Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

This is it, the last roundup for the venerable, if routinely inaccurate, Picks of the Weak.

Unlike the NFL coaches in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Louis and Oakland, we survived.

Meanwhile, is that interminable Alabama-LSU BCS championship game over yet?

Congratulations, Crimson Tide fans but, my gosh, there are drywall repair instructional videos more compelling than that game was.

Give the Tide credit, but you know things aren’t going well when the BCS honchos huddle one day after the championship game to make changes to the format.

That’s what a double digit drop in the TV ratings will do for you.

But, thanks to a Steelers secondary that still hasn’t found the ball, Tebowmania is alive and well as the Broncos invade New England today in the AFC divisional playoffs.

TV ratings were no problem for the AFC wild card game Sunday. Tebow pulled in over 43 million viewers with his improbable 316-yard passing performance against Pittsburgh.

It might be tougher for Timmy this week. New England squeezed past the Broncos by three TDs a few weeks ago.

The AFC playoff games look like clunkers (Houston over Baltimore, anyone?), but both of the NFC games are must-sees.

We’ll get to the picks in a moment, but first, for the last time, it’s the Mighty News-Gazette Divine Nine:

No. 1: Roll Tide. No. 1A: The Tide Defense (Was that the 2000 Ravens?) No. 2. The Pack. No. 3. Tim Tebow’s Fire (Yes, John Parr remade his movie soundtrack epic, “St. Elmo’s Fire,” to honor Denver’s favorite quarterback. Ear plugs are optional.). No. 4: The Saints. No. 5: The Niners. No. 6: The Pats. No. 7: The Ravens. No. 8: Ken “Young” Jackson, who probably will win our picks competition again. (He’s already arranging for the skywriter). No. 9: Mike Mularkey (The Jags new coach. This should make up for overlooking Tebow, right?).

To the picks:

New Orleans (-3.5) at San Francisco: I’m reluctantly going with the Saints for reasons that will be explained below. New Orleans has super slinger Drew Brees, which normally is enough, especially when Alex Smith is the other QB, but the Niners play great defense and  punter Andy Lee keeps opponents pinned inside the 10. Don’t expect  offensive fireworks. Aints by an iffy 2.

Denver at New England (-13.5): Their first meeting last month was fun for a half, then the Pats went to work. Tebow was epic last week, but if he does it again, “Tim Tebow’s Fire” will top the pop charts. Can we really handle that and the start of the new American Idol season in the same week? Pats by 14.

Houston at Baltimore (-7.5): The Cloak of Anonymity Game of the Week. Along with the Niners, these are the best defenses left in the playoffs, but does anyone care? Well, the Patriots will, next week. Black Birds by 6.

N.Y. Giants at Packers (-8.5): G-men look poised for a wild card playoff run like they had in 2007, except this time they run into Aaron Rodgers and an emotional Packers team that will play hard for offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, who lost his son in a drowning accident Sunday. Packmen by 10.

The rest of the playoff journey: The only way to catch Young Jackson, who holds a three-pick lead, is to go way out on the limb, so: Ravens over Pats by 4; Saints over Pack by 1. Super Bowl XLVI: Aints 30, Ravens 17.

Brian “Big Man” McBride’s Super Sniffer Upset Special: Niners by 3.

Young Jackson, blogging at phoulballs.com, says: Gotta go with all the favorites this week, although I think San Fran will give the Saints fits. I had New England over Green Bay at the start of the year, and while I think it’ll be the other way around, I’ll stick with it.

Last week: Phenomenal Phillie (4-1, 122-54) held off Sullen Senior (4-1, 119-57).