The first day of the second round of the NFL playoffs schedule finishes up on Saturday night in the great state of Massachusetts, where the New England Patriots will try to beat the NFL odds for the second time this year against the Denver Broncos. Check out our NFL playoffs keys to the game for the Broncos and Pats!

NFL Playoffs Matchup: Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots
Broncos vs. Patriots Location: Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
Broncos vs. Patriots Date/Time: Saturday, January 14th, 8:00 p.m.
Broncos vs. Patriots Television Coverage: CBS

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Key #1: Tom Brady has to get over his playoff blues
Something happened to the Patriots in the playoffs in 2008. They were coming off of a 16-0 regular season of perfection in which they were really just not challenged at all. They struggled for a long time with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the playoffs, and the San Diego Chargers nearly picked them off in the AFC Championship Game. The New York Giants finished the deal and ended the “perfect” season at a not-so-perfect 18-1 and without a championship. Since the AFC title game that year though, there has been something majorly wrong with this offense. The team has scored at least 30 points in just a slew of games, especially at home since the start of that perfect 16-0 regular season, but in the playoffs, none of New England’s last four games have resulted in more than 21 points going on the board. Brady, who finished with over 5,200 passing yards this year, has only averaged 232.0 yards per game in his last four postseason games, and he has the same number of TD passes as INTs. We don’t know whether it is the playoff pressure or the tremendous opponents that the Patriots have run up against, but they have to figure this out quickly, or they will have a very short run here in the playoffs in 2012 as well.

Broncos @ Patriots Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Denver Broncos +13.5
New England Patriots -13.5
Over/Under 50.5
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Key #2: Denver has to bring pressure, force turnovers, and take advantage of them
That’s a heck of a lot to ask one team to do, especially against a team that had four receivers account for over 700 receiving yards this year, two of which had over 1,300 yards. That being said, the common bond in the games that Brady has struggled in during the past postseasons was the pressure that he faced. Three offensive linemen are nicked up for the Patriots, and this was already a unit that struggled at times to keep its quarterback off of his backside. The Broncos brought all sorts of pressure last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, sacking QB Ben Roethlisberger five times and forcing him into tons of other bad decisions. There were two golden opportunities in the first half to score TDs instead of kick field goals, and in both trips into the red zone, the Broncos had to settle for K Matt Prater field goals. That just can’t be the case against New England. LB Von Miller, DE Robert Ayers, and DE Elvis Dumervil have to make some plays and they have to force turnovers, and when those turnovers are forced, the end result has to be touchdown, not field goals.

Key #3: The Patriots have to kick the Broncos to the curb early
Starting strong has been a real problem for the Pats in recent weeks. They were losing in the first half in each of their final four games of the season, including dropping behind 21-0 to the Buffalo Bills in Week 17. That being said, New England did come back to win all of those games, two of which were in resounding fashion. These Broncos aren’t the Bills from two weeks ago though, and if you look back over the course of the winning streak that QB Tim Tebow was able to amass, most of those came in games in which they were able to hang around until the end, when Tebow was able to make a play. Last week, Pittsburgh was up 6-0 at the end of the first quarter in spite of the fact that the Broncos only had eight total yards of offense. Two TDs there, and Tebow probably panics, has to throw the ball more, makes some mistakes, and the Steelers could have won by 40. New England has to get off to a better start in this game, take advantage of any mistakes that Tebow makes, and force him to become a passer. That’s when the game really got out of hand when these two met in Mile High a month ago, and that’s what has to be the case as early as possible this week for New England to feel safe, especially when playing against a set of NFL playoff odds like these.

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No one believed that the San Francisco 49ers were really good enough to win the NFC this entire season, but on Saturday, they have a chance to beat the NFL betting odds against one of the best teams in the league, the New Orleans Saints with a spot in the NFC Championship Game on the line.

NFL Playoffs Matchup: New Orleans Saints vs. San Francisco 49ers
Saints vs. 49ers Location: Candlestick Park, San Francisco, CA
Saints vs. 49ers Date/Time: Saturday, January 14th, 4:30 p.m.
Saints vs. 49ers Television Coverage: FOX

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Key #1: The Saints’ secondary cannot let Drew Brees go wild
It seems like the understatement of the century, but it is true. Brees has now thrown for nearly 6,000 yards in 17 games this year, and he just keeps racking up 400+ yard performance after 400+ yard performance. The 49ers did a great job this year on the ground, as they didn’t allow a rushing touchdown in the first 14 weeks of the season, but their secondary at times was suspect, allowing 230.9 yards per game and ranking No. 16 in the league. Rookie LB Aldon Smith did have a team best 14 sacks this year to help bring a lot of pressure off of the corner, and others like LB Ahmad Brooks, DE Justin Smith, and DE Ray McDonald had great years as well. When Brees has been slowed this year, it has been with great pass rushes. That’s what the Detroit Lions had going last week for a half of football, but in the end, it was Brees that got the last laugh with a clinic in the second half. Brees is probably going over 300 yards, and he is probably going to get a couple scores, but much more than that is bad, bad news for the Niners.

Saints @ 49ers Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
New Orleans Saints -3.5
San Francisco 49ers +3.5
Over/Under 47.5
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Key #2: San Francisco cannot get overtaken by the pressure in this game
It has been almost a decade since the 49ers have played in the playoffs, and no one like RB Frank Gore and QB Alex Smith were around at that point. We already saw the Lions fail against the Saints in their first playoff game in ages, and though the Texans won in their first ever playoff game, it came against a Cincinnati team that also had absolutely zilch in terms of playoff experience on the team. Playing at home is at least going to give a level of comfort for the 49ers, especially since they are playing against a New Orleans team which was beaten last year on the road in the first round of the playoffs. Smith and Gore are really the two cogs that have to hold up in this one, as they have to make the most of their opportunities against a sometimes suspect New Orleans defense. Even though you would like to think that San Francisco can’t afford for this game to become a shootout, consistently scoring and putting the pressure back on Brees and the gang is the right way to try to go about this game. Going conservatively isn’t going to get the job done.

Key #3: Whichever team gets a few big plays on the ground will have a major upper hand
The one thing that Head Coach Jim Harbaugh brought to the Niners this year was a level of toughness. They play fantastic rush defense because they aren’t losing those battles up front in the trenches. That being said, the Saints, who aren’t known for their ground game, do have the backs to make plays happen on the ground, while Gore could have a big day against the Saints as well. New Orleans only allowed a total of 32 yards on the ground to the Lions on Saturday night, but that came against a team that just doesn’t run the football. The 49ers are a significantly different team for sure. RBs Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, and Chris Ivory all have the ability to bust off some big runs as well for New Orleans. Whichever team can establish the line of scrimmage and get its ground game off to a great start is going to have a major advantage in this game.

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