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I stand corrected; Ravens fans are not the NFL's most vociferous fans. So here's my mea culpa: The Panthers, in fact, did not get "throttled" and the only "carnage" in Philly was draped in green and gold. Thanks for the e-mails pointing out the errors of my way. ... And I sincerely want to thank Mike Sherman and Mike Martz for choking on their playbooks in crunch time.
Now on to the championship games. Luckily, for me, no matter which NFC team wins, either the Eagles' or Panthers' fans will have to go the way of the Big Trak. (First one to e-mail a convincing note that you owned a Big Trak gets a mention next week and a seat at my table -- right next to the bathroom, no less -- at Harold's Barbecue in Atlanta.)
So what will be the difference-maker Sunday? Interceptions. Noted stat guru T.J. Troupe points out that in the 66 conference championship games since 1970, there have been 229 picks with 170 (74.25 percent) coming in victories. The regular-season INT/victory correlation is about 65 percent. Tickets
Each of the quarterbacks
left standing finished the regular season in the top 20 in passer rating: No.
2 Peyton Manning (99.0), No. 10 Tom Brady (85.9), No. 14 Jake Delhomme (80.6)
and No. 16 Donovan McNabb (79.6). Not surprisingly, these four have combined
for 191 postseason passes with only one interception.
Brady threw 12 picks this season, and seven came in the Patriots' two losses
-- four in Week 1 against Buffalo and three in Week 4 against Washington. However,
both of those games were on the road. His other five interceptions came at Denver
(1), at Houston (2) and at Indianapolis (2). Long story short, including the
postseason, opponents have not had an INT of Tom Terrific in 282 attempts at
Gillette Stadium, site of Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Colts.
On the other hand, Manning had four interceptions in the Colts' four defeats and threw seven of his 10 picks on the road. And oddly enough, all seven came on grass fields (like the Big Razor) -- Cleveland (2), Tampa Bay (1), Miami (1), Jacksonville (2) and Houston (1).
In the NFC, Delhomme is the only remaining QB who has thrown an interception this postseason. St. Louis picked him at the end of the first quarter and eventually kicked a field goal to take a 6-0 lead. Obviously, as a few people have pointed out this week, the Panthers were able to overcome that miscue.
Including the playoffs, Delhomme has been picked 10 times on the road. Think the Ragin' Cajun won't be the No. 1 target of Philly defensive coordinator Jim Johnson on Sunday? It'll be interesting to see if DeShaun Foster is indeed ready for his close-up.
McNabb was picked off eight times at The Linc, including six in the Eagles' first four home games as the team stumbled out 2-2 in its new digs; the other two came in the final regular-season home game, a loss against San Francisco. He's also fumbled the ball seven times at home, including the postseason.
The bottom line is that turnovers, more specifically interceptions, will decide the championship games. Which teams will force -- and capitalize on -- the picks? Keep this in mind: New England led the league with 29 INTs, while Carolina had 16, Indy 15 and Philly 13.