From the city ... the city of Charlotte

Recently, it was lamented here that we had not seen any of the Charlotte Observer's playoff pages. That problem? Remedied, courtesy of Nimish Amin, who passes along the paper's NFC Championship preview stuff, including the above cover featuring Steve Smith and the clever "Find the AFC Quarterback" page. Additional credit goes to ASE/Design Mary Ann Lawrence, ASE Jena Janovy and the sports and photo departments.

(Closer look at the QB graphic here.)

... This is a side note, but it needs said. Maybe it's a section theme next year. Fact: If you are an NFL football team, and you build your game plan around a receiver, you are NOT going to win a championship.  Of the three "skill positions" on offense, none is more volatile than receiver. On a great day, a receiver will have between 9-12 catches, optimistically. ... Contrast that with a workhorse running back, who'll get 20, 25, even 30 carries, or a star quarterback throwing 40 times a game. ... A receiver gets 10 touches -- 10 chances to break the game open -- out of, say 70 offensive plays. Those 60 other plays? The runs and No. 2 receiver plays the wideout sets up? They depend on success on those 10 catches! A good defense can overcome a star wideout better than it can a star QB or RB. ... Quick. Name a Super Bowl champion that was built offensively around a wide receiver. (For full text of this rant, e-mail me or meet me at Karsen's Bar in Scottsdale at 9 tonight.)

In other news

Detroit Free Press editorial cartoonist (and Copley syndicated) Mike Thompson is doing a week-long series on the game. Courtesy E&P ... And New York Times ME John Geddes talks in-depth about how space is allocated at the place that first deems news fit to print and then prints all the aforementioned news. Courtesy NYT.