The Super Bowl is always the pinnacle of every NFL season, but in many ways, this coming Sunday night is my favourite part of the season.
For players and coaches, they are 60 minutes away from realising what is for many a lifelong dream – reaching the Super Bowl. Win and you go on to play on the biggest stage in your sport. Lose and you go home, and you have eight long months to think about where it all went wrong.
And then you add in the extra drama this year of a backup quarterback leading the Denver Broncos in Jarrett Stidham, a man who hasn't thrown a pass in the NFL in two years, and Sam Darnold leading the Seattle Seahawks, a quarterback thrown on the NFL scrapheap and forgotten. He is back in the limelight.
There are storylines everywhere you look, and it's going to be a fantastic Championship Sunday. Let's have a bit more of a look at these two games.
AFC Championship Game – Sunday, 8pm KO
New England Patriots at Denver Broncos
I'm not in the camp that believes this game is already over just because Jarrett Stidham is stepping in at quarterback for Bo Nix. I think the Broncos have a genuine route to victory - and it's one that was mapped out 10 years ago against these very New England Patriots.
Back in that AFC title game, Tom Brady was at quarterback for New England. Peyton Manning's physical skills were fading. And Denver won the game with defense. Four sacks, two interceptions and 17 hits on a future Hall of Famer. The question this weekend is simple: can they do it again to Drake Maye?
If they can, chaos follows. Maye has already been sacked 10 times in this playoff run and has fumbled an alarming six occasions. That's a huge incentive for a Denver defense that will believe it can flip this game.
That said, New England have been brilliant for much of the season, winning 15 of their last 16 games - and that's never easy in this league. So, the Patriots may well be back where they spent so many years: on the biggest of stages in the Super Bowl. They didn't even give the rest of the league much time to enjoy their down years. They're back already!
I also think coaching plays a massive role here. Sean Payton and Mike Vrabel both know how to navigate this stage of the season - as coaches and as players. Payton's offensive creativity versus Vrabel's defensive stubbornness feels like a proper chess match.
This won't be the blowout many are predicting. I'm expecting a nail-biter at Mile High.
NFC Championship Game – Sunday 11.30pm KO
Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks
While I believe the Seattle Seahawks are gathering momentum and becoming a truly destructive force as Super Bowl favourites, I also think the NFC Championship Game has every chance of going right down to the wire.
That's certainly been the case when these teams have met this season. The Rams won the first meeting in Week 11, edging Seattle 21–19 after Jason Myers missed a 60-yard field goal at the death. Seattle got their revenge in Week 16 with a remarkable 38–37 win, sealed by a successful two-point conversion in overtime. There has been nothing between these two division rivals, and now they meet for a third time with everything on the line.
The big question is whether Matthew Stafford can find answers against the most brutal defense in the NFL. Can Stafford, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams and Kyren Williams make enough plays against a unit led by our very own Aden Durde? That's the challenge.
Seattle, meanwhile, have shifted their approach in recent weeks. They've leaned more heavily on the ground game, still attacking downfield with Sam Darnold when necessary, but playing things much closer to the vest - controlling the clock and, just as importantly, controlling opposing offenses. That has worked. But Stafford presents a very different test.
The Rams haven't quite hit the heights of their mid-season form, and they could easily have exited these playoffs against either Carolina or Chicago. Yet here they are. Still standing. Still very much in the Super Bowl race. And I think they'll give as good as they get in Seattle - one of the toughest places to play in the league.
This is an enthralling contest, and it really could go either way.
