After an amazing weekend of NFL playoff action it will be hard for the conference championships to live up to last weeks games but I think we have the matchups that can attempt to.  4 elite teams, 3 of which were in the conference championship game a year ago and a hungry team that is making their first deep playoff run in years.   AFC – Ravens at Patriots: We have a rematch of last years epic AFC championship game where a Billy Cundiff missed field goal sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl. A year later it was ironically the foot of the Ravens kicker (rookie Justin Tucker) that sent the Ravens back to New England where they will look to avenge that defeat.  The Ravens won their week 3 matchup 31-30 but that was so long ago it will be hard to take anything from that game other than the fact that these two teams play close games when they meet up. Just look back to last years conference championship game where the Pats won 23-20.    The Ravens somehow found a way to win in Denver despite giving up a punt return and kickoff return for touchdowns and connected on what was a 70 yard touchdown strike to Jacoby Jones in what was just terrible defensive placement.  The safety took a bad angle on a deep pass and the corner just let Jacoby Jones run right by them expecting the safety help. The problem was the safety was not deep enough and tried to recover late but jumped too early giving Jones an easy catch and run for the score.  The game was sent to overtime where the Ravens defense intercepted Peyton Manning and a few plays later kicked the game winning field goal.  Ray Lewis has 1 more game at least in his storied career but will it end in Foxboro?   The Patriots took care of the Texans but lost star Tight End Rob Gronkowski for the season after he broke his forearm once again.  This is the same arm that sidelined him for a bunch of weeks in the regular season.  Luckily for Brady he still has Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd and the duo of Steven Ridley and Shane Vreen on the ground.  The Patriots defense has also been playing well as of late forcing turnovers and not giving up big plays which has haunted them in the past.    I think this is going to be a real physical game as the Ravens will look to give Ray Rice 25 + touches and really limit the time of possession of the Patriots.  The best defense is a good offense and if the Ravens can keep Tom Brady off the field I think their chances of winning will improve.  The Patriots know they can score against any defense in the National Football League and they get a chance to avenge one of their regular season defeats.  They pose problems for defenses because of their hurry up offense and the ability to use a number of weapons on the offensive side of the ball.  Losing Gronk hurts for sure but having another premier Tight End stops the bleeding a little bit.   If this game gets into a passing matchup the Patriots will win going away, I just think the Ravens are a team of destiny right now trying to let Ray Lewis go out on top.  This game has me excited for Sunday and I am going to stick with the team I projected to win the Super Bowl in August   Winner – Baltimore Ravens   NFC: 49ers at Falcons – The top two seeds in the NFL meet in Atlanta for a chance to go to New Orleans .  The Falcons finally broke through on Sunday and won a playoff game (the first of Matt Ryan’s career). The 49ers also had a quarterback pick up his first career postseason victory.  Kolin Kaepernick who replaced Alex Smith a little past the midway point of the season was spectacular in his first playoff start.   Kaepernick threw a pick 6 giving the Packers the early lead but after that controlled the game with both his arm and his feet. Kaepernick was 17 for 31 throwing for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also rushed 16 times for a playoff record 181 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The Packers had no answer for him all night and the performance validated coach John Harbough’s decision to stick with the young quarterback.  You can guarantee had they lose he would have been questioned benching the very quarterback who led them to within a game of the Super Bowl last season.   The Falcons game was very odd and one of the best endings of the season.  The Falcons took a 20-0 lead into halftime.  The Seahawks answered with a touchdown but the Falcons answered right back making it 27-7 heading into the 4th quarter.  Nobody in their right mine thought the Seahawks could mount this historic comeback especially on the road.  The Seahawks answered with 14 unanswered points both within the first 5 minutes of the 4thquarter all of the sudden making this a game again.  Down 27-20 Marshawn Lynch crossed the goal line giving the Seahawks the improbable lead with just 31 seconds.  The Falcons and their fans were stunned.  The Falcons started the drive on their own 28 and completed a 22 yard pass to Harry Douglas. The very next play Ryan completed a 19 yard pass to Tony Gonzalez putting them to the Seattle 31 yard line. With no timeouts remaining the Falcons had to attempt the kick with 13 seconds left.  The Seahawks tried to freeze the kicker and Matt Bryant missed the field goal attempt. Unfortunately for them the play was ruled dead. Bryant did not miss the second attempt and the Falcons came right back and stunned the Seahawks.   This is going to be a fantastic game.  The 49ers are led by their defense which will have to stop Julio Jones and Roddy White and now young Kaepernick will make his first playoff road start in Atlanta where it is very difficult to beat the Falcons.  I feel like a huge monkey has been lifted off of the Falcons back now that they have a playoff win under their belts.  I just think that the duel threat ability of Kaepernick and the physicality of the 49ers defense will be too much for the Falcons to overcome despite being home.  I think the 49ers win this game and head to New Orleans .   Winner – San Francisco 49ers