The biggest winner Sunday in the NFL's conference championship games just might have been Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
First, his beloved Philly Eagles get beyond the NFC Championship game on their fourth consecutive try and reach the Super Bowl with their win Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons. Then, in the late game, the New England Patriots took care of business against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Yeah, sure, Rendell, former mayor of Philadelphia, said he was looking forward to the possibility of an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl.
Of course he did. He's a politician.
But Rendell's also an Eagles fan of more than 40 years, going back almost to Philadelphia's last NFL championship in 1960. The governor has even hosted an Eagles-related radio talk show.
The last thing Rendell must have wanted — especially with a long list of Republicans, possibly including Steelers' Hall of Fame receiver Lynn Swann, lining up for a shot at him — was being forced to choose one of the state's two largest cities over the other, particularly when he's going to need heavy support from both if he wants to get re-elected.
Fortunately, he won't have to worry about that now. As long as he doesn't smile too big while walking around the governor's mansion, no one in western Pennsylvania is going to hold his Philly connection against him.
Not including Rendell, Sunday's biggest winners were the Patriots and Eagles, who will be getting ready for the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, the Steelers and Falcons are left to figure out what went wrong, and how to fix it for next season.
The difference between Atlanta and Philadelphia, at least for this season, can probably best be summed up in a play that didn't even count. In the second quarter of their game Sunday, Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb, finding himself under pressure, avoided two Falcons pass rushers and stepped up almost to the line of scrimmage.
Then — and this is the important part — he threw the ball, even though he had an open running lane. McNabb's strike to tight end L.J. Smith gained 17. Or it would have, had the Eagles not been busted for an illegal shift, which wiped out the play.
Had that been Michael Vick, or even the Donovan McNabb of four years ago, he would have tucked the ball away, gotten his half-dozen or so yards, and Joe Buck and Cris Collinsworth up in the booth would have raved about what a great playmaker the Falcons' quarterback is.
Granted, Vick is a great playmaker, just to belabor the obvious. But 17 yards is more than six or seven, just to additionally belabor the obvious.
I suspect both Vick and the sports media types who are anointing him the NFL's most exciting player have been deceived by the huge chunks of yardage he ripped off like teams like the Rams in the divisional round.
Hopefully for Vick, the Eagles disabused him of the notion that it's possible to get to the Super Bowl with a quarterback that runs for 100 yards and throws for 100.
That's not to say Vick should never run, or that he should turn into a pocket passer. But any team that gets to a conference championship game is good enough to take away an element of the opponent's offense, even that offense's strongest element.
In the Falcons' case, that strongest element is Vick's running. The Eagles held him to 26 yards on the ground, and that doesn't include a five-yard loss on a bootleg in the fourth quarter that was tallied as a sack when it was obviously a running play.
The biggest thing the Falcons can do in the offseason is get a deep-threat wide receiver to complement tight end Algy Crumpler, and then add a downfield passing element to their offense.
By throwing long more often, and getting more big plays through the air, the Falcons will be better equipped for playoff football. Even when the deep passes are incomplete, opponents will be forced to defend the entire field.
That deep threat receiver might be on the open market, depending upon the Steelers' actions in the coming weeks.
Of all four conference championship teams, the Steelers might be heading into the offseason in the best shape. Pittsburgh's only important player not already signed heading into 2005 is wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
Conventional wisdom — as expressed by Ed Bouchette, Steelers beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh's representative on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee — is that the Steelers will let Burress go and sign Hines Ward to a long-term contract extension.
On the surface, that's solid reasoning. Ward is a five-time Pro Bowler, one of the Steelers' most popular players, and a team leader. He's also probably the NFL's best blocking wide receiver, an especially necessary attribute in Pittsburgh's offense.
But Ward is under contract for another year. Burress isn't. And, in a league where there is a short window of opportunity for winning a Super Bowl, the Steelers should keep this year's 16-2 team as intact as possible for next season.
When rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was thrown into the Steelers' lineup, in the season's second game he and Burress built up a rapport, to the point that Big Ben's stats — and the Steelers' overall offensive numbers — took a nosedive after Burress sustained a hamstring injury against Cincinnati in Week 11.
Burress could turn out to be Roethlisberger's Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, or Terrell Owens. If he does, that would relegate Ward to No. 2 receiver. However, no one will know until next season if he will, and Burress will be looking for No. 1 receiver money this offseason.
Given the Steelers' propensity, as an organization, for playing it safe, it's likely their top priority after the season will be to make Ward happy.
Even if the Steelers lose Burress, though, it might be academic. With an entire season to study film and refine his game, there's no reason Roethlisberger couldn't lead the Steelers into the promised land next season — maybe even against the Eagles.
Of course, there's one person who's probably hoping that doesn't happen.
In Pennsylvania, 2006 is a gubernatorial election year.
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