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I hardly paid attention to the NFL this year - not sure how much Brady's injury had to do with that - and when the Bears blew it and the Pats were denied on the last weekend, I said to my wife, what am I going to do during the playoffs? Just root against the Dolphins and the Mannings until they are eliminated or win it all?

So I have to say I was quite pleased by the results this weekend. The Dolphins embarrassed at home; one Manning out in the first round; I wanted to see Minny eliminated since they were lucky to get in ahead of the Bears; and after so many years of incompetence, wouldn't it be something if the Cards get on a roll?

I just may pay attention for the rest of January.

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Cowboys cut Pacman Jones today.

Supposedly new info has come to light about his involvement in ANOTHER shooting back in the summer of 2007.

Apparently the league didn't have the information, nor did the Cowboys when they signed him earlier this year, so I don't think they'll be penalized. Jones may end up out of the league permanently, depending on how this evolves.

Either way, he didn't contribute very much to the Cowboys overall on defense or special teams - certainly not like his on-field reputation suggested coming in.

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I can't believe Pacman ever made it back INTO the league in the first place...how many shootings, altercations, strip clubs and other various things do you have to be involved in? Jerry Jones really needs to concentrate on building some team chemistry instead of trying to sign those quick fix band-aid players.

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Jones may end up out of the league permanently, depending on how this evolves.

I was SO hoping you were referring to Jerry here.

You know he'll bring Pacman back. He'll figure out some way. He's Jerry Jones, and he never gives up on anyone, seeing as he's never met a reclamation project he didn't like.

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Some strange happenings on the NFL coaching merry-go-round: Eric Mangini, fired by the Jets, immediately gets hired by the Browns, despite the team not yet having a GM in place (presumably Mangini was apprised of an impending GM deal). This has negative implications for Favre's Jet future and "legacy" (such as they may be...).

Meanwhile, Boston College warned head coach Jagodzinski that he'd be fired if he interviewed for the Jets job. He went ahead and interviewed anyway, and was promptly fired!

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i'd like to see McNabb win a superbowl ring

You and me both!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate way that people are always ragging on him. If he had the same supporting cast as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, he would be a hall of famer too.

I agree, which in itself pains me because as a Giants fan I have to root against the Eagles. So I want McNabb to win the Super Bowl but not the Eagles. Division rivalries make it hard to practice individual compassion.

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Interesting article from ProFootball talk. I'm convinced that the Patriots finished only 11-5 this season and missed the playoffs owing to a record 15+ players placed on injury reserve and others who were not on IR but were too injured to play.

NO EXCUSES FOR INJURIES

Posted by Mike Florio on January 10, 2009, 8:36 a.m.

From Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News comes an article that should be required reading for everyone who follows the NFL.

Not enough of us consider the impact of injuries on the overall performance of a team, and on the assessment of the achievements of a given team based upon health or a lack thereof.

Case in point: The starters for the 2008 Ravens missed 64 games due to injury, the fourth highest amount in the league.

On defense, the starters were gone for 46 games.

And yet the Ravens went 11-5, made the playoffs, and beat on the road a Dolphins team that lost starters for only 25 games.

Though injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, health is a key component to the overall success of a team.

That said, the teams that can overcome injuries via depth and coaching have truly achieved something significant.

And, likewise, teams that stayed healthy but who stagnated require even greater scrutiny as to whether they’ve accumulated the wrong players, or whether they haven’t done a good job of coaching them up.

Case in point — the Patriots lost 64 starter games to injury, the same as the Ravens. Like the Ravens, the Pats won 11 and lost five.

The Jets were the healthiest team in the league, with out 12 starter games missed. But they won only nine games, triggering the termination of coach Eric Mangini.

Gosselin also looks at the relative health of the past ten Super Bowl winners. Typically, the team that’s standing at the end of the year was one of the healthiest teams for the rest of it.

The only Super Bowl champs not in the top ten were the 2004 Patriots (No. 19), the 2006 Colts (No. 23), and the 2003 Patriots, who finished dead last with 87 games lost to injury.

In each of those cases, the teams were able to overcome a rash of injuries — possibly because they didn’t wallow in self pity or make excuses.

Like the Ravens this year, the ‘03-’04 Pats and the ‘06 Colts pushed the next guy onto the field and continued to expect the same degree of performance from the sub as they did from the starter.

And maybe that’s the key to dealing with injuries. Sure, a team needs to have capable backups. But a team also can’t afford to adopt a “woe is us” attitude when, for whatever reason, they experience more injuries to starters than other teams.

In our view, using injuries as an excuse for poor performance only leads to more poor performance. It reduces the accountability of everyone in the organization — from the G.M. to the coach to the assistants to the players.

Perhaps that’s why the Broncos tanked down the stretch. Yeah, they lost a flock of running backs to injury. But this was/is an offensive system that created a revolving door of 1,000-yard rushers over the past 14 years. Instead of listening to the announcers and the writers who were willing to write off the season as an aberration, every person in the organization should have accepted the situation as the ultimate challenge.

Do injuries affect a team’s overall performance? Yes. Maybe that’s because too many teams allow injuries to affect their performance, by using injuries as the safe harbor for missed assignments, errant throws, untimely fumbles, and dropped passes.

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I'm really happy for Arizona (and Kurt Warner), no team was more overlooked entering the playoffs. Their defense has really come on strong...and Larry Fitzgerald isn't human. When they play next week they should have Boldin back in the lineup. I'm actually going to root for the Eagles tomorrow...because then Arizona would host the NFC Championship game.

How odd has this season been?

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Never bet on a sure thing. :ph34r:

I can't figure the Cardinals out at all. (And apparently, I'm not alone). They played so shitty down the stretch, now they're playing like world-beaters. If they keep playing like they did Saturday in Carolina, who's going to stop them? I wouldn't describe the Eagles offense as multi-dimensional. And the Giants, while they have a nice running game, are a little suspect, too, without Plaxico in the mix.

Cards must be feeling like if they stay on their game, they can get to Tampa, and then who knows? Cardinals as Super Bowl champs? They're the Rays of the NFL, except they're actually scarier. I'm rooting for them.

As for the Titans, they only have themselves to blame. Really, they should have won that game. If they make any one of about a half dozen plays, they're moving on. Crumpler fumbling near the end zone was an absolute killer for them. Still, you got the feeling watching the game that the Ravens were going to match them punch for punch no matter what they did.

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Going into their last regular season game two Sundays ago, the Eagles' chances of even making the playoffs were beyond microscopic. To think that they are now a win away from playing for the NFC championship and two wins from the Super Bowl almost sounds like a fairy tale. I'm just hoping that no Plaxico Burress makes the difference tomorrow. Not having to double a wide out frees up one more all-important body to attend to the Giant's running game. Will that make the difference? I sure hope so. Right now, I'm wound up tighter than a ten day clock.

Up over and out.

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The Titans should have had at LEAST a 14 point lead on the Ravens at halftime (maybe even 21 points)...I felt bad for Kerry Collins because he played well, but for some reason everyone around him kept coughing up the football in the red zone.

*note* - The Ravens should have gotten a delay of game penalty that wasn't called on their final scoring drive. Other than the one big bomb touchdown pass, the Ravens offense was rather stagnant tonight, if the Titans could have gotten a lead on them I don't think they would have caught up.

I'm really beginning to think that how teams play "down the stretch" doesn't mean squat in the playoffs. If you win your division and get in...it's anybody's game. The Cardinals clinched their division early, they didn't have much to play for in the final few games...and they were sleepwalking through the last few weeks of the season. But as I said, the playoffs are here now and there is no such thing as a "sure thing" in the playoffs.

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