DENVER -- Jay Leno is calling, which is not surprising.

Why wouldn't he want a Pro Bowl wide receiver on a Super Bowl team, with good looks plus his own brands of mustard, horseradish and cereal?

Forget Steve Young and Sharon Stone. If Leno only knew that every night is the Tonight Show at the home of Lisa and Ed McCaffrey.

	Ed McCaffrey doesn't mind yielding the spotlight to his wife Lisa.

"Are you sure you don't want (John) Elway?" Lisa McCaffrey chirped into the phone after getting the news a few days ago.

When it comes to one-liners, Lisa might have a chin up on Leno.

Said straight-man Ed: "She'd probably do a much better job than me."

Nine years after meeting in college and riding the NFL's roller-coaster, Lisa and Ed are fast becoming one of Denver's favorite couples.

They threw the switch at the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Larimer Square in November, an honor usually reserved for the mayor. While Ed practices with the Broncos this week in Miami for Super Bowl XXXIII, Lisa will be doing live radio reports for KOA-AM.

Why are they so popular?

For starters, Ed is on the receiving end of Elway's passes. For those who haven't noticed, he's done a pretty good job of catching them.

"He also seems like the All-American boy," KCNC-Channel 4 sports anchor Les Shapiro said. "(Like Elway) he went to Stanford and is now with a Super Bowl champion."

Lisa, meanwhile, is simply a hoot.

"I don't think Ed would mind if I said she has the personality in the family," Shapiro said. "She has enough personality not just for the two of them but probably for a family of 17."

Out of the spotlight and in their Parker home, the McCaffreys seem the normal family. With two kids and a third on the way (April Fools' Day, not surprisingly, is Lisa's due date), there are toys on the floor, half-empty cereal bowls on the table and laundry awaiting. With a rare day off before heading to Miami, their priority is getting their two boys to gymnastics lessons on time.

As usual, they are obliging for a 30-minute photo shoot. Lisa keeps the stress to a minimum with her brilliant, albeit sometimes self-deprecating, humor.

"Get me in the kitchen where I normally am," Lisa quips to the photographer.

There are jokes about her size, his hair, her cooking and the possibility of another "Ed the slow, white guy" story.

How did you meet in college? "He stalked me."

Does Ed watch the soaps? "He's more of a Walker (Texas Ranger) kind of guy."

Of a possible contract extension for Ed: "Good, then we'll be able to hire a maid."

Told the family resemblance is visible in 2-year-old Christian despite his blond hair and blue eyes, Lisa says: "See, Ed, I swore he was yours."

Ed just sits back and rolls with the punches, occasionally getting in one of his own.

"Unlike you guys, who are hearing the jokes for the first time, I've heard them 8,000 times," he said. "I can kind of tell when they're coming."

He certainly never saw all the fame and attention.

By now, McCaffrey's story has been well documented, from Sports Illustrated to the Los Angeles Times: Kodak All-American at Stanford is drafted in third round by New York Giants in 1991. A year later, he leads the team in receiving, only to be unceremoniously dumped at the start of training camp by Dan Reeves in 1994.

He quickly is signed by San Francisco, lives six weeks with wife and newborn in Holiday Inn and finishes season with a Super Bowl ring.

When Mike Shanahan left the 49ers for Denver, McCaffrey followed, moving from Jerry Rice's backup to Pro Bowl receiver in three seasons.

"Ed is still the basic laid-back guy," said his mother-in-law, Betty Sime. "He seems to take all the fame and fortune in stride and keep his perspective. I hope and pray they both can do that."

Sometimes, they even dress as a team.

Last Thanksgiving, Lisa had the entire family -- Ed included -- dress as pilgrims for dinner at the home of neighbor Claude Lemieux, who plays for the Colorado Avalanche. Her reasoning: Thanksgiving is too boring; all you do is eat.

"She wanted to make it a little more exciting," said Sime, who mail-ordered the costumes and wore one herself.

Ed could only go along with the silliness.

"That's the price you pay for being married," he said at the time.

In college, Lisa organized the Ed McCaffrey fan club, getting a few friends and roommates to follow him around campus.

"They embarrassed him to death," Sime recalled.

Today, Lisa remains one of his biggest fans. When she filled in as a News4 sports anchor in December, she positioned a bottle of Ed's Rocky Mountain Mustard front and center for the cameras. When the station came back from a commercial break, she was pretending to sip the mustard through a straw.

There's no telling what will happen next week in Florida, where Lisa and the boys will visit her family in Key Biscayne before watching the Super Bowl.

With Ed, there's no question. He's all business when it comes to football and will be striving for that third Super Bowl ring -- one for each child.

Maybe afterward, he'll find the time to do the Tonight Show.

"It's an opportunity I couldn't resist," he said, matter-of-factly.

Better bring along Lisa.

(Lynn DeBruin writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.)