NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Why should this have even been a game? What is it that could get the Chiefs to play so good at the end of the year when they have so little to play for?

KC took the early 17 - 7 lead in the first half, but the Bronco’s came back to take the lead and then made a goal line stand to hold it.

The Broncos finally found a way to win at home Sunday, rallying past Kansas City 24-17, but they lost their sixth tailback when bulldozing rookie Peyton Hillis went down with a strained right hamstring.

Bell came in and helped the Broncos (8-5) snap a three-game losing skid at home by rumbling for 52 yards on 11 carries, including a crucial 28-yard run on Denver’s game-winning, 95-yard touchdown drive.

Cornerback Dre’ Bly then stuffed Kansas City quarterback Tyler Thigpen a yard shy of the end zone on fourth-and-goal to seal the Broncos’ first win at home since Oct 5 and atone for their lopsided loss to the Chiefs (2-11) in September.
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Denver loses another running back and yet still has a three game lead on the underperforming San Diego Chargers.

What is it about division games? The Chiefs have only two victories and wouldn’t you know it, one of them is against the Chiefs. Can you even name one player beyond Larry Johnson? Division games bring you two teams that just seem to know each other to well.

Denver is playing for the Division title. They should have romped, not struggled.

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This is the part of Fantasy Football that is just so hard to take.

Tyler “who” Thigpen scored more Fantasy Football points than Jay Cutler. Thigpen threw for 2 TDs and Cutler could only manage 1 against the meager Falcon defense.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Tyler plays for Kansas City. You remember, the Chiefs, former kind of good team and now 1 -9 fighting for the number one pick of the draft.

My Fantasy team goes down in flames.

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Tom Brady walked away without the Power Rankings

Oh what a great day. Not that Tom Brady getting hurt is a good thing. Injuries never are.

But to see the Patriots drop out of the top spot of the Power Rankings is almost as good as seeing them lose to some team like the New York Giants. Oh, that’s right, they did that already. Well, this day just gets better and better.

And as for Matt Cassel, well, give me a break. Who is this guy anyway?

The Cowboys are now listed as number one and that makes Tony Romo the man. Just ask Jessica Simpson.

1 DALLAS COWBOYS Last rank: T2 Total points: 378

Notes: Week 1 rarity: A preseason favorite that looked good. (Seven first-place votes)

2 N.Y. GIANTS Last rank: 4 Total points: 368

Notes: After new deal for Plax, will champs’ distractions subside? (Five first-place votes.)

3 PITTSBURGH STEELERS Last rank: 8 Total points: 345

Notes: Willie Parker won’t yield to Rashard Mendenhall anytime soon.

4 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS Last rank: 1 Total points: 309

Notes: Disaster strikes. Can Pats salvage playoffs without Tom Brady?
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The Giants living off of last year’s glory are holding onto the number two spot. Will that last? Hmm, have my doubts.

The Steelers are back in the playoff picture and holding onto the number 3 spot. Again a precarious position.

My Lions, hold your breath, tied for 30th with the Kansas City Squaws, just edging out the St. Louis Billy Goats. After the pasting they took from the Falcons, they are lucky to still be in the league.

Photo source Newscom

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Tom Brady walks off with knee injury. There was no further update

Is it easy to be a Patriot fan or what?

Tom Brady hurts his knee and leaves the game and they still win the game 17 - 10 over Kansas City.

The Patriots have been lucky that Brady has not been hurt more often. Most quarterbacks are…

Tom Brady has started 128 consecutive games, which, frankly, is beyond fortunate. No one knows today when he will start the next one because the greatest fear of every Patriots fan - not to mention the owner, the coach, and Brady’s teammates - was realized in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium when the whistle blew and Brady failed to get up.

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In marches Matt Cassel and leads the Patriots to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs and helps Randy Moss secure his place in the NFL list of great receivers.

Cassel was impressive on his first possession, starting at his 2. With a third down at the 1, he threw a 51-yard completion to Moss.

“We had them deep into their territory,” defensive tackle Glen Dorsey said, “but they made a good play.”

Eight plays later, Cassel and Moss hooked up for a 10-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

It was Moss’ 126th touchdown, tying Jim Brown for eighth most overall, and 125th on a reception, tying him for fourth in NFL history.

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Yeah, the fans were hurting, but as you can see it is easy to be a Patriots fan. They rarely feel any pain.

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Chiefs

Pete Prisco of CBS Sports.com found KC to be a big winner in the 2008 NFL draft.

The Chiefs’ draft started with defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey and offensive tackle Branden Albert in the first round and they continued right through the draft. Even sixth-round pick Kevin Robinson, a return man from Utah State, could be an immediate contributor.

From start to finish, the Chiefs cashed in big. That’s why they get the only premium grade in this report card.

Kansas City Chiefs

Best pick: They saw Dorsey fall to them with the fifth pick. He was the top player on half the boards in the league.

Questionable move: I like Texas running back Jamaal Charles, but do the Chiefs really need to be using a third-round pick on a back with Larry Johnson on the roster?

Second-day gem: Sixth-round pick Barry Richardson, a tackle out of Clemson, is massive (6-7, 338) and was once considered a first-day possibility.

Overall grade: A+. They had a lot of picks and used them well. Good thing, too. They need a lot of help.

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Redskins

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports graded the draft for the NFC.

Washington came out a winner.

Washington Redskins
Picks: WR Devin Thomas, TE Fred Davis, WR Malcolm Kelly, OL Chad Rinehart, DB Justin Tryon, P Durant Brooks, DB Kareem Moore, QB Colt Brennan, DL Rob Jackson, DB Chris Horton
Positives: Thomas, Davis, Kelly, Brooks
Negative: Defensive end not addressed until the seventh round.
Bottom line:A. Ten overall picks with lots of potential from top to bottom. The two wideouts slipped a little and could all end up providing great value. Thomas and Kelly could develop into quality big targets, and an AFC scout told Yahoo! Sports in February that Davis was the best overall talent at tight end in this draft. The punter need was addressed with the best one the college game had to offer in Brooks. Brennan is an intriguing pick late in the sixth round. A lot of potential starters in this draft.
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Too bad there is no trophy for the draft victory.

Even worse is the fact that no one really knows what will happen with all these picks for a couple of years.

NFL Football special comment It feels good if your team is a draft winner, but it feels better if they win in the regular season.

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It was such a strange and long Saturday.

2008 NFL Draft day

Only 3 hours for round 1. Last year the NFL draft was over in 6 hours. No receivers taken in the first round. How odd. The fast guys must slow the draft down.

Jake Long

Jake Long officially became a Miami Dolphin. The first draft pick in 2008 for the NFL by Bill Parcells. Big Tuna could not get rid of the pick, so he overpaid a very good young tackle to the tune of 58 million bucks for 6 years. 30 mill guaranteed. 6 years of no playoffs for the Dolphins, but at least they have a tackle.

Jake Long - an even bigger Tuna

Image details: 2008 NFL Draft served by picapp.com

Pacman - Ride ‘em Cowboy

Pacman is a Cowboy. It is official. Will Pacman even make the field is another question. The trade itself was very complicated.

The deal was agreed to in principle Wednesday. Then came all a convoluted series of talks between both teams, Pacman, the league and the union, a back-and-forth, forth-and-back series that team vice president Stephen Jones called the most complicated in his nearly 20 years in the league.

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Brett Favre is gone

Brett Favre was placed on the Packer reserved retired list and no longer counts as part of their roster. It is so hard to imagine playing the Packers and not seeing Brett Favre slinging the ball around.

Detroit Lions had to pull something

Too gun shy Read more

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Stealing a look at the USA Today Mock NFL Draft that involves 6 USA Today writers and 2 writers from NFLDraftScout.com, we can count which player is picked the most for each team and thus figure out the draft. Well, sort of anyway.

Today there is also going to be a comparison of Matt Ryan and Brian Brohm, the top two quarterbacks in the NFL draft.

My comments are in italics.

Here we go.

1. Miami Dolphins - Jake Long T, UM. 8 votes.
Stayed at UM to get a National Championship, but was denied when Hart and Henne suffered various injuries.

2. St. Louis Rams - Chris Long DE, Virginia. 7 votes.
Rams need defense bad.

3. Atlanta Falcons - Glenn Dorsey DT, LSU. 7 votes.
Falcons need everything bad.

4. Oakland Raiders - Vernon Gholston, LB/DE, Ohio State. 5 votes.
Nobody really wants to be a Raider anymore. It is sad.

5. Kansas City Chiefs - Ryan Clady T, Boise State. 3 votes.
Johnson needs a tackle for his 500 run attempts per game.

6. New York Jets - Darren McFadden RB, Arkansas. 5 votes.
Guess Thomas Jones and Leon Washington are just not getting it done. Jones had over 1,000 yards, but only 1 rushing TD.

7. New England Patriots - Leodis McKelvin CB, Troy. 3 votes.
Like the Pats needed a 7th pick anyway.

8. Baltimore Ravens - Matt Ryan QB, Boston College. 6 votes.
Not that McNair has retired, this is a perfect scenario for the young Matt Ryan to compete for the starting job.

Matt Ryan vs. Brian Brohm

Is Matt Ryan better than Brian Brohm because of all the extra brains up in his helmet?

Image details: ACC Championship - Virginia Tech v Boston College served by picapp.com

First we need to look at some stats. Read more

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The hot rumor revolves around the Raiders at pick number 4.

At a time when many league observers believe that the Oakland Raiders won’t be able to resist the 4.33 speed of running back Darren McFadden with the fourth overall pick in the draft, a league source tells us that there are “strong indications” that the Raiders will select Ohio State linebacker/defensive end Vernon Gholston according to Profootballtalk.com

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Vernon Gholston to the Raiders?

Image details: Ohio State Buckeyes v Washington Huskies served by picapp.com

Still McFadden is hard to resist. Gholston would be a better long term build.

Meanwhile in Miami

Big Tuna is making a move or is he?

Parcells and the Miami Dolphins have begun contract negotiations with the agent for potential top draft pick Jake Long, a person familiar with the talks said Thursday. The person did not want to be identified because the Dolphins have been coy about their plans for the No. 1 pick.

Negotiations with Long’s agent, Tom Condon, don’t necessarily mean Miami has ruled out other prospects. The new Dolphins regime, led by Parcells, could use the talks to increase contract leverage with other potential picks.

The Dolphins also are interested in trading the No. 1 pick, but so far no suitors have surfaced.

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Miami is so far from winning that Jake Long would be a good solid pick for years to come. My guess is that Miami wants to trade down to get additional players.

Baltimore Ravens

Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens need a QB. Matt Ryan is there for the taking if they can move up or get lucky.

In reality, the Ravens really only need to worry about three franchises: the Miami Dolphins (first overall pick), Atlanta Falcons (third) and Kansas City Chiefs (fifth). Everyone else currently ahead of the Ravens appears fixed on other areas, and the quarterback-needy teams behind Baltimore don’t appear to have enough ammunition to move up. And regarding the Ravens’ troublesome trio, there have been encouraging signs in recent days.

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It has already been mentioned that Miami is looking at Jake Long, or even Chris Long. Atlanta is looking real hard at defensive tackle Glen Dorsey, and the Chiefs are looking at everyone, so Baltimore could sit still and get lucky.

It is all a jumble right now and teams keep positioning themselves for the draft.

Right now Miami holds the key.

NFL Football special comment Linemen are needed to build a team. So why are skill players so irresistible?

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Matt Ryan showing off his passing against my Michigan State University Spartans

Matt Ryan of Boston College had his workout day and it was good.

You mean great, right?

No, good. It was ok. Nothing really went wrong.

You mean that it sucks then, right?

No, you are not listening. It went well. Keep in mind, there is only one quarterback to evaluate for the top of the heap and it is Matt Ryan. So, good is good.

“I don’t think he slips (in the draft),” Minnesota Vikings vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman said. “He finds his wide receivers down the field. If there is anything lacking in arm strength – and I think he has enough arm strength – he knows where to go with the ball.”

Spielman was one of 42 representatives from 22 teams in attendance Sunday. But the group lacked star power, with only one head coach – Kansas City’s Herm Edwards – in attendance. The Chiefs’ Carl Peterson also was the only general manager in attendance, along with Kansas City offensive coordinator Chan Gailey and quarterbacks coach Dick Curl.
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It was like being introduced at the Prom and being afraid to fall down. Matt completed 48 of 52 passes.

When it was over, Ryan’s performance Tuesday seemed to dovetail relatively well with his scouting report: an adequate arm and the ability to make all the throws the NFL will demand, but with a ball that is not always perfectly clean. Many of Ryan’s passes had some wobble to them, which can be caused by gripping the football too tight at the release point and is considered correctable with coaching. At times his receivers had to wait a slight tick to let the ball catch up to them, and a few passes didn’t have perfect placement. But overall, there didn’t appear to be any glaring gaffes in the workout.

Seemed suspicious that Miami, Atlanta and Baltimore hardly had anyone there. They all need quarterbacks real bad! KC was there and along with the other four will probably invite Matt in for individual workouts.

Wow, this is getting nerve wracking!

NFL Football Fan question Which team will take Matt Ryan?

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Odd, most of the time Larry carries the Chiefs with his carries, but it appears that the Chiefs are carrying Larry

Larry Johnson set an NFL record for carries last year with 416. Larry did this while the Chiefs were struggling with their offensive line and their quarterback was knocked out for almost half the season with a severe concussion.

The result was a stellar 1789 yards and 17 touchdowns. (Squibster full disclosure - Last year Larry was the top dog of my Fantasy Football Team)

Now those were rough circumstances and the Chiefs were still able to make the playoffs. Larry put the team on his back and they rode him home.

The dream ended in the first round of the playoffs, yet Larry knew he would be rewarded. Read more