To NFL Fans: Now that another remarkable NFL season has concluded, let me express my gratitude on behalf of all 32 NFL teams for your incredible support. Record numbers of you watched at home, made your way to the stadium, and connected with the NFL in numerous other ways during the 2011 season. Your love of football is what makes the NFL special. We are proud of the quality of the game today. From the individuals and team skills on display in every game to the record-breaking achievements of future Hall of Famers, the 2011 season was extraordinary on many levels. It finished up with some of the most exciting playoff games of recent years leading to a tense, drama-filled Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that was the most-watched show in the history of television. What a tribute to our players, coaches, and fans! As good as it’s been, I believe the NFL’s best days are ahead. Our responsibility in leading the league is to protect and enhance the bond between ...

There were problems with this year’s Patriots team.  There’s no doubting that.  They struggled on defense throughout the entire regular season.  New England’s running game never developed into the reliable balance to the pass that they must have hoped for.  Rob Gronkowski wasn’t able to play at full strength in the Super Bowl and it made a huge difference. Too bad none of that really matters.  Throw it all out.  What matters is that the Patriots, on Sunday night, were not a particularly lucky team.  What matters is that the Giants stepped up when very few teams are capable of stepping up.  What matters, more or less, is that the Patriots lost because sometimes football teams just lose. Don’t blame Tom Brady for not having a fantastic game.  Patriot fans are spoiled by Brady.  Tom Brady on an “off night” is still a better option than some really good quarterbacks.  Even Rocky Balboa lost a...

The Ravens will play six divisional games in 2012 as part of their traditional home and away matchups against their AFC North rivals. The Ravens will also be paired up against the AFC West in 2012 and as the AFC North Champion, they will tee it up against the other divisional champions in the AFC This past season the Ravens took the field against the NFC West traveling to Seattle and St. Louis to face the Seahawks and Rams while hosting the Cardinals and of course the 49ers in Thanksgiving’s Harbaugh Bowl. In 2012 the seasonal rotation pits the Ravens against the NFC East, hosting the World Champion Giants and the Dallas Cowboys while traveling I-95 to Philadelphia and DC. Here’s a snapshot of the scheduled opponents with specific dates and times to be announced in April. Home Away  Cincinnati Bengals Cincinnati Bengals  Cleveland Browns  Cleveland Browns  Pittsburgh Steelers  Pittsburgh Steelers  Ne...

When I was a kid, one of my favorite comic book series was Marvel Comics’ “What If…”.  They’d take pivotal moments in Spider-Man or Captain America’s adventures and do a single issue about what would have happened if it had gone a little different.  Looking at the match-up for today’s Super Bowl, and how extremely close we came to having a Baltimore / New York championship, I have to wonder… What If… Lee Evans had made the catch? Looking at a potential Giants vs. Ravens Super Bowl, it’s amazing how evenly matched these teams really are when considering the stats: Giants Offense: 9th in points, 8th in yards (5th passing, 32nd rushing) Ravens Offense: 12th in points, 15th in yards (19th passing, 10th rushing) Giants Defense: 25th in points, 27th in yards (29th passing, 19th rushing) Ravens Defense: 3rd in points, 3rd in yards (4th passing, 2nd rushing) So if you look at it from those stats it’s the perfe...

Not to brag, but it’s a good thing that no player who spent most of his career with the Redskins is a Hall of Fame finalist this year. That’s because for the first time since I was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee in 2005, yours truly won’t be in the room to argue the case for the former members of the burgundy and gold. The room is a hotel conference room where the selectors will gather early this morning in Indianapolis and begin debating whether the 15 finalists and the two senior nominees deserve to be part of the Hall’s Class of 2012. The process usually takes six to seven hours, including a lunch break. I’ve been in the room when we’ve debated a single candidate for up to 45 minutes. It’s in the room where minds are changed. I went into the room for the first time planning on voting for Ray Guy, whom I had always considered the best punter ever. I was convinced otherwise that day. The opposite happened two yea...

You just have to love how the media is reporting how pleasant things are for them in Indianapolis this week as they engage in massive overkill coverage of Super Bowl XLVI. You can tell that these guys aren’t the ones who had to go to Kentucky to get a room 90 minutes away. And they are definitely not the ones footing the bill for a minimum four night stay at the La Quinta hotel for $1,975/night in lovely, rainy (this weekend) downtown Indianapolis. This same hotel charges $74/night most days. Indianapolis? Woo-hoo! Those concerned about New Orleans (a city that actually has appeal on many levels) really gouging fans next year, don’t be! The New Orleans Chamber of Commerce probably understands the game will return to the Big Easy. For Indy, it’s one and done (hopefully). One fan wrote in to say that a friend of his saves $500/year for the Super Bowl and doesn’t touch it until his team makes it to the big NFL show. If only Browns had done the same, many coul...

A lot of talk has started this off-season about Jon Gruden being looked at to take up one of the many open head coaching positions.  I for one, truly hope he gets a job too.  Is it because I respect him as a coach, and think that the NFL is a poorer place without him on the sidelines? Nope.  Is it because I think he’d do a great job, and am harboring a secret love for one of the coach-less teams, and think if he gets hired it’ll return that team to prominence? Hell no.  No, the reason is much more simple and selfish than that.  I don’t think I can take him calling MNF games for another season.  I’m old-school when it comes to the color commentary. I miss John Madden.  Yes, he had a man-crush on Brett Favre that occasionally bordered on the pornographic (good thing sexting wasn’t in vogue back then).  Yes, he wasn’t the smartest man in the world.  And yes, at times I wanted to fly to wherever the game...

I was playing monopoly the other day with a few friends, and one from our group volunteered to be the banker.  Now, there are only two types of people who actively want to be the banker.  The first type is what I like to call “The Whistleless Cop” He’s paranoid, and wants to make sure everything is on the up and up in every way.  The second type, and as it happens the type of this particular friend, is what I call “The Belichick”.  He’s also paranoid, but only because he’s grasping for any advantage, legitimate or not, because he’s not playing for fun, or even to win, he’s playing to make sure everyone else loses.   You know the type, he’s in every group of friends, every locker room, every class, every office, and on every job site.  I don’t know about you, but I hate that type of guy.  (And yes, for some reason it always seems to be a guy.)  The worst part is, he always ...

It was an AFC divisional playoff game in 2002—exactly ten football seasons ago now—and we know the game by a number of nicknames.  Raiders fans often call it “the Snow Job,” while Patriots fans will usually call it the “Snow Bowl.”  Just about everybody else knows the last game in Foxboro Stadium as “the Tuck Rule Game.”  To me, none of these nicknames really suit what happened on that Saturday night (yep, same time as this Saturday’s game just across the street at Gillette).  I think a more appropriate name for it would be The Vinatieri Game.  We tend to forget just how that game was won, regardless of the team we support.  Here’s my version:  after a controversial (but in many ways routine) replay review that overturned a Tom Brady fumble, Adam Vinatieri stood around the 38 yard line and knocked home one of the most unbelievable field goals the league has ever seen.  (“On a 4...

Let’s face it: the Pro Bowl is nothing more than a popularity contest. The Pro Bowl is not about showcasing the NFL’s best talent in an exhibition game; it’s about interrupting NFL players from their Hawaiian vacation to watch them play a few series. How can the most profitable sport in the world have such a horrible All-Star event? Starting in 2010, the NFL experimented with changing the location and date of the Pro Bowl.  Even though they were trying to fix the problem, it made the game even more unattractive because Super Bowl players can no longer play in the game. The only good idea was to move the game to the Super Bowl location and create a more attractive Super Bowl week and drive up revenues for the home city as well as the NFL. Even though it was a good idea, the league quickly changed their mind after the complaints of millionaire players voicing their opinions to selfishly keep the game in Hawaii (for strictly vacation purposes). Regardless of ...