Being two days shy of Thanksgiving means there's only six short weeks left in the NFL's regular season. The clock is ticking, so here are some things you need to know as we stare down the stretch run to the playoffs....
• Every Thanksgiving I end up going back and forth between my family in Detroit and my family in Atlanta, so there's not always time for football on my Thursday afternoon, believe it or not. But this day always makes me think of Detroit -- because I'm from there, and because of the coin-flip incident in 1998, which everyone wants to talk about around this time of year.
The college football season has come to an end for a number of teams around the nation and several highly-rated underclassmen have decisions to make. With the deadline for application to the NFL draft seven weeks away, the non-seniors must decide whether they should opt for April's event. Scouts expect a record number of underclassmen to enter next year's draft, so this week's column concentrates on the draft stock of a dozen non-senior prospects.
NEW YORK -- Talking with commissioner Roger Goodell, while he was getting his makeup wiped off in our NBC Football Night in America studio Sunday night after his Eagles-Bears halftime appearance ...
Being two days shy of Thanksgiving means there's only six short weeks left in the NFL's regular season. The clock is ticking, so here are some things you need to know as we stare down the stretch run to the playoffs....
• Every Thanksgiving I end up going back and forth between my family in Detroit and my family in Atlanta, so there's not always time for football on my Thursday afternoon, believe it or not. But this day always makes me think of Detroit -- because I'm from there, and because of the coin-flip incident in 1998, which everyone wants to talk about around this time of year.
The college football season has come to an end for a number of teams around the nation and several highly-rated underclassmen have decisions to make. With the deadline for application to the NFL draft seven weeks away, the non-seniors must decide whether they should opt for April's event. Scouts expect a record number of underclassmen to enter next year's draft, so this week's column concentrates on the draft stock of a dozen non-senior prospects.
NEW YORK -- Talking with commissioner Roger Goodell, while he was getting his makeup wiped off in our NBC Football Night in America studio Sunday night after his Eagles-Bears halftime appearance ...
DENVER -- Looking back, I really can't fathom how these two 6-3 teams were ever tied for first place to start with as this Week 11 Sunday dawned. The only thing I can figure is the standings doubled as the NFL's version of an optical illusion. Maybe it's like when they warn you about objects in the mirror actually being closer than they appear, only to the exact opposite effect in this case.
One note before I start my Friday column: My sympathies -- and I'm sure everyone who reads this will echo my sentiments -- to the family of Chris Spielman this morning. His wife, 42-year-old Stefanie Spielman, died Thursday after a fourth recurrence of breast cancer. When the disease first appeared, Spielman took a year off from football in 1998 to be Mr. Mom, and I visited the family in Columbus and marveled at the adjustments and selflessness of both of them in dealing with the disease and the personal realities that intruded. My heart goes out to the Spielmans.
With Dick Jauron's demise in Buffalo this week, the first domino has fallen in the NFL's annual exercise known as hiring/firing season. While nowhere near as many head coaching vacancies are expected this year compared to last year's record bloodletting, when 11 teams changed the guy in the No. 1 headset, you can be sure Jauron won't be the only one shown the door.
Larry Johnson came to the right place. He fell out of favor in Kansas City and into the feather bed in Cincinnati. The Bengals are Lazarus' Team. Or maybe, Emma Lazarus':
This was supposed to be the season the Wildcat evolved to the next level and swept through the NFL. A year after the Miami Dolphins used it to surprising success, coaches from coast to coast were expected to implement it as a game-changer, to keep defenses off balance and grab big chunks of yardage.
Week 10 in the NFL was brutal. Stellar offensive tackles Jordan Gross of Carolina and Marc Colombo of Dallas were lost for the season with broken legs. Quarterback Kyle Orton went down with an ankle injury, which ultimately doomed Denver in its loss to Washington. Running backs Cedric Benson, Michael Turner, Brian Westbrook and Ronnie Brown left their games with injuries and didn't return. Even the Monday nighter wasn't spared as Ravens safety Haruki Nakamura and Browns wideout Josh Cribbs were taken off the field on carts.
Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson blew it Tuesday. Not because he fired coach Dick Jauron, who was 24-33 in three-plus seasons, including 5-14 in his last 19 games; because he failed to look at the real problem holding down his team: the absence of a proven personnel man to run his football operations.
A foul mood has enveloped Chicago for several weeks now. As for a cause, the usual suspects -- weather, traffic, weather, parking, weather, political shenanigans -- are blameless.
Can't resist a few more lingering thoughts in the continuing aftermath of "Bill-gate,'' perhaps the perfect NFL storm for the cacophony of debate that the 24/7 news cycle generates and thrives on.....
The Washington Redskins (3-6) are struggling this season, but the organization got a break Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Native Americans calling the pro club's trademark "disparaging."
Bill Belichick is famously unsentimental. That, really, is his legacy as a football coach. Herm Edwards shouted "You play to win the game!" but that was just fun talk. It is Belichick who has lived those words during his amazing career as a coach.
• If I had been on the Patriots' sideline Sunday night, I might have seen it a different way, but I hated Bill Belichick's call to go for it on fourth-and-two against the Colts. As a player, you get shortsighted when you're involved in the game. On every fourth-and-two in my career I guarantee I was saying, "Give me the ball." And I'm sure the players on that New England sideline were down with the move. That's the nice thing about being a player -- it was never your call. "Blame the coach! I'm just doing what he says." You can get away with being irrational as a player. It ain't your say and it ain't your fault. Maybe Tom Brady liked it, but players aren't in the right frame of mind to make that call.
Quarterbacks have won eight of the last nine Heisman Trophies, and while that string of domination could continue this year with either Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow, The Watch is high on running backs. Backs fill the top three spots, and six of the top 10 and have been prominent on this list all season.
The realization that the world can turn upside down with remarkable speed in today's NFL is hardly a novel observation. But as I surveyed the landscape this week at the league's halfway point, I was struck by just how quickly a season -- even a really good season -- can completely fall apart.
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Here's the great thing about just showing up at a fairly random college football game: You just might end up seeing one of the best players in the country ... even if you have never heard of him before.
CINCINNATI -- All week, college football followers wondered how Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly would manage his unique quarterback derby. The quarterbacks involved weren't completely in the loop themselves.
John Madden used to say "if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have any," but it's unlikely the erstwhile commentator ever saw anything quite like Cincinnati's two quarterbacks.
There are, officially, six rivalries in the NFL. I realize that some people would suggest that one clueless fool with Internet access cannot make "official" proclamations... but they are wrong. We can. And we do. All the time. You can go all over the Internet and see!
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern). Sunday 4:15 p.m. Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers
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