If your from Cleveland, Ohio there's a good chance that you lived through, or have been told many stories about "The Drive" and "The Fumble"... If you lived through it, chances are, 25 years later, your STILL not over and you hate John Elway and the Denver Broncos to this day... Well, the 2014 VNFL version of the Cleveland Browns have a chance to heal some of that pain for all you Browns fans out there when they travel to Denver to take on the Broncos in the AFC Championship game... Could a win, in a video game really help heal the pain of 25 years ago? For this Browns fan the answer is YES...

The matchup, on paper, looks to be your classic "Something's gotta give" matchup... The Browns come in with the #1 ranked Offense averaging 38.8 point per game; #1 averaging 423.3 total yards per game; #4 in passing yards at 265.8 per game and #3 in rushing yards at 157.6 per game... The Broncos Offense is no slouch however, as they rank 2nd in the league averaging 33.2 points per game, 8th in total yards with 342.1 per game, 25th in passing however, only averaging 173.8 yards per game, and #1 in rushing averaging 174.9 yards per game on the ground...

The Browns Offense is led by HB Jamaal Charles, TE Stephen "Cole Train" Cole and QB Clay Harris... Jamaal Charles ran for 2,125 yards and 31 touchdowns, and also had 494 yards and 5 touchdowns receiving... Stephen Cole had another fantastic Season catching 87 passes for 1,800 yards and 14 touchdown... QB Clay Harris put together an MVP Season before he was injured in Week 15, on the year Harris was 230/328 - 70.1% - 4,239 yards - 37 touchdowns and 21 int... The Browns signed Tony Romo to lead them on their Playoff runs after Harris was injured for the Season...

The Broncos Offense is led by HB Ray Rice who rushed for 2,036 yards in just 15 games this Season... Time Tebow is surprisingly a very efficient quarterback and also can make play with his legs. On the year Tebow passed for 2,614 yards - 25td and 16int while also rushing for 433 yards and 3 td... The Broncos Receiver core was very balanced this Season, Eddie Royal, Demaryius Thomas, Brandon Lloyd and Julius Thomas all had 32+ receptions and 500+ yards and at least 5 touchdowns each. With 4 receivers that are all equally talented, this Offense is very hard to stop...

Defensively is where you can see the differences in these two teams... The Broncos rank #1 in points allowed only allowing 17.3 point per game; 5th in total yards only allowing 282.2 yards per game; 22nd is pass defense (because they are up big most of the time) allowing 249.8 yards per game through the air and #1 vs the rush only allowing 57.6 rushing yards per game

The Browns on the other hand have been struggling on Defense all year long, winning allot of games in Shootout Fashion while doing just enough on Defense to get the win... On the year the Browns rank 15th in Points allowed giving up 24.7 points per game; They ranked 25th in yards allowed, giving up 345 yards per game; 31st in pass yards allowed giving up 285.2 yards per game through the air; however, their strongest part of their Defense was vs the run, where they ranked 5th in the league only allowing 79.1 yards per game on the ground.

As you can see by the statistics, this should be a very good game. I think the Brownies will bring a little more to the table this time around, than their previous game vs Denver in last years AFC Divisional Playoffs..

The Atlanta Falcons and the San Fransisco 49'ers have been dominate all year defensively. The two owners / coaches, Jstraus for Atlanta and Niko for the 49'ers built their teams around Defense and this year it paid off for Both of them. The two teams ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively in Points per game allowed... Atlanta, 2nd only allowed 18.1 points per game, while the 49'ers, 3rd, only allowed 20.1 points per game... Neither team like to give up anything to the other Offense, they play every snap at full go and simply overwhelm the Offense with Constant pressure and confusing coverages behind it...

The Falcons rank 1st in yards allowed, only giving up 250.4 yards per game; 5th against the pass, only giving up 191.6 yards per game; and 6th against the run only allowing 81.4 yards per game on the ground. The Falcons usually control the ball more than their opponents, and you can tell by the fact that they are 1st in 1st downs allowed only allowing 9.6 1st downs per game. Also, the Falcons are ranked 2nd in 3rd % at 37.1%, which means they get the other team off the field when they have the chance to.

The Falcons Offense is the complete opposite of a Season ago. Last year, if you remember, the Falcons air attack set records - QB Matt Ryan led the league with 4,891 passing yards, roughly 75% of those yards went to WR Roddy White, who broke pretty much every receiving record that existed. Last year, Roddy White hauled in 137 receptions for a ridiculous 2,958 yards and 30 touchdowns... This year however, it was all about the ground game for the Dirty birds... Atlanta was 6th in the league in Rushing, averaging 137.3 yards per game on the ground... The ground attack was led by Michael "the Burner" Turner who rushed for 1,221 yards and 16 touchdowns. Turner wasn't the only Falcon who had a good year though, 2nd string HB Jacquizz Rodgers had a breakout year rushing for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns... This one, two punch is reminiscent of the Falcons DVD attack of a few years back with Mike Vick, Warrick Dunn and TJ Duckett...

If there was a team in the league that could slow down the Falcons rushing attack, its the 49ers... All you have to do is look at the roster, and you can see that this team is built to stuff the run... MLB Patrick Willis, MLB Navaro Bowman, Jameel McClain, OLB Aldon Smith, SS Adrian Wilson and a few other studs... This team can get after the QB and stop the run...

During the Season they ranked near the middle of the pack Defensively, however, that is a bit misleading - They ranked 13th in total yards allowed 320.1 yards per game... Ranked 11th vs the pass allowing 221. yards per game... Ranked 14th vs the run allowing 98.9 yards per game on the ground... Despite not being ranked in the Top 5 in any individual Defensive category, the 49ers are still ranked 3rd in the league in points allowed, only giving up 20.1 points per game... When you look at all the talent they have on the Defensive side of the Football... This is a team that could pitch a shutout any time they take the field...

The 49ers Offense is led by the 4th year QB Kolin Kaepernick who, over the past few years has been blamed for the teams lack of Playoff Success... Last year, in the Super Bowl loss, 49ers Coach Niko blatently came out and blamed Kaepernick for the loss... This year however, Kaep has turned it around and had a breakout season... kaep threw for 4,573 yards - 30 touchdowns and only 14 int... The ground game wasn't what it was in years past, but, Frank Gore still had a nice Season rushing for 1,108 yards and 21 touchdowns... The leading receiver for the 49'ers was TE Vernon Davis who hauled in 70 passes for 1,316 yards and 8 touchdowns... The guy that blew the Top off the Defense for the 49ers, Mike Wallace, wont be able to play in the game due to injury. His absence will be missed as he was really the teams only legit Deep threat on Offense...

I look for this to be a Defensive Showdown, and honestly, I can't even pick a winner... I think Straus has the slight edge, because I feel like his QB could be the Difference in the game... I feel like if he has to, he can throw the ball and throw the ball well as he proved last Season, however, I also know that Niko can throw the ball well and it all depends on "how" Kaepernick throws the ball that dictates his success... -------