Late playoff predictions...

I am worried that Paulie's call on the Carolina-Seattle game might be the correct one. From a Denver point of view, Carolina is the scariest team left in the field. If DeShaun Foster can't go vs. the Seahawks, that could pose a minor problem, but the Panthers have gone to battle with the serviceable Nick Goings before, and they can win with him, even though he doesn't bring quite the dimension to the offense that Foster does.

If Delhomme throws more than 2 picks on Sunday, Carolina is in trouble. But Jake's playoff QB rating is one of the best ever. Short of that sort of implosion, I think the Panthers win.

Speaking of Jakes, Denver will beat Pittsburgh unless Plummer reverts to his old habits. The Broncos match up very well fundamentally with the Steelers because they are stout vs. the run, and have big-play guys in the 2ndary to limit Roethlisberger through the air. Champ is a great matchup on Hines Ward. Denver is a better-balanced team offensively, and look for Shanahan to take advantage of Jake's mobility to diffuse some of the Steeler defensive pressure that rattled Manning last week and devoured Kitna two weeks ago.

The real key will be the pace of the game, however, because if Denver can jump ahead 7-0, or 10-0, it will make Cowher's men play from behind. True, Big Ben was passing the ball effectively early last week at Indy, when the Colts were gearing to stop the run, and Pittsburgh deserves a lot of respect because it proved it was capable of seizing the momentum at Indy with some creative play-calling in the 1st half. Acknowledge that the Men of Steel did rally from a deficit at Cincy in the wild card game. But the Bengals were imposters by the end of the season, and without Carson Palmer, the limited Kitna-led Cincy offense was unable to stem to tide of momentum that shifted to Pittsburgh in the 2nd half. None of that is going to be relevant if the Steelers fall behind in Denver, however, and it will be a bit of a troubling scenario for Pittsburgh if Roethlisberger is forced to throw when the Steelers are trailing in this game. The dynamics change completely, and the Steelers are simply not constructed to play from behind...at a place like Denver, that is.

Denver is getting very little respect from the oddsmakers, or, should I say, the wagering public, which is consistent with the coverage it received the entire season, with almost all of the attention on the Colts. The home-field edge is enormous in Denver, especially this year, which negates some of the Steeler road prowess (acknowledge Pittsburgh has won 15 of its last 17 away, which is awfully impressive). The Broncos are outstanding, and they have been near-flawless since the opener at Miami, losing only a last-second game at the Giants (when the refs helped Eli enormously) and a close one at dangerous Kansas City.

Don't want to look past Pittsburgh, but if it's Broncos-Seahawks in SB XL, Denver will win comfortably. Cannot say the same about Denver-Carolina, which would be a great game. In either case, and even if the Steelers sneak in there, ABC is probably gnashing its teeth for its last Super Bowl, lamenting that more "high-profile" teams aren't in the big game, and that their dreamed-about Manning vs. Manning Super Bowl (Indy-Giants) is no longer possible.

A part of me buys some of that "conspiracy" talk from the Steelers after the Indy game. It doesn't have to be overt, but refs are human, too, and subconsciously the desire to get the Colts and the beloved league poster-child Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl might have slightly (?) influenced Pete Morelli on that atrocious call reversal on Polamalu's pick last week. By comparison, the perception of Jake Plummer, with his mountain-man beard, is probably not "the image" the league wants to promote. Unlike Manning, Plummer's current endoresement value doesn't stretch beyond Arapahoe County, but there is a diamond beneath the rough, because if the Broncos go all the way, Gillette or a razor company would probably pay big bucks for Plummer to shave that beard, and look at the clean-shaven Jake and listen to him talk, and compare him to near-indecipherable drawl of Manning, and Plummer ought to have plenty of commercial upside, too (if his team goes all the way, that is). And by all accounts, Jake is the consummate teammate and leader, enormously popular on the team, and this year's version of Plummer is nothing like the old, erratic Jake from the past. That alone qualifies Shanahan and Gary Kubiak as near-geniuses, especially if they can keep this new and improved Plummer going for two more games.

Let's tee 'em up!...