AFC Underdogs Face Tough Challenge

Everyone expects the AFC Championship game to come down between a battle between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots. The headlines practically write themselves.

The Peyton Manning-led Broncos will be looking to avenge an early season loss to the Pats. Manning will be looking to prove he can get it done when it matter. Tom Brady will look to add to his legacy. Of course, we will also see the Brady versus Manning narrative abundantly discussed.

Despite all that, there are still two teams who will be looking to upset the balance of the AFC.

The Indianapolis Colts were once led by Manning and now have a quarterback in Andrew Luck looking to prove that the Colts made the right move to let Manning go and allowing him to take the helm.

The Baltimore Ravens have had some off-the-field controversies to cope with and are looking to move on, while their veteran quarterback, Joe Flacco, looks to get another ring.

In terms of betting, both the Colts and the Ravens are 7-point underdogs. The future odds to win the AFC Championship look like this:

New England Patriots – 10/11  

Denver Broncos – 2/1

Baltimore Ravens – 7/1

Indianapolis Colts – 8/1

-Courtesy of Bovada

As you can see both the Ravens and the Colts sit at the bottom of the odds.

For the Ravens, Joe Flacco will be the key to winning. In fact, Flacco is already used to upsetting the NFL’s premiere quarterbacks in the post season.

In his last five playoff games, Flacco has defeated teams helmed by Luck, Manning, Brady, Calin Kaepernick and, just last week, Ben Roethlisberger. With 13 post-season touchdowns in that time period, Flacco is a clutch quarterback.

If Flacco shows up, the Ravens have a real chance at derailing the Patriots “destiny” of going to the Super Bowl.

The Colts will also be relying on their quarterback. It is no secret that Luck is on pace to become one of the greats.

His name is already spoken in the same breath with the great, but Luck needs to continue building his legacy in order to earn the spot that talking head have already given him.

Luck will be playing with a chip on his shoulder and will be looking to show that he is just as good as Manning.