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One team has a suffocating defense. The other has the NFL’s No. 1 unit.

Defense should win at least the NFC championship.

Two of the league’s elite defenses go at it Sunday when the Philadelphia Eagles (14-3) host the Minnesota Vikings (14-3) in the conference title game.

”They have a great defense Ziggy Ansah Jersey , we have a great defense,” Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham said. ”Whoever is most complete will win.”

The Vikings allowed the fewest yards (275.9) and fewest points (15.8) per game. The Eagles were fourth in yards allowed (306.5) and fourth in points (18.4).

May the best defense reach the Super Bowl.

”Typically, when you’re good defensively, you’re going to stay in the ballgames,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. ”Then you have a chance to win them at the end.”

Minnesota has three Pro Bowl players on defense: end Everson Griffen, outside linebacker Anthony Barr and cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Safety Harrison Smith and Rhodes are All-Pros.

”It’s just a smothering defense,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. ”(Griffen) is a game wrecker. They just mix it in. You don’t know necessarily what’s coming. Rhodes is a tremendous corner, safeties are playing extremely well.”

Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and safety Malcolm Jenkins are Philadelphia’s Pro Bowl picks. Defensive end Brandon Graham had an excellent season and cornerbacks Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills are solid.

Hearing about Minnesota’s defense all week is extra motivation for Philadelphia, which is a home underdog for the second straight game.

”When you’ve got the No. 1 defense coming in statistically, obviously, it fires us up,” Cox said. ”We know going into this game that whoever’s defense plays better is going to win the game. The way we’re prepared, we won’t change nothing that we do. We’ll just go out and be ourselves.”

Here are things to watch for in the NFC championship game:

BATTLE OF THE BACKUPS: Case Keenum and Nick Foles were teammates in St. Louis in 2015 and began this season as backups. Keenum had a breakout season for the Vikings after Sam Bradford was injured. Foles is 3-1 since MVP candidate Carson Wentz tore his ACL. Expect defenses to focus on the running backs and challenge the quarterbacks.

”We’ve got to make Nick Foles win the game,” Griffen said. ”We’ve got to make him win the game but we’ve got to stop the running game, affect him and give the ball back to our offense as much as possible so that they can score points.”

OWNING MINNESOTA: Eagles receiver Alshon Jeffery has more catches (45), yards (685), and touchdowns (7) against the Vikings than he has against any other team. But Jeffery Glover Quin Jersey , who spent his first five seasons with the Bears, did most of his damage against other cornerbacks while also being the featured guy in Chicago’s offense. The Eagles spread the ball around, so Jeffery had only 789 yards receiving, but his nine TDs were the second most in his career. Jeffery, by the way, turned down more money in free agency from Minnesota to join the Eagles on a one-year deal. Philadelphia gave him a four-year, $52 million extension during the season.

BROTHERLY LOVE: The Kendricks family from Northern California is guaranteed to have a son playing linebacker in the Super Bowl. Eric Kendricks is in his third season with the Vikings, and Mychal is in his sixth year with the Eagles.

Eric had his best season with 136 tackles to lead the team for the third straight time, nine passes defended and one interception return for a touchdown. Mychal was fifth on the Eagles with 72 tackles in 2017, adding two sacks.

Both were second-round draft picks, Eric out of UCLA with the 45th overall selection in 2015 and Mychal from Cal with the 46th overall pick in 2012. Their father, Marvin, was UCLA’s leading rusher in 1970 and 1971 and went on to play in the CFL.

With both teams at the top of the NFC and both defenses at the top of the league all season, the two siblings have traded their share of friendly trash talk along the way. Family members have been known to wear split jerseys to support both players.

”I always make jokes: I feel like my brother gets a little bit of the advantage as far as who the family roots for, because he’s the first born,” Eric said. ”It’s all love, though.”

FIND THEIR FOOTING: The Eagles laid fresh sod between the hash marks this week to help improve the conditions at Lincoln Financial Field. The weather should help A'Shawn Robinson Jersey , with a dry forecast and expected temperatures in the 40s, but the Vikings have been preparing for the worst.

Zimmer had a video put together of Falcons players sliding and slipping on the field last weekend. Players have been encouraged to try seven-stud cleats in pregame

NOT YET: The Vikings are 0-3 against the Eagles in the postseason. Philadelphia won a wild-card game in Minnesota after the 2008 season and home games in the divisional rounds on the way to Super Bowl appearances following the 1980 and 2004 seasons. Minnesota has not been to the Super Bowl since 1977 and is 0-4 in them.

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AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell contributed.

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AP NFL website: Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl week is almost as busy as that of the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots players competing on Sunday.

He headlined BET’s Super Bowl Gospel Celebration and debuted music from his upcoming gospel album on Thursday. He held a screening for his new Netflix series, ”Coach Snoop,” on Friday. And he was to work as the DJ of Playboy’s Big Game Weekend Party in Minneapolis, where the game is being played, on Saturday.

Snoop Dogg is so popular that NFL icon Deion Sanders was extra excited when he saw the entertainer at Friday’s event.

”I can’t wait to see `Coach Snoop,”’ Sanders exclaimed. ”You know what I told them, `See, rapping is what he do. Coach Snoop is who he is.”’

Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., has coached a youth football league for years. The new series, which debuted Friday, follows the former gangster rapper guiding at-risk kids and helping them focus on their goals.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the rapper, who released a reggae album under the moniker Snoop Lion in 2013, talks about coaching, his favorite mentors Nevin Lawson Jersey , his advice to young rappers and his upcoming gospel album, ”Bible of Love.”

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AP: What can we expect from ”Coach Snoop”?

Snoop Dogg: This show is like, it’s an emotional roller coaster. There will be tears of sympathy, tears of sadness, tears of joy. You’ll follow these kids, you’ll follow me and these coaches and the backdrop to everything, the goals we try to instill in them to want to be better people, not just better football players. And football is just the avenue that we ride down in order to get our message across.

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AP: What has coaching taught you?

Snoop Dogg: It was a transformation as far as being a rapper to a football coach. All the things I couldn’t say as a rapper, I could say as a coach. So it was like another phase and step in my life as far as growing and becoming the full-grown man I became. Once football became a part of my life my manhood became different, as far as being a father, a husband, just a better man in general.

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AP: Who were the mentors that helped you succeed?

Snoop Dogg: Charlie Wilson was a big mentor to me. Bootsy Collins. These guys helped me with my personal life, not just my music career. They’ve been real uncles to me – (they) tell me when I’m wrong, steer me in my direction to go back home, help me out when I’m lost. A lot of times when we become big, we don’t have nobody to check us, to get us back right because we become uncheckable. But when you got somebody in your life who don’t mind telling you when you are wrong and don’t mind standing on top of it no matter how big you are Taylor Decker Jersey , and you respect that, that’s what I’ve been able to get out those two brothers my whole career. Charlie and Bootsy have been more uncles to me than I’ve been to the whole industry.

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AP: Which team do you want to see win Sunday?

Snoop Dogg: You know, I’m a (Pittsburgh) Steelers fan. I just root for players once my team gets knocked out. I have homies on both teams, but at the same time if they win (New England Patriots owner) Mr. Kraft sure loves paying Snoop Dogg. I ain’t even going to act like I don’t like their money. Mr. Kraft sure love getting that money for me. Robert, how you doing?!

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AP: What was it like performing your gospel music alongside other gospel artists?

Snoop Dogg: I don’t never be nervous to perform onstage, but I was nervous onstage to perform at that – this is gospel, this is church. These people, boy they would shoot you down if your game ain’t together … they would throw the Bible at you … `I can’t believe he got up there and did … .’ I said, `Hold on now. Let me get my thing together.’ I shook that nervousness, though.

… Donnie McClurkin (came) over to me when I finished performing, and he looked me into my eyes and said, `If you weren’t rapping, brother, you’d be preaching.’ I said, `My granny said the same thing!’ That’s cold when Donnie said it.

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AP: It’s been 25 years since your debut album was released. What advice do you have for young rappers starting to find success?

Snoop Dogg: Just stay true to who you are. One thing about Snoop Dogg is he never changed, he stayed who he was despite the many albums and phases I went through. I stayed the same person. Whatever you’re going through in this industry remain who you are and stay true to who you are and respect those despite them being bigger or smaller than you because you never know when the roles will be reversed.

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Online:

”Coach Snoop”: