Sports Breakdown; NFL Conference Championships

Jan 21, 2016 0 Comments

The playoffs are almost over, as only four NFL sports teams remain in the race to get to the Super Bowl. We will see how the New England Patriots take on the Denver Broncos, and the Arizona Cardinals play against the Carolina Panthers during the Conference Championships. We will breakdown the stats for each team, and let you predict which franchise will come out on top and get their spot to go to the big game.

AFC Championship Game: Patriots @ Broncos

This will be a heavy-hitting game, as the Patriots unstoppable offense meet up against the Broncos unmovable defense. Tom Brady, along with fellow teammates Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, will be the force behind the Patriots offense. The Broncos will have Peyton Manning at the front of the offense, but as seen by their performance during the regular season and playoff game, they will rely more on their defense. Here is the breakdown:

Regular Season Stats	Patriots	Broncos
Record	12-4	12-4
Divisional Standings	1st	1st
Total Yards	5,991	5,688
Yards per Game	374.4 (6th)	355.5 (16th)
Rush Offense	87.8 (30th)	107.4 (17th)
Pass Offense	286.7 (5th)	248.1 (14th)
Total Yards Allowed	5,431	4,530
Yards Allowed per Game	339.4 (9th)	283.1 (1st)
Rush Defense	98.8 (9th)	83.6 (3rd)
Pass Defense	240.7 (17th)	199.6 (1st)
Possession	30:08	29:57
Sacks / Sacks Allowed	49/38	52/39
Total Touchdowns	52	38
Field Goals	33/36	30/35
Turnover Ratio	+7	-4

We can already see that the Bronco defense is ranked top in pass defense, and third in rush defense, and this would leave the Patriots will little wiggle room. However, the big question is, can the Broncos offense perform well enough to overcome the defense.

NFC Championship Game: Cardinals @ Panthers

This game will be total war. The Panthers amazing rush offense, along with their overall great defense will be going up against the powerful Cardinals offense and defense. Cam Newton will be the player you see most on the Panther offense, as he not only does his job as quarterback, but has been able to leave his mark as running back. QB Carson Palmer will need all of the help from Larry Fitzgerald as possible if they want to overcome the Panther defense, and they will definitely need to rely on the pass game to win. This is the breakdown:

Regular Season Stats	Cardinals	Panthers
Record	13-3	15-1
Divisional Standings	1st	1st
Total Yards	6,533	5,871
Yards per Game	408.3 (1st)	366.9 (11th)
Rush Offense	119.8 (8th)	142.6 (2nd)
Pass Offense	288.5 (2nd)	224.3 (24th)
Total Yards Allowed	5,147	5,167
Yards Allowed per Game	321.7 (5th)	322.9 (6th)
Rush Defense	91.2 (6th)	88.4 (4th)
Pass Defense	230.4 (8th)	234.5 (11th)
Possession	32:03	32:03
Sacks / Sacks Allowed	36/27	44/33
Total Touchdowns	58	59
Field Goals	28/31	30/36
Turnover Ratio	+9	+20

We can notice that the Panthers defense has a slight weakness against the pass, so Palmer will definitely have to take advantage of this. Both teams do an amazing job of maintaining possession of the ball, and not turning it over, so it brings up the question of which sports team will prevail in this situation.