In the NFL, the common theory is that if a team wins 10 games it's going to make the playoffs. If it wins 11 games, it's going to be a division winner. If it wins 12 games, it most likely will have a home playoff game, if not a bye.
But the strength of the AFC this season has thrown a major rock into the NFL's transmission.
It's one thing for the 10-6 Miami Dolphins to fail to make the playoffs, but it's a whole different situation when the 12-4 Titans can't get a home game.
The NFL's system of seeding playoff teams is coming under attack.
"The more I study this, the more I think that the present situation that we have, in terms of the scheduling and the playoff seeding, is wrong," Colts president Bill Polian said on his weekly radio show. "No matter how good or how great Baltimore is, the fact is that they finished with the worst record among the six teams. They should not get a home game. That's not right."
Under the current format, the four division winners in each conference, regardless of record, earn either a first-round bye or an opening-round home game. It meant the Ravens (10-6), winners of the AFC Central, get a home game over the Titans (12-4) and the Broncos (11-5), both runners-up.
"Just because you win a division that is maybe not as good as some others, you shouldn't automatically get a home game," Polian said. "The competition committee ... originally wanted to seed based on regular-season records. I think that's going to be needed to be given very, very careful consideration this time around. ... It just isn't right. We played the whole season to determine who the best teams are and that's the way the playoff ought to be seeded."
TITANIC RECEIVERS: One reason Steve McNair was named league co-MVP is his receivers. The Titans are the only team with four receivers (Derrick Mason, Justin McCareins, Drew Bennett and Tyrone Calico) who each finished with at least four touchdown catches. Their average height is 6 feet 2.
"That's probably the biggest group of receivers that I've seen in a long time," Patriots cornerback Ty Law said. "You have your quickness and your first-down guy in Mason who can take it the distance. Then you have the other guys who can body you out and overpower you and things like that. They have all the tools for them to go a long way in this league, definitely (to) go deep into the postseason."
Added McNair: "From my perspective, I just feel like all of those guys can make a play when we need one. When you're a quarterback and you can stand back there and know the guys are going to be where they are supposed to be and they can make plays, that's a great feeling."
HO HUM: The Patriots are showing definite signs of similarity with the team that won it all in 2001. But don't expect coach Bill Belichick, known for his stoic personality, to say as much.
"I hate to make comparisons," he said. "Every year is different. No two weeks are the same, no two teams are the same, and no two years are the same. Everything is always different, it is always in flux, and whatever we will be facing going forward will be different than what we faced before. Anything we faced in the past will be different from what we will be facing going forward."
REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY: The Texans put a different twist Sunday in their efforts to get in the head of Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt.
Trying to rattle Vanderjagt, Texan players refrained from some of the customary trash talk and any reference to Vanderjagt being "liquored up," instead they reminded him of how good he was and how perfect he had been all season. Houston players told the talkative kicker that he couldn't miss and was the best in the NFL.
Of course, the ploy did not work. Vanderjagt responded by rubbing his fingers together and telling Houston players that he was "money."
He then kicked two field goals to finish the season 37-of-37 and set an NFL record with 41 consecutive field goals.
NICE TRY, BILL: The Panthers aren't being fooled by Cowboys coach Bill Parcells' attempts to pooh-pooh his team's accomplishments.
"I'm not listening to Bill Parcells," defensive tackle Brentson Buckner told the Charlotte Observer. "He's a mastermind. If you finish 10-6 and you're in the playoffs in the NFL, you're good."
UNHAPPY RICH: Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon refused to take the criticism that came with the team's poor performance and the eventual dismissal of coach Bill Callahan.
Gannon ripped Callahan and offensive coordinator Marc Trestman for "changing the integrity and structure" of the system put in by former coach Jon Gruden.
"Unfortunately, everyone was comfortable with me taking the beat down, and I took it for six or seven weeks," Gannon told the Los Angeles Times. "Here I sit today feeling like in some small way I have to defend myself and defend my performance over the last five years here. I've gone to four straight Pro Bowls, I've been the MVP in two of them. I was the MVP of the league a year ago, and this team has won with me. In a short period of 61/2 weeks, I can no longer play, and I'm too old, I lost my effectiveness. It's a disgrace. It's disrespectful to me."
SOUND FAMILIAR?: Receiver Terrell Owens, sidelined with a broken collarbone for the 49ers' final game of the season, walked off the sideline late in the game and missed his team's defensive stand that forced a field goal and its final offensive possession.
Owens can and is expected to void the final three years of his contract and become a free agent, likely meaning the end of his days in San Francisco.
"I think everybody's well aware he's been unhappy," 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia said. "It's nothing new. It's not a secret. ... I really think the odds are stacked against T.O. coming back to the team. ... Actions speak louder than words often times. I think in many ways he would like change."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "If they ask me to take a penny less, I'd say no. I think I earn every penny I make." - Gannon on talk that the Raiders may need to restructure his $7-million base salary for cap relief.
- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.
