{"id":2026,"date":"2015-01-18T09:04:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-18T14:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2015-01-18T09:19:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-18T14:19:36","slug":"nfc-championship-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2026","title":{"rendered":"NFC Championship Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NFC<\/a>Phew!\u00a0 We can all breathe a sigh of relief.\u00a0 Thanks to a big dose of comeuppance, the Process Rule (Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3) keeps me from writing about the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game.\u00a0 Thank you, Process Rule.\u00a0 And now, on to the show.<\/p>\n

Green Bay at Seattle (-7)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Let's<\/a>

Let’s get it on!<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the matchup that we all wanted.\u00a0 Number 1 v Number 2 for a trip to the Super Bowl.\u00a0 The Packers limp in to Seattle and will try to Discount Double-Check themselves to the Super Bowl.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Seattle, and their loudest fans ever (The Machine\u2019s already debunked<\/a> that nonsense) will try to make it to back-to-back Super Bowls, for the first time since the Patriots in \u201904 and \u201905.<\/p>\n

\"Rogers<\/a>

Rodgers v. Beastmode<\/p><\/div>\n

We don\u2019t have to go back too far for some history on these teams.\u00a0 They played each other this season, Week 1 in Seattle.\u00a0 The Seahawks were 4.5 point favorites and went on to roll the Packers 36-16.\u00a0 In that game, Aaron Rogers did not throw to Richard Sherman\u2019s side once (a stat that ESPN has brought up much too often this week).\u00a0 But the passing game takes second place to the run, which is the important stat to focus on.\u00a0 In that Week 1 game, Green Bay rushed for 80 yards, 1 td.\u00a0 Seattle rushed for 207 with and 2 tds.\u00a0 (A healthy) Eddie Lacy rushed for 34 yards, while Beastmode tallied 110.<\/p>\n

Listen up all you \u201cnew age\u201d football thinkers (you know who they are\u2026the same people who thought Johnny Football and Tavon Austin were going to revolutionize the game)\u2026 as you get deeper and deeper into the playoffs, what you need is a consistent running game.\u00a0 Sure, a fast, punishing, intelligent defense helps, but the running game is the oar that steers the boat, the wings that fly the plane, the 12 pack that makes the baby\u2026you get the point.\u00a0 The running game helps you eat up the clock, wear out the defense, and keep the other team\u2019s offense off the field.<\/p>\n

Listen we love Aaron Rogers…healthy.\u00a0 We love Eddie Lacy\u2026healthy.\u00a0 Throwing for 3 tds against the Cowboys on a gimpy calf (at home) is one thing, but can he pull it off on the road against the nastiest D in 30 years? (props to the \u201985 Bears).\u00a0 And can he pull it off with a banged up rushing attack?\u00a0 As much as we love the story, we don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

\"Don't<\/a>

Don’t forget about me!<\/p><\/div>\n

Bettors seem to think there\u2019s a chance.\u00a0 The line opened at Green Bay +8.5 and is now down to +7.\u00a0 The late money is going on the Packers.\u00a0 But The Machine thinks Seattle will win and cover, but barely.\u00a0 Like 21-13.\u00a0 Seattle has so much balance on offense, plus balance between offense and defense. \u00a0They are the most complete team in the NFL.<\/p>\n

If Aaron and Eddie were healthy, this would be a much harder pick.\u00a0 But they\u2019re not, and we got to play the cards we\u2019re dealt.\u00a0 Green Bay\u2019s defense is no slouch, Clay Matthews and crew fly to the ball, so they should keep Russell Wilson in check.\u00a0 As long as they contain the edge, they should be able to handle the read-option.\u00a0 Problem is, no one contains the edge in the NFL\u2026they always over-pursue the runner, leaving gaping backside holes for Wilson.\u00a0 Look for the Seahawks to use some trick up their sleeve\u2026Pete Carroll isn\u2019t going to let Belichick win the crafty coach award two weeks in a row.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget the weather.\u00a0 Rain and wind, making the running game even more important.\u00a0 See, it all comes full circle.<\/p>\n

The Machine likes the Seahawks to return to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

We love our NFL fans!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Yowza!\"<\/a>

Yowza!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phew!\u00a0 We can all breathe a sigh of relief.\u00a0 Thanks to a big dose of comeuppance, the Process Rule (Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3) keeps me from writing about the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game.\u00a0 Thank you, Process … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-wG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2037,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions\/2037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}