Again this year the Colts were the last NFL team to lose a game, but again this year they are the only division leader going into the playoffs on a down note.  Last year the cause of their demise was for resting players and the death of the coach’s son. This year it’s about defense, Coach Tony Dungy came to the Indianapolis Colts as a defensive head coach and if he could ever make the defensive side of the ball as good as the offense this team would be sure shots to a Super Bowl win. In the last 2 weeks the colts have lost two games, one to next year up and coming team the Tennessee Titans which they came back from 10pts down to beat them and the Jacksonville Jaguars which basically blew them out. Jacksonville showed the rest of the league the way to beat the Colts by running the ball at their weak defense.

In the NFL they always say offense brings excitement, but defense wins championships well if the Colts want to go far in the playoffs they better learn defense.  They are easily one of the top 3 teams offensively in the league and have one of the best quarterbacks of all time in Peyton Manning. Even though this offense doesn’t run the ball as good as last year, their defense is going to kill them again. The last 5 Super bowl Champs have had a defense that ranked in the 10 of the NFL in defensive categories the Colts are ranked in the last 10. Tony Dungy this is why you get paid the big bucks, you better fix your side of the ball or start looking for another job.

Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans is leading the way of the backup quarterback carousel. He has won 6 out of 10 games he started this year. We also have a quarterback in Philadelphia, Jeff Garcia who also has a winning record of 2-1 since he became the starter of the Eagles. The NFL is only in week 14 and only 47 backup quarterbacks have played in games, the average for the last 5 years is 57.1 so far the starters are staying healthier. Most of the back ups who are starting this year will be projected starters for their team the following year, especially the four rookie quarterbacks for the Broncos (Jay Cutler), Cardinals (Matt Leinart), Cowboys (Tony Romo) and Titans (Young).
The 15 replacement quarterbacks who have started games have posted a record of 41-42 this year. Last season the combined mark for backups was 32-57, and the winning rate for backups over the past ten years was just around 40%. The question going into next season which of the backup quarterbacks who are now starting are going to be lost to free agency or stick with their team. It has become essential in the NFL to have a good backup quarterback, some backup quarterbacks are making above 3 million dollars a year to sit on the bench for a just in case. Look at Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs these two teams have backup quarterbacks that have kept them in the playoffs as the starters got healthy. Next year we will have many quarterbacks fighting for jobs, but look for the next competition to be at the second string quarterback job.

The Chicago Bears last night showed the NFL and the TV audience why they are the team to beat in the NFC conference. The only team in the NFC that can beat the Chicago is the Bears themselves, if they turn the ball over and score at least 20 pts no team can beat them.  They have one of the best defenses’ in the league and they will be hard to beat in Chicago with their weather. The Bears have a two game lead on the NO Saints for home field advantage throughout the playoffs with 3 games to play.
As much as we see the dominance that the Bears have displayed this year the burning question is at quarterback. Rex Grossman is the biggest deciding fate the Chicago Bears have if he plays well and doesn’t turn the ball over the Bears will reach the Super Bowl. As good as Chicago has been this year the question also comes up with who have they played against so far? The only two loses this year have come to teams in the AFC conference and Super Bowl will be played in a warm climate city. Experts are still picking the Seattle Seahawks or Dallas Cowboys as the teams to beat in the NFC, what do the Bears need to do to make the Super Bowl, better yet win the Super Bowl?

Six years ago if you asked anyone who the hottest coach in the NFL was the answer would have been Jon Gruden. He was the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. Jon had one of the best defense team in the league so why couldn’t this team become the next dynasty. Since that Super Bowl Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had only one winning season which they weren’t even picked to win that season.

We would like to blame Jon Gruden for all these losses, but the main problem has been at quarterback were the Buccaneers have lost their starting quarterback 4 times in the last 6 seasons.  The Buccaneers defense has lost many of their pro bowl players and the ones they have left are getting older. So the question is it time for them to head in a new direction with a new coach and younger players, or is management going to stick with Gruden and go with veterans that he likes in free agency. My pick is stick with the coach who brought you a championship and is still young enough to turn things around.

After the game against the Giants last Sunday, Terrell Owens was getting ready to fly west for his birthday party while the rest of the team was listening to their head coach.  Now this wouldn’t be news if the player and coach that are involved weren’t two of the biggest names in the NFL: Terrell Owens and Bill Parcels. Everything these two do shows up in the paper and on TV, what we have here is the way media sells sports. Media jumps on top of the biggest sports and movie stars and ride them until they jump. By the meaning of jumping I’m talking about getting caught cheating, drinking and driving, being somewhere they shouldn’t be and the most famous quotes they give.
Terrell Owens gave himself a birthday party on the west coast, so after the Dallas Cowboys football game his mind was on the party and not listening to the biggest speech coach Parcels gave the team.  Was he wrong for not paying attention, I will let you be the judge of that. Back to the question at hand is it the media fault or TO fault that this situation is even in the news?

One of the most durable football players in the league just announced that he needs ankle surgery at the end of the season. This would be normal for any football player but from this guy is definitely the abnormal.  Brett Favre told reporters today that he will need surgery at the end of the season. The question at the end of the season is his announcement of retirement? Brett Favre has played in more consecutive games than any football player in NFL history, and what makes it really surprising is that he is a quarterback.  Every season the league has at least 3 starting quarterbacks go down and miss some games this guy just seems to know how to play hurt.
Every football player wants to leave on his owns terms and not by injury, but what really happens is they hold on to long because they have nothing else to do.  Well Brett will have plenty to do he already has a Super Bowl ring two MVP trophies and most of the quarterback records in the league, so what does he play for? The Green Bay Packers are a young team maybe two years away from the playoffs, if he continues to play behind this young line who knows it may not be an ankle but maybe a knee that goes out. Please let’s start a website for Brett Favre asking him to retire.

We have four weeks left in the season and the playoff picture is getting setup. Which team wants to take advantage of home field advantage?  In the last 6 years at least one of the 4 teams that had a bye week has ended up in a Super Bowl game. This should tell you how important home field advantage is.  The picture looks a lot clear in the NFC because the Chicago Bears have a two game lead on all division leaders in their conference.  The AFC we have two teams that are 10-2 in the San Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts, and these two teams don’t play each other this year. The NFL should be called the median league, because out of 32 teams we have 9 teams that are 6-6 or 7-5 in the league.
This week we have the game of the week in Dallas as two division leaders are playing to see which team has the inside track on being the second team in the NFC to have a bye week.  NO Saints vs. Dallas Cowboys will be a hard fought game on Sunday Night. Make sure you tune in to see. With four weeks left we will see if these 9 teams are for real or if another team will creep in to take over one of the last playoff spots.

On Sunday December 3, 2006 New Orleans Saints fans finally got to see what they been waiting for since the beginning of the season… Reggie Bush scoring touchdowns. The New Orleans Saints were lucky in the NFL Draft when Reggie Bush fell into their hands as the number 2 pick in the draft.  Most people assumed he would go as the number one pick to the Houston Texans, but they went another direction, defense. Up until this week it seemed that the player the Saints were depending on to bring excitement was worth all he was supposed to be. Reggie Bush had only one touchdown this football season. 11 games and only one touchdown, this would have been bigger news if the Saints weren’t winning games. That’s the difference the NO Saints were winning games and making a push for the playoffs, and they were doing it with other key players not named Bush.
Well the real Reggie Bush finally showed up and showed the league, Saints, and especially the San Francisco 49ers that he is for real.  Reggie scored four touchdowns on Sunday the 3rd and he scored them in a variety of ways. He scored on a dive play, scored on a sweep, scored on a shuffle pass and he scored on a reverse.  He had 168 total yards on 20 touches of the ball. These are the type of numbers he was supposed to put up all year long. If Reggie Bush would have gone number 1 to the Houston Texans, we might have already seen these types of days. Reggie would have been the number one running back as he wouldn’t have had to split plays with anyone but instead he might be going to the playoffs in his rookie season. This way he can show his talents off in the post season and the rest of the league now knows he can put up these types of days.

Is LaDainian Tomlinson the best NFL football player you have ever seen?
This question will be debated forever and ever, because historians will always have their own opinions. Some say Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns while others say Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears or Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys. These three men along with others determine the measure of the greatest running backs ever. LaDainian definitely deserves to have his name mentioned in the same sentence as these great players.

Question: Who is the fastest player in the NFL to reach 100 touchdowns?
Answer: Mr. LaDainian Tomlinson.

The San Diego Chargers this year was supposed to be a team that was fighting for the playoffs. They lost their starting quarterback and didn’t do much in the off season. Well look at this team now, they are in position to get the number 2 seed in the AFC conference after the Indianapolis Colts who has the other best football player in the league in Peyton Manning. LaDainian is doing things this year that has surprised everyone including himself, his team is coming from behind in games relying on the run and not the passing game. Mr. Tomlinson is averaging over 120 yards per game and doesn’t seem to be stopping. He also is averaging at least a touchdown per game. Which player in the league is having a better season than him? Is this the year they give the MVP of the league to Mr. Lighting Bolt himself LaDainian Tomlinson? We just have to wait and see.

If you want to figure out why the University of Miami has a bad reputation just check on all the players they send to the NFL. One of the main characters out of the University of Miami is Jeremy Shockey of the New York Giants. Every occasion a microphone is put in his face he says something stupid and cocky, and that gets on his teammates and organizations nerves. What is funny about this is, most of the time he is right. Other people would like to say it but they will not acknowledge it. Question remains “Is this a good or bad player to have on the team?”
While talking to an ESPN reporter, Jeremy Shockey made a statement that said “No way in hell” the Cowboys would beat the Giants if the Giants played up to par. Now in sports talk like this is bulletin board material, but the problem is he may be right. Last time the Dallas Cowboys and NY Giants played in week 11, the Giants won 36-22 and ever since the game the two teams have gone in different directions.  The Giants have been killing themselves with turnovers and bad decisions, so a statement like this can be absolutely correct.  Not many teams in the NFL are as good as the Giants when healthy, but there lies the problem with what Shockey said his team is not healthy and the Cowboys are playing well now. So you never stir up a hungry Lion when he is ready to eat, so why give the Cowboys more of a reason to come into Giants stadium to get the win?
Like I said is this a good or bad teammate to have on your team?