FINAL FOUR’S FATES MAY REST WITH QBS
A quick look at the story lines heading into conference championship week as the Atlanta Falcons prepare to host the Green Bay Packers for the NFC title while the Pittsburgh Steelers get ready to face the New England Patriots on the AFC side for the other spot in Super Bowl LI.
Quarterbacks galore
Tom Brady vs. Ben Roethlisberger. Aaron Rodgers vs. Matt Ryan. It’d be tough to ask for a better final four of quarterbacks than this. They have seven Super Bowl wins and four MVP awards between them, and all have been on top of their games. That includes Ryan, the only one of the bunch without a ring, who’s having his best season at age 31.
Up-and-comers
If there’s a party crasher among this group of storied franchises and recent champs, it’s Ryan and the Falcons, who have reached the Super Bowl once in their 51-year history, losing to the Denver Broncos after the 1998 season. Atlanta, which is two years removed from a 6-10 finish and coaching change, has the NFL’s highest-scoring offense — a fast, deep and dangerous group — plus a quickly improving defense.
Deflate this
A Super Bowl bid would be the latest step in the revenge tour of Brady, who served his four-game Deflategate suspension to start this season. And he’s not the only one with an ax to grind with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Steelers linebacker James Harrison and Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers all bristled at a league probe of performance-enhancing drug allegations last summer that ended with them being cleared.
We meet again
Both games are rematches from the regular season, but things have changed. The Patriots beat the Steelers 27-16 on Oct. 23 at Heinz Field, but Roethlisberger missed that game after knee surgery. A week later, the Falcons beat the Packers 33-32 in Atlanta, but that was before Rodgers’ “run the table” call and a winning streak that has reached eight.