NFC East Battle for the Division Title

It would be hard to argue that the NFC East division isn’t the toughest division in the NFL today.

Every single season there are three teams in the NFC East division that could easily be Super Bowl title contenders and at the start of this season, that was exactly the case as the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants were getting hyped up as teams to beat in the NFC.

Coming into week 17, the New York Giants have fallen off after recent losses, but both the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles have clinched playoff berths and will face off in yet another head to head battle at the end of the regular season for the NFC East division title.

As of right now, online betting sites have the Dallas Cowboys favored with -3 point spread. This game will be an absolute battle in my opinion as the Cowboys will be looking to finally top the Eagles in a big game. Not only will Dallas be trying to prove they can play with anyone in the playoffs with a win over Philly, but this game will be huge for quarterback Tony Romo more than anyone as he has consistently played terrible in big games like this.

Obviously, both of these teams are moving to the playoffs regardless of the outcome of this game, but the momentum shift with a victory for the Dallas Cowboys or the Philadelphia Eagles as they try and make their way towards a Super Bowl appearance.

Personally, I believe this is the Dallas Cowboys time to shine and the result of this game could have huge implications and what is to come for Tony Romo and company.

Larry Johnson is Done in Kansas City

It is about time the Kansas City Chiefs said enough is enough and it was time to cut their ties with troubled running back Larry Johnson.

Not all that long ago the Kansas City Chiefs absolutely loved Johnson because he was basically the entire offense as he was as good as any running back in the league, but after his impressive season in 2006 his numbers started to decline and his ego started to emerge as he constantly caused problems for arguably one of the worst teams in the NFL.

These two backs could change a game’s outcome all by themselves as both players were the core of the offenses in San Diego and Kansas City. Despite the big numbers by LJ he didn’t really improve the Chiefs record as the Chiefs were rarely involved in the AFC playoff picture because even though LJ could have two or more TDs a game, Kansas City still struggled to get wins on a consistent basis.

Back in 2006 when people talked about who was the best running back in the league two names came to mind first in the San Diego Chargers versatile scoring machine LaDainian Tomlinson and the Kansas City Chiefs Larry Johnson. Both these backs lit up the scoreboards on a weekly basis, but over time LT keep producing and LJ slipped into mediocrity.

With LJ’s declining numbers the once superstar running back turned from Pro Bowler to virtually nonexistent in the Kansas City offense.

Coming into this season the Chiefs had some light at the end of tunnel with the addition of Matt Cassel who had an amazing season filling in for Tom Brady last season in New England. Cassel was traded to Kansas City and immediately signed a huge contract keeping the young quarterback in Chiefs uniform for the next six seasons.

With Cassel behind center things were starting to look up as the Chiefs finally had the franchise quarterback they desperately wanted. Unfortunately, the addition of Cassel hasn’t resulted in wins as Kansas City has only won one of their first eight games of the season.

It may be a disappointing season for the Chiefs, but after releasing running back Larry Johnson they may have gotten rid of the biggest distraction on the team and can now look forward to a promising future and possibly a promising running back in the next draft.

Quarterback Frenzy: Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Brett Favre Go Off in Week 6

When you think of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL today usually these names come up: Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner and Brett Favre

Well, in week six these three quarterbacks Brady, Favre and Brees showed why they are three of the best quarterbacks in the league as they combined for 13 touchdown passes on Sunday.

Drew Brees had arguably the toughest challenge of the week between all three of these quarterbacks as he led his undefeated New Orleans Saints against the undefeated New York Giants. The Giants came into this game with the best defense in the NFL, but even though they were considered the best defense before this game they definitely won’t be after week six.

Brees has been tearing apart opposing defenses in his first four games, but his performance in week six may have top them all as he threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Brees did throw for six touchdown passes in week one against the Detroit Lions, but honestly that is not even as close to as impressive as tearing up arguably the best defense in the NFL in the New York Giants.

Believe it or not, Brees’ unbelievable performance against the Giants wasn’t the best game by a quarterback this week as Tom Brady had another career game against the Tennessee Titans where he threw for five touchdowns in one quarter, six touchdowns total and 380 yards passing in just three quarters. Oh, did I mention he did all of this while it was snowing at Foxboro?

Pretty remarkable! I guess we can say that Brady is officially back to form and Patriots fans out there are cashing in thanks to his outstanding performance!

Then we come to Brett Favre who had another memorable performance as he led his undefeated Minnesota Vikings to victory over the resilient Baltimore Ravens who refused to die on Sunday in Minnesota. Favre play brilliantly all game long as he finished with 278 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions to keep his new team undefeated at 6-0 on the season!

NFL Trade: Braylon Edwards Traded to New York Jets

There has been no team worse than the Cleveland Browns this season in the NFL and as a result of their disappointing start to the season (0-4) head coach Eric Mangini has decided to trim the fat and trade struggling wide receiver Braylon Edwards to the New York Jets.

The Browns are down in the dumps right now and honestly no matter what move they make this season I believe this season is lost for Cleveland. Both Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson can’t seem to get it done, their defense is awful and after just four games the season is quickly turning into a disaster.

At one point in time, about two years ago, Braylon Edwards was one of the best wide receivers in the NFL and the go to guy in Cleveland for quarterback Derek Anderson. Times have changed since his breakout year in though as he has just not been able to get it going the way he did in 2007. Instead of hearing about Edwards putting up 100 yard games and catching touchdown passes all you seem to hear is that he drops passes and is no longer a prime time receiver in this league.

Even though Edwards had no real impact on the Browns this season, he could potentially be huge for the New York Jets and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez who hasn’t really had a down field threat in his passing game this season.

The Jets will almost certainly be much improved with the addition of Edwards if he can turn it around, but the Browns will most likely continue to struggle as they try to find the right pieces to the puzzle and get some consistency at the quarterback position.

In return for Braylon Edwards the Cleveland Browns will get wide receiver Chansi Stuckey, special teams player Jason Trusnik and a couple of draft picks.

NFL Injury Update: Chad Pennington Out for the Season

The game of football is not a gentle one, matter of fact next to hockey it is arguably the roughest sport of them all that is played professional in the United States and no matter how hard players try to prevent it injuries are enevitable and just part of the game.

In week one of the new NFL season only one really big name went down for the season in the Chicago Bears superstar linebacker Brian Urlacher. That was a major blow to the Bears defense in which they may not be able to recover on the defensive side of the football. The offense, although not dominant, is starting to click with new starting quarterback Jay Cutler behind center, but the defense will never be as good as it is without Urlacher staring down opposing quarterbacks.

In week two there were a few players that sustained a few bumps and bruises like the San Diego Chargers star running LaDainian Tomlinson who had to watch from the bench against the loss to the Baltimore Ravens after suffering an ankle sprain against the Oakland Raiders in the previous week. The injury is still taking it’s toll on LT as he had to sit out week three as well against the Miami Dolphins and his status for next week is still uncertain.

Week three was not immune to the injury bug as it struck hard against the Miami Dolphins who have lost their starting quarterback Chad Pennington for the rest of the season. Pennington’s status for the rest of the season still has a little hope as he is looking at getting another opinion on his injured shoulder, but the rest will most likely be the same.

It has been a rough few weeks for the Dolphins to open the season as they have dropped three straight in games they could have won. Against the Falcons in week one the Dolphins struggled to reach the endzone scoring only one touchdown, but they started to make in the fourth quarter and came up short.

When the Dolphins took on the Colts in week two the wildcat offense was running to perfection and Indianapolis had no answer for it as Miami racked up about 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but Manning’s late game heroics were too much for the Dolphins as he finished the fins off with a touchdown pass with a little over three minutes to go.

Week three was more of the same with 130 yards on the ground and one rushing touchdown, but Phillip Rivers was just a little too much for Miami to handle as he threw for 303 yards and had a rushing touchdown of his own to seal the 23-13 win over the Dolphins.

As if going 0-3 to start the season wasn’t bad enough for Miami they will now have to deal without Chad Pennington behind center who has been able to keep this offense kicking and has been more than willing to sit on the sidelines to watch the Wildcat offense go to work. Chad Henne will take over for the time being, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the versatile rookie Pat White from West Virginia get some more playing time and possibly be the Dolphins permanent starter at the end of the season.