Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was admittedly rusty at the start of 2008, prompting a myriad speculation that his career was beginning to end. There were more setbacks than usual, granted, but the outlook has looked a whole lot brighter with Manning throwing for 7 touchdowns and no interceptions during Indianapolis’ 3-game winning streak.

While Manning’s vital statistics - 61.3 percent completions, 9 interceptions, 86.6 rating, 6.8 yards per attempt - remain near career-low levels, the futility is weighted by a few minor blowups. Manning and the Colts have a favorable schedule down the stretch, especially against the pass with San Diego (No. 31 pass defense), Cleveland (No. 22) and Detroit (No. 23) among the team’s last six opponents. His struggles appear to be over. Read more »

Score one for the “average Joe”. The National Football League announced today that it will lower its ticket prices for some playoff games in the upcoming postseason. The move comes largely in part from the current economic slump the country faces; the league claims it wants to be “responsive to the economic challenges facing our fans.”

Well my friends, the league that can do no wrong has struck gold yet again. What better way to say “we care” than to lower single-game prices for the playoffs in what already is the most expensive ticket-price-per-fan league in the United States. Read more »

The NFL is preparing for Week 11 as the weekend approaches. Festivities will, for the second straight week, be kicked off a little early with the NFL network’s broadcast of the Jets-Patriots contest on Thursday.

Besides the usual division rivalry/Man-genius vs. Belichick/student vs. master plot lines billed for this game, the comeback angle is now in play as well. As is the case with a few other games this week, the Thursday nighter will allow a former impact player to return to prominence in 2008. Read more »

This could’ve been the year for so many teams out in the west.

It was one more chance for Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren to gracefully ride off into the sunset after a playoff appearance. It was a fresh start for Raiders coach Lane Kiffin who acquired college sensation Darren McFadden in the draft. It was Mike Nolan’s time to finally get his 49ers over .500 and back to glory.

This list goes on and on for almost all eight of our teams in this focus (Arizona, Denver, Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis). Yet the sad reality is that, although the talent level may not have dropped, the efficiency in winning games has fallen substantially. Read more »

CB DeAngelo Hall’s short career as an Oakland Raider is over.

After managing to survive only eight regular season games in the Bay Area, Hall was released from the organization Wednesday morning. Yet as shocking as this cost-cutting move seems to the media, it does not appear to be as stunning to either the Raiders or Hall.

The former pro-bowl cornerback is one of many who have played way under Oakland’s expectations, especially when considering the team basically backing dump trucks full of cash onto the front lawns of numerous free agents. Hall’s deal in the offseason was a seven-year; $70 million contract to become a Raider, joining a team that was 4-12 only a season ago. Read more »

It was nearly a decade ago when avid NFL followers bared witness to one of the most high-powered and unstoppable duos the league has ever seen. Randy Moss, a young kid out of Marshall with the 6-foot-4 inch stature and blazing 40 speed, and Daunte Culpepper, a towering quarterback with a good track record of team loyalty, self-discipline, and a cannon for an arm. The Vikings organization put the two in the same offense to start the 2000 season and awed the football world.

For the next five seasons, Culpepper and Moss were perennial picks in the first round of nearly every fantasy league. Culpepper threw for 129 touchdowns by the end of the 2004 season, and Moss was on the receiving end of 72 scores of his own. Read more »

Patriots fans and many fantasy owners saw their hopes and dreams for 2008 quickly erased as Tom Brady went down for the season in the first quarter of Week 1. Now, over two months later, those same Pats fans and the collective fantasy world are looking at the sincere possibility of having to limp through another season without New England’s golden boy.

Since having his knee repaired after the injury, it is speculated that Brady has undergone more surgeries due to the knee becoming infected. The Boston Herald reported that, “the fear is the patellar tendon graft used to replace Brady’s anterior cruciate ligament is in danger of becoming compromised.” If this does indeed become reality, the process of repairing his knee would go back to square one and his ‘09 season would be in serious jeopardy. Read more »

The scene in San Francisco may appear utterly hopeless. Any chances of turning around this 2008 NFL regular season seemed to go out the window for a 49ers team which, after losing their fourth straight, seems to be headed deep into yet another meaningless, empty year.

Head coach Mike Nolan frequently spoke of change and restoring the glory days in the Bay Area and for three and a half seasons roamed the 49ers sideline while the team fell apart on the field. Despite his best efforts, including bending the NFL’s dress policy so that he could wear a custom suit during home games, Nolan never translated his convictions into the team’s weekly performance.

And so the criticisms continued; not just towards Nolan, but for seemingly questionable ownership of the team under John York, who didn’t earn the job but rather was given it when Eddie DeBartolo bolted. The change in team management has clearly been evident: from 1992 to 2002, the 49ers missed the playoffs only twice; since 2003, the team has not even once tasted the postseason. Read more »

Kellen Winslow felt like the Browns treated him “like a piece of meat.” So, he started treating the organization like a piece of something slightly more repulsive. And for his barrage of criticism through the media, Winslow was suspended without pay for this weekend’s tilt at Jacksonville, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

As the story goes, the organization wished to keep Winslow’s staph infection private, which it did. Winslow released those details after Sunday’s game in Washington and also voiced his displeasure with the team and general manager Phil Savage. His honesty drew a $235,294 slap on the wrist on Tuesday, as he will miss out on a full game check.

There are always details to these stories left outside of the public eye, so we will never have a firm grasp on the situation. Read more »

The NFL season is more than one-third complete and its been an exciting six weeks. Now that we have a relatively decent grasp on what’s occurred and what to expect for the rest of the ‘08 campaign I thought it would be a good time to sit back, analyze some results and talk about the immediate future of the NFL. Read more »