Columnist Sal DeFilippo: All-state Super Bowl a foreign concept to Pennsylvanians

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 9:49 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4076.

Conference championship failures are fairly common in Pennsylvania, but this year, there's twice the chance for heartache in the Keystone State.

The road to the Super Bowl in Jacksonville goes through Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on Sunday. But if history is any indication, it could be a bumpy ride for the home teams.

The Eagles have lost the past three NFC title games, including two in a row at home. The Steelers are 1-3 in AFC championship attempts under Bill Cowher, all played in Pittsburgh, with a four-point win against the Colts nine years ago as the team's only conference title since the Steel Curtain heyday of the 1970s. Pittsburgh lost to Dallas in the Super Bowl.

The Steelers' last Super Bowl bid ended with a 24-17 loss in the AFC championship three years ago at Heinz Field to ... the New England Patriots, the same team they'll face on Sunday. The Patriots went on to shock the Rams 20-17 to win their first Lombardi Trophy.

At least Pittsburgh's conference title futility has been spread out over more than a decade. The Eagles will have to beat Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons to avoid back-to-back-to-back-to-back defeats in the conference championship.

Last season, the Carolina Panthers knocked off the Eagles 14-3 in Philadelphia, despite only 101 passing yards from quarterback Jake Delhomme. Of course, that was one yard more than Donovan McNabb managed, as he was picked off three times by Ricky Manning Jr. That defeat was preceded by losses to Tampa Bay and St. Louis.

The irony is that while the whole football world is focused on one state, people within the state won't be.

My wife is from western Pennsylvania, and I've made frequent family visits to the Pittsburgh area. The Steelers are the only thing that matters, and the Eagles are as foreign as the Barcelona Dragons. I have friends from the Philadelphia area who echo similar sentiments -- only one team matters.

Simply put, because they are separated by more than 300 miles, Pittsburghers don't consider Philadelphia in the same state, and vice versa. The cities are conferences and worlds apart.

So if it is an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl, that's sure to be all the talk -- except in Pennsylvania.

This week's picks: A 2-2 weekend against the spread in the divisional round puts the playoff mark at 6-2. This weekend, I'm backing the two favorites, Philadelphia minus-5 1/2 and New England minus-3, to make it to Super Bowl XXXIX.