Afc Championship

Steelers (13-5) @Broncos (14-3) Time, TV -- 3 p.m., chs. 13, 9 Line -- Broncos by 3 Steelers offense vs. Broncos defense -- Unlike last Sunday, the Steelers likely will try to pound the ball against a Denver defense that allowed three 100-yard rushers all season. The reason is Pittsburgh's familiarity with the Broncos' front four, which was transplanted from the Cleveland Browns. Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has to be careful against a Denver secondary that had 20 interceptions in the regular season.

Will remain among elite Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times Tom Brady's decision to do a bargain-basement extension with the Patriots is remarkable in a business where getting as much as you can is everyone's endgame. But his three-year, $27 million deal figures to pay off for New England in a big way, giving the Patriots a truckload of salary-cap relief that will allow them to remain among the NFL's elite. As long as Brady stays healthy, it's entirely conceivable that he could lead the club to two more Super Bowl s. The rest of the AFC East is in flux, and although there are other threats in the conference the Patriots have the roster and coaching continuity to be knocking on the door every season.

Brett Keisel's beard has a beard. The Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end looks like a giant Rip Van Winkle, his face and neck obscured by a prodigious beard that reaches the top of his chest. He hasn't shaved since June, and last week said he didn't plan to do so until the Steelers were eliminated. "I'm going to ride this out until the end," he said. "It's holding up well. It's really blossomed into something beautiful. " Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder -- or, sometimes in this case, the holder . "The worst thing is that I'll have [an offensive player]

Record-setting Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps is scheduled to visit the Orioles' spring-training facility before Thursday's 1 p.m. intrasquad game at Ed Smith Stadium. Phelps is in town with renowned golf coach Hank Haney promoting their new show on The Golf Channel titled "The Haney Project. " The show focuses around Haney teaching the 22-time medalist the game of golf.   Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, followed the Ravens during their run to the Super Bowl.

The inactives list for Sunday's AFC championship game is out, and there were no shocking developments from the Ravens. Free safety Ed Reed, the team's lone injury concern, is active and expected to make his customary start. Reed had been listed as probable with a sore left ankle after upgrading from limited to full participation for Friday's practice. The Ravens deactivated linebackers Sergio Kindle and Josh Bynes, nose tackle Brandon McKinney, rookie cornerback Chykie Brown, rookie running back Anthony Allen, rookie wide receiver Tandon Doss and rookie guard Justin Boren.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is planning to donate to the homeless her winnings from the Ravens AFC championship game victory against New England. On Tuesday, the mayor is slated to deliver food to the Cottage Avenue Community. The food was sent by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino after losing a bet with Rawlings-Blake over the outcome of the game between the Ravens and the Patriots.  The Boston mayor sent to City Hall a package filled with goods from Boston's public markets. The winnings included cannoli, ravioli, various packaged goods and an assortment of seafood, including mussels, scallops, oysters and four live lobsters.

AFC championship recap: Ravens fall to Patriots

To a man, the Ravens said that they didn't care who their opponent would be Sunday in the AFC championship game. Perhaps, they were too exhausted and emotionally drained from having played a four-hour, 16-minute game to give it much thought. Perhaps, they simply couldn't decide, knowing that they would have a score to settle either way. Maybe they were riding with so much momentum and confidence, following one of the best victories that any of them had ever experienced, that it just didn't matter.

The NFL is not currently investigating the apparent scoreboard discrepancy at Gillette Stadium that caused confusion on the Ravens' sideline in the final seconds of their 23-20 loss to the Patriots in the AFC championship game. A source close to the situation said Tuesday night that the league has not received a complaint from the Ravens, and that its on-site football operations crew did not notice anything that would warrant follow-up. Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff appeared to rush onto the field before missing a 32-yarder that would have tied the game.

1.  Joe Flacco might not be playing in the Super Bowl this year, but he'll get to one eventually. And he'll do it wearing a Ravens uniform. After watching him play four years of football, and seeing him both at his best, and at his worst, I feel totally comfortable saying that. He may not be the perfect quarterback, but he's your quarterback, Baltimore. I've been saying this for at least half the season, and it's worth bringing up one last time as we bring this year to a close.

It appears that Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs won't have to spend a second consecutive offseason recovering from surgery. After getting a second opinion on his torn right biceps, Suggs is planning on rehabbing the injury rather than having it surgically repaired, according to sources familiar with the situation. Suggs tore the biceps late in the Ravens' Dec. 2 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He sat out the following week's game against the Washington Redskins and was also rested in the team's regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, a game that carried no meaning for the Ravens.

Inside linebacker Ray Lewis ran through the gamut of emotions after the Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday night, but former teammate Trevor Pryce thought he displayed one major emotion during the game. Nervousness. The former NFL defensive end, who played for the Ravens from 2006 to 2010, said in a Monday appearance on “The Jim Rome Show” that it looked like Lewis had the “yips” and was just hoping to get the game over with. “He had it bad. He didn't look like himself, even his new self.

Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport officials are discouraging Ravens fans planning to greet the Super Bowl winners as they arrive at the airport Monday. Ravens officials say the team is expected to return from New Orleans Monday afternoon after beating the San Francisco 49s in 34-31 Sunday. An airport spokesman said the team does not enter the airport through the public passenger terminal. BWI also discouraged Ravens fans from congregating when the team returned from Foxborough, Mass., after beating the New England Patriots in the AFC championship in January.

If you look to the Super Bowl for a team's Q-rating, the marketing metric used to measure the popularity and appeal of a person or thing, the Ravens -- at least unofficially -- came off as the more likeable team after Baltimore's 34-31 win yesterday. And that certainly hasn't been the case in recent years. Anecdotal evidence from media reports and social media sites indicates John Harbaugh was seen as more poised, affable and telegenic than his brother, San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, throughout Super Bowl XLVII.

In this game-day staple, blogger Matt Vensel makes four sometimes-courageous predictions for the game. All he asks is that you don't hold it against him whenever those predictions end up being embarrassingly wrong. In a matter of hours, the Ravens will run onto the field together before they take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. It's fitting that they chose to be announced as a team, because their biggest strength this season has been their unity.

NEW ORLEANS -- The older brother will beat the younger brother again. Super Bowl XLVII will be nothing more than a repeat, at least victory wise, of the 2011 Thanksgiving Day game between the two teams when John Harbaugh's Ravens beat Jim Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers, 16-6. If you look down the rosters and compare personnel, the 49ers have better players and are more balanced. But the Ravens are riding emotion and after two years of failing in the postseason, their playmakers are making plays.

For the fans, Sunday's AFC title game between the Ravens and New England Patriots is just another step to the Super Bowl. But those who have played in a conference championship for Baltimore say that, psychologically, the game means much, much more. "You've reached a point where you're right at the epitome of what you want — the Super Bowl," Tom Matte said. "Lose the conference title and your season ends abruptly. You're dead in the water. You go home. "That's why this week's is the ultimate game, the most important one of the season, the game that requires more mental preparation than even the Super Bowl.

They have played together for so long that certain things become expected. So even after a regular season in which Ed Reed had just one interception in his final 15 games, Ray Lewis felt it coming, simply because he's seen it so many times before. As the Houston Texans drove into Ravens' territory in the final two minutes looking for a game-tying touchdown, Lewis got the attention of his long-time teammate and made one request. "I told Ed before the play -- he'll tell you that I was joking -- I said, 'After you catch this interception, don't you pitch it,'" Lewis said.

The last time Courtney Upshaw played at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, he showered in confetti after the game, hoisted a crystal ball and was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player of the BCS national championship game. A penchant for making big plays in the biggest of games at the University of Alabama got him selected by the Ravens in the second round of the NFL draft, though general manager Ozzie Newsome's affinity for his alma mater probably didn't hurt. Now, just over a year since winning a national title with the Crimson Tide, Upshaw's second in four years in Tuscaloosa, the Ravens rookie linebacker has returned to New Orleans, the site of Sunday night's Super Bowl.

Edward Reed was a mess. Jeanne Hall - the woman the Ravens safety calls a second mother - can't find any other way to put it when she thinks back to the classes he missed and the assignments he disregarded as a freshman at Destrehan High. But he was such a charming, clever mess - a kid who wrote romantic poems at the same time he played football like no one the school had ever seen. "You're either going to be a comedian or a preacher," she used to say on the many nights he stayed at her home, trying to get his world in order.