If you’re paying any attention to the unnecessary two weeks between the Conference Championships and Super Bowl, you’ve probably heard that Tom Brady hasn’t been around the Patriots’ practice facility when the media has been granted access. This has led to an incredible cat-and-mouse game of “Where’s Manwhore Tom?” Well, media. I have the answer. Tom Brady is alive. He will play in Super Bowl XLII. End of story.

For the second consecutive day, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t in the locker room or at practice when reporters and cameramen were allowed inside Friday.

During the 45-minute period in the locker room, several cameramen lingered near his locker, but he didn’t show up. Nor was he there for the first 12 minutes of practice that the media were allowed to watch.

The Patriots are big on mind games and I see this being just that: mindgames. No, Tom Brady isn’t in the hospital with another newborn herpes Bird Flu. No, his foot isn’t broken in six different places. Brady’s absence when the media has been around doesn’t mean he’s been absent the entire time. For all we know, Brady could be hiding out in a closet in Hoodie’s office, only to reemerge when the media bails.

Do we really think the New York Giants are preparing for Matt Cassel? Absolutely not. So why don’t we take this media charade to the Giants’ locker room and ask Michael Strahan about that divorce settlement. That’d make for more entertaining quotes than sitting by Tom Brady’s locker.

Hosts: Kevin, Ryan and Sonny

In todays edition of the Sportable Spot the guys recap the conference championship games, giving their insight on both the winners and the losers. They also recap other notable NFL stories including coaching vacancies and contract extensions.

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You heard it all week. The banged-up Chargers would be routed by the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship, serving as merely a speed bump on the Patriots’ road to Glendale, Arizona. But despite injuries to seven current or former Pro Bowlers, San Diego made it a game well into the 4th quarter. None of those injuries were more serious than those of quarterback Philip Rivers, who played through a sprained MCL and partially torn ACL.

Lost in the midst of Rivers’ “trash talking” was the fact that he closed out 2007 very well. After struggling to adjust to Norv Turner’s more complex offensive system, Rivers threw 14 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in the Bolts’ last nine games. The fact that he played his last seven games with a knee injury (or two) shows this guy’s toughness. On a day when LaDainian Tomlinson sulked on the Chargers bench nursing a knee injury, Rivers earned the respect of everyone around the league.

“He earned my respect tonight,” said Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi. “To come back and play the way he did, I think all of those fans of the San Diego Chargers should understand that they have a tough guy at quarterback.”

“Toughest guy on the whole field today, both sides,” center Nick Hardwick said. “There’s no way he should have been playing. I wouldn’t have played if I was him. He’s a tough sucker. I don’t care what anybody says about him talking. He’s a competitor. Nobody was going to keep him off the field. He willed himself to play this game. It’s pretty amazing.”

Rivers’ ability to grasp a new system and silence the brainless boo-birds in San Diego should bode well for the 2008 season. With Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates and that LT guy playing together all year, Rivers’ confidence should only grow…if that’s possible. And the defense that limited the Pats to 21 points and forced three turnovers? They’re not going anywhere either. In fact, they’ll only get better with the impending departure of nickel cornerback Drayton Florence. While the Chargers didn’t have enough to beat the Pats in their year of glory, this team will definitely be back.

How about that for a championship Sunday? Finally we are down to just two teams who will be playing in Glendale, Arizona for the Lombardi Trophy. Most of us saw the Patriots making it this far; none of us saw the Giants making this improbable run. But before I digress onto the Giants win over the Packers, let’s go back the noted Pats.

18-0 huh? The Patriots are on the verge of making some serious history. When the discussion of greatest teams ever arises, certainly 19-0 is a good place to start for the Pats. They’ve manhandled everything thrown their way in a variety of fashions which, as we saw yesterday, extend beyond Tom Brady and include the often forgotten Laurence Maroney. Maroney was in full beast-mode yesterday, carrying the Patriots while Brady struggled his way through a surprising three interceptions. Give credit to San Diego, they played this Patriots team about as tough as humanly possible and if it weren’t for a few mistakes in the red zone, the Chargers could have very well won this game. In the end, however, it was the Patriots who were triumphant. I’ll go ahead and say it right now; this team isn’t beatable. There are frankly too many weapons at Brady’s disposal for this team to slip up.

On the other side are the unheralded New York Giants. The G-Men have fought their way through the entire playoff run, beating Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay all on the road. Yesterday’s game at Lambeau was one of the coldest ever played with temperatures dipping below zero. It was so cold that, halfway through the second quarter, I found myself reaching for a sweatshirt because I was getting cold just watching the game. God knows how all those Packers fans sat through that entire game in the stands. That seems like it might have been the most miserable situation ever; sub-zero temperatures and a heartbreak loss in overtime after the Green Bay God throws a pivotal interception. This Giants team is feisty. Eli Manning has come into his own; not making mistakes that he so often made earlier in his career. Ahmad Bradshaw has been a pleasant surprise at running back for the Giants and certainly made his impact in yesterday’s game with a few key first down runs. And how about the fact that the Giants have done all of this without their homophobic loud mouth tight end, Jeremy Shockey. Pretty impressive.

So the table is set for the final showdown. Will it be the unbeaten Patriots or the underdog Giants? Whatever the result, it should be a good one.

Now that the playoff seeds are set in stone for the AFC, lets take a look at all the teams and see what’s in store for us as the 2007 NFL playoffs are set to kick off.

New England Patriots: The NFL’s first 16-0 team is riding high, having not lost since about this time last year. They’ll be staying put at Gillette throughout the playoffs and will undoubtedly be tough to beat. If the weather starts to turn frightful in New England, however, look for other teams to have a considerable advantage. The Patriots won’t throw the ball 50 times in sleet and snow, so it’ll turn out to be a battle of running games. The AFC has plenty of fine running backs (Fred Taylor, Joseph Addai, LT, Maurice Jones-Drew) that are all considerably better than Laurence Maroney.

Indianapolis Colts: My oh my, look who has returned. The World Champions from a year ago have returned as the number two seed yet again and, unlike last year, have gotten absolutely no hype whatsoever due in part to the whole “Patriots not losing a game” thing. The Colts have been riddled with injuries all year, having to resort to guys like Crasphonso Thorpe (I know, who?) to play wide receiver and guys who I’ve never heard of on their defensive line. The good news is that they’ll be fully healthy (with the exception of Dwight Freeney) come two weeks from now when they host their playoff game in the sterile environment of the RCA Dome. Nobody’s talking about them but look out for Indy. With Bob Sanders back and the always dangerous Peyton Manning the Colts might quietly put the rest of the AFC to shame.

San Diego Chargers: The first seed from last year returns as the number three seed in a season that was riddled with inconsistency and confusion. How good is this team? Nobody really knows. They still have the best running back in the game (sorry Adrian Peterson) and their defense is one of the best in the NFL. In the playoffs it comes down to a team’s ability to establish the run and stop the run; both things the Chargers do well. Thus the pressure will be on second year starter Philip Rivers who hasn’t had a great season but has come on strong as of late. People talk about teams they do and don’t want to play; can we consider the Chargers one of those teams? They’ve won 10 of their last 12 games. Read the rest of this entry »

I caught this video over at Deadspin earlier today and it just goes to show you the true dominance of Tom Brady these days. After throwing another five touchdowns in another easy victory, Brady had the opportunity to bag yet another female. But instead of your random A+ supermodel, it was none other than NBC’s Andrea Kremer. It’s like Kremer is a 12 year old girl with her first crush.

In other news, Andrea Kremer is pregnant.*

*Lie