With San Francisco absent from the post-season last season, the Dallas Cowboys had an opportunity to equal the 49ers’ record of 15 NFC Championship Game appearances, and they also had the chance to increase their record-setting haul of NFC crowns to nine and end a 20-year wait to reign over the conference once again. They failed as a 51-yard field goal by Mason Crosby saw them crash out to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round.
It was a heart-breaking defeat for “America’s team” so they will be aiming to ensure history does not repeat itself this time around, and the bookies believe they can exorcise those demons by going all the way to Super Bowl LI, making them joint favourites to win the NFC Championship. However, I have a feeling more disappointment is on the cards for them. There will be more pressure on sophomore stars Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott than there was 12 months ago and their opponents now have plenty of tape to study to help them stop this pair leading Dallas on a post-season charge.
As for Green Bay, their place among the conference’s elite is not in question and they continue to boast the services of one of the best quarterbacks in the game today, Aaron Rodgers. The problem is, Rodgers cannot do it all by himself and this is a team that has not been performing in the post-season in recent years. Since their Super Bowl success in 2010, the Packers have made just two appearances in the NFC Championship Game and they have lost both of them, with last season’s loss to Atlanta being a one-sided drubbing that could have been much more embarrassing had they not saved some face by putting some points on the board in the second half.
And that brings me to my pick for this season – the Atlanta Falcons. There are, of course, plenty of questions about whether or not there will be a hangover from last season’s Super Bowl, when New England’s history-making fightback snatched the Vince Lombardi Trophy from under the Falcons’ noses. Atlanta have lost offensive co-ordinator Kyle Shanahan in the off-season, but they have kept that all-star offense intact and both Desmond Trufant and Adrian Clayborn are back from injury on the defense, which has boosted with the arrivals of Jack Crawford, Dontari Poe and Takk McKinley. This is a loaded roster and all of the ingredients are there for a return to the Super Bowl this season.