Road to Super Bowl LII

As for the 2017 regular season, it has sadly come to an end.

But that can only mean that the NFL Play-Offs are just around the corner! 

There are some big absentees from this year's Super Bowl hunt. Green Bay Packers missed out for the first time in 9 years, due mainly do the loss of future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, who missed 9 of the last 10 games. Seattle Seahawks, who had a predominantly disappointing season, needed victory over the Arizona Cardinals on the final day to reach the play-offs, but suffered a surprise defeat. And Dallas Cowboys, tipped to be one of the Super Bowl favourites after being very impressive in the 2016 season, had a poor end to the season.

But let's focus on the teams that are there - and who could go all the way?

Let's start with the AFC. It's hard to look at the AFC side of the play-offs and not see New England making it to their third Super Bowl in four years. The Patriots have home field advantage throughout the play-offs once again and Foxboro isn't the easiest place to claim a victory, especially in January. Tom Brady is playing at MVP standard once again - even if the 'Anyone But Brady' brigade has started up - and they are looking as strong as ever. The defence isn't what we'd hope, but... It's Gillette Stadium man!

Pittsburgh Steelers are the AFC's second seeds. Despite a slow start to the season, including a Roethlisberger 5 interception game, they came back playing as we all expected with Antonio Brown coming through with MVP performances left, right and centre. They came close to beating the Patriots at Heinz Field just a few weeks ago, with a dramatic finale stopping their march. At Heinz Field, I'd give them a chance over the Patriots, but the Steelers are famously poor at Gillette. It surely won't change if they're there for the AFC Championship game.

The teams best set to take on the Patriots from the AFC are probably the other division winners - Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Kansas City shocked the reigning Super Bowl champions on Week 1 of the new season with a comfortable victory away from home, the start of a 5-0 start. Despite a mid-season blip where they lost six out of seven games, they finished the season in form and looked more like the team at the start of the season. If Alex Smith, Tyreek Hill and, rookie of the year contender, Kareem Hunt can truly reclaim their early season form, there is a chance they could challenge the Patriots once more.

Jacksonville, or Sacksonville as their Twitter account renamed them, have probably the toughest defence in the NFL. And, as they say, defences win championships. Where the Jaguars fall down is on offence. More specifically, Blake Bortles. Bortles seemed to forget who he was through November and December as he put together a strong of strong performances, but he returned to true Blake style on the final week of the regular season. Their offence is too inconsistent, and relies to heavily on their defence performing well. Out of the AFC teams, I think they're the front runners to take on the Patriots, as long as New England aren't on top form.

And now for the 'We're Just Happy To Be Here' award. This year it's awarded to the Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills. Neither team have reached the postseason for a long time, so being at this stage is a huge achievement. The Bills were the franchise with the longest play-off drought in the NFL until this weekend, having not participated in the play-offs since the turn of the century. Do they have a chance of reaching the divisional round? No. But keep your hopes up lads.

And now for the NFC side of things. This. This is exciting. 

There is a strong case for each team making it all the way to Super Bowl LII. But let's start with the two teams with a bye week in the play-offs.

Philadelphia for most of the season were THE team of the year. They were exciting across all three phases of the game and went on a great run of results. And Carson Wentz - oh Carson Wentz - he was taking this team places, leading them with a strong application for this season's MVP. And then he tore his ACL. Since then, things haven't looked the same. Nick Foles, Wentz's back-up, played well in his first start of the season, but hasn't given the Eagles the same output on offence as Wentz could. He struggles to throw on the run, whereas Wentz thrives on making a play last. One and out in the play-offs for Philadelphia this year.

Minnesota Vikings are looking to be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium, and they are in a good place to go and do that. Case Keenum has come almost out of nowhere to perform outstandingly this season, with an offence that is built to tear teams apart. The running game and receiving core could walk into most other teams. The defence is the same. They made some very good quarterbacks and offences look very ordinary this year, which isn't easy to do. They have comeback from setbacks to continue on the same path. Vikings are my tip to be NFC Champions.

In the wildcards, there are three teams all from the NFC South. Saints. Panthers. Falcons. The Saints went from having one of the poorest defences over the last couple of seasons to being incredibly threatening to opposition offences. They also have the best running back double act in the NFL with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, who have helped make Drew Brees' year very easy. Brees is still a man that can perform a the highest level when called upon, but at his age, not having to throw for a whole game and pass it off to that strong a running game will serve them greatly through the play-offs.

The Panthers face the Saints in the wildcard, and this may be where they're magical return to form ends. Cam Newton is still not at his brilliant best as he was during Carolina's last play-off push, and proved that on Sunday when he threw three interceptions against Atlanta. It was also his lowest ever QB rating. Momentum is everything going into the play-offs, and it looks as if the Panthers don't have it. 

The Falcons have bounced back from last year's dramatic comeback loss in Super Bowl LI to the New England Patriots. Despite winning their opening three games, they didn't look like the team of last season. The offence just didn't seem to be firing as well as it could and the defence was giving up some big yards. They seem to have found a bit of their former selves towards the end of the season, but as for a repeat of last seasons Super Bowl run, it seems unlikely. But, if they can push last season out of their heads and play freely as they did in the 2016 postseason, there always a chance for these Atlanta Falcons.

And now for one of the LA teams. The Los Angeles Rams have surprised everyone this year and now stand as one of the favourites to reach Minnesota, for the Super Bowl that is. They have come a long way since their Thursday Night Football match-up against the 49ers earlier this year when everyone laughed at what an awful game it would be. Sean McVay, the youngest head coach in the NFL, has freshened up this team and has everyone playing a game they are used to. Jared Goff, the 2016 #1 draft pick, is back to playing a similar game that he is used to from college, which has helped him step up to being one of the players of the season. And he is helped hugely by possibly the best running back in the game at the moment, Todd Gurley. Possibly, a Super Bowl push may be a step too far for this young team, but McVay is building something very, very special on the west coast. watch out 2018.

And so, all we can do, like the other 20 NFL teams, is sit back and enjoy what the NFL play-offs have to offer. All we know is, it's going to be dramatic.

Who do you think is going all the way in this year's NFL Play-Offs? You can make your own predictions through NFL UK here. Share and comment.

You can read my other blogs at ScriptEye and I Can't Write Words here.