AFC NOTES

PITTSBURGH – What would Super Bowl week be without a little quarterback controversy?

The Pats have a dandy one. Should young and injured Tom Brady start or should Drew Bledsoe get the nod after his outstanding performance off the bench in the 24-17 AFC championship win yesterday over the Steelers?

Bledsoe wants to start. So does Brady. But Bledsoe made it perfectly clear that he has starting Sunday against the Rams in New Orleans on his mind. When Bledsoe was asked how difficult it would be to go back to the bench for the Super Bowl he answered: “Obviously, this is the biggest game there is and everybody wants to play in this game. That would be a hard situation.”

As for Brady, who is the picture of the All-American kid, young Tom was asked if it would be bittersweet not to start in the Super Bowl.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll answer that after the game.”

Brady said he was hopeful his sprained left ankle and sore left knee would be feeling better today. If he can’t practice, there will be no controversy, Bledsoe will get the nod.

Bill Belichick, as is his custom, deflected the direct question of would be his starting quarterback Sunday.

“Well, we’ll take a look at Tom’s situation and we’ll make an evaluation there and we’ll talk about that and make the decision later in the week,” Belichick said.

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This will be New England’s third appearance in the Super Bowl, all in New Orleans. The Pats are 0-2, having lost by a combined score, 81-31 to the Bears in Super Bowl XX and the Packers in Supe XXXI.

The Patriots are a 14-point underdog but it’s not like they haven’t been a big underdog before as Belichick noted of yesterday’s game when the Pats were 10-point dogs.

“The spread was like the same for us (against Pittsburgh),” Belichick said. “But we don’t care about that. Our job is to play football.”