AFC PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK : Ex-Ram Young Is a Catch for Broncos

Once again, the Rams and Raiders won’t be meeting in the Super Bowl.

How about an ex-Raider vs. an ex-Ram?

OK, there’s ex-Raider linebacker Matt Millen of the 49ers vs. ex-Ram and ex-UCLA Bruin receiver Michael Young, who helped quarterback John Elway and the Broncos break up Sunday’s AFC championship game.

Young, left unprotected by the Rams last winter and signed by the Broncos as a Plan B free agent, caught two passes--one for 70 yards and a touchdown, the other for 53, setting up another touchdown.

Was he surprised?

“Coming here, I thought that if I made the team, I’d have a chance to participate and do some things,” Young said. “But never to this extent. I never would have dreamed of having a game like this.”

Mad at the Rams?

“They just had a change in philosophy,” Young said. “There was a new offensive coordinator (Ernie Zampese) coming in and I wasn’t his type of player. Hey, everybody has their opinion. I’m not upset at all at them.

“I wish I could say I had animosity toward ‘em but I’d be lying if I said that. I almost stayed there because I knew I had a secure job as a backup receiver. But I knew that being a backup receiver on the Rams was like being a tackle. I mean, I knew I was never going to see any kind of action unless someone got hurt.

“I almost didn’t leave because I liked it so much. But I tell you what, I like it a hell of a lot better here.”

The Broncos played the second half without rookie running back Bobby Humphrey, and it showed.

Veteran Sammy Winder took over and gained 37 yards--in 21 carries.

Will Humphrey be ready for the Super Bowl?

Coach Dan Reeves said he has two broken ribs.

“Nah,” said Humphrey, who will be X-rayed again today.

Eight different Denver receivers caught passes, but when asked if Cleveland’s secondary could have done anything differently to stop them, cornerback Frank Minnifield failed to come up with answers.

“They don’t pay me to make that evaluation,” Minnifield said. “I’m the CB, not the HC.”

HC?

“Head coach.”

OK. But what about . . . ?

“Don’t even ask me,” Minnifield said. “I didn’t sit and watch the game. I played it. There was no thought process. They just pay me to cover wide receivers. You ask me to evaluate something, you ain’t doing me no service whatsoever.”

It was Minnifield who slipped and fell, freeing Young for his 70-yard touchdown catch.

Bud Carson, despite the loss, was satisfied with his first season coaching the Browns.

“When we were down and out, everybody said we were finished,” Carson said. “But we came back, week by week, every day except today. I’d say we made a hell of a run at it.”

What did Elway think of the crowd noise that drowned out Cleveland counterpart Bernie Kosar’s signals?

“I had trouble hearing when we had the ball,” Elway said. “I can only imagine what it was like for Bernie.”

Denver radio station KHOW played a new tune all week, sung to the tune of the old Coasters hit, “Charlie Brown.” It went:

Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Browns.

They’re real clowns, those Cleveland Browns.

They’re gonna get beat, gonna miss the bus.

Why the Denver Broncos always pickin’ on us?

Times columnist Mike Downey contributed to this story.