New Orleans Saints vs. San Francisco 49ers

The high-powered New Orleans offense - led by all-time leading passer, Drew Brees - packs its bags for the west coast on Saturday afternoon, for a date with the San Francisco 49ers.

New Orleans let the Detroit Lions hang around in the wildcard round last weekend, before getting on the gas in the Mercedes Benz Superdome en route to five second-half touchdowns. Brees was at his supreme best, throwing for 466 yards and 3 touchdowns against an overwhelmed Detroit defense.

The New Orleans signal-caller has become the irresistible force of the NFL. However, waiting for him at Candlestick Park, will be the proverbial immovable object in the form of the San Francisco 49ers defense. The 49ers have been one of the most dominating defensive units in the NFL this season, ranked fourth in yards allowed per game, but first in rushing allowed per contest. They're also ranked top 10 in sacks per game, third in interceptions and second in points allowed.

With a success-starved 49ers fan base behind them on Saturday, the 49ers go into this one as the deserved favourite.

PREDICTION: San Francisco

Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots

There seems little point going into the story behind the Denver Broncos this season, because it's hard to imagine that any fans would not know the magic that has been Tebowmania in the second half of the season. But Tebow won't be the decisive factor for Denver this weekend. If they are any chance to upset the empire-esque New England Patriots, its defense will have to come up huge to slow down Tom Brady.

When the two sides met earlier in the season, Tebow actually kept the Broncos in the game early, only for Brady to slip his leash and eventually hang 41 points on the board. Stopping, or even slowing, Brady is much easier said than done.

With snow predicted in Foxboro on Saturday, Broncos fans will be hoping that mother nature unleashes a blizzard to help slow the Patriots offense.

A final note on Tebow, if he does somehow lead the Broncos past New England to the AFC title game, it will blow up the Internet.

PREDICTION: New England

Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens

All credit to Houston for somehow managing to stave off injuries to key players for most of the season and still end up with a playoff victory under its belt, and a chance to advance to the AFC title game. In the wildcard round last week the Texans crushed the upstart Cincinnati Bengals to the tune of 21 points. Rookie TJ Yates was solid without doing much last week, deferring instead to his All-Pro running back Arian Foster, who sliced through the Cincinnati line for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Bengals had no answer for Foster, but Cincinnati's fellow AFC North residents will be a much tougher task this week.

Baltimore has long had one of the league's best defenses, and much of that is due to the meticulous organization and schemes they employ. With two weeks off, and an entire week to focus on how to stop Foster, expect the Texans to have a tough day when they have the ball. The Ravens will have to ensure that they feed the ball to their own superstar in the backfield, Ray Rice, in order to make sure the offense finds its rhythm. If that happens, expect Baltimore to book at date in the AFC title game.

PREDICTION: Baltimore

New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers

There's no denying that the Giants have found form at the right time of the season. They won their way into the playoffs with a strong finish (plus a Dallas collapse) after a miserable middle stretch of the season, and continued their improved play last week by dismantling the Atlanta Falcons. Eli Manning played relatively mistake free in the quarterback position, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw were the perfect one-two backfield punch, and their defensive suffocated the Falcons offense.

The Giants players have come out this week and talked-the-talk, but it's a very different thing to walk-the-walk against the defending Super Bowl champions. Upsetting heavily favoured opponents in the playoffs is nothing new for this Giants squad (just ask any Patriots fan) and this team has drawn comparisons to the 2007 unit, that went all the way to win the Super Bowl.

However, Aaron Rodgers and the rest of his Packers offense should have the firepower to force the Giants into needing to score to stay in the game, and that pressure could be too much for the Giants - and Eli Manning - to handle, especially in the hostile surrounds of Lambeau Field.

PREDICTION: Green Bay