Show Dont Don't expect the unexpected Michael Wilbon The Washington Post Its It's easy to the NFL playoffs to obsess over overa a dark horse or fall in love with a wild card team especially since several non- non division winners have dominated dominated dominated domi domi- January in recent years But dont don't be consumed with finding Cinderella in these playoffs The runners front-runners Indianapolis and Seattle are going to survive and meet in inthe inthe inthe the Super Bowl next month Its It's particularly popular as the playoffs begin Saturday to look at the and make the case for any of the six teams including the Washington Redskins And true enough every team has some especially attractive attractive attractive tive clement The Buccaneers and Bears have the best defenses in the league The Giants' Giants Tiki Barber is having a magical season Carolina still has a great many players from its run to the Super Bowl two years ago And the Redskins are the hottest team in the conference conference conference con con- ference having closed the regular season with five straight victories And while all that's a matter matter matter mat mat- ter of fact the biggest truth is that the have the best team in the a team 1 I 11 ji H f I that w would uld have been been fel cele cele- In JJ i u tin 9 rl braced to be a much greater degree if it didn't play in Seattle All season long as the compiled the best record in the conference weve we've battled the nagging thought that the arent aren't to be trusted in son They haven't won a playoff game since 1984 the longest current streak of futility in the NFL Yes the Arizona Cardinals have won wona a playoff game more recently than Seattle But the probably probably probably proba proba- bly haven't had this strong a team since the mid either It starts with Shaun Alexander but it doesn't end there Matt Hasselbeck has thrown 24 touchdown passes and only nine interceptions His only bad game statistically statistically statistically cally came in a 42 0 beat- beat down of the Eagles in Philadel Philadelphia phia Otherwise he spent the season making all the right decisions behind an offensive line that allowed him to be sacked only nine times Hasselbeck turned 30 recently so he has been around long enough to understand understand understand under under- stand how infrequently a playoff team has a bye week two home games the best NFL f J Conf Cont on Page X It aih Yr n rf o n J I l u TOt 1 NFL Cont from Page X running back in football and anda a head coach who has won a Super Bowl Alexanders Alexander's only problem- problem its it's asset is is or maybe an asset that he plays in Seattle miles from and Sports Illustrated and the East Coast newspapers and talk shows All hes he's done is rush for 1880 yards and a league- league record 27 touchdowns The best thing Hasselbeck and Alexander have going for them is that they play for a tournament-tested tournament coach in Mike Holmgren who has been back on top of his game after the club took most of his personnel responsibilities and made him concentrate exclusively on what made him great in Green Bay in the mid coaching The one thing working against the is that they'll probably draw next week the Redskins a very similar team with many of the same strengths Hall of Fame coach veteran quarterback quarterback quarterback quarter quarter- back great running back But Seattle was undefeated at home this season and ought to be attentive since they lost to the Redskins in overtime in Week 4 4 So while the Redskins will beat the Bucs in Tampa Saturday and the Bears will hold off the Giants in Chicago next week the should be able to handle the Redskins and Bears consecutively in Seattle to reach the Super Bowl And the Colts also playing indoors at home will have a much more difficult time trying to get through the specifically the and Broncos Yes I said the Broncos and not the Patriots who seem to tobe tobe tobe be in uncharacteristic form emotionally Golden Boy Tom Brady has spent way too much time anything longer than five seconds is too long talking about how he and his team have been disrespected disrespect ed all season The disrespect disrespect disrespect theme is common among athletes always looking looking looking look look- ing for imaginary opponents against whom they can rail the media is the most convenient convenient convenient target no matter how fawning the reports have been in fact But Brady is particularly delusional This is a man who has been on the cover of every magazine this season except Eh Ebony ny talking about being disrespected a aman aman aman man who was compared favorably all season to Joe Montana a man whose team couldn't win consecutive games in the first fast half of an plagued injury-plagued season yet was constantly called a serious serious serious seri seri- ous threat to win again if everyone got healthy Brady is getting to the point where he should be seen and not heard Great player and hunky boy that he is Bradys Brady's silly rant might just reveal that this Patriots team doesn't feel as omnipotent going into the playoffs as it had been in 2001 2003 and 2004 As loathe as I am to trust Denver's Jake Plummer in the playoffs Ill I'll take Denver over the Patriots eliminating the Patriots Indy-Patriots game most of ofus ofus ofus us want to see as desperately as s Southern California- California Texas and the Colts over the Broncos in the championship championship championship champi champi- game And that should set up what every sport ought to have the two best teams playing for the championship on the final day of the season fI |