The top two seeds in the NFC will meeting for the Conference Championship Game this Sunday when the Minnesota Vikings collide with the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome. The Saints at one time appeared they could go unbeaten this season in credit to their unstoppable passing offense led by QB Drew Brees and finished with the top record in the NFC. The Vikings on the other hand have had a “magical” season behind QB Brett Farve and at many times appeared to be the most complete team in the NFC this season. After such convincing seasons, it is not any surprise that the Vikings and Saints are both just one game away from the Super Bowl and there is sure to be tons of entertainment when these two explosive offenses take the field this weekend.

The AFC Championship Game will take center stage this Sunday afternoon when the Indianapolis Colts host the New York Jets in a match to determine which team is Super Bowl bound. The Colts have been the odds on favorite for most of the season to not only get to the Super Bowl, but they also are receiving the most favored odds at +120 to win the Super Bowl thanks to their NFL best 14-2 regular season record. The Colts are no surprise to be in this situation and they will look to capitalize on those high expectations. They are led by arguably the best quarterback in the league in Peyton Manning and have a great supporting cast.

The New York Jets opportunity to just reach the postseason was considering a big long shot, but closed out the year winning 5 of their last 6 games while getting help from some of the other teams around the league as well. The Jets backed up their underdog efforts last week with an impressive outing against the Cincinnati Bengals 24-14. The Jets finally are getting tremendous help from their defense and they are proving that they can play with the top teams in the league. However, the Jets will try to tackle the San Diego Chargers this weekend, who are the hottest team in the NFL in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs.

The Minnesota Vikings will host the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday at the Metrodome in possibly the most popular playoff meeting thus far in the postseason. On one side, you have the legend QB Brett Farve who signed with the Vikings while turning a rushing team into one of the most balanced offenses in the league. The Vikings at many times this season have appeared to be the most complete team in the league, but a few lackluster performances down the stretch has left some doubts on what was such a promising season. The Vikings are in search for their first NFC Championship in over 30 years, but before they have a chance at a Championship they must defend their home turf against the most hated team in America.

The Indianapolis Colts coaching staff led by Jim Caldwell received a ton of criticism for resting their players and seemingly throwing away the opportunity at a perfect season a few weeks ago. However, now the time is here to see if resting the starters was indeed the correct call. Possibly anything less than an AFC Championship would be a waste considering the Colts had a great chance to become just the 5th team in history to end the year undefeated. However, moving forward the Colts will put their focus to the visiting Baltimore Ravens this Saturday night. The Ravens just flat dominated the New England Patriots last week on both sides of the ball. Running back Ray Rice, who has been the heart of the offense, busted the first play from scrimmage open with an 83 yard touchdown run. The damage inflicted by the Ravens never let up as Rice rumbled for 159 rushing yards to lead efforts in the Ravens 33-14 victory over the Patriots.

The Arizona Cardinals appeared to have magic on their side yet again as they took down the Green Bay Packers in one of the highest scoring games in postseason history 51-45 in overtime. The Cardinals appear to be carrying the perception they did last year at this time as a dangerous underdog. The Cardinals offense has been its best in the postseason over the last two years, but now Arizona will take on the NFL’s top offense in the New Orleans Saints. The Saints had a first round bye so they will be plenty rested after finishing the year with the best record in the NFC at 13-3. However, all of the Saints defeats came in the last 3 weeks of the season and it will be interesting to see if they can relocate their swagger.

The New England Patriots will host the Baltimore Ravens in the opening round of the playoffs this weekend from Foxboro Sunday afternoon. The game will be the only playoff meeting of the weekend that does not include a week 17 rematch. However, both of these two opponents did meet earlier in the season when the Patriots held off the Ravens for a 27-21 victory in week 4. The Patriots will be the slight favorites again this week, but they will be without one of their most useful targets in the passing game in wide receiver Wes Welker. Welker, who led the league with 123 catches, tore ACL ligaments in his knee in last week’s 34-27 loss to the Texans and is out for the rest of the year.

The Arizona Cardinals were the Cinderella story of the NFL playoffs last year limping into the postseason with one of the worse records of any playoff team and then putting on a tremendous streak of play to win the NFC to earn a trip to the Super Bowl. Well, the Cardinals are in similar situation this year earning a trip to the playoffs thanks to the less than stellar NFC West and will be looking to make fireworks again in the postseason. However, the Green Bay Packers stand in their way this weekend and the Packers destroyed the Cardinals last week 33-7 even though Arizona was resting many of their starters. Still, Arizona will look to put everything together and make another big run at the postseason.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys represent another week 17 rematch this Saturday in the opening NFC playoff game for wildcard weekend. The Cowboys dominated the Eagles last week shutting them out 24-0 to capture the NFC East crown for just the 2nd time in the last decade. In fact, it was the Cowboys 2nd straight shutout as they also posted a 17-0 victory over the Redskins in week 16. The sudden emergence of the Cowboys defense could really make a huge impact on the NFL playoffs considering the offense has been pretty solid all season. If the Cowboys continue to get big help from the defense, they could finally end their 13 year postseason winless drought and also make an even deeper run in the playoffs than many expect. The Cowboys have won both meetings against the Eagles this season, but Philadelphia will try to change some things up this week and prove how hard it is to beat a team 3 times in one season.

The first of 3 different week 17 rematches will kickoff Saturday afternoon when the New York Jets travel to take on the Cincinnati Bengals in the first game of wildcard weekend for the postseason. The Jets destroyed the Bengals last week 37-0, but the Bengals also had most of their starters resting on the sideline during that contest because the playoff future was already set. However, this week their will not be any rest for either team because if you lose then your season is over. Also, the setting will be a little different this week considering last week’s game was in New York but this week’s battle will take place in Cincinnati.