On the NFL: Playoffs have party crashers

The Atlanta Falcons were celebrating their unexpected playoff berth at the Metrodome four days before Christmas.

Receiver Roddy White was jumping up and down, yelling, "We're in the playoffs! We're in the playoffs!" Other giddy players were doing their best Jim Mora imitations, screeching "Playoffs? Playoffs?! and laughing as each attempt came at a higher pitch than the one before.

Running back Michael Turner was in the middle of it all. The first-year Falcon was happy but not surprised that his new team had turned around last year's disastrous 4-12 season.

"I can't predict what will happen in the NFL," he said. "Nobody can."

With that in mind, welcome to the start of another wild postseason. Seven of the 12 participants missed last year's playoffs, including five of the six NFC teams. Six of the eight division champions are different from last season, including all four in the NFC. Sitting at home are last year's two No. 1 seeds (New England and Dallas).

"If you look around at the league, why shouldn't we belong in the playoffs?" Falcons guard Justin Blalock said. "We've worked as hard as anybody to turn this thing around."

In a league that doesn't tolerate patience, four from this year's playoff field were losing teams just a year ago. Besides Atlanta, Carolina was 7-9, Baltimore 5-11 and, yes, Miami was 1-15. The Dolphins, Falcons and Ravens made the one-year turnarounds with rookie head coaches.

For further evidence of the league's unpredictability, look no further than the quarterbacks and their paths to the postseason.

Of the 12 still playing:

• Two are rookies (Atlanta's Matt Ryan and Baltimore's Joe Flacco).

• Two are old-timers (Arizona's Kurt Warner and Tennessee's Kerry Collins) who were thought to be finishing their careers as backups.

• Two were benched during the season (Minnesota's Tarvaris Jackson and Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb).

• One was released by the Jets in favor of Brett Favre in August (Miami's Chad Pennington).

• One had Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow a year ago (Carolina's Jake Delhomme).

• One missed all of training camp and the preseason because of knee surgery (Indianapolis' Peyton Manning).

• One had the best stats in the league but missed the Pro Bowl on an 8-8 team (San Diego's Philip Rivers).

• One was sacked 46 times and suffered a concussion in the season finale (Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger).

• And one is the Giants' Eli Manning, who might be the most stable of the bunch, which is a 180-degree turn from where his career was heading into last year's playoffs.

Scouts Inc. ranked the 12 quarterbacks for ESPN.com. It was no surprise that T-Jack finished last.

Four of the quarterbacks (Roethlisberger, Warner and the Manning brothers) have won a Super Bowl. Three others (McNabb, Collins and Delhomme) have reached the Super Bowl. And one has played in a conference championship game (Rivers).

That leaves only Pennington, Jackson, Ryan and Flacco. Pennington has played in five playoff games, going 2-3. The other three are making their playoff debuts. And while Flacco and Ryan are rookies, both went 11-5, while Jackson had a losing record in five starts, going 0-2 at the beginning of the season and 2-1 at the end.

That's one reason Vikings fans are pouting as they head into their first home playoff game since 2000. But cheer up, people. Despite the fact the NFL is impossible to predict, we'll guesstimate a Vikings upset regardless of Sunday's attendance.