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Conference Championship Playoff Picture

And Then There Were Four



There are four teams left in the race to win Super Bowl 50, with the Patriots and Broncos representing the AFC, and the Cardinals and Panthers representing the NFC. Take a look at the Playoff Picture as we get set for the Conference Championship games a week from now:

AFC: Patriots at Broncos
Patriots - #2 seed in the AFC, had a first round bye, and defeated the Chiefs (#5 seed) 27-20. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes to Rob Gronkowski, and the team is much healthier than they were during the regular season.
Broncos - #1 seed in the AFC, had a first round bye, and defeated the Steelers (#6 seed) 23-16. Peyton Manning played for the first time in almost eight weeks and was quite efficient with the ball. Their #1 ranked defense forced a fumble that stopped a long drive by the Steelers and the turnover led to the game-winning drive for the offense.

NFC: Cardinals at Panthers
Cardinals - #2 seed in the NFC, had a first round bye, and defeated the Packers (#5 seed) 26-20 in overtime. The offense struggled as a whole for a large part of the game, as they were unable to get their running game going and Palmer threw two picks, but Larry Fitzgerald had a game for the ages. After two completed Hail Mary passes by Aaron Rodgers, the game went into overtime, and the Cardinals scored on their first drive after a long pass play to Fitzgerald (arguably one of the best Divisional Round Matchups of all time).
Panthers - #1 seed in the NFC, had a first round bye, and defeated the Seahawks (#6 seed) 31-24. This team has executed extremely well throughout the season and knocked off a powerhouse in the NFC for the past three or four years - a team that went to the Super Bowl for two straight years. The Panthers made a statement, as the game was already out of reach by the half when they were leading 31-0. The only problem was that they allowed the Seahawks to make a furious comeback in the second half and led their guard down, which should not have happened.

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