He's been a great player for a long time, showing off amazing skills at times, but Colts receiver Marvin Harrison is also something else during games.

He's a baby.

For the past couple of years, I've watched Harrison closely and something I've witnessed is that he mopes around when things aren't going his way. And it shows.

His body language is as bad as any player in the game when he's not getting passes thrown his way. One other thing that's disturbing is that he always sits alone at the end of the Colts bench, far away from his offensive teammates.

Shouldn't he be going over things with Peyton Manning? What about talking it over with fellow receiver Reggie Wayne?

Thing is, Harrison is a loner, and he's not especially close to any of his teammates. That's fine, but it seems to me he gets a free pass when it comes to his on-field actions.

Can you imagine the outcry if Chad Johnson or Terrell Owens or Randy Moss sat alone by themselves all the time during games? Or the cameras that would be focused on their every move, highlighting their bad body language when the ball isn't coming their way?

Not Harrison. He gets a free pass because he's been so great.

Maybe he doesn't mouth off in the media -- heck, he rarely says a thing -- but to me the way he acts on the field says more about him than any words. By the way, Harrison left plays out on the field Sunday, some of which are the kind the truly great ones make in those situations, letting passes go through his hands when he did get chances.

He didn't lead the Colts in catches, but he did lead in time spent mobbing, time spent with his hands on his hips letting us all know that he wasn't a happy receiver.

Parcells a HOFer?

Now that Bill Parcells is retired, here's a question to ponder: Is he a Hall of Fame coach? He has two Super Bowl titles, but so does Tom Flores, and he's not in. He's had success at all of his coaching stops, but he only won a title while with the Giants.

In his three-year stint as coach of the Cowboys, Parcells is 34-32. Jimmy Johnson, he was not.

So is he a Hall of Fame coach? I would say yes. But it is no slam dunk. It will take some lobbying by the New York voting block in the room to get Parcells inducted. It won't help that he was so terse with the media.

In the end he gets in, although his return to the Cowboys will be perceived in some circles as a dash for the cash.

Quick hits

• I used to love Tedy Bruschi as a player. I once wrote that if I had 11 of him on defense, I'd take my chances. But he's done. He can't get to the football anymore and he's a liability in pass coverage. The Patriots have to look at replacing Bruschi in their defense.

• Memo to NFL personnel: If a guy shows speed off the edge as a college pass rusher, take him. Don't worry about the size or the timed speed numbers. Take Chicago rookie Mark Anderson and use him as an example. Anderson showed speed off the edge at Alabama, yet he was knocked down the draft boards last spring and went in the fourth round. Watching him against the Saints, you have to wonder how. He can bring it off the edge. Those guys are valuable. Don't ever forget that -- even if they don't all stand 6-foot-6 and weigh 270 pounds.

Way back in August when I met with Peyton Manning after a preseason game with the St. Louis Rams, I got the impression that the Colts didn't care at all about their regular-season record.

They'd been there and done that. And what had it got them? Nothing but playoff frustration.

Nope, this season was about the playoffs. It wasn't about flirting with perfection. It wasn't about stats and numbers and Peyton's records.

It was about the Super Bowl.

That's why when everyone had this Colts team dead and buried -- you know who you are -- I still thought they could come through the AFC playoffs and get to the Super Bowl.

They're one game away.

Of course, they have to beat their nemesis, the Patriots, to get there.

But that's okay. Don't you get the idea the Colts are fine with that. On one day, in front of the home folks, the Colts and especially Manning can exorcize a lot of demons by beating the Patriots to get to the Super Bowl.

I expect it to happen.

Quick hits

• The Cardinals could be a real factor next season. Hiring Ken Whisenhunt was a great move. With those receivers and Matt Leinart, he will work wonders with that offense. Look for Leinart to make big strides under Whisenhunt. On defense, the Cardinals should keep Clancy Pendergast as coordinator. He has one year left on his deal and really has done a good job with that side of the ball. The Cardinals need a power defensive tackle to play next to Darnell Dockett, and maybe a corner opposite Antrel Rolle.

• Saints running back Reggie Bush has amazing tools. But he has to stop looking for a home run on every play. Once in a while, the situation calls for taking what's there. Late in the first half of the Saints' playoff victory over the Eagles, the Saints were tying to get in position for a field goal. But Bush took a screen pass and instead of picking up 7, 8, 9 yards to the left and darting out of bounds to save the time, he cut it back to the middle for little more than he would have made going left. He needed to be smart there. He's a special player, and once he learns that not every play can be like they were at USC, he will be even better.

• Everyone points to safety Bob Sanders as the reason the Colts are playing better on defense. But there's another big reason. Defensive tackle Anthony McFarland, who was a major disappointment during the regular season, has really stepped it up in the playoffs. He's been a force against the run. "He was a dog during the season," said one AFC scout. The fact he's turned it up says one of two things about McFarland: Either he's a money player or he coasted through the regular season.

• Should Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer have been fired? That's a tough question. How do you fire a coach who went 14-2? That wouldn't have sat too well with the rest of his coaching brethren. But Schottenheimer has not won a playoff game since he had Joe Montana quarterbacking for him with the Chiefs. That's a long time. And we know general manager A.J. Smith doesn't like him -- or want him. But the Spanos family probably realized there wasn't anybody better out there. Schottenheimer has one more year to show that he can be more than just a regular-season wonder.

The Pittsburgh Steelers should get it over with and just hire offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt to replace Bill Cowher as coach.

He's the right guy for the job.

Whisenhunt is not only an innovative, creative and imaginative offensive coach, but he also has a great relationship with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That means something.

It could be a race between Whisenhunt and assistant head coach Russ Grimm to take over for Cowher. Grimm is a good coach, but Whisenhunt is the guy who called the plays. That, too, has to mean something.

The Steelers have also talked to Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera and Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. There will probably be another interview from outside as well.

But if the Steelers were smart, they'd look at their offensive coordinator. He's the right guy for the job. It was his play-calling in the playoffs last year that played a big part in the Steelers winning the Super Bowl.

What kind of hire is Bob Petrino for the Atlanta Falcons?

The man is a bright offensive mind. But he can be tough to deal with from a people standpoint, according to some at Louisville.

When Petrino was an assistant under Tom Coughlin with the Jaguars, he was quiet and didn't say a whole lot since he wasn't allowed to speak. He left the Jaguars to go to Auburn for less money because he had a hard time dealing with Coughlin's rigid rules and endless hours. Petrino wanted to spend more time with his kids.

It will be interesting to see how Petrino handles the Michael Vick situation in Atlanta. It would seem that Petrino will give Vick one season to prove he can be his quarterback. If not, he will make a change. To me, it seems like a mismatched pair. One thing's for certain, Petrino will have to change the way he plays offense. He won't be able to get away with his Louisville style of offense in the NFL.

Quick hits

• Okay, so Tony Romo dropped a snap that could have led to the winning field goal. Get over it, kid. Crying? Are you kidding me? No player should ever cry over a misstep on the football field. To me, that says a lot about Romo as a quarterback. He's way too sensitive.

• If you're looking for a potential trouble spot for the Colts this week when they play the Ravens, it could be right tackle Ryan Diem. He isn't nearly the player the Colts thought he would be when they signed him to a long-term deal a few years back. He isn't awful, but he can be beat by good players on a regular basis. Look for him to potentially have problems with the Ravens' edge rushers.

• Did the Jaguars get a good hire in offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter? As an alum of Arizona State, I felt his time had come in Tempe. But the one thing about Koetter at ASU is that his offense was always high-powered. The Jaguars need that. Koetter will amp up the passing game -- something this team badly needs. But there will be a major transition from college to the NFL. How he makes that transition will be key to the success. The question is who will be his quarterback? Byron Leftwich and coach Jack Del Rio have a fractured relationship that needs repair. Del Rio said he will sit down with Leftwich at the proper time to talk about their situation. He also said it's not a definite that Leftwich is gone, although Leftwich is telling people he thinks he's gone. He has been at the stadium every morning rehabbing his injured ankle. Del Rio did say that Koetter would have input into the quarterback choice.

• So Bill Belichick apologized for pushing that photographer as he went to midfield for his man-hug with Eric Mangini after Sunday's game? Big deal. The fact that he pushed the guy says even more about Belichick. Who the heck does he think he is? All that guy was doing was his job. And Belichick thought he was more important than that. So he shoved the guy. It would have been hysterical to see the guy shove him back. Then what? Would tough-guy Bill have given him a beating? Just treat people like people. Belichick may have three Super Bowl rings, and is arguably one of the five best coaches of all-time, but that doesn't give him the right to act like an idiot.

• Florida's Chris Leak and Ohio State's Troy Smith were nice little college quarterbacks. But I smell Arena League for both of them. For starters, they're both under 6-feet tall. Leak doesn’t have a strong arm and Smith looked lost in the Buckeyes' loss to the Gators Monday night in the BCS Title Game. They'll both get drafted late, but if either one is any more than a clipboard holder for their NFL careers, I will be astounded.

The playoffs get under way this weekend, which means it's time to pick the Super Bowl teams.

Oh, I did that back in August.

Back then, the pick was the Carolina Panthers and the Indianapolis Colts. Oops on Carolina. But, hey, who didn't pick them to win the NFC?

So let's try it again.

In the AFC, I'm sticking with the Colts. Yes, as the third seed. This is a role the Colts will relish, rather than being the favorite and wilting under the pressure.

Here's how the AFC playoffs will go. The Colts will blow out the Chiefs on Saturday and the Patriots will blow out the Jets on Sunday. That means New England goes to San Diego to play the Chargers, where it will upset the top seed. The Colts will then go to Baltimore and beat the Ravens.

In the AFC Championship Game, now played in Indy, the Colts will exorcise a lot of demons by not only beating the Patriots but by getting to the Super Bowl.

In the NFC, I like the New Orleans Saints to make it. Initially, I thought they were a year away. But in a weak NFC, they will find a way.

Here's how I see the NFC going. The Cowboys (vs. the Seahawks) and Giants (vs. the Eagles) will both pull first-week upsets on the road.

That will send the Giants to Chicago to play the Bears and the Seahawks to New Orleans to play the Saints. Both home teams will win, setting up a title game in Chicago between the Saints and the Bears.

Despite cold conditions, Saints coach Sean Payton doesn't back away from his aggressive approach, and his offense will find success down the field against the Bears defense. Rex Grossman, meanwhile, will struggle in the passing game.

So that would leave us with a Saints-Colts Super Bowl. It can't get any better than that in my world, with the two best passing teams in the league playing for a ring.

So who wins?

That will be a tough one to call. So let me worry about that when we get closer to the Super Bowl.

For now, these are my playoff picks.

Anybody seen Carolina?

No love for Mangini

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick can deny all he wants that there is animosity from him and his coaches aimed at Jets coach Eric Mangini. But a few weeks back in the press box at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, it was quite evident.

As some of his coaches ran toward the elevator in the press box following their victory over the Jaguars that day, which clinched the division for New England, one of the coaches lipped a jab at Mangini, whose team had no chance to catch the Patriots based on that victory.

"Stick that one in your ass, Mangini," the unidentified coach said.

For a coach, shortly after a big victory, to say something like that, it's quite clear that many on the New England staff don't like Mangini.

Whether it's resentment because he left to coach in the same division -- why Belichick dislikes him -- or another reason, this is as childish as it gets.

The guy bettered himself. Can't you all be a little happy for him?

Family, sure ... but Cowher break about money, too

Bill Cowher wants to spend more time with his family.

Maybe so, but let's not fool ourselves. His resignation was about money.

Cowher wanted a contract the would have paid him in the same ballpark as the $8 million a year that Mike Holmgren gets from the Seahawks. The Steelers wouldn't go past $6 million.

So he resigned.

Forget all that talk about wanting to move to North Carolina to be his family. Some of that has credence, but so does the money factor.

So what does Cowher do? He'll probably sit out this season and next, work in television and make a million or so a year, and then get back into coaching when his youngest daughter heads off to college.

By then, some team will be willing to give him a $10-million-per-season deal. There's some talk that he will wind up in Miami, but the Dolphins would have to pay him big and also give the Steelers compensation.

The Bucs won a Super Bowl that way when the got Jon Gruden, but in the years since, the franchise has struggled.

You can't give away premium draft picks.

So I look for Cowher to sit for a couple of years.

It's not time to write stories about his legacy because he will be back. But if he never returned, would he be a Hall of Fame coach?

That's a good question. The answer is probably yes, considering the success he has had in this free-agent era of the NFL.

Coaching watch

With all these jobs coming open, two former head coaches who should be getting some consideration are Rams defensive coordinator Jim Haslett and Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.

Haslett was fired in New Orleans after the 2005 season, after a season gone horribly wrong following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He deserves another head coaching chance.

As for Mularkey, he resigned from the Bills last season and landed in Miami. The Dolphins offense struggled some last season, but a lot of that had to do with Nick Saban insisting Mularkey keep the same terminology and system used by previous coordinator Scott Linehan. That's tough to do for a coach who is used to his own system.

The Falcons might want to give Mularkey a look -- if they don't hire Ken Whisenhunt -- because he had success handling Kordell Stewart when he was in Pittsburgh and might be able to actually get something out of Michael Vick in the passing game.

Two other assistants who aren't getting looks but should be are Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith and Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. The Ravens finished as the top-ranked defense, while the Jaguars were second, despite playing most of the season without their leading pass rusher (Reggie Hayward) and middle linebacker (Mike Peterson).

Yet neither man is on any team's interview list. That makes no sense at all.

For Giants fan, talk is expensive

I heard a good Reggie Bush story the other day.

It seems a few weeks back when the Saints were playing at Giants Stadium, a Giants fan got all over Bush, calling him every name in the book. Bush yelled back at him several times, and there seemed to be a special look that came over his face, according to those who were there.

He then went out and lit up the Giants. After one big play, Bush went to the sidelines, posed and glared at the fan. The fan shut up.

Point made. Don't tug on Superman's cape.

You can hear the music from the Wizard of Oz coming loudly from Miami Dolphins facility already.

Ding, Dong, the wicked witch is dead.

Let's face it, there won't be a lot of tears shed inside the organization over the decision by coach Nick Saban to leave the team and go to Alabama. Saban took what was once a comfortable place to work and turned it to spot where everybody walked on eggshells.

He made it miserable for his coaches, the staff, the media, the players -- everybody.

That's the Saban way. That's not to say he isn't a good coach, because he is, but men like him beat down an organization.

He turned sunny South Florida days into dark, dank times.

Harvey Greene, the Dolphins outstanding public relations director, was spade and neutered under Saban, seemingly living in a world of Nick fear. That wasn't fair to Greene or his staff.

Saban's coaching staff, which included two former NFL head coaches, constantly told their friends around the league how miserable they were working for the man. He browbeat them, made them feel inadequate and constantly insisted they stay in the building at all hours -- just for the sake of saying they did so.

Randy Mueller, the team's personnel director, is another who wasn't exactly too thrilled with the way Saban operated. Mueller told many of his friends in the league how tough it was to work for Saban.

The terms lunatic, control freak and some not-so-printable ones were often used by some in the organization.

Saban will be seared for the way he handled this move. He constantly denied he was interested in the job, but then took it. What the heck was he supposed to say? That he was going?

Let's face it, Saban left for the money. He will make a reported $32 million over eight years in guaranteed money. That's a lot of cheese.

Coaches are no different than CEOs of major companies who leave for better packages. This is a package that is too good to pass up, so he went.

End of story.

Saban tried to leverage more money from the Dolphins, but Wayne Huizenga didn't budge, especially since he was only 15-17 in two seasons, so off he goes. He leaves behind two non-playoff years, a roster with age and uncertainty and an owner now in search of a head coach.

But for many inside the Dolphins building, none of that matters. The most important thing is that Saban is gone, his iron-fist ways, indicative of the control-freak coaches in the NFL, going with him.

Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead.

Can you hear the music?

Now that Dennis Green is out in Arizona, who will be in?

Don't expect to see Pete Carroll. Word out of Arizona is that Carroll would want too much money -- and too much control. The Cardinals are not willing to give him total control of the football operations.

So there's a chance that one of Carroll's former assistants can get into the mix. That would be Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow.

Chow left USC two years ago to go the NFL, and he's done a nice job with Vince Young this season.

Matt Leinart, the quarterback in Arizona, is said to be pushing for Chow to get the job since the two have a good relationship from their days together at USC. Chow would be a perfect choice for a team loaded with offensive firepower.

Quick hits

• In or out? That's what we want from Brett Favre. Either you play, or you don't. Let's not let this thing drag on and on and on, just so a certain four-letter network can milk miles out of your retirement talk. The Packers are a team on the rise, and Favre could be on a playoff team next season. He should come back. He can still play at a high level, even it if isn't what it once was. Being down a notch, he's still better than a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL.

• Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer could be in trouble. The Cowboys struggled in a big way down the stretch on defense. And the talk is Bill Parcells would love an excuse to make Todd Bowles the team's defensive coordinator.

• Don't you wonder how in the heck Chad Pennington completes passes sometimes? His ball hangs in the air for a week and a day. The Jets do a heck of a job scheming to get their receivers open so he doesn't have to throw into tight windows.

• Two weeks ago, when the Saints beat the Giants in New York, word has it a fan was all over Reggie Bush during the game, calling him every nasty name in the book. Bush yelled back at him a couple of times, and it seemed to stoke him. He had his best game and after one big play came back to the sideline and just glared at the fan. Message: Don't mess with me.

• One coach who isn't getting enough credit for the coaching job he's doing is Saints defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs. He's taken a unit that isn't overly talented -- especially at corner and linebacker -- and done a nice job with them. The Saints will look to upgrade their corners and linebackers in the offseason. They would also like to find a power tackle inside.

• Ohio State may be playing Florida for the national title, but there is no doubt USC is the best team in college football. If they played a round-robin tournament between those three teams, each playing the other for 10 games, the Trojans would win seven games against each of them. USC is flat-out loaded with NFL players.