I’m still waiting for an explanation. Kind of like when the NFL explained the “tuck rule” when Tom Brady fumbled the ball against Oakland in the snow four years ago, the league needs to come up with how Troy Polamalu’s interception somehow became an “incomplete” pass. We all saw it and it looked plain as day, so there must be some interpretation of the rule that we don’t know about. Either that or at least one referee will be out of a job next season. The weekend was fraught with bad calls, and while you wish they would just get them right, it is just “part of the game.”

In the Pittsburgh/Indianapolis game, the team that played better won the game, thankfully or the Steelers might have considered withdrawing from the league. I’m constantly amazed at how the Steelers can go against the league’s conventional wisdom (which isn’t always so smart) and do their own thing and win. At one point against the Colts the graphic on the screen said “11th straight running play.” What other team in the NFL can, or will do that? None, of course. Pittsburgh just drafts and signs guys who have a certain mind-set and if they don’t before they get there, they do after they put on the Black and Gold.

It’s not often that I scream at the television, but when Jerome Bettis fumbled and Nick Harper started to run the ball back for what would have been the winning score, I was yelling, “You’ve got to see this!” I must have had a certain tenor in my voice because everybody in my house came running to see what I was talking about. Ben Roethlisberger just kind of got in the way at the right spot and Harper made one false step or the Colts would have been winners at home. If he goes right or straight, he probably scores, but when he cut back to the left, he brought everybody back into the play. Mike Vanderjact’s miss seemed to be karma and the Steelers are in the AFC Championship game on Sunday.

Denver will host that game after beating the defending world champion New England Patriots on Saturday. The Pats turned the ball over five times during the game and didn’t look sharp from the beginning. Champ Bailey’s interception and return to the one yard line turned the game around. A huge points swing and a big morale boost for the Broncos. Did anybody else notice how he was letting up over the last ten yards and how Ben Watson was able to catch him because of it? Watson made a superhuman play, but if Bailey keeps chugging toward the end zone, Watson never gets there. It doesn’t matter because Denver scored on the next play but nobody even mentioned it. With New England getting beat, it underscores where the Jaguars have to go to compete with the “elite” teams in the NFL.

Even though they lost the NFL’s MVP, Shawn Alexander in the first quarter, the Seattle Seahawks still had enough to beat Washington. Matt Hasselbeck played well and the Seahawks looked like a more complete football team than they’ve been in a while. It’s their first playoff win in 21 years and Mike Holmgren’s first in six tries. I do think they’ll have to take it up a notch to beat Carolina this week to get to the Super Bowl.

I’ll be rooting for Seattle, but it’s won’t surprise anybody if the Panthers go to the Northwest and win. Carolina dismantled the Giants in the first round, and then beat Chicago on the road to advance to the title game. The Chicago game was almost unpredictable since it didn’t follow any of the pre-season form for either team. The combined 50 points came out of nowhere, and even the Bears scoring 21 seemed out of the question considering what their offense had done and what the Carolina defense was capable of.

Any combination of winners this weekend seems plausible, which is what makes it fun.

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