This Week In The NFL.....? Championship Sunday Edition ?

And then there were 4

With Big Ben and Tom Brady set to play in the AFC Championship.

13 of 14 Super Bowls will feature Brady, Roethlisberger and Peyton Manning.

Tom Brady is going to appear in his 11th Conference Championship Game. That will break the tie with Gene Upshaw and George Blanda for the most all-time at any position.

This is the first time since the 1970 Merger that all four teams in the Conference Championship Games had an active winning streak of at least 5 games coming into the game (via Elias Sports Bureau).

Bettors to stick with Packers as $300 ticket now worth $28K.

Before Thanksgiving, Brian Yankelevitz and Russ Axelrod decided to pick an NFL team that needed to win out to make the playoffs. They placed an initial $300 bet on this team and the plan was to roll the winnings into another bet every week until it won the Super Bowl.
They chose the Green Bay Packers.
Sunday, the Packers won their eighth consecutive game, upsetting the Dallas Cowboys. Yankelevitz and Alexrod's initial $300 investment is now worth $28,213.60.
Even after turning $300 into nearly $30,000, they are sticking with their original plan. Less than an hour after the Packers defeated the Cowboys, Axelrod walked into the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, cashed the winning ticket vs. Dallas and placed the entire amount -- $28,213.60 -- on the Packers to beat the Falcons in the NFC title game Sunday.
If the Packers beat the Falcons, Yankelevitz and Axelrod will win $76,176.70 -- which they said will then be wagered on the Packers to win the Super Bowl against either New England or Pittsburgh.

Yankelevitz, 43, and Axelrod, 40, who are lifelong friends from Bayside, New York, said they've never considered cashing out or hedging their bet.
"It's more about the journey," Yankelevitz said. "Texting friends and conversations with friends than winning the bet."
Jay Rood, vice president of of race and sports books at MGM, which includes the Aria, confirmed Yankelevitz and and Axelrod's ticket is an active ticket at their books, though he declined to say who owns the ticket.
Axelrod said they initially chose the Packers because of an interview of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers after a loss to the Redskins dropped Green Bay to 4-6.
On Nov. 25, Axelrod placed a $300 bet -- $200 of his money, $100 from Yankelevitz -- on the Packers to win at Philadelphia.
"He said, 'We're just going to win out,'" Axelrod said. "I sent it to the guys and said 'Let's do it again.'"
This isn't the first year Axelrod and Yankelevitz tried this type of wager. Last year, they were a part of four friends, who combined to put in $2,500 on the 3-7 Cowboys with plans to let each winning bet ride the following week to the Super Bowl.

In the first game they bet on Dallas, Tony Romo threw a pick-six on his second pass of the game and later broke his left collarbone. The Cowboys were routed by Carolina 33-14 and the friends' bet went up in flames after one game.
"Actually, I knew the bet was dead after about six seconds," Axelrod said.
Because it failed last year, two of the four friends decided not to participate this year, leaving only Yankelvitz and Axelrod. This year's original bet on the Packers was only supposed to be $200 -- $100 each -- but Axelrod decided to add an additional $100 when he got to the window.
Now the friends are two Packers wins from splitting between $150,000 and $200,000, depending on the Super Bowl odds. Each one of their bets has been on the money line (Green Bay simply has to win), with the Packers being an underdog in three of their eight wins.

Yankelevitz, who played college basketball at Long Beach State under Seth Greenberg and was an assistant coach at USF under Greenberg, lives in Orlando where he is in corporate recruiting. Axelrod lives in Las Vegas, where he's a digital producer and consultant for media companies.
Both said they get mixed reactions from friends whether they should cash their ticket or let it ride.
"Brian and I are lifelong gamblers, the story is as good as winning the money," Axelrod said. "We won't pull a dime off the table, and there's no hedging on Super Bowl."
During the Packers' winning streak, Yankelevitz said he actually didn't watch two of the games, while Axelrod has watched every single one.
If the Packers reach the Super Bowl, the two friends plan to watch the Super Bowl together with friends in Las Vegas. Although, Axelrod joked he might have to reconsider.
"The last time we watched something together, my horse (Axelrod owns part of a horse) finished dead last in the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita," Axelrod said.
Axelrod added if the Packers win the Super Bowl, he'll donate some of his winnings to Rodgers and kicker Mason Crosby's favorite charities.
"They've earned it," Axelrod said.

Four biggest questions headed into NFL conference title games.

Only three games remain in the NFL season, and two of them will be played Sunday. The biggest question those two will answer is the one we've been asking since the summertime: Who will play in Super Bowl LI?
But Sunday's conference championship games come with plenty of their own questions that need to be answered along the way. Here's a look at four of the biggest.


Will the Packers have Jordy Nelson back? And does it really matter?

With receivers Randall Cobb and Jared Cook mimicking Nelson's boundary-play magic, QB Aaron Rodgers looked as unstoppable and invulnerable as ever in Sunday's fingernail-shredder in Arlington, Texas. Getting Nelson back from the injury he suffered in the wild-card victory over the Giants would obviously help the Packers win a shootout, especially if No. 1 Falcons receiver Julio Jones is out or struggling with his foot injury. But Rodgers could be on a historic roll that's impervious to outside forces, as if he were the central character in some kind of football-themed Harry Potter reboot. State Farm commercials aside, nothing has gone wrong for Rodgers in months.


Can the Falcons' defensive team speed make the difference?

QB Matt Ryan is playing at an MVP level, and you especially like his chances of matching Rodgers' offensive output at home. But what stood out about Atlanta in Saturday's victory over the Seattle Seahawks was how dynamic and energetic the Falcons were on the other side of the ball. We're not used to thinking defense when we think of the Falcons, but their young defensive stars have been difference-makers down the stretch. Green Bay has one of the best pass-protecting offensive lines in the league, and Seattle had one of the worst. But that doesn't mean Falcons coach Dan Quinn & Co. can't scheme ways for the Falcons' defensive team speed to make a difference in coverage or by chasing down Rodgers outside of the pocket better than Dallas did.



What do the Patriots have in mind for Le'Veon Bell?

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has a long-standing reputation for taking away the opponent's No. 1 weapon, and there's no doubt that Bell is the Steelers' main man at this point. New England's run defense is one of its strengths, and Bell is unlikely to find life easy between the tackles. But Belichick obviously knows the Steelers can find creative ways to use Bell in the passing game as well. It's not as if the Steelers can't find other ways to win, but the design and effectiveness of the Patriots' plan to stop Bell will tell a significant portion of the story of the AFC Championship Game.




How effectively can the Steelers get to Tom Brady?

Pittsburgh's pass rush has been as good as any in the league since October. Whitney Mercilus and the Texans were able to get some pressure on Brady on Saturday. Historically, the way you beat Brady and the Patriots in the postseason is by generating pressure with your pass-rushers up front and dropping as many as you can into coverage. And while the Patriots' offensive line is protecting Brady better this year than it did last year, when Von Miller and the Broncos knocked the Pats out in this game, the Steelers are disruptive at the line of scrimmage. If Brady isn't comfortable in the pocket, that puts Pittsburgh in position to steal one on the road.

Packers WR Jordy Nelson still a long shot to play in NFC title game.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Jordy Nelson is still considered a bit of a long shot to play in Sunday's NFC Championship Game.
According to a source, the Green Bay Packers receiver has a chance to play against the Atlanta Falcons, but it's only a small chance.
The source reiterated what ESPN reported last week that Nelson did not sustain any major internal injuries but added that it would still be difficult for Nelson to play just two weeks after he broke ribs. In fact, the source said that most players would have little or no chance to play that soon after such an injury but that "Nelson is different than most players."
The Packers didn't even wait until game day to rule out Nelson from Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. Coach Mike McCarthy said on Friday that team physicians Dr. Pat McKenzie and Dr. John Gray would not clear Nelson to play and that he would be re-evaluated on Monday.
McCarthy would not say what the plan was for Nelson this week.
"Can't tell you if Jordy's going to practice Wednesday, but he did all the work in the [regeneration] workout today," McCarthy said Monday. "So that's a good sign."

Nelson was injured in the Packers' wild-card win over the New York Giants on Jan. 8 when safety Leon Hall hit him in the ribs after Nelson couldn't hang on to a catch near the sideline. Hall was not penalized or fined for the hit. Without Nelson, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers still threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns without Nelson in Sunday's 34-31 win over the Cowboys.
Last week, Rodgers said he was hopeful Nelson could return for the NFC title game.
"We're going to try to get this one and hopefully get him back if he can't play this week," Rodgers said Thursday.
"He's been a warrior all season. I don't think he's missed a practice hardly all season. Different without him out there, but we're hopeful he's going to be able to heal quickly and be able to go."
In the regular season, Nelson led the Packers in catches (97) and receiving yards (1,257) and led the entire NFL in touchdown catches (14).

This will be the first Conference Championship weekend since 1998 in which all four starting quarterbacks are at least 30 years old: Tom Brady (39), Ben Roethlisberger (34), Aaron Rodgers (33) and Matt Ryan (31), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.