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As the AFC Championship Game wears on, you may want to remember this moment.

With 5:09 to play in the second quarter, Ben Roethlisberger hit Nate Washington on third down. The play got the Steelers a first down, but there was some question whether Washington caught the ball. He appeared to bobble it as he went to the ground.

Unfortunately for Harbaugh and the Ravens, the call stood after a challenge.

Our brave soldiers overseas give up a lot in order to defend our great country. One of the more minor sacrifices is the ability to drink beer. Troops in combat zones are strictly prohibited from consuming, possessing, or selling alcoholic beverages.

For at least one day, however, that prohibition is going away.

In the grand scheme of things, this is undoubtedly a minor thing. However, it also promises to be a bit of a morale boost for those working so hard on our behalf.

Our brave soldiers overseas give up a lot in order to defend our great country. One of the more minor sacrifices is the ability to drink beer. Troops in combat zones are strictly prohibited from consuming, possessing, or selling alcoholic beverages.

For at least one day, however, that prohibition is going away.

In the grand scheme of things, this is undoubtedly a minor thing. However, it also promises to be a bit of a morale boost for those working so hard on our behalf.

Stay on top of all the postseason action with FanHouse's NFL playoff coverage.

You may recall that the Panthers have played the Cardinals once already this year. They won. Naturally, the Cardinals did not. But expecting history to repeat itself seems a touch premature (even if it happens all the time anyway) even though it appears that's what people think -- almost everyone is on the Catwagon. Normally, that would be disturbing for Panthers fans; it seems like whenever a bandwagon gets too full it always manages to topple over.

Stay on top of all the postseason action with FanHouse's NFL playoff coverage.

During the regular season, Miami quarterback Chad Pennington threw just seven interceptions, one of the lowest totals in the NFL among starting quarterbacks. On Sunday, during the Dolphins 27-9 Wild Card loss to Baltimore, Pennington was guilty of four interceptions while Miami turned the ball over five times against a swarming Ravens defense. Miami finished the day a -4 in the turnover department, after finishing the season with a league-best +17 margin in terms of turnover differential.

That's not going to get it done.

Well, today's playoff performance should temper all the "Chad Pennington should've won the MVP award" talk. I thought he deserved to be in the conversation, but it's hard to argue against Peyton Manning landing the honor; the Colts won their final nine games of the regular season, and unlike Pennington, Manning the Elder had no running game to fall back on.

Via ESPN.com's Tim Graham, Pennington wasn't just bad against the Ravens, he was as dreadful as he's ever been during his nine-year NFL career. And given that he was benched for Kellen Clemens last season, that's saying a whole lot.

The gory details:

Norv Turner might not be the flashiest or the smartest or, hell, the best-looking coach in the league. But the guy knows how to finish games. At least since coming to San Diego, anyway.

Hired prior to the 2007 season to replace general manager A.J. Smith's nemesis, Marty Schottenheimer (who was coming off a 14-2 '06 effort), Turner and the Chargers stumbled to a 1-3 record last year, and weren't much better this time around.

And it's not an exaggeration to suggest that FanHouse was pretty hard on Norval Eugene. Okay, really hard on him. Luckily, he doesn't know now to operate an Al Gore Machine so he had no idea. (From a recent San Diego Union-Tribune Q & A: Are you familiar with the Web sites nomorenorv.com and firenorv.net? Norv: "I know they're there, but I haven't had my kids teach me how to log on to them." Classic.) But we know and, frankly, we feel very guilty about it. Hence this post.

Also, as Brinson pointed out previously, Norv's 9-0 in December since coming to San Diego. And now he's 3-1 in the postseason, too. The guy he replaced? Bupkis in five years with the Chargers, and his last playoff win came in 1993 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Stay on top of all the postseason action with FanHouse's NFL playoff coverage.

There's going to be puh-lenty of analysis about Saturday night's game between the Colts and Chargers. Most of it will center around two things: Darren Sproles and the eliminated league MVP, Peyton Manning. Sproles, of course, was beyond magnificent, piling up an absolutely insane 328 total yards (receiving + rushing + returning) as LaDanian Tomlinson was forced to the sidelines after the first quarter with a torn groin muscle (no one, by the by, should begrudge him this).

Philip Rivers was not all that spectacular, but neither was Manning; in fact, it was a game that really focused on some impressive defense and some odd choices re: coaches' challenges. Tony Dungy really had no business trying to get Reggie Wayne's catch back and, as a result, he couldn't try and flip Chris Chambers' probably-not-a-grab a few plays later.

Additionally, there was a whole bunch of bizarre business regarding a phantom "restored timeout" with 16 seconds left in regulation after Nate Kaeding finally didn't shank an important postseason kick.

But back to Sproles -- the kid was awesome from the start, and it was easily apparent at halftime that he deserves more credit for being an all-around back rather than just a kick returner. That type of flash continued throughout the second half -- one shoddy fumble near the goal line with the Chargers trailing aside -- and rolled right into overtime, when, following two crucial penalties by the Colts, Sproles ripped off a large touchdown run that quashed the Colts Super Bowl hopes and locked him in for some serious money later on.

Whether you're the Steelers or the Titans, you have to breathe a little easier seeing Indianapolis knocked out in the first round of the playoffs -- like the Patriots when they have Tom Brady, the Colts with Peyton Manning are just a team you'd rather not face in the playoffs.

But as Tennessee and Pittsburgh wait to find out who they'll face in their first playoff games, doesn't it feel like the Titans are getting screwed by how the seedings have set up this year?

If you're ranking the remaining playoff teams in order of who you wouldn't want to face, it's the sixth-seeded Ravens who are the team to most avoid. They've got a great defense, a pretty good offense, and even if you beat them, you know you're going to be battered and bruised and likely without a key player or two the next week.

The Colts - Chargers game tonight has been scintillating, to say the least. Sure, there have been weird/awkward moments that involved challenges and more potentially damaging to the reputation referee behavior. But on the whole, just a great game between two Pro Bowl high-caliber quarterbacks.

Then, with about 20 seconds to go, something weird happened. Jyles Tucker was injured and stayed on the ground for a few minutes as the Colts were preparing to hike a second-and-four ball from deep in their own territory. The Chargers, because of Tucker's injury, were forced to take a timeout. One problem: they didn't have any left.

So, the ruling on the field became: "San Diego has been charged their fourth team timeout" and as a result, the Colts had a timeout restored. Yes, restored. As in, like, something out of Family Feud or Guitar Hero III. (/elderly nerd)

Perhaps that's already in the NFL rulebook; I wouldn't put it past the league to already have that in place (or at least written in by midnight on Sunday). But at the same time, how are we supposed to actually believe -- based on the job officials have done this year -- that anyone isn't just making this up as we go along?