Playoff Teams Prove You Can’t Have It All

What’s the key to winning a Super Bowl, a great defense or a great quarterback? Most coaches would say both, but in the case of these NFL playoffs, that’s not really an option. So it’s QB or D.

The three most desirable quarterbacks in this tournament--St. Louis’ Kurt Warner, Minnesota’s Daunte Culpepper and Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning--play for teams with defenses ranked No. 23, 21 and 25, respectively, in the NFL.

The teams with the some of the most ferocious defenses--Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Miami, New Orleans and the New York Giants--have guys like Trent Dilfer, Shaun King, Jay Fiedler, Aaron Brooks and Kerry Collins taking snaps.

This is the time when quarterbacking pedigree comes to the forefront. Winning Super Bowl quarterbacks are almost always A-list names, Hall of Fame-caliber players: John Elway, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Joe Namath, Bart Starr.

Even some of the less-heralded names, such as Warner and Mark Rypien, had such outstanding regular seasons in those championship years that their Super Bowl performances weren’t too out of character.

The NFL isn’t big on out-of-the-blue success stories. It has been 10 years since Jeff Hostetler took over for Phil Simms in Week 14 and led the Giants to a Super Bowl victory.

The Tennessee Titans, who seem to have the most components in place for a championship run, have Steve McNair at quarterback. He’s good but not great. He’ll throw his passes to Frank Wycheck, he’ll take off and run (averaging 5.7 yards a carry) and he’ll inspire his teammates with his toughness.

But when you think of the Tennessee offense, the first name that comes to mind is Eddie George, the Titans’ star running back.

Ram running back Marshall Faulk was voted the NFL’s most valuable player.

However, when it’s time for the big game, it pays to have a great quarterback. There’s a reason running backs have won the Super Bowl’s MVP award only seven times, while quarterbacks have picked up the Pete Rozelle Trophy 18 times.

And there’s a reason the folks in Baltimore shouldn’t get too excited. Trent Dilfer is still Trent Dilfer, and he’s due to revert to his old mediocre form. Also, the New York Jets might have exposed some flaws in the Baltimore defense when they came out in a no-huddle offense and scored 14 quick points last week.

For a team that had such a maligned defense and barely made the playoffs, the Rams have a great shot at reaching the Super Bowl. They could play as many as two playoff games in domes, which always helps their fast-track offense.

Why is no one mentioning the NFC’s top-seeded team, the Giants, as Super Bowl contenders? You get the sense that the Giants put so much emphasis on reaching the playoffs after Coach Jim Fassel had laid his head on the guillotine block by guaranteeing a playoff appearance that they won’t have much left now. It’s not hard to imagine any of the other teams coming to the Meadowlands and emerging with a victory.

The Buccaneers’ prospects are intriguing because their defense keeps them in every game. Four of Tampa Bay’s six losses were by four points or fewer and it went 3-1 against teams that made the playoffs.

The Buccaneers have yet to play consistently enough to prove that their offense can be counted on every week. Then there’s that whole cold-weather thing, their history of losing all 19 games the franchise has played in game-time temperatures below 40 degrees.

It’s more than a gimmicky statistic. The Buccaneers just lost an overtime game to the Packers when frozen tundra conditions in Green Bay caused a rare Gramatical error. Kicker Martin Gramatica missed an easy field goal that could have beaten the Packers in regulation time.

Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb right now is the best member of the 1999 quarterback class, but he can’t win by himself. The Eagles have no running backs and no receivers, and thus no chance of winning the Super Bowl.

The pick from the NFC is Minnesota, simply because the Vikings have key leaders in Dennis Green and Cris Carter who need to get to the Super Bowl before it’s too late.

Oakland would be an intriguing AFC choice if the Raiders didn’t have to go to Tennessee on the way.

The Miami Dolphins always seem to fade in December and January.

The Titans have the NFL’s top-ranked defense, plus its best coach in Jeff Fisher and are the closest thing to a favorite in these wide-open playoffs.

If the starting quarterback for the best AFC team is black and the starting quarterbacks on four of the six NFC playoff teams are black, there’s a pretty good chance that this could be the first Super Bowl featuring two black quarterbacks.

In the wake of pioneering black quarterback Joe Gilliam’s death this week, it’s good to know his legacy has never been stronger.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

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SIGNALING CHANGE

Five of the NFL’s 12 playoff teams have starting quarterbacks who are African Americans, a sharp reversal of the league’s decades-old reluctance to give blacks the opportunity to display their talents in that leadership role. Story, A1, D10

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TODAY

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS at MIAMI DOLPHINS

9:30 a.m., Channel 7

Coach Jim Mora will try again to get his first NFL playoff victory as the Colts, who enter with a three-game winning streak, face the AFC East champion Dolphins. D11

ST. LOUIS RAMS at NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

1 p.m., Channel 7

The Saints say they are inspired by the Rams’ Super Bowl season of a year ago, believing the same thing can happen to them. However, few other people think it’s possible. D11