This article is part of our NFL Game Previews series.
New England at Denver (+3) - Sunday, 3:05 p.m. EST
Comments: Oh God, not these two again. Tom Brady has certainly dominated his rivalry against Peyton Manning in historical terms, but it's actually been more than a decade since Brady beat him in the playoffs, so Manning has that going for him. What he doesn't have is much momentum. The Broncos' offense mostly sputtered last week against the Steelers, while Brady got most of his toys back against the Chiefs and used them to full effect. The last time these two teams met back in Week 12 the Broncos staged a big comeback win, but with Brock Osweiler at the helm for that one it doesn't seem terribly instructive. ... The Patriots' main weapons are questionable to play, but they should all be in the lineup, particularly the two most important ones in Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. The bigger worry for New England might come from its front seven. Rob Ninkovich (leg), Chandler Jones (abdomen/toe), Jamie Collins (back) and Dont'a Hightower (knee) are playing through injuries. Jones had the team's only sack of Alex Smith last week, and they'll need to get more pressure on Manning than that if they don't want to risk him finding a rhythm with his receivers that mostly eluded him against Pittsburgh. ... Denver, meanwhile, is almost completely healthy. Manning's targets, particularly Demaryius Thomas, had trouble hanging onto the ball in his return to the starting lineup, but otherwise there are no
New England at Denver (+3) - Sunday, 3:05 p.m. EST
Comments: Oh God, not these two again. Tom Brady has certainly dominated his rivalry against Peyton Manning in historical terms, but it's actually been more than a decade since Brady beat him in the playoffs, so Manning has that going for him. What he doesn't have is much momentum. The Broncos' offense mostly sputtered last week against the Steelers, while Brady got most of his toys back against the Chiefs and used them to full effect. The last time these two teams met back in Week 12 the Broncos staged a big comeback win, but with Brock Osweiler at the helm for that one it doesn't seem terribly instructive. ... The Patriots' main weapons are questionable to play, but they should all be in the lineup, particularly the two most important ones in Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. The bigger worry for New England might come from its front seven. Rob Ninkovich (leg), Chandler Jones (abdomen/toe), Jamie Collins (back) and Dont'a Hightower (knee) are playing through injuries. Jones had the team's only sack of Alex Smith last week, and they'll need to get more pressure on Manning than that if they don't want to risk him finding a rhythm with his receivers that mostly eluded him against Pittsburgh. ... Denver, meanwhile, is almost completely healthy. Manning's targets, particularly Demaryius Thomas, had trouble hanging onto the ball in his return to the starting lineup, but otherwise there are no lingering issues for the team. Thomas also might want to exorcise the memories of that Week 12 meeting, when he caught just one of his 13 targets. The defense held Brady to less than a 55 percent completion rate in that game, one of his worst marks of the year, but he still threw for 280 yards and three TDs despite being without Edelman or Danny Amendola. They kept a wounded Ben Roesthlisberger from finding the end zone last week, but that isn't going to happen two games in a row.
Predictions:James White leads the Pats' backfield with 70 yards and a receiving TD. Brady throws for 310 yards and two more touchdowns, both to Gronkowski. C.J. Anderson, the hero of the first meeting, picks up 90 combined yards and a score, while Ronnie Hillman also gains 80 yards. Manning throws for 240 yards and a TD to Thomas, who tops 100 yards. Patriots, 27-26
Arizona (+3) at Carolina - Sunday, 6:40 p.m. EST
Comments: A winter storm could dump some snow on the field in Carolina for this one, but if anything can melt that snow away it's Cam Newton's million-watt smile. He had the Panthers' offense firing on all cylinders against the Seahawks, before they took their foot off the gas in the second half and let Russell Wilson make it close. The presumptive MVP had a massive regular season and now stands just one win from his first Super Bowl, and while the Cardinals have a very good defense, ranking in the top 10 in pretty much every category in the regular season, it's a step below the Seattle unit that Newton just hung 24 points on in two quarters. ... Of course, the Cardinals have some things of their own to prove, and maybe fate on their side after last week's ridiculous overtime win over the Packers. Newton and the Panthers topped them in the wild-card round last year, but that was with Ryan Lindley under center for Arizona, which is about as much of a dropoff from Carson Palmer as Ziggy the comic strip is from Ziggy Stardust. In a season where Newton doesn't rack up 45 touchdowns, Palmer's probably in the MVP discussion thanks to his own 4,600-yard, 35-TD campaign, but he might have to settle for Comeback Player of the Year instead. If he can win the head's up meeting Sunday, he probably won't begrudge Cam his hardware. ... Both teams have some key players on the injury report. John Brown (shoulder) and David Johnson (toe) both get the de rigueur "questionable" tag all the cool coaches use in the postseason, while Jonathan Stewart (ankle) and Jared Allen (foot) were also limited in practice this week. Given the injuries to the RBs if the snow does hit, it might actually favor the Cards. Neither team is used to poor conditions, but any poor footing hurts Carolina's ground-based game plan more than it does Arizona's.
Predictions: Johnson picks up 60 combined yards. Palmer throws for 330 yards and TDs to Michael Floyd and J.J. Nelson. Stewart rushes for just 50 yards, but Newton runs for 40 and a score while throwing for 250 yards and touchdowns to Greg Olsen and Cameron Artis-Payne. Panthers, 24-20
Regular season record: 157-99, 137-111-8 ATS
Postseason record: 5-3, 1-6-1 ATS
