National Football League News and Rumors
Demand should be higher for Lovie SmithMike Florio, profootballtalk.com Seven coaching vacancies currently exist. (That number could soon be six.) The guy whose termination created one of them — former Bears coach Lovie Smith — reportedly has drawn interest for only two of them. The demand should be higher. Smith led … |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com The season for coaches changing jobs continues. According to Brett McMurphy of ESPN, Florida International University is set to name Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Ron Turner as their next head coach. Turner had previously been a head coach at … |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com Feeling sorry for Las Vegas casinos is a tough proposition, we grant you. But this past NFL season, sports books across Vegas took an absolute bath thanks to a most unlikely scenario: good teams playing even better than expected. The Los Angeles Times i… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com There have been various accounts and reports regarding the magnitude of the buyout necessary to extricate Bill O’Brien from his contract at Penn State after only one season. Whatever it was, it played a role in O’Brien’s decision to stay put. Per … |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com He has been a loyal and long-term employee of the Packers. And he soon could be getting his shot. Packers director of operations John Dorsey is in demand, in at least two locations. Per a league source, the G.M. position in Kansas City will be his if … |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com More news from the Irving, Tex. crash last month that claimed the life of Dallas Cowboys practice squad player Jerry Brown Jr.: the Dallas News is reporting that an autopsy has revealed that Brown's blood alcohol content was actually below the legal dri… |
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DALLAS (AP) -- An autopsy has found that Dallas Cowboys practice squad player Jerry Brown Jr. was sober when he was killed in a crash that led to an intoxication manslaughter charge against the teammate at the wheel. |
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Erik Malinowski, deadspin.com If you're looking for a legendary coach amid today's high school football landscape, it's hard to top Bob Ladouceur's credentials. But after 399 wins over 34 seasons at De La Salle High School in the Bay Area and throughout a tenure that has produced mo… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com The New York Giants would like Michael Strahan to take a little time out from talking to Kelly Ripa and spend some time talking to Jason Pierre-Paul. Giants General Manager Jerry Reese said on WFAN that he wants Strahan, who set the NFL’s single-season … |
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Wild-card weekend preview: Arian Foster is the key to Texans making return trip to New EnglandJan 3
Brian McIntyre, yahoo.com Saturday, January 5, 2012 - 4:30 p.m. ET NBC For the second consecutive January, the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans will meet in an AFC wild-card playoff game at Reliant Stadium. When the two clubs met on Jan. 7, 2012, the Bengals seemed to be in… |
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs should be quite familiar by now. |
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- San Francisco 49ers placekicker David Akers says he received death threats on Twitter and has closed the account. |
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Jack Dickey, deadspin.com If you believe the reports, one of the most captivating eras in recent college football history ends tonight. Chip Kelly will coach Oregon against Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl, and then he'll interview for NFL head-coaching jobs (chats with Philly, C… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com It may seem like sheer sacrilege to criticize Ray Lewis as he heads into what will likely be his final game in Baltimore on Sunday. But amid all the talk of Lewis announcing his retirement this week, few have asked this question: At age 37 and coming of… |
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indianapolis Colts want offensive coordinator Bruce Arians to stick around a little longer. |
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Eagles will interview Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy on Sunday in Denver. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com The Raiders and Lions pick third, and fifth, respectively in this year’s draft. But they’ll get the first up-close look at some of the top prospects at the Senior Bowl. While the “honor” of coaching in Mobile, Ala., usually falls to the teams at t… |
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Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN.com Four days after the New York Giants' season ended, Tom Coughlin said he's going stir crazy not being able to defend the team's title in the postseason. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Another underclassman threw his hat in the ring for consideration in April’s draft. Syracuse left tackle Justin Pugh announced that he will forgo his final year with the Orange. Pugh started every game he played in his time at Syracuse and was All-Big E… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com The 49ers had a welcome face back in uniform at practice on Thursday. Defensive lineman Justin Smith, out since December 16th with a torn triceps that will require surgery, took part in individual drills with the 49ers during their afternoon practice. M… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Ordinarily, it’s not a good look for a player who hasn’t seen the field in three months to talk trash. Unless it’s legitimately funny. So on the “funny” exception, we’ll pass along a good piece of trash talk that Redskins defensive end Adam Ca… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Brandon Browner didn't mind being forced to sit out the final four games of the regular season due to suspension because it was fun watching his Seattle Seahawks continue to roll toward the postseason. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com On Wednesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that it would be “uncomfortable” around the team in the coming days and weeks as he tries to make changes that will break the team “out of that cycle” of finishing in the middle of the pack. When you’… |
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Samer Kalaf, deadspin.com The Deadspin NFL Coach Challenge Challenge is a tournament pitting the throwing motions of 20 NFL coaches against one another. More » |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com There's no questioning the credentials of former NFL executive Bill Polian. When you build teams to a championship or near-championship level as Polian did with the Buffalo Bills (1986-1993), Carolina Panthers (1994-1997) and Indianapolis Colts (1998-20… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com With Andy Reid reportedly poised to become the next coach of the Chiefs (of course, it’s been close for six hours now), plenty of names are bubbling up for the position of G.M., if/when Reid takes the job. Here’s the most important thing to keep in mi… |
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Calvin Watkins, ESPN.com After failing to make the playoffs for the second straight season, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said that he'd be open to changes, including giving up play-calling duties on offense. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com We’re getting closer to the start of the playoffs and Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network has a couple of players from teams playing this weekend lined up for interviews on Thursday’s episode. Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate was involved in the… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Earning home field advantage through the AFC playoffs was huge for the Broncos. But even bigger might have been the results of quarterback Peyton Manning found while adjusting to the conditions in Denver. Dealing with weather was always an issue for him… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday that the team’s medical staff still had some doubts that wide receiver Jordy Nelson’s knee would be well enough to allow him to play on Saturday night against the Vikings. Nelson progressed to a full practice… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Bjoern Werner, a Florida State defensive end who is regarded as a potential Top 10 pick, has decided to leave school and enter April’s NFL draft. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Werner was born and raised in Germany and only began playing American football when… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The Jets won’t be cooperating with the league’s policy requiring the head coach to be made available to the media within one week after the last game of the season. The Professional Football Writers of America won’t be pushing the issue when it co… |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com These seats are the absolute cheapest at Qualcomm Stadium: upper deck, behind an end zone, near the scoreboard. They're empty in this video, but not for a lack of tickets sold. This is the aftermath of a section-wide fight that went down in the fourth q… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Earlier this week, Redskins coach Mike Shanahan answered a question about his son, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, interviewing for head coaching jobs by saying he thought the time for that was after the Redskins’ season came to an end. That sugges… |
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ESPN.com news services, ESPN.com With Andy Reid no longer in the picture, the Arizona Cardinals have received permission to interview Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Todd Haley for their head coaching job, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. |
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Tom Ley, deadspin.com It's easy enough to be cynical about Ray Lewis, after the 17-year veteran linebacker announced his impending retirement yesterday. In the foreground, there's the recent image of Lewis, now that the years have reduced his ability to contribute on-field: … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com When head coaches get fired, their assistants are left to their own devices. But rather than wait for NFL jobs to get filled to try his luck, former Chargers special teams coach Rich Bisaccia just took a job at Auburn. Bisaccia was named assistant head … |
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NBC Sports, yahoo.com Some people might think Adrian Peterson may be deflated after coming up just nine yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, but Mike Florio thinks the opposite. Florio thinks Peterson could be motivated to try and break the re… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com It’s high drama, even for the drama-rich NFL. A pair of boyhood friends who had worked together for a generation are now working separately, and working against each other in pursuit of the same coach. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and his former top lie… |
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Drew Magary, deadspin.com Drew Magary's Thursday Afternoon NFL Dick Joke Jamboroo runs every Thursday during the NFL season. More » |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Two years ago, the Titans hired Jim Skipper as their running backs coach and signed running back Chris Johnson to a gargantuan contract extension. Johnson hasn’t quite lived up to his salary, and Skipper may be paying for that with his job. The Titans w… |
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A funny thing happened along the Bengals' way to stockpiling defenders no one else wanted: They built a dominant unit, one that will make its mark in January, Ben Reiter says. |
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Reuben Fischer, deadspin.com … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com While the Vikings are freezing themselves in preparations for Saturday night’s playoff game at Green Bay, one of their biggest names is in sunny Florida. But Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said he had no objections to injured wide receiver Percy Harvin do… |
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Giants' Cruz optimistic about getting an extension |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Peyton Manning tied yet another NFL record Thursday when he won his sixth career Offensive Player of the Month award. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com … |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com If you were gambling on the pick for the December AFC special teams player of the month when the month began, there’s not much chance you bet on the eventual winner. When December started, Josh Brown was on the veteran kicker tryout circuit, popping up … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Texans defensive end J.J. Watt finished the year the same way he started it, bookending his September AFC defensive player of the month award with the December version. He posted a league-high six sacks and four forced fumbles in December, along with 27… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Days after they were named the PFT offensive and defensive rookies of the year, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly have received a couple of less prestigious awards. The NFL has announced that Wilson and Kuechly are… |
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Jeff Dickerson, ESPN.com Former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith is expected to interview over the weekend for the vacant Buffalo Bills' head coaching position, according to multiple reports. |
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It's award time now that the regular season is over. Without further ado, here are our picks and pans for 2012: MVP - We go to tiebreakers here because of what Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson meant to their teams. |
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One-minute drill: Peter King's team-by-team playoff previews |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Adrian Peterson had 861 rushing yards in December, the most any player has ever gained in any month in NFL history. So it’s not exactly a surprise that he was chosen as the NFC’s offensive player of the month. But while the honor isn’t surprising, t… |
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Brian McIntyre, yahoo.com Here's a Thursday afternoon roundup of the NFL head coaching rumor mill: Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals are one of three teams interested in former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid. The Cardinals were scheduled to meet with Reid on Thursday, h… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com When it comes to CoachWatch rumors before said coaches are actually hired, it's best to heed the advice of the immortal Marvin Gaye: "Believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear." This is always a fluid process, and no process… |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com Somewhere along the line, we as a nation apparently chose to forgive/forget the fact that Ray Lewis was involved in a murder at a Super Bowl party in 2000. That Lewis and his friends got into a fight with another group, and two people in that other grou… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com The Redskins are riding a seven-game winning streak into Sunday’s game against the Seahawks and one of the biggest reasons for their turnaround after a 3-6 start has been the improved play of the defense. They forced 15 turnovers and sacked quarterbacks… |
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Something's Gotta GiveJan 3
Rookie QBs reviving non-playoff teams aren't the only thing the Redskins and Seahawks have in common, but who continues deeper into January? Peter King has the answer. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Even in a draft class that is currently believed to lack high-end quarterbacks, the best quarterbacks in the class will attract plenty of attention and competition. West Virginia’s Geno Smith has made his choice, hiring Erik Burkhardt and Jeff Nalley of… |
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PFT’s wild-card picksJan 3
Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Well, the regular season has ended, and I finished strong with a 13-3 mark. More importantly, I went 4-1 in the five games on which MDS and I disagreed, pushing the final margin to 11 games. With only 11 postseason games and one agreement on the four w… |
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ESPN.com news services, ESPN.com Suspended defensive coordinator Gregg Williams won't return to the St. Louis Rams next season, according to sources. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com It didn’t take long after Ray Lewis announced his retirement for him to line up his next gig. According to Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, the Ravens linebacker will join ESPN’s herd of former players as an analyst. Deitsch reports Lewis will … |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com As momentum builds toward the Chiefs possibly hiring former Eagles coach Andy Reid (wake me up when it’s a 95-percent certainty), the question becomes whether the Chiefs would then keep G.M. Scott Pioli. The easy answer is no. Reid and Pioli come from… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw battled through a slew of injuries this season to post 1,015 rushing yards in 14 games, the second time that he’s topped the 1,000-yard mark in his career. As he was cleaning out his locker and saying goodbye to his te… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant had to leave the stadium in a wheelchair after injuring his back during Sunday night’s season-ending loss to the Redskins and he was still on crutches Tuesday, leading to tests over the last few days to determine the ext… |
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Toni Monkovic, nytimes.com Do you have a top quarterback or not? Everything in the N.F.L. can change based on that question. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com The Bills are trying to get in on the Chip Kelly derby, but they’re clearly putting together a Plan B. And one of the names on the Plan B (or maybe C) list seems to be Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. There was an item in the Washington Post … |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Eli Manning and Michael Vick have done a lot to puncture the notion that Lambeau Field gives the Packers a home-field advantage that’s impossible to overcome in recent years and now a member of the Packers is saying that he’d just as soon play on the … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com The Buffalo News has an incredible package of stories and photos celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Bills’ comeback playoff win against the Oilers. Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel takes a look at the best and worst of the Dolphins’ se… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Days after he was fired by the Cardinals, Ken Whisenhunt has had his second interview for a new job. Whisenhunt interviewed Wednesday with the Browns about their head coaching vacancy, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Jo… |
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Toni Monkovic, nytimes.com When it comes to the N.F.L. playoffs, Bills fans are left only with memories. But at least they have one that may never be eclipsed. |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com Following their 33-23 loss to the Louisville Cardinals in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night, Florida junior safety Matt Elam and junior defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd announced their intentions to declare for the NFL draft. Elam was named a first-team A… |
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ESPN.com news services, ESPN.com Oregon's Chip Kelly appears to be near the top of the Browns' coaching wish list. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com When the NFL pulled the plug on whatever the World League was known as in its final existence, the NFL likewise removed the ability of young players to get much-needed live reps. But it’s more than players who benefit from a league that helps develop ta… |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com The San Francisco 49ers signed kicker Billy Cundiff this week to challenge incumbent David Akers after Akers missed two more field goals in the regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Akers made just 29 of 42 field goals during th… |
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Erik Malinowski, deadspin.com The Andrew Luck-led Indianapolis Colts, by some unexplainable circumstance, pulled off an 11-5 record this season and secured a wild-card playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday. Colts owner Jim Irsay? Oh, he's ready to party, as you can s… |
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Nick Saban's denials that he'll leave Alabama for Cleveland Browns ring hollow considering his pastJan 3
Alabama coach Nick Saban arrived with his SEC championship team Wednesday afternoon to prepare for Monday’s BCS national championship game against top-ranked Notre Dame in Miami amid a swirl of speculation that he may leave for the NFL at season’s end… |
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Brian Burke, nytimes.com A good case can be made that Indianapolis's surprising 11-5 record was more a result of a weak schedule than anything else. |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com After 16 regular season games the Seattle Seahawks enter the playoffs with just about as healthy a roster as possible. Running back Marshawn Lynch was the only player listed on Seattle’s injury report on Wednesday. He was limited with a back injury that… |
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Rex Ryan, bless his heart, is suddenly running scared of notebooks and microphones. Woody Johnson just hasn’t been the same since his pal Mitt Romney did just about as well on Election Night as the Jets did on Thanksgiving Night, minus the Butt Fumble, … |
