Peyton Manning's a very good teammate.

Just ask him.

"I'm trying to be a good teammate here, but let's just say we had problems in protection." (some audio here).

He did, however, stop short of suggesting that Mike Vanderjagt, or the "Idiot Kicker" may have gotten "liquored up before the game." Thankfully.

But that doesn't reall excuse what he said, and this probably wouldn't make me feel better if I was one of his teammates. You've probably heard him say that he threw his Linemen "under the bus," and I think this is fairly accurate. Let's be honest, Pittsburgh really did put a lot of good pressure on Manning, but Manning wasn't so spectacular himself.

Not a good end to the season for Peyton Manning. Trying to dispel the notion that he's a "choker," he goes out and leads a team to one of the best starts ever (including overcoming their nemesis, the New England Patriots), goes out, gets the bye, faces the #6 seed, leads the team to only 18 points, and calls out his blockers after the game. That's a real great way to be looked at as a leader.

Other Weekend Sports News:

- "Don't Look Now" of the Week: Lost amid the football games, especially with the Steelers, is that Pittsburgh improved to 14-0 with a win over Louisville, and are now in the top 10.

- Texas also got a big win, 58-55 over formerly #3 Villanova. Looks like they have recovered nicely.

- The NY Jets interviewed Mike Tice, which I really think is an awful decision, but it looks like Mangini may be the top candidate.

- Peter King's Monday Morning QB, which is always a nice read.

- The NFL announced that the ref blew the call on Polamalu's INT. No word from the NFL, however, on the Pass Interference call in the Denver/NE game, the non false start call in that game, as well as calls in the Carolina/Chicago game. And I don't expect them to be forthcoming.