Although the Ravens vs Steelers matchup seems to be getting all of the attention, the game I’m excited about is the Eagles vs Cardinals matchup. It’s tough to beat a team twice in a year. See: the Ravens/Titans game last week, or the Chargers/Colts game the week before. So does that mean that the game-to-game adjustments benefit someone in this Eagles vs Cardinals matchup?

Nonetheless, let’s get to some picks:

Eagles vs Cardinals odds: Eagles -4

The Eagles vs Cardinals spread is a little strange for an NFC Conference Championship game: the road team is favored by more than a field goal. It’s pretty rare that at this point in the season we would see a road team favored by so much, but that’s the case since no one really believes in the Cardinals.

One thing to keep in mind for this Eagles vs Cardinals line, the Cards did get blown out in the previous meeting and the question is how will they adjust? The Eagles pass defense seems to be the kryptonite to the Cards passing game while the Cardinals welcoming pass defense figures to be a huge weakness against the Eagles pass-happy offense.

I’ll go with the experience in this matchup.

Eagles vs Cardinals pick: Eagles -4

Ravens vs Steelers odds: Steelers -5.5

I’ll keep it short and sweet in this contest. Bla, bla, bla…physical contest…bla, bla, bla…tight defensive tilt…bla, bla, bla…division rivalry.

Bottom: in the previous two Ravens vs Steelers matchup this season, neither contest was decided by more than this spread so I’ll take the points.

Ravens vs Steelers pick: Ravens +5.5

Ray Lewis has instilled the mantra of anybody, anytime and anywhere for the Baltimore Ravens but the one team they probably would have rather avoided was their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

Sportsbook odds have the Steelers favored by six points in the contest but you have to wonder how much the previous bye week will help the Steelers.

The two teams met up in Week 15 in which the Steelers won the game by controversial decision. But in winning the game, the Steelers ended up not only winning the division, but also securing a bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs against anyone in the AFC except for the Tennessee Titans.

In this Ravens vs Steelers matchup, you know it’s going to be another physical contest. If that’s the case, it’s hard not to side with the team that should be more fresh.

The Ravens have played football for 17 straight weeks, which will be taxing on the body. If you recall, the Ravens were supposed to have a Week 10 bye but it was bumped up to Week 2 because of Hurricane Ike in Houston, where the Ravens were supposed to play.

Online betting handicappers know that the Steelers are similarly a very smash mouth team but they had a second by week two weeks ago, and then faced the San Diego Chargers last week in a not-so-physical matchup.

On the flipside, the Ravens duked it out with the Tennessee Titans.

The Ravens vs Steelers matchup will be a blood and guts game but as the sportsbook odds indicate, with the Steelers holding an edge in home-field advantage and in freshness, it’s hard not to side with them. I expect them to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLIII.