JIM LANG ON SPORTS

Jim Lang is Canada’s foremost expert on the NFL. In this week’s column for rodpedersen.com, Jim takes a look at Conference Final Sunday and adds some NHL and sports observations:

NFL

The AFC

The Patriots and the Broncos in Denver in the AFC Championship game.

Once again football fans will be treated to a battle between two of the greatest quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen. This is the 15th time in their respective careers that Brady will go head-to-head with Manning. To date Manning is 10-4 in their previous 14 meetings.

Brady versus Manning and the tale of the tape:

Tom Brady:
Three Super Bowl titles
Two Super Bowl MVP awards
Two regular season MVP awards
Nine-time Pro Bowler
18-7 post-season record

Peyton Manning:
One Super Bowl Title
One Super Bowl MVP
Four regular season MVP awards
13-time Pro Bowler
10-11 Post-season record

Both men realize that time is their enemy and they only have a limited amount of opportunities left to end their career as Super Bowl champions. Everybody loves to talk about how much winning another Super Bowl would mean to Manning. Well it would mean just as much to Brady. Brady and the Patriots haven’t won a Super Bowl since beating the Eagles back in February of 2005 in SB XXXIX.

Since then they have been forced to deal with the embarrassment of Spygate and the pain of losing two Super Bowls. Brady and Bill Belichick are every bit as obsessed with winning another title as Manning is.

Now as impressive as Brady’s resume is to date the “X” factor for the Patriots in this game is running back LeGarrette Blount. After spending most of the season as a back-up Blount has exploded the past two weeks. Including last week’s win over the Colts, Blount has run for 355 yards and six touchdowns in his past two games. Stopping Blount and the Patriots running game will be a key for the Broncos defence. As great as Brady is, he doesn’t have the same weapons to work with as Manning so the Patriots will need another big game from Blount.

The key for the Patriots defence is the same key for any defence that faces the Broncos; get to Manning. The more you hit Manning and wear him down the more likely it is he will get out of his comfort zone and make a mistake.

Who wins: I have said it before and I will keep saying it. When Brady and Manning finally decide to retire we are dearly going to miss watching these epic head-to-head battles. One thing is for sure, the Broncos won’t win this game if their receivers drop six passes like they did last week against the Chargers. Time and time again I have felt the Patriots had too many injuries and were too thin at certain positions to win a playoff game. Time and time again Belichick and the Patriots proved me wrong. When the Patriots beat the Broncos in over-time back in week 12 they barely ran the ball.

Sunday will be very different as they attempt to pound the ball down the Broncos’ throat and control the clock as long as they can. There is no denying that Manning is a legend, but look for him to throw a back-breaking interception late in the game that seals the win for New England.

The Patriots win a thriller.

The NFC

The 49ers and the Seahawks in Seattle for the NFC Championship game.

Rarely have I ever seen two teams who were such a mirror image of each other meet to decide who represents the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Both teams possess a punishing defence. Both teams love to use their power running game. Both teams are led by young, athletic quarterbacks. Both teams are well-coached and to top it all off, both teams despise the heck out of each other.

This is football the way it used to be played before the era of the West Coast offence. While both teams are capable of throwing the football and both teams have some playmakers on offence this game is all about the survival of the fittest. Both teams aim to beat on each other for four quarters.

The first one to show some weakness will end up losing.

Now while both quarterbacks are young, there are a number of differences that separate Colin Kaepernick from Russell Wilson. The first is the most obvious, size. For a fast quarterback (4.53 in the 40) Kaepernick is also a large man (6’4″, 230 pounds). Wilson is generously listed at 5′ 11″ and 205 pounds.

After a relatively slow start to the season the 49ers come into this game on an eight-game winning streak. To say the 49ers are peaking at the right time is the understatement of the year. Defensively the 49ers are downright scary. According to @NFLNPlaybook the Panthers ran a total of nine plays from the seven yard line or closer and the 49ers only allowed a total of three points. The trio of Anquan Boldin, Vernon Davis and a healthy Michael Crabtree gives Kaepernick and the 49ers numerous options to work with in the passing game.

The 49ers also possess a great power running back in Frank Gore. Now as much as I respect Gore, the Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch is just plain nasty. In Lynch’s last three playoff games he has carried the ball 64 times for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Unlike most running backs Lynch seems to feed off of all the physical contact. The more you hit him the stronger he gets. The key to stopping Lynch is containing him at the line of scrimmage so he can’t get into open space and starts punishing defensive backs.

Who wins: The Seahawks have one weakness that will ultimately lead to their downfall on Sunday; their passing game. While the 49ers’ passing game has really rounded into form the last month the Seahawks’ aerial attack is beginning to dry up. Percy Harvin’s concussion just adds to the Seahawks’ concerns. Don’t get me wrong, this will be as close and hard-hitting of a football game as you will ever see. Defensively there is very little to choose between the two. Seattle’s home field advantage is as good as there is in pro sports. But as the Cardinals discovered in week 16, you can beat the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. Ultimately the 49ers have just enough extra firepower on offence to get the job done.

The 49ers win the street brawl to end all street brawls.

NHL

The Winnipeg Jets made a coaching change this week. Claude Noel is out and Paul Maurice is in. I was lucky enough to get to know Maurice when I was on the Leafs beat. Jets fans and the media in Winnipeg will quickly grow to like him. He is a smart, dedicated and passionate hockey man who has excellent communication skills.

The challenge for Maurice as he settles into his new role is getting his players to buy into his program. Times have changed and equally as important as X’s and O’s is the ability of a coach to get his team to buy what he is selling. In Winnipeg that means Maurice getting Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien on board.

Now as much as I respect Maurice the coach and the person, there is little questioning that he has his work cut out for him in Winnipeg. The Jets are ranked 24th in the NHL with the man advantage and they’re 23rd in goals against.

For a team that plays in the Western Conference they will never get a sniff of the post-season unless there is a dramatic improvement in both of those categories.

While the Jets are in the midst of trying to turn their season around the Anaheim Ducks are quietly putting together an amazing season. At the time of writing this the Ducks had a ridonkulous 19-0 and 2 at the Honda Center.

Kids Sports

My youngest daughter is in grade 5 and this week I had to drive her and a bunch of her teammates to a big co-ed Volleyball tournament. Grade 5 and 6 kids from 15 southern Ontario-area schools were involved in a very competitive event. The reason I am talking about it is that there are still some great examples why we love sports so much. Even in this day where kids love cell phones and video games there is nothing like the thrill of competition.

The kids played four games in the round robin and ended up going 2-2. Because there was a three-way tie for the final Wild Card spot in the playoffs they had to add the total points scored in all four games. By a mere four points our kids grabbed the final Wild Card. Of course that meant facing an undefeated team in the quarter-finals.

Well wouldn’t you know it? They went out and beat this team 25-23. So now they’re in the semi-finals. They end up losing in a thriller 26-24. The parents (including me) were going wild as the match went back and forth. Now this meant they had to play a seventh game to determine third place. By this point in the evening the kids were out of gas and they lost. Even though they lost the Bronze medal game the kids still finished a very respectable fourth out of 15 teams. I took the kids to McDonald’s afterwards for ice cream to celebrate and the whole drive home I have never seen a happier group of kids. They played hard, they competed, they won some, they lost some and they had a blast.

That is why sports are still so important in 2014. Kids need to experience moments like that. Even if they never play at an elite level; to play as a team and bond as a team is a very important life skill.

I know the friends I have made playing hockey are still my friends. That’s why sports will always be important to us.

(Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimLangSports)