Conference Championship Sunday:
Last Week:
vs. W/L: (2-2)
vs. Spread (2-2)
vs. Aggregate (2-2)

For The Playoffs:
vs. W/L: (4-4)
vs. Spread (4-4)
vs. Aggregate (3-5)

Besides a couple of upsets, it really wasn’t a banner week for football. The Panthers were utterly embarrassed in a game they should’ve won—if they didn’t commit 55 turnovers. That was a sorry-ass performance if ever there was. We picked Philly to win last week, but the Giants played an awful game. Going for it on fourth down four separate times and getting denied? Maybe Coach Coughlin should’ve mixed things up after the second time. Truth was that Manning stunk. Same thing’s true with the Titans. In Pittsburgh, once it became apparent that the Chargers couldn’t run the ball, it was all over. Now that the NFL is down to its version of the Final Four, let’s hope that the games will be a better brand of football than we watched last week.

In other news, Tony Dungy hung it up in Indy and the reins were passed to his assistant, who was the former coach at Wake Forest. Dungy left the franchise in much better shape than he found it. He’s a gentleman and a class act of the first order; even diehard Patriots’ fans would acknowledge that. Speaking of which, the Patriots suffered a major blow to the infrastructure with the departures of Josh McDaniels to Denver and Scott Pioli to KC. There comes a time when the brain drain from Foxboro starts to result in a diminishing product on the field. Belichick and Brady aren’t going to be around forever, so Patriots’ fans can only hope that plans are being made for the proper succession. Detroit also hired Tennessee’s defensive coordinator to be their new head coach and there’s nowhere to go but up with that situation. Then, late on Friday came the surprising news that Tampa Bay axed Coach Chucky and the GM. Maybe ownership looked at a team that hadn’t been pointed in the right direction for a couple of years and decided to blow things up. Now the team is headed into free agency and the draft without any senior leadership. Gruden was rumored to have been of interest to the folks in Knoxville not long ago (the job ultimately went to the former Raiders’ coach), and there should now be considerable interest in his services in a number of NFL and college quarters. If he wants, he can be coaching pretty much anywhere he chooses next year.

Turning now to the Conference Championships,

Philadelphia -3.5 At Arizona 47

It’s been 60 years since the Cardinals have been this far in the tournament and it’d make for a great story if they came away with the win on Sunday. Larry Fitzgerald made a couple of tremendous catches last week and the Cards ended up by winning by 20. This week, Warner & Co. aren’t going to be so lucky. McNabb ought to have a better game than Delhomme and provided he can consistently move the ball (and not throw up during crunch time), Philly should have a pretty good day. Westbrook is banged up and he’s a key to the offense, so if he’s ineffective it may really hurt the offense. But that’s not Philly’s strength. The Eagles’ defense is playing about as well as anyone right now, especially against the run. Arizona depends on its passing attack though Coach Whisenhunt likes to mix things with Hightower and the Edge. The Cardinals will be at home for the conference final and really want to avenge the 48-20 drubbing they took in Philly on Thanksgiving night, but the Eagles, on balance, are the better team.

Projected Final Score: Philadelphia 24, Arizona 20.

At Pittsburgh -6 Ravens 34

Whose bright idea was it to schedule the game in Pittsburgh after the game in Phoenix? Then again, what were the odds that the Cardinals would be hosting the NFC Championship? Since the entire Eastern United States is in the grip of a record cold snap, anything that would improve playing conditions at Heinz Field on Sunday (such as sunlight and warmth) would’ve been reasonable factors to be considered. But, nooooo…the network geniuses had preordained the order of things. Anyhow, this is the third time these teams have met this year and the Steelers are looking to make a clean sweep of things. There is a sufficient degree of animosity existing between these teams and it will be hard fought. The Ravens have some serious injury problems on the defensive side of the ball (Suggs and Rolle) that will limit their ability to compete with Big Ben and the Steelers’ offense, who are equally effective running or passing the ball. Willie Parker had a big game against San Diego, but Big Ben has a lot of weapons with which to work, and that’s going to be the difference in this game. Joe Flacco has had a marvelous rookie year but Pittsburgh’s had his number so far this year. The third time won’t be a charm…

Projected Final Score: Pittsburgh 24, Ravens 17