Kaepernick can outplay Wilson on the road.

Both quarterbacks will have tough nights against these defenses, but with some help from Frank Gore the Niners offense will do just enough and limit mistakes against Chris Clemons, Richard Sherman & Co.

Though Seattle's offense has put up a total of 108 points over the last two weeks, you have to remember that those two games were against Arizona and Buffalo––not the best scoring defense in the league. Aldon Smith (19.5 sacks this season, 3.0 shy of tying Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22.5) will have a field day against the rookie Wilson, as he recorded 3 tackles and 1.0 sack in the 13-6 over Seattle earlier in the season.

Prediction: I'd take San Francisco's defense over Seattle's, though it is really close, and the Niners offense will make fewer critical mistakes. The Niners take this one in a close one, 21-17. Though I'd still love to see the 'Hawks in the postseason.

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Recapping Week 15: The NFC Playoff Picture and Why the Redskins Will Win the East

The NFC at this point is a bit more wide open than the AFC. Three of the four divisions in the AFC have already been spoken for, and one more is on the verge of being claimed as early as this weekend.

The NFC is a different story, with just half of the playoff spots being taken after 15 weeks and only two division titles have been claimed.

In the South, Atlanta already had the division down a couple of weeks ago but are now just one win away (possibly this coming Saturday against Detroit?) from claiming the top seed in the NFC. A convincing 24-0 shutout of the contending New York Giants (8-6) has shown that Matt Ryan's Falcons are still the team to beat in the conference and are two wins ahead of the next team in line, San Francisco (10-3-1).

Here are the headlines from this past weekend in the NFC...

Packers Fend off Bears for NFC North Title; Chicago and Minnesota jockey for playoff spot

At 10-4, Aaron Rodgers and his Packers have taken home the division title for the second consecutive season. With games against Tennessee and Minnesota still left on the schedule, it's possible that the Pack could beat out the Niners for the second seed and a first round bye if the Niners lose to both the Seahawks and Cardinals.

The Bears have hit a sudden wall and, after starting the season at 7-1 and one of the top contenders in the conference, have fallen in 5 of its last 6 games. Now on the outside looking in on the NFC postseason (Chicago and Minnesota are both 8-6, but Vikings hold tiebreaker), the Bears are in dire need of a couple of victories. In order to have a shot, the Bears will need to win both remaining games on the schedule (Detroit and Arizona) and hope the Vikings do not win out.

That will be tough, however, as Adrian Peterson has put the Vikings on his back and carried them to victories despite an underachieving quarterback in Christian Ponder and losing wideout Percy Harvin for the remainder of the season. The Texans and Packers will be seeing a heavy dose of Peterson over the final two weeks and will need to hold him to under 294 yards if they would like to keep him from breaking the single-season rushing record (set by Eric Dickerson in 1984). I'll be looking closer into Peterson's record-breaking chase sometime in the next day or so.

49ers @ Seahawks: Week 16 Game to Watch

Lucky for us, the primetime Sunday night game this weekend will be between the two teams duking it out for the NFC West title. Normally the chase for the Western division title in the NFC is a pretty bland battle, with the winner finishing around 9-7, 10-6. But this year we've seen two young quarterbacks take over the reins and dazzle opponents, making for an unusual exciting finish out West.

Second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick took over for the concussed Alex Smith in San Fran, and hasn't looked back since. In his first five professional starts, the 25-year old Kaepernick has posted a 4-1 record with 7 TDs, 2 INTs and over 1,200 yards. He's pulled off victories against teams such as Chicago, New Orleans and, most recently, the 10-win Patriots on Sunday night, putting up 41 points against one of the AFC's best teams.

The rookie signal caller in Seattle, Russell Wilson, has established himself as the Seahawks' future and is a dark horse candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year this season. Carrying Pete Carroll's 'Hawks to a 9-5 record, Wilson has a shot at once again silencing his critics on Sunday night if he can pull off a victory over the Niners. If the Seahawks win on Sunday, they can clinch a playoff spot. Even if they lose, they can still clinch if the Bears, Vikings and Redskins all lose.

Washington, Dallas Victories, Giants loss means a 3-way tie in East

Did I not tell you this would happen? I believe I did a couple of weeks ago. The "Giant" collapse in New York continued with a 24-0 shutout against the Falcons. Their fourth loss over the last six weeks puts them near the bottom of the list of "in the hunt" teams, at No. 9, while the second Redskins' rookie signal caller came out a victor in his first career start. Dallas' Tony Romo kept his 'Boys in the hunt with a 27-24 overtime victory over Big Ben's Steelers, but it will be Washington that ends up coming out a winner.

The Giants will get a Baltimore team sitting on a 3-game losing streak this Sunday, but with Ray Lewis expected to return I can see the Baltimore defense coming into the game hungry. Very hungry. Another Giants loss and the Cowboys facing the Saints, I believe it will be the Skins who pull out ahead in Week 16, defeating the Eagles in Robert Griffin III's return to action.

At 9-6, it will come down to a Cowboys/Redskins grudge match at Fedex Field in Week 17, a match-up in which the Skins will win, completing the season sweep and wrapping up the NFC East. It's a tough pill to swallow for the Giants, likely finishing out the second half of the season with a 3-5 record and completing 2012 with a 9-7 record. But Eli Manning's inconsistency has held back a team that very easily could be at 10-11 wins right now.

NFC Playoff Scenarios

*Falcons clinch first round bye and No. 1 seed with a win. Can clinch first round bye with a win OR a loss by Green Bay OR a loss by San Francisco.
*49ers clinch NFC West with a win over Seattle. Can clinch first round bye with a win AND the Packers lose.
*Seahawks can clinch a playoff spot with a win over San Francisco.
*Redskins can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Philadelphia AND losses by Giants, Bears and Vikings.
*Giants can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Baltimore AND losses by Redskins, Cowboys, Bears and Vikings.

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Down the Stretch: Bold Predictions for the Final 3 Weeks of Play

Three weeks left to play, 8 playoff seeds still available.

You do the math.

As teams prepare for Week 15 action tomorrow afternoon, there's only one thing that we're sure of: the final three weeks of the regular season will be chaos.

Here are some bold predictions from the All-Out Blitz involving the final three weeks of the regular season. You can count on us:

*The loser of the Steelers/Cowboys showdown misses playoffs

This may be one of the biggest must-win games of the weekend, and it applies to both squads. Dallas (7-6) are tied for second in the NFC East while Pittsburgh (7-6) is sitting in third, and could be tied for second with a win. The winner doesn't necessarily make the postseason, but it certainly does boost its chances. The loser, however, may find itself out of the running due to the stiff competition.

*Adrian Peterson becomes 7th player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season

With three games to play, Peterson is 400 yards shy of 2,000 for the season and the Vikings are 7-6. In the middle of the playoff hunt, the Vikings aren't going to be getting away from running the ball down the stretch since that's what has gotten them this far. It'll be tough, considering after a Week 15 match-up with St. Louis the Vikings have to play Houston and Green Bay, but it's definitely attainable. All he has to do is average 133 yards per game down the stretch. Piece of cake for a guy who has run for 100 yards in 7 consecutive games.

He may even come close, or break, Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record of 2,105 if he can run for another 200-yard game tomorrow. He's only 506 yards away from surpassing Dickerson's record, set in 1984.

*Seattle makes postseason while Russell Wilson becomes OROY dark horse

With guys such as Andrew Luck, RGIII, Doug Martin, Alfred Morris etc. dazzling in their respective rookie seasons, it's easy to overlook Seattle's 3rd round pick Russell Wilson. But it's also easy to see that he's become the leader and franchise quarterback that the 'Hawks have been searching for since seasoned veteran Matt Hasselbeck left for Tennessee. Wilson's nearly 2,500 yards and 20 TD passes and running back Marshawn Lynch has the Seahawks at 8-5 and just a game back in the NFC West. Seattle wont beat out San Fran for the division, but a wild card seed is in clear sight.

*Giants lose 2 out of final 3 games, miss postseason...

This one really is a bold, ballsy prediction here. You can never count Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning's Giants out of it. New York has proven time after time that they can win games when it matters most, and they even currently own a one-game lead in the NFC East. However, there are just too many signs pointing towards a changing of the guard this season in the East. New York has blowout victories over teams such as San Francisco (26-3), Green Bay (38-10) and New Orleans (52-27) this season, but inconsistencies have ridden the G-Men of pulling away with the division and they have a tough remaining schedule.

Matt Ryan has never beaten the Giants, and they are the only NFC team Matty Ice has yet to beat. But Ryan is 32-4 at home during his career and is poised for revenge against New York following an early playoff exit at the hands of the Giants last season. With Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs likely making returns for the Ravens next week, Eli could be in for a long day for a second consecutive week. Given two of three losses in the final three weeks, and an easy remaining schedule for Washington and the Giants miss the postseason with a 9-7 record. Count on it.

*Bill Belichick does not rest starters, Patriots end regular season on 10 game winning streak

Let's face it, the Patriots are not going to rest Tom Brady & Co. That's just not Belichick's style. People need to stop complaining about the Patriots "running up the score." This is the National Football League, and Bill and Tom don't want to play "pity football" by running the clock out, they don't have to. The Patriots proved last week that they are the No. 1 team in the league by blowing out the Houston Texans defense.

With the top defense in San Francisco visiting Gillette Stadium on Sunday night, I don't expect anything different from New England. It could end up being another embarrassing one-sided match-up if the Pats defense can contain Colin Kaepernick.

*Chargers win out, finish 8-8 for second consecutive season

Philip Rivers plays his best football in December, we're all well aware of that. And after a 34-24 victory over the Steelers last week in Ben Roethlisberger's return, it's looking a lot like another mediocre 8-8 season thanks to a strong finish. But after four straight mediocre seasons with no postseason appearances, we're thinking that the Norv Turner era could be seeing its final three games in San Diego.

*Wild Card spots are Colts' and Bengals' to lose

At this point, there's really only three legitimate contenders for the two AFC wild card seeds, meaning only one team will be utterly disappointed at the end of the month. After watching a porous effort out of Pittsburgh's offense on Sunday, they are just one more loss away from being eliminated (currently 7-6, but can't afford another loss). The Colts (9-4) and Bengals (8-6; defeated Eagles 34-13 on Thursday night) currently hold the two seeds. The Colts just need one more win to solidify a playoff spot, while the Bengals can control their own destiny with a victory over Pittsburgh next weekend.

The other contenders include the 6-7 Jets, who will need to finish the season 3-0 to even have a shot, and a bunch of 5-8 teams (Bills, Dolphins, Browns and Chargers) who can't all win out. So the bold prediction here? Well, I guess this isn't all that bold, per se, but the Colts and Bengals will capture wild card seeds and your AFC playoff teams will be as follows: Patriots, Texans, Broncos, Ravens, Colts, Bengals).

*Calvin Johnson breaks Jerry Rice's single-season receiving yards record

Detroit's Madden cover boy Calvin Johnson Jr. has avoided the so-called "Madden Curse" this season by producing 1,546 yards for the Lions. Though Megatron experienced somewhat of a slow start compared to his 2011 campaign, he now finds himself just 303 yards shy of breaking Jerry Rice's 17 year old record of 1,848 receiving yards in a single-season. All Johnson has to do is average 101.0 yards per game for the final three games to break the record that was set in 1995.

Considering he came up just short of the record last season (just 167 yards shy), Johnson must realize that the record is within reach yet again. The one surprise that we've seen with Johnson in 2012 compared to last season is that he's caught just 5 TD passes this season, despite his 96 receptions and 1,500+ yards. Oh well, the record is his if he wants it.

Have any bold predictions of your own? Feel free to share them with The All-Out Blitz in the comments section...or on our Facebook or Twitter page: @AllOutBlitz1

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