Early conference championship looks: Kaepernick gives 49ers the edge in NFC

We'll certainly be covering all aspects of the conference championship matchups through the week at Shutdown Corner, but here are a few general observations about the upcoming NFC Championship game. NFC Conference Championship San Francisco 49ers at Atlanta Falcons Sunday, January 20, 3:00 p.m. ET Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga. The more I watch what Colin Kaepernick did to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the playoffs, the more I'm convinced of two things: First, the Falcons are very lucky that Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell apparently left the read-option part of his playbook back at his Atlanta hotel. Second, 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman will not make that same mistake, and the Falcons will be in a lot of trouble as a result. Kaepernick, of course, set an NFL single-game rushing record for a quarterback with 181 yards in San Francisco's 45-31 beatdown of the Pack, and the Falcons are similarly lost as to how to stop quarterbacks who can get things going on the ground. In two games against the Carolina Panthers this season, Atlanta's defense game up over 200 rushing yards on 28 read-option plays from Cam...