AFC Playoffs Q&A: Rested, or rusty?

— -- We knew the AFC postseason race was going to be wide open. We just didn't think it would be this wide open. The Indianapolis Colts opened the wild-card weekend with a miraculous win over the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that led the Colts by 28 points in the third quarter. The San Diego Chargers went into Cincinnati -- where the Bengals hadn't lost all season -- and won by 17 points. On top of all that, Colts wide receiver  T.Y. Hilton morphed into Jerry Rice and the Chargers' defense continued to make us wonder why it looked so inept earlier this season.

Keenan Allen, who's become a go-to target. For all the love Manning and Brady have received in the MVP conversation, Rivers deserves some votes of his own.

10. Who is going to the AFC Championship Game? So much for that Bengals-Broncos prediction last week. Denver still looks like a safe bet, even with the Chargers knowing them as well as they do. The same holds true for New England. As well as Luck played in the second half of that win over Kansas City, he will find it for more difficult to make those same plays against the Patriots. The Chiefs made some mistakes that you simply won't see a Bill Belichick-coached team make at this time of year.

So it will be Manning versus Brady once again, with the Super Bowl hanging in the balance.

Something tells me nobody will be disappointed with that arrangement.