Sunday 22 January 2017 20:15, UK
With only four teams remaining, Richard Graves and Jim White have made their predictions for Championship Sunday.
First up, the Green Bay Packers take on the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC, before the New England Patriots meet the Pittsburgh Steelers for a place in the Super Bowl.
This week, Sky Sports reporter Richard Graves is taking on his colleague, and Sky Sports News HQ presenter Jim White. After visiting every NFL team for '32 Live', back in 2015, Jim is ready to put his predictive powers to the test!
Richard: What a game this promises to be. The hottest team in the NFL right now, the Green Bay Packers against the top-scoring offence of the Atlanta Falcons.
We rightly marvelled at the playmaking ability of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers last weekend as he again somehow conjured up a play to help his team knock off the Cowboys. In Green Bay's eight-game winning streak he's thrown 21 touchdowns and just one interception.
That form will need to be on display again when he goes up against the high-flying Falcons, led by QB Matt Ryan, who has thrown 14 TDs and zero interceptions in a five-game span.
Green Bay head into this game facing the same dilemma as they did heading to Dallas. How do they stop a team who have weapons down field and can run the ball well on the ground? In that occasion they started by matching up 1-on-1 with the Cowboys receivers, before offering help on the outside after opening up an 18-point lead. Dallas still found a way to tie the game, and it was Green Bay who were on the ropes before finding a way to snatch victory.
Atlanta are a better team than Dallas defensively - they have this season's sack leader, Vic Beasley, to compliment an offence which has arguably the best wide receiver currently in the game, Julio Jones. They have already won a thriller against the Packers this season, and the Falcons have belief.
Green Bay admitted last weekend that their game plan revolved around limiting Dallas to field goals rather than touchdowns, and they succeeded. Asking them to follow that up this Sunday against a more potent unit is a very big ask indeed. Falcons
Jim: What a weekend of NFL action! I cannot wait for this. One of my favourite players is Aaron Rodgers, and for that reason I think Green Bay will win it and progress to the Super Bowl. Packers
Richard: No one has won more AFC Championship games than these two teams - both New England and Pittsburgh have won eight each. This is the sixth successive season the Patriots have made it this far, and are 5-1 in AFC Championship games at home.
However, the Steelers are appearing in their 16th Championship game and have gone on to win the Super Bowl on six occasions - both NFL records. This truly is a titanic clash between two of the game's heavyweight franchises.
For New England, the questions is, how do you stop Le'Veon Bell? The Steelers running back has record games of 150 and 170 rushing yards in their two play-off games this season and if the Patriots do have an answer, can they also bottle up WR Antonio Brown? He's also finished both play-off games with over 100 receiving yards.
The Patriots have Tom Brady, though. A four-time Super Bowl winner, leading a team which has lost just once all season when he's been on the field. Following last weekend's win over Houston, there was some criticism over his performance but he still led the Patriots to an 18-point win.
Offensively, they are missing Rob Gronkowski but as we saw last weekend, the return of Dion Lewis gives Brady options and creates mismatch nightmares for defences. Not to mention the problems LaGarrette Blount's physical running style creates, or the play-making ability of WR Julian Edelman.
This is set up to be a hard nosed, physical AFC Championship match-up. In these situations history has proved that Bill Belichick and Tom Brady usually deliver for New England. Pittsburgh will run them close but it'll be the Patriots who go onto Houston. Patriots
Jim: It has to be the Patriots for me. Robert Kraft is one of the best owners in the NFL - I met him when I was in Foxborough.
And Tom Brady - he is the man. It's New England for me. Patriots
Sky Sports is your home of NFL. Watch both Championship match-ups live on Sky Sports 1, on Sunday January 22, from 7:40pm.
