To four teams, the beacon is there just beyond the horizon. The ultimate goal of getting to Lucas Oil Stadium in the first Sunday in February is within grasp. The conference championships bring four teams that have won 13 of the 45 Super Bowls played to date and  5 in the last 12 years. The 49ers have the longest drought, having been 16 years without and their opponent the Giants most recent Super Bowl winner. The conference champions will get hardware The Halas trophy for the NFC champions and the Hunt Trophy for the AFC winners, but you can be sure that to a man that is not a trophy that they want to hold for long. The winners get a shot at that awe-inspring Tiffany silver football. This is the conference championships the winners head to the Super Bowl. Updated odds are provided by bodog.net for comparison and entertainment purposes only. If you get took, don’t ask me for a ride to Indy because you spent your gas money on the lines and got hosed.

Sunday January 22

American Football Conference Championship

#2  Baltimore Ravens  (13-4) AFC North Champ  @ #1 Patriots (14-3) AFC East Champ

Gillette Stadium; Foxboro, MA 3:00 (CBS)

Favorite Patriots by 7½

Last Week Ravens beat Texans 20-13, Patriots beat Broncos 45-10

Last Playoff Meeting Ravens beat Patriots 33-14 in 2009 AFC Divisional Round in only postseason meeting

Fast Facts BAL: Ravens only allow 16.6 points and 288.9 yards a game both 3^rd ranked in the NFL. NE: TE Rob Gronkowski set TE records with 1327 receiving yards and 17 TD’s

The Ravens won a rugged contest with the tougher than advertised Texans and move on to face an even tougher adversary. The Patriots thrashed the media darling Tebow-led Broncos without breaking a sweat and QB Tom Brady has been playing with the “Ya’ll must’ve forgot ‘bout me” mentality in throwing a record tying six TD passes in the rout. It comes down to the Pats high powered offense against the Ravens aging but still talented and hardhitting defense. Defensive stalwart may have ruffled the pride of his own QB Joe Flacco woth comments earlier in the week which may portent a dissension on both sides of the ball. Brady has a pair of solid TE’s to work with and a bevy of veteran WR’s at his disposal. Look for him to spread the ball around and keep the Ravens defense guessing. The Pats defense while much maligned needs only to keep Ray Rice from having a big day and force Flacco to beat them something I don’t think that they will do. The Ravens jumped on the Pats fast in their first playoff meeting. I don’t see that happening.

Pick-New England

National Football Conference Championship

#4 Giants (11-7) NFC East Champ @ #2 49ers (14-3) NFC West Champ

Candlestick Park, San Francisco 6:30 (FOX)

Favorite 49ers by 3

Last Week Giants beat Packers 37-20, 49ers beat Saints 36-32

Last Playoff Meeting 49ers defeated Giants 39-38 in 2002 Wild Card Round (8^th overall playoff meeting 49ers lead the postseason series 4-3)

Fast Facts: NY: First playoff team to start as a wild card and win more than one playoff game by double digit. SF: Lead the NFL with 77.3 rushing yards per game allowed and 38 takeaways

The fact is neither one of these teams were expected to be here at season’s start or the start of the playoffs for that matter. The Niners used a late drive engineered by Alex Smith echoing Montana and Young to stun the Saints. The G-Men woke up echoes of an equally stunning upset to knock off the heretofore invincible Pack at Lambeau. I still have a hard time believing that the Giants running game can do what it did the last two games against the rugged Niners defense. Yes, Drew Brees did throw for better than 450 yards against them but the defense also forced multiple turnovers. I don’t think that Alex Smith will have the type a game that he did against the Saints but he will play a solid low mistake game, and Frank Gore is way overdue for a breakout game. The Giants have been playing with house money for a while and I think the road woes will catch up with them. The Niners will head to Indy looking for an unprecedented 7^th Super Bowl title after winning the NFC title in a tight taut thriller.

Pick-San Francisco

Last Week: 2-2