NFL Conference finals: who are the favorites?
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Coincidentally, in the decisive matches for the title of the American and National zone, we will see again the great duels of the regular season
There is no margin for error, winning and losing will make the difference between finishing the season or playing Super Bowl LIII. Of course, there were no surprises in the previous rounds and the match for the conference title comes with the two best seeds on each side: Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots for the American and New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams for the National.
There is already an initial attraction and it is that both endings will be games that occurred in the regular calendar. For the sixth day, at the Gillette Stadium, the Patriots were in charge of knocking down the Chiefs' undefeated, with a tight victory of 43-40 on October 10. On November 4, in turn, and in the ninth date, the Saints folded in their stadium, the Mercedes Benz Superdome, 45-35 to the Rams to also take away the unbeaten title.
Marca points out that the New England Patriots come to this instance for the eighth consecutive season (they are also eight years in a row staying with the Eastern Division), while Kansas City won with their record of 12-4 playing at home all the playoffs for the first time since 1994.
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Who are the favorites and why?
Saints for the National
ESPN reviews in detail the potential of each group, in which in an internal survey, called Soccer Power Index, gives as favorites with more than 60% the Saints over the Rams, and the Chiefs over the Patriots.
We started with the National Conference where, if the Rams want to surprise the Saints, they should try to repeat the groundwork they did against the Dallas Cowboys in the previous phase. It is there, where ESPN specifies that beyond losing the game to New Orleans, that day they had 92 yards rushing on 19 carries.
On the New Orleans side, the key also goes through Drew Brees. The first thing is to prevent Aaron Donald from hitting him again and stopping as it happened in the regular round game. That time no one else did it, so Rams can try another player. In that sense, the presence of Aqib Talib will be essential for Brees to get more space.
In conclusion, before ending this game, we must clarify that it will be played in New Orleans and not in Los Angeles, although both left record of 13-3. It is due to the fact that the Saints won in that duel at the beginning of November. Both teams have more than 500 points in the season. Only the experience of Sean McVay Drew Breese tip the balance for the locals, about Sean Payton and Jared Goff.
Chiefs for the American
Kansas City strategy for beating New England, according to the aforementioned sports channel is 66.2%. The main argument for the Patriots to collapse that favoritism is their ground attack. They placed fifth in yards reached and fourth in touchdowns by land. In that sense, they must move the ball on the ground and leave Patrick Mahomes on the wings.
Sony Michel participation, who stood out in the game against the Los Angeles Chargers, will also be fundamental. Patriots averaged 32 minutes and 21 seconds with the ball in their victories and only 28:17 in their defeats, so the key will be to control the ball, clock, and game on offense.
In the case of Chiefs, they must repeat what they did against the Indianapolis Colts. Above all, press Brady defensively as they did in that game against Andrew Luck, and that their cornerbacks maintain the quality of their coverage. A point against is the record of his coach in these games, 1-4, while his rival Bill Belichick has played eight in a row, winning five of them.
In conclusion, the game will be at Arrowhead and not at Foxborough, and that can make a difference. In the Brady/Belichick era, the Patriots have a record of 20-3 in the playoffs at home and 3-4 as visitors. Even so, they have not won the Super Bowl by playing the previous round since 2004. This year, Patriots never lost at home: 9-0, while as visitors: 3-5. In turn, Chiefs was 8-1 at Arrowhead.
Favorites since the start of the playoffs
For ESPN analyst Pablo Viruega, the New England Patriots are the big favorites to reach the Super Bowl by the American Conference, and he said that even before the wild card rounds, due to the experience of playing eight consecutive postseasons. Although for the mentioned means, the favorite with 39%, before the divisional round, was the Kansas City Chiefs.
On the side of the National, the big candidates were the Saints with 41% far above the 26% who had at that time Los Angeles Rams. In that sense, Viruega, predicted in a video uploaded to Youtube that the outgoing Philadelphia Eagles champions, would not reach the Super Bowl, and although he gave up for elimination against the Chicago Bears (result that was not given), Philadelphia ended up being eliminated by the Saints in the divisional round by 20-14. He assured, in addition, that the representative of New Orleans was the favorite to reach the Super Bowl.
The same candidates repeat
The portal 12Up.com also agrees with the other theories here presented, and shows their data on why Saints and Chiefs are favorites and bookmakers to be on February 4 in the Super Bowl LIII to be played at the Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Chiefs already broke the curse of 26 years without being able to advance to the conference final and did not extend to 13 the number of matches remaining on the road in divisional rounds. On the other hand, the Saints are broad favorites based on their powerful offense. The bookies have a +225 to the Saints and with a +400 to Chiefs in the list of favorites to be champions this year in the Super Bowl, 12Up.com culminated
LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano
Translated from: 'Llegaron las finales de la Conferencia de la NFL ¿Quiénes son los favoritos?'
