Who will make it to the Super Bowl?
©AFP, Getty Images
The National Football League (NFL) season is approaching its climax: On Sunday (local time) the two conference championship games are scheduled to determine the participants in the Super Bowl on February 8th.
In the AFC, the Denver Broncos host the New England Patriots, and in the NFC there will be a duel between the Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams in Seattle.
Broncos ohne Starting-Quarterback
The two best teams in the AFC meet in Denver. The Broncos enjoy home advantage in Mile High Stadium, located at an altitude of 1,600 meters, but have to do without their starting quarterback. Bo Nix suffered a serious ankle injury in the 33:30 playoff win against the Buffalo Bills and is out. This means that there will not be the hoped-for direct duel between the two quarterbacks from the 2024 draft, in which Drake Maye was selected third by the Patriots and Nix by Denver in twelfth.
Replacement Jarrett Stidham, a former Patriots player himself, takes over for the Broncos. “I just want to go out there and do my best for these guys,” said the 27-year-old, who has started four NFL games so far. Denver’s strong defense is likely to be crucial – a quality that also characterizes the Patriots.
“We compete in a hostile environment”
New England is in a conference final for the first time since the last Super Bowl triumph with Tom Brady. Under head coach Mike Vrabel, the record champions achieved a sporting turnaround, crowned by play-off victories against the Los Angeles Chargers (16:3) and the Houston Texans (28:16). Quarterback Drake Maye, already one of the league’s best players in his second NFL season, was confident: “We’re competing in a hostile environment. It’s another challenge to finish what we started.” Memories of the successful Brady years are increasingly coming back to life in New England.
In the second conference final there will be a division duel in the NFC between the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams. Seattle has been in outstanding form recently and humiliated the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 in the semifinals. The Rams, on the other hand, had to fight a lot harder at 20:17 after overtime at the Chicago Bears, but secured the victory thanks to a decisive field goal from 42 yards.
Bookmakers believe in Seahawks-Patriots-Super Bowl
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, like Maye a candidate for the MVP award, expects a duel at eye level. The two meetings in the regular season were extremely close: in Los Angeles the Rams won 21:19, in Seattle the Seahawks prevailed 38:37. “This is playoff football. It goes back and forth, and in the end you have to find a way to win,” Stafford said.
The bookmakers currently see a Super Bowl pairing between the Seahawks and the Patriots as likely – a final that took place eleven years ago. Whether this actually happens will be decided on Sunday in Denver and on Monday night in Seattle.
