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| Wed, Dec. 02 - - Mobile - RSS | |
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Winners bound forMiami?
Grant Paulsen
Date published: 1/14/2007
IT'S MID-JANUARY, but if The early game showcases last year's MVP; this year's winner will be on display in today's evening game. Both Seattle's Shaun Alexander and San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson will need to have monster efforts if their teams are going to advance. Alexander and the Seahawks will attempt to upset the NFC's top-seeded Chicago Bears. In game two, Tomlinson's first-seeded San Diego Chargers, who posted the NFL's best regular-season record, will still have their doubters. That's what happens when you play the New England Patriots, who have won 11 of their last 12 playoff games. You couldn't ask for a better day of football. Two of the four teams playing today (Seattle and New England) have played in Super Bowls in the last two seasons. The other two (Chicago and San Diego) are looking to get back to the big game for the first time in more than a decade. Game one of today's double-header will showcase the NFC's last two No. 1 playoff seeds, and the nightcap boasts the league's fourth-best offense against the game's sixth-best defense. It wouldn't surprise me to see any of the four teams taking the field today playing for the Lombardi Trophy 21 days from now in Miami. The least likely team to play on Super Sunday is Seattle. The Seahawks probably wouldn't be alive if Tony Romo hadn't become a candidate for the next Southwest Airlines "Want to Get Away?" commercial by botching a snap prior to what would have been a game-winning field goal. But even a Super Bowl appearance by Seattle, suddenly healthier and more competent than at any other time this season, wouldn't surprise me. That's what makes this time of year so enjoyable. There are no more games that teams will enter with vastly superior talent. Everybody is even personnel-wise, and there won't be a coach on the sidelines today who isn't revered within the confines of his locker room.
Date published: 1/14/2007
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