Of course, I made a frightful mistake in my top 10 by not including AMERICAN SPLENDOR, which would probably crack the top 5, if not 3. And also honorable mention goes to IN AMERICA. I forgot that one too.

I have refrained from playoff predictions. And there is one problem with making them. If you're wrong on one game, then the matchups don't make sense later. It's kind of like the NCAA tournament and so forth. Anyway, I would have picked Denver in that Indy game, too. I WILL give this week's matchups only.

NFC

CAROLINA vs. ST. LOUIS

Sometimes, playoff picks are a matter of pure gut feeling. I think Carolina will beat St. Louis this week because they have the defense to do so. Now their offense is shaky, but as they proved last week against a very good Dallas defense, they can at least make it a John Kasey game. In a dome, maybe doubly so. So I look for Carolina to pull it off, and there will be a garbage touchdown somewhere in here. Carolina 23 St. Louis 17

GREEN BAY vs. PHILADELPHIA

Philly proved a lot over the last few games, even though losing to San Fran was unforgivable. Philly has much too good a defense to allow much room for Green Bay, and their offense should be able to do at least what Seattle did this past week. Philadelphia 27 Green Bay 16

AFC

INDIANAPOLIS vs. KANSAS CITY

OK, Kansas City was finally exposed over the last 7 games, and I thought all of my disgust over their praise was going to go wasted. Now we know what kind of team they are. Most people agree now that they are a 10-6 team hiding in a 13-3 team's body. Now, we CAN (I know it's hard) forget about Indy's trashing of Denver last week (not for long, however, because this is Kansas City's defense). This is a different week, but I believe Indy will score close to the amount of points they did against Denver. Manning seems to be in a new gear. I will not underestimate what KC's offense can do to Indy's defense. Indy 38 KC 27

TENNESSEE vs. NEW ENGLAND

This is tough. I've been hearing the swirling of commentary about this game. I am, of course, a fan of the Titans. I have to throw objectivity into it. It makes me want to pick New England right away. But wait a minute, that's not objective...and so on. Bill Belechick has proved himself one of the game's elite coaches, long ago actually. He will have a plan! Both teams had serious injuries last time they played, a 38-30 thriller in Foxboro. Some things will simply not happen again, like Mike Cloud running for 140 yards. McNair has to avoid Ty Law when throwing, which may mean not throwing to Derrick Mason. Guys, I see tight ends getting a serious amount of catches in this game. I see Eddie George and Chris Brown making valiant runs for 3 yards. Mostly, my gut tells me that Tennessee is going to pull off this upset. You must forget the past, even what happened last week (McNair will not throw 3 INTs in this game). Here's my stab at a score. Tennessee 24 New England 19, with some seriously scary occurrences that will likely give New England a chance to win it in the end (like a Zach Pillar personal foul penalty that takes New England from their own 35 to the 50 with 20 seconds to go).

Am I being a homer? I don't think I am. It's all in the soul.