Welcome to the weekend of big stakes, big wins, big heartaches, a few goose-eggs, and 2 teams moving on to the Super Bowl!!  The pressure has just gone exponential as the remaining 4 teams get ready for their respective conference championships.  And for the HSBT participants, a good weekend will set you up for a shot at the trophy, and a bad weekend will most likely seal your fate.  Let’s take a look at the matchups and The Commish’s expert analysis:

San Francisco 49’ers @ Atlanta Falcons
The Colin Kaepernick-led 49’ers are favored in this one, based on their stellar performance last weekend.  The Falcons assume their usual playoff Rodney Dangerfield role (no respect).  All aspects of this game, except for the home field advantage, point to a 49’er win (or route?).  A couple of questions…

• How will Kaepernick do in his first-ever road playoff game?  How will Matt Ryan handle the 49’er D?
• Can Frank Gore go over 100 yards again?  Can Michael Turner do the same?
• Is Michael Crabtree the real deal?  Will Julio Jones get back in his groove along with fellow WR Roddy White?

The 49’ers haven’t got past this point since 1995; the Falcons did it in 1999.  Respect for the Falcons comes only if they win this one and go on to win again in 2 weeks.  The 49’ers were expected to get to this game, but not with this QB.

Getting rid of the No Respect label – Atlanta 27, SF 24 (will K Matt Bryant win it on the last play?)
Riding the Kaepernick hot steak – SF 37, Atlanta 23

Jim Harbaugh will outcoach Mike Smith, right?

Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots
2 weeks ago we thought it might be Raven LB Ray Lewis’ last game and here he still is playing for a place in SB47.  The last time the Ravens went to (and won) the SB was in 2001 and they won their conference championship on the road.  Now – a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game, when the Ravens should have, could have won had WR Lee Evans caught that in-the-hands- pass from Joe Flacco deep in the 4^th quarter.  Instead they had to settle for the winning FG, a little 32-yd kick that went miserably wide left.  The OT loss still stings..  The wounds started to heal win a Raven win earlier this season.

The Patriots seem to be unstoppable, but will be without TE Rob Gronkowski, who re-broke his arm last week in the win vs. Houston.  That leaves the Patriots only 5 deep at TE.  They have a solid running game to complement their fast-paced offense.  And – a bunch of really big guys on that D line (featuring Vince Wilfork, who clogs up the middle).

The healing continues for the Rayvens – Baltimore 34, New England 31
Spoiling an all-Harbaugh Super Bowl – New England 30, Baltimore 20

Find a comfy seat to watch these 2 hopefully good games.  If they’re half as good as last weekend’s games, it will exciting.

~~ The Commish