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How many of you had to get an oxygen tank at some point today? These playoffs are been thrilling down to the wire in almost every game, and Conference Championship Sunday lived up to expectations. Both games went down to the wire and left us with two worthy Super Bowl contestants. Let’s break them down in The Final Drive!

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With a lock-out now imposed in the NFL, I decided to take a look back at the 2010-2011 season standings and see where I went right/wrong with my preseason picks. Starting with the AFC, here’s what I predicted… and then what really happened, along with a five-star scale of my correctitude.

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This is it. The best Sunday of football in the entire football calendar. (Yes, better than the Super Bowl.) Today we get to see the Bears and Packers meet up at Soldier Field and the Steelers and Jets rough it up in Pittsburgh. Here are the breakdowns of today's action.

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With the Hall of Fame game being played this past weekend, the 2010-2011 NFL season is on the horizon. With teams in training camp and rosters being formed, I'll take you around the league in the coming weeks to preview each division. This week we start with the AFC South, a division dominated by the Indianapolis Colts. Will their run continue this year or will someone else take the division title? We'll go in order from worst to first from last year's season standings. Let's get it on!

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The San Diego Chargers are without a shadow of a doubt my favorite football team. However, in the spirit of writing, I will write this as unbiased as I possibly can. The Chargers ended last year’s regular season with an 11-5 record and a trip to the playoffs. They were able to dispose of the Titans and then pulled off a major upset against the Indianapolis Colts, beating them and making it to the AFC Championship Game. The Chargers defeated Indy with both their starting quarterback Phillip Rivers and their star running back Ladainian Tomlinson on the bench. This amazing role would end in a loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The Chargers were again without Ladainian Tomlinson and also had to deal with an injured Phillip Rivers. Maybe that game would have ended differently with both of the Charger’s stars healthy. Despite that, the fact is that they lost and there is no getting around that.

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A 4-12 record showed us how bad the Kansas City Chiefs can be. They have issues all over their team. Its unfortunate for Coach Herm Edwards. He is a terrific coach, but he’s got a team that just doesn’t get the job done. The Chiefs may have improved aspects of their team in the draft, but they are still a long way from being a team that matters. My biggest concern with the Chiefs is their terrible offensive line. The line could not produce the holes for stud running back Larry Johnson, while he was playing, and they also couldn’t protect their quarterback, whoever it was. The Chiefs addressed this problem by drafting Guard Brandon Albert out of Virginia and Tackle Barry Richardson out of Clemson, but I still think the line is far from improved.

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The Denver Broncos ended last season with a 7-9 record and missed the playoffs. Despite that, there were many aspects of the team they fielded last year that were encouraging. They have always had a great running game ,but the passing game picked up under young quarterback Jay Cutler. The talent is there on their defense, however they struggled against the run and that was very detrimental to their effectiveness on the defensive side of the ball. Not being able to stop the run took the Broncos off balance and made them weaker against the pass. This year they look to stop the bleeding and be far more competitive in the AFC West.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #18: The Denver Broncos"

The Oakland Raiders opted to not improve their horrendous defense in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Instead they went with another offensive playmaker in Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. Was McFadden so desirable that a team with a defense as bad as Oaklands really couldn’t pass him up? I guess so. Still their defense needs work and without a strong defense their hopes of making it to the playoffs will be shot down. For Oakland is too easy to run on and they are even easier to pass on. They play in a division that is praised for their respective running games and if Oakland can’t stop them, they don’t stand a chance. They finished last season with a 4-12 record. Last season, was a horrible display of both offense and defense, but I think that they’re offense was better then they were given credit for. Their running game was fantastic. 3 running backs from Oakland had 100 yard games last season and I don’t see that changing much this year. Their offense will be much improved and maybe that can make some noise, but it takes a whole lot more to make the playoffs.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #17: The Oakland Raiders"

The Houston Texans were a much improved team last season, even without star wide receiver Andre Johnson playing in most of those games. They played well enough to garner their first .500 season. An accomplishment for a struggling franchise. They have helped to make the AFC South the toughest division in the AFC and although they will most likely lose all of their division games this season, they will at least put up a valiant fight. I think we are going to see an even better team then last year with the possibility of a 10-6 season. That will not be easy, but as long as they don’t do worse then .500 they will have had a good season. Lets take a look at some of the weapons the Texans will bring with them into this season.

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#10 can’t do it by himself. Vince Young is a very talented football player that wins football games. The only problem that this winner of a National Championship has is that he can’t win the football games that he needs to win by himself. There aren’t a lot of playmakers in the Titan offense to help Vince Young get it done and until the Titans address this problem, they will only be good enough to lose in the playoffs. This is the NFL. As fun as it is to watch Vince Young run all over the field, its not enough to get the job done. I am disapointed that the Titans organization did not draft a wide receiver in the first round, a round in which no wide receivers where drafted. Even when wide outs started to go in the second round, the Titans still did not bite. They missed out on a lot of playmakers. They should be ashamed.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars emerged last year as a tough team to beat. They with help from the Tennessee Titans have made the AFC South Division the toughest division in the AFC. No longer will the Colts steam role their division on their way to the playoffs. The Colts will now have to fight to win their division and they will have to get through the Jacksonville Jaguars to do just that. The Jaguars made the playoffs last year with the combination of a hard hitting defense, a superb ground game, and a quarterback that although does not throw the ball a lot, does not make mistakes when he does. That is a formula for a team that can make a lot of noise for the upcoming season.

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They are a great team. One of the best teams every year in the NFL. They have one of the top 3 Quarterbacks in the league every year. And 2 seasons ago, they won the Superbowl. They are the Indianapolis Colts lead by the poster boy of the NFL, Peyton Manning. Last season ended in misery for the Colts as they lost in a shocker to the San Diego Chargers. A Chargers team that did not have star running back Ladainian Tomlinson and starting quarterback Phillip Rivers playing at the time. The Colts are looking to not let that happen this year. Peyton Manning and his team are determined to once again win the championship and add another piece of jewelry to their fingers. However, they will not have it as easy as it has been over the last few years. The Colts will now have to battle to earn their spot in the playoffs. The AFC South as emerged as the toughest division in the AFC. With the breakout team in Jacksonville, the team that is missing only a few playmakers in Tennessee, and the up and coming team in Houston, the AFC South has become a division that can go any way. I love it.

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The Buffalo Bills. The only New York team that actually plays in New York, but they want to play in Toronto and to be honest, I want them to go there too. The franchise has had very little success in its entire history. Yes its true they do have 4 conference championships, but in its entire history, the Bills have never been able to win the big one. It’s never happened and by the looks of the team that took that field last year, it doesn’t look like its going to happen this year either. They will play some of their games in Toronto and I do believe eventually the Bills will move their franchise there. It’s a good place for the franchise to start fresh in a new home. I think they could use it.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #4: The Buffalo Bills"

J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS! Yes the New York Jets are coming into another year of football with hopes of winning it all!... or at least of making it back to the playoffs in a division where they are forced to play Tom Brady and the Patriots twice in the regular season and by all intents and purposes would most likely have to beat them in the playoffs to get to the big game. But lets be real for a minute, the Jets aren’t making it to the Superbowl and if they by some miracle make the playoffs it will be by the skin of their teeth. The AFC is too hard of a conference and there are so few spots in the post-season.

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1-15. The worst team in the league last season. The Miami Dolphins are looking to get back to relevance and what a chore that is for them competing in the same division with Tom Brady and the Patriots and also having Ladainian Tomlinson and the Chargers on their schedule. The Dolphins are going to have to dig deep and put in the work that is needed to make any sort of impact this season. However, perhaps the point of this season is not to make an impact. Perhaps the point of this season is just to get some wins to their record and rebuild a franchise that was once great.

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18-1. It’s a great record. To have won 18 games and to have only lost once in today’s NFL is quite an accomplishment. Its just a shame that the 1 happened at the only game that matters, the Superbowl. The New England Patriots are coming back looking for vengeance, looking for meaning, looking to get back to that place where they could have mattered. Spygate is behind them now, but is the sting from the Superbowl loss behind them too? The Patriots will come into this season ready to answer all the questions they need to answer.

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The Fantasy season has arrived and as owners begin to mock draft, form their strategies, and get set to dominate their leagues (or lose terribly), the question that is on everyones mind is, Who should go #1 in all fantasy drafts?  San Diego Running Back Ladainian Tomlinson or Minnesota Running Back Adrian Peterson? Both of these plow shares have a huge case for them. Peterson, last year’s rookie sensation. Tomlinson, the top running back for the last two years. So how does one decide who should go first?

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On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns won their tenth game of the season against a San Francisco team in disarray. A season that started off so poorly in Week 1 resulted in expectations being surpassed for Browns’ fans.

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This is something that I really am a lost for words. Every year the NFL stages a Pro Bowl where players are voted for and chosen to play in this annual event in Hawaii. Maybe it's because it's Hawaii is the reason the NFL continues to stage this ultimate boring game. They changed the rules so no one can get hurt, but they do. Many players seem to pass on it a couple of weeks before the time of the game. IT just seems like a waste of time anymore.

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As I was watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Carolina Panthers today I saw a ray of hope. Actually, I saw several – the young defense and Luke McCown. Yeah, I know, they stunk up the place at the end of the game but at least they gave it a real try. You have to remember that many, if not all starters were out at that point. Plus I wonder if Monte Kiffin stops paying attention by the 4th but that’s a different story…

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