NFL: Championship Game History, Preview

[RFlagg]

While the Super Bowl was first played in 1967, the did not institute championship games in the NFC and AFC until after the AFL/NFL Merger in 1970. Since then, there have been a total of 84 championship games total played between the NFC and the AFC. When New England takes the field next Sunday, they will be hosting their 5th AFC Championship game. What is truly remarkable, however, is how many teams have never hosted a championship game, despite how many games have been played. Here’s a list of teams that have never hosted a championship game, how many games they've played, and their record in those games.

NY Jets - 4 Played - 0-4
Tennessee Titans/Oilers - 4 Played - 1-3
Carolina Panthers - 3 Played - 1-2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 3 Played - 1-2
Baltimore Ravens - 3 Played - 1-2
Atlanta Falcons - 2 Played - 1-1
Detroit Lions - 1 Played - 0-1
Kansas City Chiefs - 1 Played - 0-1
Houston Texans - 0 Played

The Texans are still new to the league, and I believe will have a good chance to make the AFC Championship Game in the next couple of years. Baltimore is a bit of a wild card in my mind, as the Baltimore Colts hosted a championship game and before being moved and renamed, the Browns hosted one as well. But for the others, it is just hard to believe that none of those teams have hosted a championship game.

As we know, one team will be removed from this list come Sunday, when the Atlanta Falcons will host the San Francisco for their first home NFC Championship Game. For the Falcons, it will be just their 3rd NFC Championship game appearance, and they will be going against a team that will tie the Dallas Cowboys for most NFC Championship Game appearances when they take the field at 14. As some of you may know, the 49ers are undefeated in 5 Super Bowl appearances, but they have been nowhere near as lucky in the NFC Championship Game, going 5-8 since it’s inception. Of their 13 previous appearances, only 5 have been on the road. They are 1-4 in those games, winning in Chicago in the 1988-89 season, but posting 2 losses in Dallas and one loss each in Green Bay and Washington.

Looking at the season on the whole, San Francisco went 5-3 on the road this year, winning in Green Bay, New York against the Jets, Arizona, New Orleans and New England. Their 3 road losses were to Minnesota, the NY Giants, and Seattle. Interestingly, the 49ers got creamed by a combined 63 points in those 3 road losses.

Another aspect to look at for the 49ers has been their pattern in games this season. They have so far played 2 good games followed by a dud. Their record, by week, has gone WWLWWLWWTWWLWWLWW. It’s pretty clear their last two games have been good games, beating Arizona 27-13 in week 17 and Green Bay 45-31 this past weekend. They might be due for a dud game.

On our side of the ball, we need to look at the Falcons play against mobile QBs this year. The Falcons have played 5 games against 4 mobile QBs this year (Newton, RGIII, Vick, and Wilson) and have posted a 4-1 record in those games. However, the defense only played well against 1 of those QBs, RGIII (98 total yards, 0 TDs). One could make the argument we did well against Vick as well (233 total yards, 1 TD), but Wilson and Newton pretty much ate our defense alive this season. Wilson had an incredible game yesterday and posted 445 total yards and 3 TDs. We did pick him off once (the only turnover a mobile QB had against us this season), but it was on a hail mary at the end of the game. Newton played great against us as well, posting 704 total yards, 6 TDs and 0 turnovers in 2 games.

The Falcons need to work to find an answer for Colin Kaepernick this week. This may seem like a crazy proposition, but I think it might be a good idea to let Robert McClain spy on him this week. Kaepernick is fast and I just don’t think our LBs will be able to spy and contain him alone.Looking at San Fran’s stats, Crabtree and Davis are their main receiving threats, with Moss bringing in just under 2 catches a game. I think we can cover Davis with a combo of Spoon and DeCoud, and then let Dunta and Asante work on Crabtree and Moss with Moore playing Center field. If we play Nickel with McClain covering Kaepernick, that will leave the D-Line and a LB to stop the run, plus Moore to come up and help when they do run. I believe, with this approach, we will be able to contain the 49ers offense and give Matt and the boys a chance to send us to the Super Bowl.

[RockHoward]

Great post. I agree that LB spy's might be over their heads, but I also think McClain's tackling would be an issue. He has several horrible missed tackles yesterday. Maybe Moore is the guy.

[RFlagg]

(01-14-2013 02:24 PM)RockHoward Wrote:  Great post. I agree that LB spy's might be over their heads, but I also think McClain's tackling would be an issue. He has several horrible missed tackles yesterday. Maybe Moore is the guy.

My feeling is I'm not sure I want to commit Moore to spying Kaepernick, as he has been great at playing center field for us. I think McClain can do the job of spying for us, and while tackling can be a concern, he might be able to slow Kaepernick enough to allow the cavalry to get there.

[FullMetalFalcon23]

Wilson got his yardage by bailing out of the pocket. I don't think he ever ran it off a designed run until he took it in and that was a fuck up that let him he that because rather than fan at the end we crashed. Maintains outside leverage on that would have had him in the headlights. It wasnt there for him all day and the one time it shouldn't have been there for certain it was wide open. I think we will deploy the same tactic against Kaepernick but look to bring more heat straight through the middle. Problem is those Guards are a solid wall from that draft class where they doubled up on them. It's gonna take a violent effort from our guys much like this weekend but its clear either we need a better pass rush scheme or go after a pass rusher somehow. And not a ray Edwards type guy because we get pressure. We are great at that. But we need to close. When was the last time we posted a dominant multiple sack game. When we heated Jamarcus Russell, and Jason Campbell?

[Jesus]

The Packers did get some push up the middle. I thought during that game that they could have contained Kaepernick but their personnel weren't fast enough and their scheme wasn't good enough. Why wasn't Matthews or Woodson spying Kaepernick. I don't think anyone was.

The way Alabama contained the ND QB that's what you need to do. They had levels with their corners and LB and D-Line containing ND and not allowing them to move the ball anywhere they didn't want. For the most part we contained the run and allowed lots of pass yards yesterday. And for 3 quarters kept them from scoring. What happened was they started to stop our offense (we got away from the run when we shouldn't have) and our D was out there too much running around. SF like Seattle lacks big play receivers. We need to keep their big plays down. Kaepernick isn't as good a passer as Wilson. He is much more erratic, like Vick. He missed a lot of easy throws on Saturday. Can't count on that but it is good to remember.

Also no mistakes on Offense. No bad passes or stupid penalties.

[Swift Is a Die Hard]

If Abe is out . I would think bout switching to 3-4 scheme and get LB or Hope on field
Stand Bierman up and tell him not to worry about diving inside stay at home on read option

I put Walker as NT . Have Babs and Matthews at DE

I put Dent / Peterson inside at ILB . I put Spoon and Nicholas on OLB and Spoon as rush LB

On early downs Bierman stays in

[babuka]

If you are using a spy during a pass play, it should be the same person responsible for him on an option play. A linebacker is fast enough, he just has to recognize the play. Falcons have already played like 6 mobile QBs that run this stuff so it should be nothing new. The only difference was this last game the pressure was taking too long and the coverage was a little too loose. Tighten things up just a little bit and it will be okay. Wilson is a much better passer than this guy. Make him beat you with his arm, and occasionally throw a CB blitz at him and blow thing.

You can also try man coverage with Decoud playing deep, leaving Moore to roam free.

[ATLBound]

We did extremely well against the read option yesterday. Wilson never ran the ball off read option because the backside was always covered and we were able to stymie that run game by Lynch and co.

Where Wilson killed us was scrambling on passing plays and finding passing lanes in the process. Kaepernick is not as smart as Wilson and when he scrambles he generally just runs. I think we will have a much easier time containing Kaep then we would Wilson personally. I think Gore is a similar back to Lynch but not as good. He certainly isn't a slouch either.

I like our defense in this game better than I liked them in Seattle's game.