Providing the Playoff Answers

Twenty questions heading into the NFL playoffs:

Q: How much rest is too much?

A: We’ll find out when the top two teams in the NFC, Philadelphia and Atlanta, take the field for their playoff openers next week. They clinched postseason spots so early, they were able to glide across the regular-season finish line and rest their starters. Consequently, the Falcons lost their last three games -- two of which they essentially mailed in -- and the Eagles lost their last two. There has to be something to the notion of losing momentum heading into the playoffs.

Q: Is Minnesota afraid of the great outdoors?

A: It certainly seems that way. The Vikings have lost 20 of their last 21 outdoor games -- I don’t count Houston’s Reliant Stadium as an outdoor venue -- and their only outdoor victory during that stretch was their 2003 opener at Green Bay. This week, the Vikings couldn’t practice outside because the field at their facility was frozen hard as concrete. They gingerly conducted a walk-through on it. Besides, when the temperatures dip into the teens, their practice bubble is just too enticing.

Q: What do dome teams have to fear?

A: No team that plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a conference championship on an outdoor field. There are four such teams in the playoffs: Minnesota, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Atlanta.

Q: Which two players should most concern Denver’s offense?

A: The two Jakes. The good Jake Plummer, and the bad one. The Broncos are 7-1 this season when Plummer has thrown more touchdown passes than interceptions. But when he’s struggling, they’re in trouble. Unlike his days with the Arizona Cardinals, Plummer doesn’t have to make spectacular plays and carry this team. Sometimes he forgets that, forces throws into tight spots, and winds up paying for it. Plummer has thrown two interceptions in each of his previous three playoff starts.

Q: Seeing as how the Patriots lost at Pittsburgh two months ago, why would their chances be much better if there were a rematch at Heinz Field?

A: Two words: Corey Dillon. He sat out the first game against the Steelers because of a leg injury, and the Patriots finished with five -- yes, five -- yards rushing in six carries. Dillon finished third in the league in rushing this season with 1,635 yards in 345 carries, beating his previous career-high rushing total by 200 yards, and scored 13 touchdowns, all but one of them rushing.

Q: What Patriot statistic should turn opposing coaches green with envy -- or is it indigestion?

A: Over the last two seasons, counting the playoffs, New England is 17-1 when playing teams that finished with winning records.

Q: Now that Peyton Manning has changed his reputation, which quarterback wears the can’t-win-the-big-game albatross?

A: Chad Pennington. The New York Jet quarterback needs to prove he can win a playoff game, and doing so at San Diego on Saturday will be no simple task. It doesn’t help that his throwing shoulder looks to be hurting more than he’s letting on. Since suffering a strained rotator cuff, Pennington has thrown nearly as many interceptions, six, as touchdown passes, seven, and his team has lost three of five.

Q: Can Cheeseheads stomach the Packers’ cheesecloth pass defense?

A: That will be a real test. Green Bay’s defense has given up 33 touchdowns and has only eight interceptions, a ratio among the worst for a playoff team in NFL history. If you think Brett Favre looks good on Sundays, just imagine how he looks during the week when he gets a chance to pick apart that defense at practice.

Q: What combination of words can still bring a Green Bay fan to tears?

A: Fourth and 26.

Q: Seeing as how he’s won 13 consecutive starts, has been named the NFL’s rookie of the year, and has raked in an extra $2.6 million in contract incentives alone, what -- besides helping his team get to the Super Bowl -- will Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger do for an encore?

A: Feed truckers from coast to coast. This week, the Steeler quarterback is rolling out his latest endorsement deal: Big Ben beef jerky.

“We were first approached about doing cereal, but jerky seemed to be a product reflective of Ben,” agent Leigh Steinberg said. “Tough and rugged on the outside with a heart of pure protein.” Sounds almost edible.

Q: Will we see more of Seymour?

A: The Patriots sure hope so, especially if they wind up playing the Colts. Defensive tackle Richard Seymour, nursing a knee injury, is a key component in New England’s defense. He’s remarkably fast at 6 feet 6, 305 pounds, and can single-handedly cave in a pocket -- maybe even enough to make Indianapolis quarterback Manning look human.

Q: What’s the bad news and good news for the Rams, who play at Seattle on Saturday?

A: Bad news: They were 2-6 on the road this season, losing their last five games away from home.

Good news: The last road game they won was at Seattle on Oct. 10, when they roared back from a 17-point deficit with five minutes to play and wound up winning in overtime.

Q: Do you need a good defense and running game to reach the playoffs?

A: Not if you’re the Vikings. They have neither. Now, how long will they survive in the postseason? That’s a different story.

Minnesota has lost eight of its last nine road playoff games, giving up an average of 33.2 points in those games.

Q: Even though the Eagles haven’t ruled out a return by Terrell Owens, should they get to the Super Bowl, is there any conceivable way T.O. could be back by then?

A: From what I hear, no. The fracture and high-ankle sprain he sustained, one that required surgery, could keep him in a protective boot through the Super Bowl and beyond. Fast and elusive as Owens is, it’s hard to imagine him hobbling away from tight coverage. He’s purely a spectator until next season.

Q: What’s the good news and bad news for the Packers, who play host to Minnesota on Sunday?

A: Good news: Viking quarterback Daunte Culpepper’s only road playoff start was in 2001 against the New York Giants. He had a mere 78 passing yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions and a minuscule 13.7 passer rating.

Bad news: In his last four games against the Packers, Culpepper has thrown for 12 touchdowns and has no interceptions.

Q: What differentiates David Binn from every other player on San Diego’s roster?

A: Binn, the long snapper, is the only remaining Charger from the team’s last playoff appearance, in 1995, when San Diego was eliminated at home by the Colts in a wild-card game.

Q: What’s the easiest job in the NFL?

A: Being groundskeeper for the Patriots. Well, OK, I imagine it’s tougher than it sounds, but there’s no team in football that appreciates a torn-up, frozen, lumpy playing surface more than New England. The Patriots definitely use it to their advantage, particularly when playing a dome team such as Indianapolis, whose ultra-quick players are much more effective on artificial turf.

A sloppy field could help neutralize a pass rusher such as Indianapolis’ Dwight Freeney, for instance, and the Patriots have learned to use that edge to their advantage. So why fix up that field? In a way, their groundskeeper is doing his job by not doing his job.

Q: What’s the most remarkable statistic concerning San Diego quarterback Drew Brees this season?

A: Brees, the league’s comeback player of the year, had the biggest one-season improvement in passer rating in NFL history, according to STATS Inc. His rating jumped 37.3 points to 104.8, edging Ken Stabler’s 36-point improvement from 1975 to 1976. Brees finished the regular season with the best passer rating and completion percentage, 65.5, in Charger history.

Q: What’s the good and bad news for the Broncos, who play at Indianapolis on Sunday?

A: Good news: Manning has thrown only 10 touchdown passes in six playoff games.

Bad news: Five of those were against Denver in last season’s wild-card round.

Q: Before the season started, I picked Seattle to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Alas, Seattle went 9-7 and barely made the playoffs. So what’s my excuse?

A: To borrow a line from Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks stabbed me in the back.