[gstelmack]

Coming in late to the party, but:

1) That was a horrible pass interference call. I'd love to see Mike Pareira (sp?) come on the NFL network and try to talk his way out of it. Should have been offensive interference, no question. Not even close. I'm glad the game did not end up turning on this call like it looked like it might at the time it happened.

2) Agreed on the Bailey fumble, not anywhere near enough evidence to overturn that call. But fantastic hustle by Ben Watson to level him.

3) Defense played fantastic, holding a pretty good Broncos offense and running game in check most of the night. Even after getting jobbed by the refs on the PI call, they kept playing hard and didn't let it phase them.

4) Brady finally had a bad playoff game. I think Denver was there for the plucking, but he let himself get rattled and get off. Missed too many open receivers, that bad pick to Bailey, and just wasn't in synch much of the night.

5) When even Troy Brown is mishandling a punt, your team is in trouble.

6) Congrats to the Broncos for playing hard and continuing to push against the Pats defense even when being frustrated by them, and for creating and taking advantage of some critical turnovers. I think Jake Plummer quieted a lot of critics tonight, as he could just as easily have started throwing picks when the offense came down on his shoulders with the running game going nowhere. He definitely outplayed Brady tonight.

I think I'm rooting for Indy now from the AFC, 'cause Dungy is a class act and deserves a Super Bowl trip. But I've got to pull for Carolina to win it all...

P.S. Those of you who like to bash "Pats fans" can kiss my grits. EVERY team has fans that talk too much trash. Deal with it and don't paint everyone with the same brush. The Pats might have a few more than most thanks to the long, lean years with only occasional success, but that by no means is indicative of the group as a whole.