BALTIMORE (13-4) At NEW ENGLAND (14-3)
Sunday, 3 p.m., CBS
OPENING LINE - Patriots by 7 1/2
RECORD VS. SPREAD - Baltimore 8-8-1; New England 10-7
SERIES RECORD - Patriots lead 6-1
RAVENS OFFENSE - OVERALL (15), RUSH (10), PASS (19)
RAVENS DEFENSE - OVERALL (3), RUSH (2), PASS (4)
PATRIOTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (2), RUSH (20), PASS (2)
PATRIOTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (31), RUSH (17), PASS (31)
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES - In only previous playoff game between teams, Ravens won 33-14 Jan. 10, 2010 after building 24-0 first-quarter lead. ... Joe Flacco threw 10 passes in that game and Tom Brady had three first-quarter turnovers. ... Flacco only quarterback since 1970 NFL-AFL merger to reach playoffs in each of first four seasons. Brady made it in two of first four. ... Baltimore in AFC championship game for second time in four seasons but has been in one Super Bowl, beating New York Giants 34-7 to cap 2000 season. ... Last weekend, Ravens outgained by Texans 315 yards to 227 but had four takeaways. ... Ravens 7-0 against playoff teams this season, including postseason victory over Texans. They are 4-4 on road. ... RB Ray Rice led NFL with 129.3 total yards from scrimmage per game. In three games against Patriots, his average is 145.7. ... LB Terrell Suggs' 14 sacks were most in AFC. ... Baltimore 12-4 for second consecutive season but won AFC North title for first time since 2006. ... Baltimore's perennially dominant defense led AFC with 48 sacks and has NFL-high 32 postseason interceptions since 2000. ... Ravens have won seven of last eight games, including postseason. ... Patriots win would put them in Super Bowl for seventh time and fifth in 11 years. They've won three. ... Brady tied NFL postseason record with six touchdown passes last weekend. He shares it with Steve Young and Daryle Lamonica. He also has thrown touchdown pass in 18 straight postseason games, two behind Brett Favre's league record. ... If Brady throws for 195 yards, he'll pass John Elway's total of 4,964 for fourth most postseason passing yards in NFL history. ... Wes Welker has 40 catches in five playoff games. He missed postseason game against Ravens after injuring knee in regular-season finale. ... Rob Gronkowski caught three touchdown passes from Brady in playoff game against Denver after setting NFL regular-season record for tight ends with 17 touchdown receptions. ... WR Deion Branch had 85 yards receiving against Broncos, setting team career postseason record of 773. Troy Brown held mark of 694. ... CB Kyle Arrington tied for NFL lead with seven interceptions on a defense that gave up second most yards in league. ... New England 3-0 at home in AFC championship games. ... Patriots have won last nine games.
NEW YORK GIANTS (11-7) At SAN FRANCISCO (14-3)
Sunday, 6:30 p.m., Fox
OPENING LINE - 49ers by 1
RECORD VS. SPREAD - New York 10-8; San Francisco 12-4-1
SERIES RECORD - 49ers lead 18-17
GIANTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (8), RUSH (32), PASS (5)
GIANTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (27), RUSH (19), PASS (29)
49ERS OFFENSE - OVERALL (26), RUSH (8), PASS (29)
49ERS DEFENSE - OVERALL (4), RUSH (1), PASS (16)
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES - Teams have met seven times in postseason, with 49ers winning four. ... Giants won only previous NFC championship meeting 15-13 in January 1991. ... Sixth conference championship game since 1996 season to feature two teams that missed playoffs in previous season. ... New York QB Eli Manning and San Francisco QB Alex Smith tied for NFL lead with five fourth-quarter comeback wins in regular season. Smith added sixth last week against Saints. ... Marks second time two former No. 1 picks at quarterback faced off in conference championship game. Denver's John Elway faced Vinny Testaverde of Jets in 1998 AFC championship, with Elway getting win. ... Manning set NFL record with 15 TD passes in fourth quarter this season. He has added two more in playoffs and has 113.6 passer rating in fourth quarter. ... Manning has thrown three TD passes in three straight games for first time in career. ... Manning has won six of his past seven playoff games, with five coming on road, including Super Bowl in 2008 vs. New England. Manning's four road playoff wins tied for most ever. ... Giants averaging 112.7 yards rushing per game over past seven contests after averaging 82.3 in first 11. ... New York's Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks one of only two wide receiving duos to each top 1,000 yards with Cruz finishing third in NFL with 1,536 (Nicks had 1,192). ... Nicks has 13 catches for 280 yards and four TDs in two playoff games, joining Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald as only players in Super Bowl era with two games of at least 100 yards receiving and two TDs in one postseason. ... Giants coach Tom Coughlin can tie Tom Landry for most road playoff wins by winning seventh this week. ... Giants finished tied for third in NFL with 48 sacks in regular season and have 17 over past four games. ... 49ers allowed 44 sacks in regular season, most for any playoff team. ... Vernon Davis had 180 yards receiving last week against New Orleans, setting postseason record for tight ends. ... San Francisco led NFL with plus-2 8 turnover margin in regular season and were plus-4 last week against Saints, getting five turnovers and giving it away once. ... Smith has gone 201 straight passes without an interception. ... San Francisco K David Akers has 156 career points against Giants, most for any active player. ... 49ers one of three teams to call runs on more than half their plays in regular season. ... San Francisco WRs had seven catches for 48 yards last week. ... 49ers RB Frank Gore had 13 carries for 89 yards last week after averaging 3.5 yards per carry over final eight regular season games. ... Rookie Aldon Smith has 7 1/2 sacks over last six games for 49ers, including one last week against Drew Brees. ... With a 49ers win, Jim Harbaugh would become sixth rookie coach to go to Super Bowl.
