Oakland  looking to get back into the playoffs

49ers come up just short of making it to the Super Bowl

Rematch is an eastern affair for the Super Bowl

Tom Brady has quarterbacked his New England Patriot's to a fifth Super Bowl and they will get a chance to pay the New York Giants back for ending a perfect season with a loss a couple of years ago in the Super Bowl, the last the two teams have been in.

New England got past Baltimore when Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal with 11-seconds left that would have sent the game into overtime. Sad way to end a conference championship game, but New England will take it.

They play the New York Football Giants. New York took advantage of two late San Francisco turnovers to win 20-17 in overtime. The Giants would not have come near scoring in the second half if it were not for the two turnovers on Giants punts.

The first set up New York on the 49er 29 and it led to a 17-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Mario Manningham and a 17-14 Giants lead. The second was in overtime and it led directly to New York's game winning 31-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes.

So here we are. Two teams that were some what handed a berth into the Super Bowl. Both have been there before and done that. One coach comes right at you.

The other is using a wide receiver at cornerback and is known for all kind of personnel moves on the field. This figures to be an entertaining Super Bowl.

Yes that was Julian Edelman, a wide receiver by trade, getting burnt playing defensive back against Baltimore in the AFC Championship game late in the game. Why the Ravens did not throw at Edelman on every play I do not know.

Pat's head coach Bill Belichick would have heard it from all side if Edelman would have given up the game winning touchdown. I am sure New York will make note of Julian and try to exploit it more then the Ravens did if he lines up in the defensive backfield against them in the Super Bowl.

Playoff picture starting to come into view

The Denver Bronco's are doing their best to crash the playoff party. 2-5 and going nowhere Denver inserted second year quarterback Tim Tebow into the starting line up. Six wins later Denver is atop the AFC West by a game with their destiny in their hands.

Tebow has helped bring the team back from the dead with great play in the fourth quarter. The Bronco's defense, playing great and knowing that Tebow will not score many points, have come together to become one of the better units in the NFL.

Denver came back to beat Chicago 13-10 in overtime Sunday despite trailing 10-0 with five minutes left in the game. That Denver win just about ended the playoff hopes of a San Diego team that was starting to rebound from a poor middle section of the 2011 season.

San Diego started out 4-1 before six straight losses derailed their season. San Diego is back to their winning ways and they have a two game win streak after topping Buffalo 37-10 Sunday.

The Chargers, at 6-7, are hanging on by a thread to make the post season this year.

Same as the Cincinnati Bengals.6-3 a few short weeks ago, the Bengal's are reeling after falling to 7-6 Sunday, losing 20-19 to Houston. The Bengal's looked to be on their way to the playoffs.

Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton was putting points on the board and Cincinnati was competing for a AFC North title. The Bengal's were going to fall. They have only beaten one team this year with a winning record.

That was a win over Tennessee Nov. 6th to give the Bengal's a 6-3 record. They have gone 1-4 since then with their only win coming against 4-6 Cleveland. With St. Louis and Arizona up the next two weeks, the Bengal's have a chance to get back in the race.

Baltimore is the last game of the season for Cincinnati and they would want to be in the playoffs before that game, but with the late loss against Houston, it looks like the Bengal's season will come to a crashing end without making the playoffs.

The NFC is a lot of organized, if you will. San Francisco and Green Bay have already won their division's with New Orleans one way away and they are playing for the number one seed in the NFC.

Green Bay has the inside track to home field advantage as long as they are in the playoffs. San Francisco took a step back last week, losing to Arizona and they now lead New Orleans by just a game with three to play.

The 49ers will have a tough game next week when they host Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football. San Francisco wants to keep home field over the Saints.

For one thing, it will mean a week of rest for San Francisco. The top two teams in each league get byes in the first round of the playoffs. The 49ers were flying high just two weeks ago, but in their loss to Arizona San Francisco's lack of scoring punch did them in.

Somehow San Francisco is 12th in the NFL, scoring 23.1pts a game. The 49ers run the ball OK, bit their passing game leaves a lot to be desired. San Francisco is going to have to stop settling for field goals and get into the end zone to win in the playoffs.

Alex Smith has a great 15 touchdown, 5 interception performance so far this year, but he has been sacked a league high 39-times. Sacks are drive killers and they are part of the reason why San Francisco kicker David Akers leads the NFL in field goals with 39.

The 49ers rank near the bottom of the NFL in passing yards per game and their wide receiver's have the fewest touchdowns as a unit in the NFL this season.

The NFC East is still very much up for grabs. Dallas blew a chance to take command by losing to the New York Giants on Sunday night in ugly fashion. The Cowboys are in the midst of a two game losing streak and they find themselves at 7-6, the same as the Giants, but the G-Men hold the tie breaker.

The Eagles (5-8) still have faint hopes of making the post season, but a win by any one of a few teams and the Eagles are out.

What a wild week in the NFL as the season heats ups

San Diego bucking recent trend

The Chargers have been getting off to very slow starts the past few years. That is not the case in 2011 as the Chargers are 3-1 after beating the winless Miami Dolphins 26-16.

This is the best start for the Chargers under head coach Norv Turner in the five years he has led the Chargers. That could be bad news for the rest of the AFC West because San Diego has come back to win the division in each year.

Philip Rivers passed for 301-yards and a touchdown and San Diego's running game was held to just 116-yards rushing and a touchdown. It was not a pretty win, but you take them anyway you can get them in the NFL.

The Chargers can thank their field goal kicker, Nick Novak, for this one. Novak was signed after San Diego lost their pro bowl kicker, Nate Kaeding was lost for the season on the opening kickoff of the year.

Novak, an undrafted free agent out of Maryland, booted four field goals against Miami.

Green Bay still shining bright under QB Aaron Rogers

As good as he played the last two years it looks like the best is still yet to come from Green Bay's quarterback Aaron Rogers. Rogers has stepped his game up and the pack remain at the head of the class as they try to repeat as Super Bowl Champs.

Green Bay is off to a 4-0 start in 2011 and the play of Rogers is one reason why. Rogers was off the chains Sunday in the pack's 49-23 win over Denver. Rogers accounted for six touchdowns, four passing and two rushing.

Rogers added 408-yards passing as the Packers pulled away in the second half, out scoring Denver 21-6 after the break. Cornerback Charles Woodson had an interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter.

That tied him with Darren Sharper second place on the all time list with 11-interception returns for touchdowns. Woodson trails Rod Woodson (no relation) on the all time list.

Cincinnati is in good hands at quarterback

At 2-2 it is too early for Bengal's fans to but their playoff tickets, but they might want to start saving up for them. Cincinnati came back from 14pts down to shock the Buffalo Bills 23-20 at home Sunday.

Dalton played bad in the first half, but the rookie bounced back to throw for 116-yards, one touchdown passing and a rushing touchdown that tied the score at 20 late in the game.

Cincinnati seems to be in good hands for the next few years. Another rookie, wide receiver A.J. Green had 188-yard receiving in the victory.

The Bengal's gave Buffalo a taste of their own medicine. The Bills came back to beat the Raiders after spotting Oakland an 18pt lead and then the next week turned the trick against New England after falling behind by 21pts.

Lions continue to roar, improve to 4-0 in 2011

Offense, Defense, you name it and the Detroit Lions are winning with it. The 4-0 Lions, nobody has been able to say that since 1980, are fresh off their best win of the season, a 34-30 come from behind shocker that has everybody talking.

Down by 24pts in the second half the Lions returned two Tony Romo interception returns for touchdowns to get them back in the game. This was the second week in a row that Detroit has come back from as much as 20pts behind to win.

Many teams start fast only to fade in the second half, but the Lions have not started this fast in 30-years and any team that gets off to a 4-0 start has a hard time not making the playoffs.

A fluke, well only time will tell, but with the young talent the Lions have, a playoff season is in the making.

Already losing 17-3 at the half, Detroit gave up a touchdown on the Cowboy's opening drive of the second half. The Lions D picked this time to step up and they returned interceptions for touchdowns the next two times Dallas had the ball, turning a 27-3 blowout into a 27-17 contest.

The Lions would out score Dallas 17-3 the rest of the way, including 17-0 in the 4th quarter. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (240-yards passing, two TD's) hit wide receiver Calvin Johnson on two fourth quarter touchdown passes.

The last one came with 1:39 left in the contest sending the huge Cowboy's crowd home wondering if Romo will ever step up and lead the Cowboy's anywhere.

Johnson's two touchdowns tied him with Hall of Famer Chris Carter as the only two players in NFL history with two touchdown catches in four straight games.

Watch out for the Bills

Down 20pts to the high and mighty New England Patriots the 2-0 Buffalo Bills could have folded. That is what people were thinking. Yeah the Bills were 2-0, but who have they beat.

On top of that Brady and Co. were making it look easy, like a Super Bowl contender getting their season going against a pretender. The Bills have not done much the past few years, but now after coming back to beat New England the Bills are 3-0 and thinking what if.

Like, what if we keep winning and make the playoffs. What if we keep getting games like the one they got from tailback Fred Jackson against the Pats. Buffalo already knows what quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick can do.

The Bills are the highest scoring team in the NFL right now after beat the Pats 34-31 Sunday. For the second week in a row the Bills overcame a slow start and come back to win.

Last week against the Oakland Raiders Buffalo trailed 21-6 at the half. New England topped that going up 21-0 in the second quarter. Tom Brady threw for 387-yards and four Td's, and Wes Welker had 217-yards receiving and two touchdowns.

It was not enough thanks in part to Jackson who rushed for 74-yards and caught five passes for 84-yards. Fitzpatrick had a good game as well throwing for 369-yards, two touchdowns and two picks.

Buffalo's defense stepped up intercepting four Brady passes. Buffalo won the game when Rian Lindell hit a 28-yard field goal as time expired.

Detroit starting to make believers out of some

Green Bay is 3-0 and atop the NFC North, just like everybody thought they would be. They are not alone. The Detroit Lions are also 3-0 and they are starting to look like a team that is coming out of one of the worst stretch's in NFL history.

Just a few seasons ago they were 0-16 and going nowhere. Now the Lions have one of the best players at a couple of different positions and the talent is starting to show.

Young quarterback Matthew Stafford has shown flashes that he is a winner, the defensive line is in the good hands of the ferocious Ndamukong Suh who has taken the league by storm.

The young Lions are fresh off a 26-23 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings on the road. The Lions were going nowhere, losing 20-0 at the half. Both the offense (26 second half points) and the defense (they held the Vike's to just 3 after the break) stepped their game up in crunch time.

Stafford lit up the Minnesota defense for 378-yards passing and two touchdowns, both to wide receiver Calvin Johnson. He had to. The Lions rushed for only 20-yards against the Vikings.

It remains to be seen just how good Detroit is. People will not remember the 3-0 start if the Lions do not make the playoffs at the end of the year. The comeback against Minnesota might not be as impressive as it looks.

The Vikings have blown half time leads in each of their three games this season and they are 0-3 and in danger of being the first team eliminated from the playoff race in 2011.

Detroit is 3-0 for the first time since 1980. That's right. Cell phones were still only on Star Trek and the internet was still a dream. Dallas is up next for the Lions and after that it is Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Denver. Only one of those teams, San Francisco, is above .500.

Week two of the 2011 Pre season a eye opening for some

The Carolina Panthers liked what they saw out of top pick Cam Newton in his first action with the team in their 2011 pre season opener. Newton was 8 of 19 for 134-yards against the New York Giants and he showed flashes of why the Panthers used the #1 pick in the 2011 draft to get him.

Head coach Ron Rivera inserted Newton into the starting line up in Carolina's next game, against Miami and things did not go so well for Mr. Newton. The Dolphins showed Cam what life can be like in the NFL by shutting him down and jumping out to a 17-0 first half lead.

Newton played the entire first half and was 7 of 14 for 66-yards. He also ran a couple of times for 18-total yards. After engineering two long drives last week Newton got past midfield just once again Miami, one play before the half.

With Jimmy Claussen on board the Panthers have a nice young quarterback tandem. Claussen relieved Newton and moved the Panthers offense, putting up 10pts.

Reggie Bush had a nice home debut for his new team. Bush had 81-total yards from scrimmage in Miami's win against the Panthers. Reggie ran the ball eight times for 48-yards and he caught two passes out of the back field for 33-more yards.

What can you say about the New England Patriot's. It might still be pre season, but the way they sawed up Tampa Bay 31-14, the Pats look like they are ready for the regular season to start.

The first team went up 21-0 in the first quarter. Tom Brady was making it look easy, throwing two TD's in the first quarter. His second of the day was to Chad Ochocinco for eight yards.

Chad looks like will fit in fine. The Pats spread the ball around so much that it will keep Chad fresh for the long haul that the NFL season is. New England wants to win the Super Bowl and the names might change but the system remains.

As long as Bill Belichick is the head coach New England will be a factor. Having a QB like Brady does not hurt either. You can only go as far as you running game in the playoffs and the Pats will be counting on BenJarvis Green-Ellis to carry the bulk of the load this season.

Green-Ells rushed for 51-yards and two touchdowns against Tampa Bay.

Have the kick off really been a factor. Many players and coaches have complained about the NFL moving the kickoff up five yards to the 35-yard line. Kickers have been booming the bal six and seven yards deep in the end zone so far this pre season.

Teams were mad week one, but a funny thing happened in week two. Players started bring the ball out of the end zone instead of just downing the ball. Special teams need work two and i bet a number of teams told their guys to bring it out no matter what.

New Deal and a new year has the NFL back on track

It seemed like it took forever, but in the end only one meaningless pre season game (unless you are a rookie or free agent trying to make a team) was lost to a four month lockout induce by the leagues owners. Now with the new labor agreement signed off on everybody can get back to doing what they do best.

Play football.

Or if you are a fan, buy tickets and get that favorite jersey and start negotiating how much time you can spend watching football on the weekends with that special someone.

As expected there was a lot of movement once the lockout was lifted as teams began signing free agents left and right. There were a few surprises in the free agent frenzy. How about Terrell Owens heading up north to join New England or Donovan McNabb heading to Minnesota.

One such player was not happy with what went on once the lockout ended and promptly quit. Or did he ?

Randy Moss said he has given up the game he loves after 13-interesting years. Moss hit the scene has one of the most exciting players the league has ever seen, scoring 17-touchdowns his rookie season, helping the Vikings to a 15-1 season that ended one game short of the Super Bowl.

Re portly in great shape, Moss was not contacted by a team he wanted to go to and after enduring a season on which he was cut three times last year, randy is starting to see the writing on the wall. He is not seen as a game breaker any more.

If he was he would be on a team right now. Look at Terrell Owens. T. O. had a great first half last year and he was just the kind of vet New England was looking for in their push for another Super Bowl run.

Moss, on the other hand, struggled moving team to team, having the worst year of his career. Few expect moss to stay retired, but you never know. He appears to be walking away from the game healthy and recognized as one of the greatest ever. While he never won a Super Bowl, he did change the game.

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