Playoffs by Jake

I can't recall ever seeing two QBs play worse in their respective conference championship games. Between the Carolina Panthers' Jake Delhomme and the Denver Broncos Jake Plummer they threw two touchdowns (good) and had SEVEN turnovers (bad.)

Here are the lines of the losing QBs compared to the lines of winning QBs, the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Hasselbeck of the Seahawks.

Two Jakes:
33/65 (51%) for 419 yards, 2 TDS, 5 interceptions, 2 fumbles lost

Two SuperBowl QBs:
41/57 (73%) for 492 yards, 4 touchdowns, zero interceptions, zero fumbles lost.

The sad part was we saw this coming for Jake Plummer. The nuveau Grizzly Adams is a career underachiever. He seemed to be beyond the turnover demons that haunted his years in Arizona and destined to be a leader at QB. Until the Broncos depended on him, then he folded like a wet newspaper.

For Delhomme it was much more of a surprise. Delhomme had been Mr. Dependable for a while at QB of the Panthers, but like Plummer, this Jake wasn't often asked to win games with his arm. When the time finally came for him to put the team on his shoulders, he couldn't get it done.

So what we ended up with was a sorry championship Sunday and Kobe Bryant getting most of the press for scoring 81 points (second most in league history, behind Wilt's 100) against the worst franchise in the NBA. Yawn.

And as good as Hasselbeck and Seahawks looked yesterday, you'd have to have your lips superglued to a crackpipe to pick against the Steelers. Pittsburgh has been far and away the most impressive team in the NFL postseason. As good as Roethlisberger has been, Troy Polamalu has been the man for the Steelers. Not since Ray Lewis in the Ravens Superbowl run (isn't it disgusting that the RAVENS won a Superbowl?) has a defensive player had such an impact on the NFL postseason.

So here's your early "AFFECT" line.

Pittsburgh by 6.5