NFL Playoff Scenarios: 10 Best Positional Battles to Watch for Championship Week

With just days to go until championship weekend, news reporters, analysts, bloggers and more are dissecting the upcoming clashes between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens, as well as the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers.

As we are privileged in nearly every NFL season, there are plenty of story lines to go around this weekend. 

Can the Ravens take the next step forward before its time for future Hall of Famers like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed to hang up the cleats?

Will the Patriots get a chance to redeem themselves from their spectacular Super Bowl failure four years ago and prove they can beat a winning team?

Are the New York Giants ready to return to the Super Bowl and become one of the only nine-win teams to ever play in the big game? 

Can Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers continue their magical run and end up having an all Harbaugh Super Bowl?

The answers to these questions will be found in matchups all over the field Sunday.  While football is a team game, these positional battles on the field could determine who goes to Indianapolis in two weeks, and who goes home. 

Here are 10 of the best matchups to watch. 

Kyle Arrington/Devin McCourty vs. Torrey Smith

Considering the statistics for both Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin were so similar in the regular season, it's unknown who the New England Patriots will consider their No. 1 receiving threat.

But while Boldin had a few more catches and receiving yards, no one will argue that Torrey Smith, a rookie who emerged as a solid wide receiver this year, is the bigger deep-ball threat. 

In a game in which the Ravens will likely need to score at least 24 points to win, the battle between Smith and New England's top cornerbacks could be a key to this game. 

Smith, a receiver that many Ravens fans had never heard of entering the 2011 season, ended up with 50 receptions for 841 yards and seven touchdowns (four more than Boldin).

He has impressive speed that could stretch the Patriots secondary. 

If the combination of Kyle Arrington and Devin McCourty can hold Smith scoreless, it will be a big boost to the Patriots' chances of winning. 

Carlos Rodgers vs. Hakeem Nicks

As the Green Bay Packers learned last weekend, Hakeem Nicks is an elite wide receiver.

He did it all throughout the contest. He broke tackles en route to a 66-yard first quarter touchdown.  He caught a Hail Mary pass to end the first half and he was clutch in the second half as well.  Overall, he had seven grabs for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

As talented as Victor Cruz is, Nicks is the key receiver on New York and it's up to Carlos Rodgers to stop him. 

Rodgers, who is enjoying his best season in San Francisco, is off to the Pro Bowl thanks to the six interceptions he snagged this year, one of which returned for a touchdown.  He's helped shut down receivers for much of the season, but now San Francisco will need him in their most important game in over a decade.

It's essential for Rodgers to keep Nicks under 100 yards receiving.  If he has the kind of game we saw in Green Bay, the 49ers are going to be in big trouble. 

Haloti Ngata vs. Patriots Offensive Line

The 2007 New York Giants helped create a blue print for beating the New England Patriots.

If you can pressure Tom Brady, then the Patriots offense fizzles.

If the Ravens want to get to the Super Bowl, they need to put Brady on his butt several times.  To do that, they'll need a big game from Haloti Ngata, the Ravens' best defensive lineman.

Those his numbers are not awe inspiring, he consistently brings pressure on the opposing offensive line that can make the lives of his teammates much easier.  Ngata had 36 tackles in the regulars season, five sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a touchdown.

This won't be an easy job for Ngata as the Patriots offensive line tied for ninth in the league in fewest sacks allowed.  However, they haven't been perfect this year and several teams, such as the New York Giants, have neutralized Brady in part because of strong defensive pressure.

If Ngata can succeed and the Ravens get over three sacks and six or seven knockdowns, then the Ravens will have a good chance to win. 

Micheal Boley vs. Frank Gore

Perhaps the most underrated player on the Giants this year is Michael Boley, who many general NFL fans will remember as the guy who returned a fumble for a touchdown and accidentally heaved it at the face of a poor intern.

Nevertheless, there are those such as Chris Collinsworth that believe Boley is extremely important to the success of the New York Giants.  He had nearly 100 tackles, forced a fumble and recovered three others. 

A big assignment for him will be making sure Frank Gore doesn't break through into the secondary.  Though Alex Smith proved to the world he can throw in the big moments of a game, it shouldn't be forgotten that the 49ers have gotten to this point in large part thanks to Gore and the running game.

Alex Smith can throw the ball.  He seems to gain confidence in every game these days.  But if Micheal Boley can help force the 49ers into becoming one-dimensional, it may be too much to ask Smith to carry the entire offense.

Jerod Mayo vs. Ray Rice

While there will surely be others focusing on Ray Rice, one of the NFL's best rushers, expect Jerod Mayo to be in his face the most.

The Patriots' middle linebacker had another fine season recording nearly 100 tackles.  It will often be up to him to neutralize Rice who was second in the NFL with 1,364 rushing yards and still led his team with 76 receptions. 

If Mayo can shut down Rice, it will put the onus on Joe Flacco to lead the Ravens offense.  While he's surely not the worst quarterback in the NFL, the Patriots would love nothing more than to have a battle of Flacco vs. Tom Brady.

Justin Smith vs. Mitch Petrus, David Baas and David Diehl

One of the key matchups in this game will be how left tackle David Diehl, left guard Mitch Petrus and center David Baas deal with Pro Bowler Justin Smith, who can play both defensive tackle and defensive end.

While his numbers don't look like the kind you see from say Jared Allen, there are those that believe Smith should be the NFL's defensive MVP based on his overall play and leadership. 

People saw this in the game against the New Orleans Saints last weekend.  His numbers (three tackles and one sack) look fairly good for a man at his position.  But then consider the fact he knocked down Drew Brees five times and you can see why he is so feared.

If Smith can force the Giants to double team him, it's going to open it up for other defenders such as NaVorro Bowman, Patrick Willis and many others.

Ed Reed/Ray Lewis vs. Rob Gronkowski

How exactly are you supposed to defend one of the most uncoverable players in the NFL?  That's a question the Ravens and specifically their two defensive leaders will have to answer.

Standing 6'6" and 265 pounds, Gronkowski has torn the league up this year catching 90 passes for 1,327 yards (an NFL record for tight ends) and an amazing 17 touchdowns. 

He and Brady continued this artistry by connecting for three touchdowns in the first half alone last week against the Denver Broncos.

The man is too big for cornerbacks and safeties and too fast for almost any linebacker.  But if any set of players could find a way to neutralize Gronkowski in some way, it could very well be the dynamic duo of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

Even if they slow him down, the Ravens will need to try and slow down receivers like Wes Welker and fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez.  But if Lewis and Reed help take away Tom Brady's favorite target, it could create the kind of doubt that makes No. 12 take a half second longer to find a secondary option.

Baltimore can only hope that extra time can force pressure or the kind of errant throws we've seen Brady make on a few occasions this year. 

Giants Secondary vs. Vernon Davis

Much like Gronkowski, Davis proved that no one could cover him in the 49ers' dramatic win against the Saints.  His catch with seconds to go capped off another grab that will go down in 49ers lore with "The Catch" and the Terrell Owens grab. 

In all Davis caught seven passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. 

The question is who will the Giants send out to cover him?  This is the question that teams will face for years to come when taking on tight ends the likes of Gronkowski and Davis.

At 6'3" and 250 pounds, Davis is as big as a linebacker but as fast as a wide receiver.  Linebackers can't keep up but he dwarfs any member of the secondary. 

Considering the Giants' pass defense was not good in the regular season, their ability to solve the Vernon Davis riddle will be a key to whether they get a Super Bowl rematch with either the Ravens or Patriots or are instead watching from New York. 

Joe Flacco vs. Expectations

With the New England Patriots having one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL, you would think this is a game Joe Flacco can succeed in.  There frankly isn't a specific position on the Patriots defense that Flacco needs to worry about.

However, more times than not in his career he hasn't lived up to the expectations of being a true franchise quarterback.

His performance last week in which he went 14-of-27 for 176 yards and two touchdowns didn't exactly inspire much confidence as both of his scores came on very short fields.

Much of the talk this week has been about whether Flacco can take the proverbial "next step" and lead his team to the Super Bowl.  Some are trying to compare him to Tom Brady which quite honestly is not fair.

With all of this going on around him, the biggest battle for Flacco may be against himself.  If he can rise above all of the talk about whether he's the long-term solution in Baltimore and play like he did against New England two years ago in the playoffs, then the Ravens have a great chance to win.

However, if he doesn't play one of the better games of his career, it's highly unlikely Baltimore has much of a chance. 

Giants Defensive Line vs. 49ers Offensive Line

The trench warfare that will take place here will be the true key to the game in my eyes.

The Giants defensive front is the healthiest it's been all year and has three guys who would be the star player on almost any other defensive line in the NFL. 

Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora combined for 30.5 sacks this year.  The three men alone had more sacks than six teams and were within striking distance of eight others.  This doesn't include Chris Canty, who has emerged as a strong defensive tackle this season.

The defensive line was the key to the 2007 Super Bowl and in slowing down the prolific passing attack of the Packers last weekend.  If they can control the line of scrimmage against the 49ers, then I believe the Giants offense will put enough points on the board to win.

However, if the 49ers can keep Alex Smith upright for most of the game and allow Frank Gore to break through the defensive front, the rest of the Giants defense is average at best.