NFL’s postseason teams eager to play

The look of excitement and the eagerness in his voice gave Tom Coughlin away. It’s playoff time, and he loves it that his New York Giants are back in contention after missing out the last two years.

Just as spirited are Denver cornerback Champ Bailey and Pittsburgh nose tackle Casey Hampton.

Their teams start down the path to Indianapolis on Sunday when the Giants host the Falcons, and the Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers. The playoffs begin today with Cincinnati at Houston and Detroit at New Orleans.

“The energy and the excitement are even stronger than yesterday and that’s the way I think it works. I think it goes along,” Coughlin said.

When told he looked particularly animated this week, Coughlin threw up his hands and replied with a smile: “How can you say that?”

The NFC East champions went 9-7, one game worse than visiting Atlanta’s record as a wild card out of the NFC South. Denver was a mere 8-8 in the AFC West, but that was good enough to win the division in a tiebreaker over Oakland and San Diego.

Watching at home this weekend are the top seeds, defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay in the NFC, and New England in the AFC. Also on byes this weekend are No. 2 seeds San Francisco in the NFC and Baltimore in the AFC.

All-Pro team named

Lions receiver Calvin Johnson and Vikings defensive end Jared Allen were the leading vote-getters for the Associated Press 2011 NFL All-Pro Team, each falling one vote short of being unanimous choices.

Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback for the first time, easily beating New Orleans’ Drew Brees, 471/2 to 21/2. Rodgers led Green Bay to a league-best 15-1 record.

Johnson and Allen each received 49 votes Friday from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. It’s the fourth All-Pro team for Allen, who led the league with 22 sacks, one-half short of the record. Johnson makes it for the first time after hauling in 96 catches for a 17.5-yard average and scoring 16 touchdowns.

In the All-Pro backfield joining Rodgers, whose quarterback rating of 122.5 broke Peyton Manning’s single-season mark, were Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville, LeSean McCoy of Philadelphia, and fullback Vonta Leach of Baltimore.

Record-setter Rob Gronkowski of New England was the tight end.

The 49ers led the All-Pro team with five players. Baltimore was next with three players.

The lone Seattle Seahawk chosen was safety Earl Thomas. He was a second-team pick.

Steelers coach burned

Steelers running backs coach Kirby Wilson was hospitalized on Friday after being severely burned during an early morning fire at his home in a Pittsburgh suburb.

Authorities say the fire broke out around 3 a.m. in the kitchen of Wilson’s home in Seven Fields, about 30 minutes north of the city.

The 50-year-old Wilson, in his fifth season with the Steelers, was taken to a hospital before being airlifted to UPMC Mercy Hospital for treatment. His condition was not immediately available. The cause of the fire has not been determined and remains under investigation.

Bears promote Tice

The Chicago Bears promoted offensive line coach Mike Tice to offensive coordinator Friday, replacing the departed Mike Martz.

The move came less than a week after the Bears completed a disappointing 8-8 season. They parted with Martz, who had an expiring contract, on the same day general manager Jerry Angelo was fired.

Tice is a former Seahawks tight end and Minnesota Vikings head coach.

Tomlinson may retire

Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who’s set to become a free agent, told a San Diego radio station that he’s thinking about calling it a career after 11 seasons.

Tomlinson, who will be 33 in June, said on the broadcast that he thinks he still can play. But he maintained it has to be the right situation, a team with which he could win a Super Bowl title to cap his career.

Tomlinson ranks fifth on the NFL’s all-time rushing list with 13,684 yards.

Raiders hire McKenzie

The Oakland Raiders have landed their new personnel man, who faces the daunting task of helping fill the void left by late owner Al Davis.

The Raiders said they have reached an agreement with Green Bay Packers director of football operations Reggie McKenzie to become their new general manager. They scheduled a news conference for Tuesday to introduce McKenzie, who will fulfill many of the duties handled by iconic owner Davis until his Oct. 8 death at age 82.

Monitors for injuries

The NFL will begin using video monitors on each team’s sideline this weekend to help treat injuries.

In a memo sent to the 32 teams and obtained by the Associated Press, the league said the monitors would be used to “allow the medical staff to review the network video of any play during which a player was injured.”