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Happy Conference Championship Day, Packers and Bills

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Jan 24, 2021

Now we get down to the nitty gritty.

No one would be too surprised with any of the results of today’s AFC and NFC Conference Championship Games.

Why? Just look at the quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, likely NFL MVP. Josh Allen, the darkhorse MVP candidate. Pat Mahomes, a Super Bowl MVP.

And of course, the GOAT, Tom Brady.

Of the four, if you were ranking them, you’d put Rodgers up top this season, and you know who would be fourth?

Hate to say it, but it’s Brady.

Don’t get us wrong, Brady is the main reason the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are where they are. The Bucs have ridden his success, smarts and experience and wouldn’t have a sniff of this game without him.

But Rodgers is just on fire. He’s followed up his regular season success with a good postseason game and you have to think he smells it.

Allen has taken the Bills to a new level, a level very, very close to where Mahomes, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, has the Chiefs. The big question, of course, is his health. But it’s always so hard to count him out.

Age before beauty? That’s the question on this day.

Both these games are rematches from Week Six, with the Bucs and Chiefs winning those games. There’s a good argument for the opposite to happen in these games.

So let’s take a look:

PACKERS 30, BUCS 24

Hard to go against Brady in his 14th conference title game, but he has lost a few of these you know. But this won’t be his fault; Green Bay has a couple of things it didn’t have in other Rodgers attempts to get back to the Super Bowl: A defense and a running game. It won’t be pretty in the Lambeau chill but we say the GOAT’s time is next year. Yeah, we know. Just a feeling that Brady giving the Bucs a home Super Bowl game is just too good to be true.

BILLS 34, CHIEFS 31

Upset special. Mahomes isn’t 100 percent, and that Kansas City defense isn’t to be trusted. Allen has just taken the Bills to a level they haven’t been used to since the Jim Kelly days, obviously. The road factor isn’t that big a deal as the crowd won’t be nearly as large or loud as it normaly would be at Arrowhead. Just a feeling that even though they don’t have much of a running game, the Bills can win this one.

LAST WEEK: 4-0

PLAYOFFS: 8-2

REGULAR SEASON: 80-38

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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