NFL PLAYOFFS 
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Sunday, January 20 
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Baltimore (11-6) at Pittsburgh (13-3) 
AFC divisional playoff                              12:30 pm EST
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PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Baltimore Ravens may have their
swagger, but the Pittsburgh Steelers will not be intimidated.
Round Three between the bitter Central Division rivals takes
place Sunday to determine a trip to the AFC championship game.
Of course, the war of words is already underway. "We've been
looking for them (in the playoffs)," Ravens linebacker Jamie
Sharper said.  "If 'The Bus' (Steelers Pro Bowl running back
Jerome Bettis) is smart, he won't play." Bettis, Pittsburgh's
leading rusher, has missed the last five games with hip and
groin injuries. Bettis did not exactly endear himself to the
Ravens when he favorably compared Bengals linebacker Takeo
Spikes to Baltimore star middle linebacker Ray Lewis in a
magazine article. The defending Super Bowl champion Ravens are
5-0 in the postseason under coach Brian Billick and flexed their
muscle in the wild card round with a dominant 20-3 victory over
the Miami Dolphins last week. Baltimore rushed for 226 yards,
forced three turnovers and held Miami to 151 total yards. But
the Steelers were the AFC's best team during the regular season,
ranked first in the league in defense and clinched their first
division title since 1997 with a 26-21 win at Baltimore on
December 16. Without Bettis, Kordell Stewart passed for a
career-high 333 yards and two touchdowns against the vaunted
defense of the Ravens as the Steelers earned their sixth AFC
Central title in 10 years under coach Bill Cowher. Stewart also
hurt the Ravens with his legs, rushing for 55 yards on 10
carries. In the absence of Bettis, Stewart was flawless,
completing 20-of-31 passes with touchdowns of 90 yards to Bobby
Shaw and 25 yards to Plaxico Burress. Pittsburgh totaled a
season-high 476 yards and controlled the ball for more than 41
minutes. Meanwhile, the Steelers defense, led by linebackers
Jason Gildon and Earl Holmes, held Baltimore to just 149 total
yards before the Ravens went 58 yards on nine plays in their
final drive. Baltimore's Elvis Grbac completed 20-of-38 passes
for 159 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. The win
was especially sweet for the Steelers, who held the Ravens to
just 10 first downs and 183 total yards in the first meeting
here on November 4, but suffered a 13-10 loss because Kris Brown
missed 4-of-5 field goal attempts. Burress annoyed some
Baltimore players when he said Pittsburgh "physically beat up"
the Ravens in the first meeting. Sharpe took particular
exception to Burress' comments and referred to him as
"Plexiglass." But in the rematch, the 6-5 Burress gave fits to
Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister, catching eight passes for a
career-high 164 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown. A key to
Sunday's contest will be the play of corners McAlister and Duane
Starks against Burress and fellow receiver Hines Ward, who had
94 receptions for 1,003 yards. With pass-rushing threats Jason
Gildon and Joey Porter on the outside and Earl Holmes and NFL
defensive rookie of the year Kendrell Bell patrolling the
inside, the Steelers have a linebacker corps that rivals
Baltimore's trio of Lewis, Sharper and Peter Boulware. The
Steelers lead the series, 8-4. 

Green Bay (13-4) at St Louis (14-2) 
NFC divisional playoff                                 4:00 pm EST
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ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Once upon a time, Kurt Warner was a
training camp quarterback cut by the Green Bay Packers.  On
Sunday, the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player duels three-time
MVP Brett Favre for the first time. The St. Louis Rams host the
Packers Sunday in an NFC divisional playoff featuring the NFL's
top quarterbacks.  The winner will meet either the Chicago Bears
or Philadelphia Eagles in the conference championship game next
weekend. Warner and the Rams won the Super Bowl two years ago
under former coach Dick Vermeil with Mike Martz as offensive
coordinator.  After getting knocked out of the playoffs in the
wild card round last season, the Rams finished with a
franchise-best record this season and have homefield advantage
throughout the playoffs. Favre and the Packers are back in the
playoffs for the first time since 1998 and posted a 25-15
victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card round last
week. The 32-year-old Favre was the NFL's dominant player in the
mid 1990s, restoring the Packers back to glory with a Super Bowl
title in 1996 and a trip to the Super Bowl the following year.
Bothered by a sore shoulder and elbow, Favre struggled the
previous two seasons, but returned to form with 3,921 yards and
32 touchdowns in 2001.  He excelled in the playoff win over the
Niners, completing 22-of-29 for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
But since becoming the Rams' starter in 1999, Warner has been
the NFL's best quarterback, winning MVP honors that year and
this season.  In 2000, Rams running back Marshall Faulk took MVP
honors. The 30-year-old Warner threw for 4,830 yards, the
second-highest total in NFL history, and 36 touchdowns this
season.   Dan Marino holds the league record with 5,084 passing
yards for the Miami Dolphins in 1984. It's hard to believe that
Warner was once an extra "training camp arm" for the Packers in
1994 when Favre, Mark Brunell and Ty Detmer were the team's top
quarterbacks.  After being waived by former Packers coach Mike
Holmgren, Warner persevered and starred in the Arena League from
1995-97 and played in NFL Europe before joining the Rams in
1998. The following year, Warner wrote perhaps the league's most
improbable story in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards and 41
touchdowns and leading the Rams to their first Super Bowl title.
Guard Adam Timmerman was a starter on the Packers' back-to-back
Super Bowl teams in the '90s before signing with the Rams in
1999. Whereas Favre often improvises and uses rollouts, Warner
is the classic drop-back pocket passer with the quick release.
And Warner throws it often to his stable of receivers headed by
Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce.  Holt is the team's top deep threat
with 81 receptions for 1,363 yards and seven touchdowns and
Bruce caught 64 passes for 1,106 yards and six scores. Of
course, Warner also has Faulk, the first player in NFL history
to surpass 2,000 total yards in four straight seasons. It will
be up to Packers coach Mike Sherman and defensive coordinator Ed
Donatell to figure out a way to stop the league's most prolific
offense (503 points). The Packers ranked second in the NFC in
sacks with 52 and will need to put some heat on Warner Sunday
with a variety of blitzes.  Defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila
led the team with 13 sacks. Favre does not the same arsenal of
weapons as Warner. Receiver Antonio Freeman is still a threat on
crossing patterns, but no longer possesses the speed to go deep.
Corey Bradford is now the primary deep threat and caught a
51-yard bomb in last week's playoff win. The Packers have a
strong running game with Ahman Green, who is a double threat
with 1,385 rushing yards and nine touchdowns and 63 receptions
for 596 yards. Compare that to Faulk, who had 1,382 rushing
yards and 12 touchdowns and caught 83 passes for 765 yards and
nine scores. Favre must contend with a Rams defense which ranked
first in the NFC and third in the league overall.  Ends Leonard
Little and Grant Wistrom combined for 24 sacks. Warner suffered
a throat contusion in St. Louis' regular season finale on
January 6 and the Rams want him to avoid talking until Sunday as
a precaution. Backup quarterback Jamie Martin barked out the
calls in the huddle during practice. The Rams lead the series,
43-39-2. 

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