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Playoff Picture Looks Exciting

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With 4 teams vying for first place in the AFC North in Week 13, things are heating up to meltdown conditions even in the icy north…

The Bengals, who tied a game, are 7-3-1 while the Ravens, Steelers and Browns all have a 7-4-0 record with 2 division wins. These 4 teams will duke it out in their respective divisional games for supremacy over the AFC North.

Meanwhile, the New England Patriots (9-2-0) are running away with the AFC East (and the number 1 seed) unless someone can stop them.

A similar situation is developing in the NFC with the Arizona Cardinals (9-2-0) running away with the NFC West and the number 1 seed.

The NFC South is trying really hard to see how low a team’s record can be and still make the playoffs. The Atlanta Falcons (4-7-0) are leading the division with a 4-0 division record, having beaten each of its division rivals at least once (and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice).

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The Philadelphia Eagles (8-3-0) and the Dallas Cowboys (8-3-0) are vying for first place in the NFC East. One of these teams will win the division and the other will likely make the playoffs as a wild card. This week’s Thanksgiving game between the Cowboys and Eagles will decide who takes the division.

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Another game with playoff implications this Thanksgiving Day is the Seattle Seahawks (7-4-0) trip to San Francisco to take on the 49ers (7-4-0) for sole possession of 2nd place in the NFC West, behind the Cardinals. The winner will be hoping that the Detroit Lions (7-4-0) lose to the Chicago Bears (5-6-0), also on Thanksgiving Day!

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Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers (8-3-0) are looking like the likely winners of the NFC North unless Detroit has something to say about it. But the New England Patriots (9-2-0) will be coming to town this weekend to see if they can knock them down a peg.

When Will They Learn?

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Over the last few years, NFL players have cost their teams (and themselves) a lot by violating the league’s substance abuse policy. They lose their pay, the team loses that player and the other players on that team have to work harder to make up for the missing player.

jaguars-plushLast year, Justin Blackmon was suspended for the second time in as many years in the league and the Jacksonville Jaguars are learning to live without the standout receiver. But this year has not even started and we are seeing teams getting notices of upcoming suspensions.

Arizona CardinalsDaryl Washington of the Arizona Cardinals is looking at a full season suspension for 2014! How will that impact the Cardinals this year?

giants-decalThe New York Giants will have to do without Will Hill because he was just suspended 6 games!

In my personal opinion, these players are given an awful lot of money to play football. They only get that money when they are able to play. Getting suspended for violations of the league drug policy should be something that never happens – they should take it that seriously. Unfortunately, most of the ones who use drugs don’t think…

What do you think?

Do Reporters Really Want A Winning Team?

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angry-cardinalI watch a lot of football shows and press conferences to prepare for my show. And daily, I find myself getting mad at the reporters who go to the press conferences and seem to be causing more harm than good by the types of questions that they ask. I suppose they feel that if they can insinuate that a particular problem is going on, they can scoop all the other reporters with their story.

But a lot of times, the story was not there to begin with.

After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 13 – 10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, one reporter kept asking Gerald McCoy if the defense was blaming the offense for the losses. Even when McCoy brushed off the question initially, the reporter came back to it again.

Rifts between offense and defense on a team can cause a lot of problems. So insinuating that such a rift exists could actually cause it to happen. The defense has been playing hard for 4 games, and it could easily be said that the offense has put the team in a situation where the defense has had their back to the wall. But that is the nature of the NFL. A team cannot start blaming their teammates. Each player and unit is responsible for doing a job, and those that fail to execute are usually the first to admit it.

The Tampa Bay defense has not been able to stop opposing teams from coming back and winning the game in the last minutes of the 4th quarter. They do not deny it. The offense has failed to put enough points on the scoreboard to keep the game out of reach of the opponent. They do not deny it. Neither side blames the other. Yet.

But watch as the reporters try and make something appear from nothing.

I just wonder, if the reporters would be as happy if the Buccaneers won every game and had very little for the reporters to write about. I think they are elated that the Buccaneers are having problems.

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