NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Power Ranking Each Team's Key Player

It's conference championship weekend and that means it’s time to power rank each team left on the 2012 playoff schedule’s key player .

Players like Tom Brady and Eli Manning are obvious, but other players such as Ray Rice and Vernon Davis need to step up big if they want to help their team get over the Super Bowl cusp.

All of the following players will play key roles in conference championship weekend, but there are bound to be duds. That’s how we get winners and losers.

Tom Brady

If there was any doubt who would be No. 1 on this list, those who thought that way need to have their head examined. Not only is Brady the only three time Super Bowl winner on this list, he is also the biggest key to his team’s victory.

With no defense whatsoever (30th in the NFL), Brady will have to rely on the arm that threw for 5,235 yards and 39 touchdowns this season. In turn, everyone then depends on that arm.

While the Baltimore Ravens will be a tough test in the AFC Championship, their aging defense will be too slow to stop the aerial assault and will succumb to Brady’s assault.

Eli Manning

While I’m going to get grief for taking quarterbacks as the top two key players, it’s hard not to. Every snap the New York Giants offense takes has to go through the hands of Eli Manning so saying that he isn’t the biggest factor is false.

As good as Eli has been, he will have to be even better because the No. 1 ranked 49ers run defense is going to send Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs home with little to no yards. That will put even more of the pressure onto the arm of Manning.

If Manning can protect the ball and keep drives alive with his passing, the defense will be worn down enough so that Eli can hit those patented late-second bombs that he always manages to pull off.

Vernon Davis

As shocking as the San Francisco 49ers victory over the New Orleans Saints was, there was one player that knew it was going to happen that way the whole time. Vernon Davis.

The big tight end has become a vocal leader of the 49ers locker room and has said that his team is one of the best. He backed all that talk up with seven catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winner with just seconds left in the fourth quarter.

This week’s defensive matchup will be much tougher for Davis, who only managed three catches for 40 yards and a touchdown in San Fran’s Week 10 win over the Giants. If the 49ers want to win again, they need the Davis from last week.

Ray Rice

I think we can all agree that New England will score at least 21 points. That means the Baltimore Ravens need to hold the ball as long as they can and keep Brady off the field. But how?

Ray Rice. The tiny back may be short in stature, but he is as strong as they come and a machine when it comes to running the rock. While he was stifled a bit against a top five Houston Texans defense, he still managed 80 all-purpose yards and will only build on that against the terrible Patriots’ defense.

With New England ranking in the bottom third of every major defensive statistical category, the only hope the Ravens have will be getting Rice the ball early and often and allowing him to chew up clock. Just like the Giants did to the Pats in 2007’s Super Bowl.

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