The two top seeds, Seattle and Denver, both won their first playoff games and will be home for the conference title games Sunday .
But Denver suffered a major setback when quarterback Bo Nix suffered a broken leg at the end of the victory over Buffalo. Now Jarrett Stidham will make his first start this year after not throwing a pass all year. The loss of Nix changed the odds from the Broncos being a slight favorite to a four- or five-point underdog against the Patriots. In the AFC title game. But the Broncos remain confidence they can still win with Stidham at quarterback. Meanwhile, Drake Maye has to play better than he did last week against Houston when the poor play of quarterback C.J. Stroud helped hand the victory to the Patriots.
In the NFC title game, Seattle will host the Los Angeles Rams and is favored by a field goal after routing the 49ers last week. This will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams and it should be virtually a tossup. They split the first two games but the Rams had a 30-14 lead in the second game before the Seahawks rallied to win in overtime with a two point conversion. This should be a good duel between quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold and is likely to be decided in the fourth quarter if not overtime. The winner of this game will be favored to win the Super Bowl.
A Seattle-New England Super Bowl would be interesting because it would bring back memories of how the Seahawks were a yard away from winning the Super Bowl in 2015 before Malcolm Butler intercepted the Russell Wilson pass that gave the Patriots and Tom Brady the victory.
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