Who Will Be This Season's NFC Champion?

    The NFC playoff seeds are already finalized so while we wait on the AFC to finish up we can take a look and see who we think will represent the NFC this season. I have an idea of who this seasons '07 New York Giants will be or '08 Arizona Cardinals will be but we'll save that for later.

New Orleans Saints: Currently 13-2 with two losses in a row at home has left the fight for home field advantage kind of useless when they now have a better record on the road. New Orleans and Minnesota could be struggling at the right time, while other teams have gotten it out of the way they started 3 weeks before the playoffs and can maybe get it out of their system in time to have success in the playoffs. Injuries on defense and to the running game has put them in tough situations but they now have plenty of time to rest and get healthy to get closer to the team at the beginning of the season. Coach Sean Payton has stated that will not rest his starter and I think that is a huge mistake being they've had bad luck with injuries on defense, so why risk anymore or to your number 1 ranked offense? New Orleans has the leagues best offense coupled with a 24th rank defense. Lately has had no luck stopping the run and little help stopping the pass with injuries to Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter who has recently returned.

Minnesota Vikings: 11-3 and could improve to 12-3 with a win over Chicago tonight. Like New Orleans, Minnesota has also been sputtering on offense. They've also converted from a run oriented team to more of a passing team with the addition of Brett Favre. I'm not sure thats a great idea. Peterson is by far the best back in the league and his backup isnt too shabby either. Why theyre letting Favre lead the team is beyond me and we all know Favres' playoff history. They need to get back to Peterson running the ball more often and only lean on Favre when they have to, tighten up the pass defense a little more and this should help increase their chances. They are at a disadvantage however if they have to face Green Bay. Green Bay is 0-2 versus the Vikings this season and not only is it hard to beat a team twice but 3 times is even tougher. If Minnesota loses this coming weekend they could drop to 3rd seed and lose their 1st round bye.

Philadephia Eagles: Philly will play Dallas next week and potentially again in the playoffs. If they lose to Dallas and still get the tie breaker for home field they'll have an advantage of being 0-2 versus Dallas this season. If they beat Dallas and Minnesota falters then they could become the number two seed to allow the team to rest and have home field advantage as long as they dont have to eventually face New Orleans. Philly is ranked 10th in total offense and 8th in total defense. They do have a playmaker on offense DeSean Jackson but he lacks the everydown "go to guy" ability. McCoy has gotten by with missing Westbrook and even though Westbrook appears to be back, he hasnt been very productive. The best thing they have going for them is to hope for home field advantage mostly through the playoffs and their abilitly in not turning the ball over as often as most teams.

Dallas Cowboys: The Boys are currently 10-5 and are ranked 3rd in total offense and 12th in total defense. Not a bad combination. Miles Austin has played a big part of it along with Jason Witten except for his lack of redzone presence. If they cant figure out a way to be stronger in the redzone teams will stack up against Barber and with recently signed Suisham that has replaced Folk (who was cut for the same reasons as Suisham), will make it tough to put points on the board if they cant score from a distance. Dallas has lost to the Giants (2x), Chargers, Broncos, and Packers. All respectable teams and all by slight margins. Dallas is a tough team and have proved they can win in December, now we'll soon see what they can do in the playoffs.

Green Bay Packers: They are sitting at 10-5 with two losses from Minnesota (11-3). Their first 4 losses came at a time during the season where Rogers could NOT find any protection. That has changed in the recent weeks along with Ryan Grant quietly having a great season (1,202 yds 10 td), and emerging tight end Jermichael Finley. They will be facing the Arizona Cardinals who have a good run defense and can force turnovers on passing downs. Most likely to be a shootout, but with Green Bays' number 2 ranked defense and number 4 ranked offense it'll be tough for Arizona to compete. If Green Bay can get past the Cards and face Minnesota they'll have the advantage even on the road playing pretty hot right now and it'll be tough to lose 3 in a row against the Vikes especially with the Vikings sliding down. But thats just an "if", but it seems very possible.

Arizona Cardinals: Ranked only 12th on offense this season but has recently given Chris Wells more opportunities to show they can be more balanced and that can pose a problem for teams that are used to only having to gameplan for Fitzgerald and Boldin. Arizona in my opinion is a better team than they were last year and hasnt gotten much credit still being in a weak NFC West Division. It's not likely they'll pull a repeat but not entirely impossible.

    I think it'll come down to New Orleans and Green Bay to be in the NFC Championship. From there it's tough to say. Green Bay has the advantage having a top offense, not compared to New Orleans of course, but also has a great defense. New Orleans offense has been efficient lately but struggled to put up points. Against Tampa in the loss this weekend, Brees was 32-37 for 258 yards, 1 TD, and a rating of 104.7. He completed 86% of his passes and they averaged almost 5.5 yards per rush...and still lost to Tampa Bay by 3 in overtime. If New Orleans doesnt turn their defense around and stop the run they will have problems. Cornerback Jabari Greer should be healthy by then and they'll have a week to gameplan no matter who they play. But I just dont see Dallas or Philly beating them especially after they've already lost to Dallas and Philadelphia's lack of big targets and ground game. But as for this year '07 Giants or '08 Cardinals, I'm picking the Packers. Will they get to the Bowl? Not sure but they have more momentum now and are more balanced than any team mentioned especially if Minnesota and New Orleans dont turn things around. Even as a Saints fan it's hard not to lean on Green Bay.