The Weak Ender

Has America turned on Tom Brady? It seems more and more analysts and casual fans don't want Brady to win on Sunday. Chargers fans sure don't want. And it is just absolutely baffling.

Obviously there is some jealousy for Brady seeing that he always seems to win; he traded in Bridget Moynihan for Gisele Bundchen; and the Patriots are two wins away from another Super Bowl title. Jealousy is understandable. What is not understandable is all of the people who seem to be rooting for Peyton Manning to win this weekend. The $1M question in the THN inbox seems to be, "why so much hate for Manning?" Which is actually a dumb question.

Manning is like that guy in your office who has the highest salary, biggest office and is somewhat charming. He is your spokesman and on the cover of your corporate newsletter every month. The guy is great during the slow times of the year and when the pressure is off.

But the moment things get a little frenzied and you need your top producer to come through, he disappears. Disappears in horrific fashion. And what�s worse, he blames his you and your co-workers when things go wrong and starts to point fingers.

And this is the guy you want to win on Sunday. The question should not be why so much hate for Manning, but why so much love?

• Everybody pilled on Marty Schottenheimer before last week�s game saying, "Same old Marty, he is going to choke again." And you were right. Marty lived up to his history. But what is with the absolute about-face on Manning this week? Instead of, "Same old Peyton, he is going to choke gain," people have already put his name on the Lombardi Trophy. Yeah, that makes sense. Calvin Cowherd and other ESPN talking heads have been defending Manning saying that you shouldn�t judge him on his playoff loses. Yet, many of those same people wanted to fire Marty because he lost in the playoffs again. Yep, that makes sense, too.

• Andy Schefter on NFL.com has labeled the Colts and Patriots a classic rivalry. Shouldn't the Colts win one of these games to make it a rivalry?

• Please stop comparing the Colts to this year's St. Louis Cardinals team. A better comparison would be the 1979 Los Angeles Rams who had, for years and years and years and years, lost to the Vikings and Cowboys in the playoffs. But the Rams reached the Super Bowl with probably their worst team of the decade, led by the brain-dead Vince Ferragamo. He was like Terri Shiavo with a better arm. Hey, could you imagine if the Colts finally broke through to the Super Bowl with Jim Sorgi at quarterback?

• Maybe Manning should lose in the Super Bowl, just to make those comparisons to Dan Marino seem more apt. But Manning's current rotation of commercials are much better than Marino's old Isotoner spots.

THE NFC

The NFL decided late on Thursday night that it was still going to play the NFC Championship Game, though most people agree that the winner of Colts/Patriots is going to win the whole thing. Bears and Saints players took a vote early Thursday to decide if they even wanted to bother with the formality. Playing the games passed by the slimmest of margins. Good choice guys.

The NFC does seem to have a pretty good chance to win the Super Bowl this year. Why, the NFC is always in the game against the Patriots. All three of the Patriots Super Bowl victories have been by three points. (For that reason alone, gamblers should be rooting for the Patriots.) And if (God forbid) the Colts reach the Super Bowl, you know, Manning will do enough to lose the game.

• How can the Bears allow a punter to wear No. 9? Sacrilege.

• In honor of Dr. Doug, THN officially picks the Saints to win the game.

• Reggie Bush might not have won the Rookie of the Year, but he is playing in the NFC Championship Game. The Saints probably wouldn�t be playing in this game without Bush. Drew Brees and Marques Colston have been great, but Bush takes the offense from good to scary. Just seriously Reggie, if you get in the open field against the Bears, don�t look to pitch the thing. Hopefully you have learned that lesson.

AND FINALLY

The Raiders are apparently on the verge of signing Steve Sarkisian to be the team's next coach. Sark will likely bring Lane Kiffin in to be his offensive coordinator. How much are the USC boosters paying to make this happen? What a great turn-of-events this would be for the Trojans. Then they could bring in an experienced OC like Dirk Koetter to run the offense.

And the Raiders, of course, would continue to suck.