NFL Playoff Picture: Offense Will Rule NFC Bracket

There are many who believe that the NFC Championship Game will be this year's true Super Bowl. Compared to the AFC, the NFC does indeed appear to be that loaded.

The one thing most of the teams have in common is that they are all above-average offensive teams. Among the teams that made the NFC cut this season, only the San Francisco 49ers can't score at will.

The others, most notably the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints, can score at will. That's enough to make you think that the NFC playoff bracket is going to consist of barnburners and shootouts.

We're going to see this reality play itself out in Wild Card Weekend, which consists of two NFC games that promise to produce plenty of points.

First up are the Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints, who will play at the Superdome for a second time this season on Saturday. Detroit's offense had its ups and downs throughout the course of the season, but it finished strong by topping 30 points in three of the Lions' last four games. Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson are practically unstoppable right now.

But they have nothing on Drew Brees and the Saints offense, which set several NFL records during the regular season. They were particularly amazing at home, topping 40 points in five of their eight home games.

The Saints could very well score that many points again, but the Lions will hold their own. It's going to be a shootout.

On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons will take on the New York Giants. The Falcons have one of the more balanced offenses in the NFL, but they spend most of their time airing it out. Matt Ryan had a fine season, and he has some pretty talented targets to throw to.

Eli Manning does not have Ryan's wealth of targets, but he and the Giants offense survived on the big play all season long. Victor Cruz emerged as one of the most dangerous downfield receivers in the NFL, and you can rest assured that Manning will look his way as often as he can.

Regardless of which two teams end up surviving in Wild Card Weekend, we know for a fact that we're going to see another offensive display in Green Bay in the divisional round. The Packers are one of the most explosive offensive teams in the NFL, and whoever has to play them will be forced to play catch-up. Given the vulnerability of Green Bay's pass defense, scoring points and gaining yards against the Packers is not exactly a Herculean task.

Things could be a little different in San Francisco in the divisional round. The 49ers didn't give up many points this season, and they gave up even fewer at home. Whoever draws them better go to the Bay Area ready for a fight.

As for the NFC Championship Game, the general consensus is that we're going to see a rematch between the Saints and Packers at Lambeau Field. I'm very much on board with this train of thought, as the stars have aligned for the Packers to get an easy win at home and for the Saints to make their way past the Lions and the 49ers before heading to Green Bay.

The first time the Saints and Packers hooked up, they combined for 876 total yards and 76 points. They may top those numbers the second time around.

Regardless of how the matchups play out, there are going to be enough points scored to put the 2011 college football bowl season to shame. It will be a fitting cap to an NFL regular season that saw an absurd amount of offense being displayed.

Since things are likely to balance out in 2012, I saw we should enjoy it while we can.

NFC Playoff Bracket (with projections)

Wild Card Round (Jan. 7 and 8)	Divisional Round (Jan. 14 and 15)	Conference Championship (Jan. 22)
Detroit
New Orleans	Lowest Surviving Seed (Atlanta)
	Green Bay	TBD (New Orleans)
		TBD (Green Bay)
	Highest Surviving Seed (New Orleans)
Atlanta	San Francisco
New York Giants