Published: January 2nd, 2010

The comments sections of Colts-related stories and blogs have been amusing to read this week, with a number of “phooey on this team” rants based on Indy packing it in against the Jets instead of shooting for an unbeaten season. They do have a legitimate point, but how many Bills fans would happily trade 14-1 for 5-10 right about now? Or the Colts' NFL-record 115 wins in the last decade in place of 10 consecutive years' worth of playoff-free football? Or ... yeah, you get the idea.

Published: December 27th, 2009

Welcome to the 2010 preseason.

Published: December 19th, 2009

In recent weeks, Tom Brady hasn't looked like the cool, efficient quarterback of old. Opposing players are questioning Randy Moss' effort. The defense bears little resemblance to the one that helped stake the team to three Super Bowl wins. And yet, there they are, back in their customary place atop the AFC East standings ... for now, anyway.

Published: December 13th, 2009

The Chiefs staggered to a 2-14 record in 2008, finishing in the AFC West basement and sealing the fates of general manager Carl Peterson and head coach Herm Edwards. New GM Scott Pioli quickly began the process of overhauling the franchise, but it's going to take more than one offseason to clean up this mess.

Published: December 3rd, 2009

When the Jets began the season with three consecutive victories, some Gang Green fans were ready to anoint rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez the Next Joe Namath and book their Super Bowl trips. Not so fast, on both accounts – they've gone 2-6 since then.

Published: November 29th, 2009

The Dolphins began the season 0-3, but have rebounded to win five of their last seven games. They probably won't catch the Patriots for the division crown, but even with their starting quarterback and running back on injured reserve, they're in position to make a run at a wildcard.

Published: November 22nd, 2009

After Jacksonville limped to a 5-11 finish in 2008, more than a few observers wondered if this year would be Jack Del Rio's last as head coach. But even though they're starting four rookies – including both offensive tackles – the Jags have already matched last season's win total and are still very much in play for a wild-card slot.

Published: November 12th, 2009

Stat of the week, courtesy of Paul Kuharsky's AFC South blog on ESPN.com: “Before these Titans, no team in history had ever followed up a season where it started 10-0 with an 0-6 start in the next one.” Tennessee has rebounded to win their last two games, but they're still a longshot to make it all the way back to .500 ... and even if they do, it may not be enough to save head coach Jeff Fisher's job.

Published: November 1st, 2009

In Year 4 of the Gary Kubiak Era, Houston's 4-3 record ties them for the best start in franchise history. Can they take the next step and become a playoff team? Judging by early results, they'll go only as far as quarterback Matt Schaub's arm and a solid run defense can carry them... and that just might be good enough.

Published: October 24th, 2009

After an 0-3 start put the heat on head coach John Fox, Carolina rebounded with back-to-back wins against Washington and Tampa Bay to turn the thermostat down a notch. However, they're still well behind New Orleans and Atlanta in the division, and a playoff-free season might spell the end of Fox's tenure in Charlotte.

Published: October 17th, 2009

Four losses in the last five games in 2008 – guess who the one win was against – sealed Eric Mangini's fate in New York despite finishing the season with a 9-7 record. New coach Rex Ryan has apparently never met a microphone he didn't like, but the players have embraced his brash style, and the Jets won their first three games before falling to the Saints and Dolphins.

Published: October 10th, 2009

After barely missing out on a playoff berth two years ago, the Browns lost their final six games last season to tumble to 4-12, sealing head coach Romeo Crennel's fate. Under his replacement, Eric Mangini, a full-scale rebuilding project is underway. Crennel's last win, of course, came in Buffalo.

Published: October 2nd, 2009

Published: September 27th, 2009

Since Sean Payton replaced Jim Haslett as head coach after the 2005 season, the Saints have consistently had one of the best offenses in the league. If they ever figure out how to put an adequate defense on the field, look out.

Published: September 19th, 2009

At the end of last November, Tampa Bay was 9-3 and tied for the NFC South division lead. But the Buccaneers collapsed down the stretch, with a four-game slide costing them a playoff berth and coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen their jobs. Former defensive backs coach Raheem Morris takes over a team in transition, with prospects for a 2009 playoff run uncertain at best.

Published: September 13th, 2009

Somehow, the Patriots managed to finish 11-5 in 2008, tying Miami for the best record in the AFC East, without the services of All-Everything quarterback Tom Brady. He's back, but most of the veterans on the other side of the ball are gone. Will the youth movement on defense keep New England from returning to the playoffs? We'll see.

Published: September 3rd, 2009

After compiling a 31-84 record during his seven-plus years as general manager, Matt Millen was finally, mercifully fired three weeks into the 2008 season. The Lions proceeded to drop their next 13 games, completing the first 0-16 season in league history. They'll be better in 2009 – they have to be, right? – but it's going to take some time to clean up this mess.

Published: August 29th, 2009

The reigning Super Bowl champions return 20 of 22 starters, and it's hard to argue that the changes aren't upgrades ... or that the Steelers won't be right back in the middle of the playoff hunt at the end of the season.

Published: August 21st, 2009

While the Brett Favre saga plays out in a different NFC North city, the Packers believe they've found their quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. However, even with Dom Capers in town to fix a defense which allowed 42 touchdowns last year, they'll struggle to pass Minnesota and Chicago, the two teams that finished the season ahead of them.

Published: August 14th, 2009

Last year, Chicago rebounded from its first losing season since 2004 to finish 9-7, a game behind the NFC North champion Vikings. With the addition of franchise quarterback Jay Cutler and future Hall of Fame left tackle Orlando Pace, the Bears should make a serious run at that title in 2009.

Published: August 7th, 2009

After finishing with a 13-3 record last year, good enough for the AFC's top seed, the Titans' 13-10 playoff loss to Baltimore didn't do much to dampen their fans' high expectations for this season. For a good read on their 2009 prospects, check out ESPN AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky's Camp Confidential.

Published: July 16th, 2009

Published: May 1st, 2009

Published: December 27th, 2008

Believe it or don't: missing All-World quarterback Tom Brady (for all but eight minutes of the season), running back Laurence Maroney, and multiple starters from last year's defense, New England still has a chance to win the division. Some pundits suggest this may be Bill Belichick's best coaching job ever ... and they just might be right.

Published: December 21st, 2008

There's no “D” in Denver these days, but the offense has been good enough to keep them atop the AFC West standings since the first week of the season. Then again, if you look at the rest of the AFC West ...

Published: December 14th, 2008

The Jets are 8-5 and tied for the division lead with the Pats and Dolphins, but their fans are still finding cause for concern ... and perhaps with good reason. The team that went out to Tennessee and ruined the Titans' undefeated season has dropped both games since then, including a discouraging loss in San Francisco last weekend.

Published: December 6th, 2008

Is Tony Sparano the NFL Coach of the Year? He has a decent argument. Few could have foreseen Miami, 0-12 at this point last year, still firmly in the playoff picture with a 7-5 record. The Dolphins show the signs of a well-coached team, committing few penalties and leading the league with just 10 turnovers.

Published: November 30th, 2008

Not that long ago, the 49ers were one of the model franchises in the league. But following Eddie DeBartolo's forced departure, several seasons of bad drafts and worse free-agent transactions have left the team struggling to avoid their fourth double-digit-loss season out of the last five.

Published: November 22nd, 2008

The Chiefs are in the early stages of a massive rebuilding program, and it shows – at 1-9, they're firmly in the running for next April's No. 1 overall draft pick. There are signs of hope for the future, though; three of their last four losses have come by four points or less.

Published: November 15th, 2008

After Cleveland finished the 2007 season 10-6 and just barely missed the playoffs, some observers thought this could be the Browns' year to take over at the top of the AFC North. The schedule-makers agreed, giving them five prime-time games (the most in franchise history, and one more than the Super Bowl champion Giants). But after coughing up two-touchdown leads late in back-to-back home games, the team sits at 3-6, three games south of the Steelers and Ravens and ahead of only the woeful Bengals in their division.

Published: November 8th, 2008

The NFL landscape changed dramatically just 7:33 into New England's season opener, when onrushing Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard wiped out the knee of All-Everything quarterback Tom Brady. Despite dire predictions of their imminent demise (and the schadenfreude expressed by a significant contingent of other teams' fans), however, the defending AFC champs have refused to go away quietly.

Published: November 1st, 2008

Following a disastrous 4-12 season in 2007, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini went on a spending spree in hopes of avoiding a repeat. Did they do enough to ensure New York's return to playoff contention? So far, the results are mixed.

Published: October 25th, 2008

Since moving to Miami at the end of last season, Bill Parcells and general manager Jeff Ireland have managed to restore a measure of competency to the Dolphins administration. They're probably still not playoff caliber, but they're certainly far removed from the team that was one poor Brian Billick play-call away from the league's first 0-16 season.

Published: October 17th, 2008

San Diego's record may officially stand at 3-3, but they're two last-second plays (and one admittedly blown call) away from 5-1. While drubbing the Patriots on national television Sunday night, they looked every bit the team that more than a few preseason prognosticators thought would win the AFC championship.

Published: October 3rd, 2008

The Cardinals have been an easy target for most of the last 60 years. They've won precisely one playoff game in that time period, a wild-card victory in 1998 in their only trip to the postseason since moving to the desert 20 seasons ago. However, under head coach Ken Whisenhunt, that streak of futility may begin to change. The former Steelers offensive coordinator, 10-10 four games into his second season, is the first Cardinals coach to hold a .500 or better record this far into his career since Don Coryell left St. Louis in 1977.

Published: September 26th, 2008

These are the only numbers you'll need to know how bad the situation is in St. Louis:
Eagles 38, Rams 3
Giants 41, Rams 13
Seahawks 37, Rams 13

The Edward Jones Dome used to be the home of the “Greatest Show On Turf.” My, how times have changed.

Published: September 18th, 2008

Beating the hapless Chiefs has apparently saved head coach Lane Kiffin’s job for at least one more week, but if I were him, I wouldn’t be signing any long-term leases. In recent years, Al Davis has proven more adept at firing coaches than at building a roster capable of winning more than five games a season.

Published: September 13th, 2008

From the archives ... "The day before the 2008 draft, a selection committee composed of Buffalo-area media and club personnel took all of ten minutes to name Bruce Smith the next member of the team's Wall of Fame, with the ceremony set to take place at the Bills – Raiders game on Sept. 21. After that, an inevitable August 2009 appointment in Canton awaits."

Published: September 10th, 2008

Jacksonville finished 11-5 in 2007 to earn its second playoff berth in three years, knocking off the Steelers in the wild-card round before falling to the eventual conference champions in Foxborough. Coming into this season, the Jags' pounding run game and ballhawking defense had some observers pegging them as a trendy Super Bowl pick. However, as the list of injured offensive linemen continues to grow, even matching last year's success might be more difficult than it looked just two months ago.

Published: September 5th, 2008

The Mike Holmgren 2008 Farewell Tour kicks off in Buffalo this weekend, with the league’s winningest active coach looking to add one last playoff run to his record before handing over the team to head-coach-in-waiting Jim Mora at the end of the season.

Published: August 27th, 2008

The Lions are 3-0 in the preseason for the first time since 1995. Now, it is only the preseason, but that Lions squad did finish with a 10-6 record and make the playoffs. Will this year’s team do the same? Only if the offensive players can quickly adapt to a dramatically different system, and execute it well enough to keep an overworked defense off the field for a change.

Published: August 22nd, 2008

Buffalo leads the regular-season series 34-30-1, but the Colts have won the last six meetings. (The last Bills quarterback to beat Peyton Manning and company? Rob Johnson, in the 1999 season finale.) After going 7-12 in the Hoosier/RCA Dome, the Bills will help christen Indy's brand new, $720 million Lucas Oil Stadium.

Published: August 13th, 2008

Ashton Youboty may have kept himself on the roster a while longer with last week’s performance, or at least bumped up his trade value. Good to see the kid make some plays. But with 11 potential “keepers” in the defensive backfield and perhaps only nine or 10 available spots, who gets left out? This position looks like the coaching staff’s toughest decision come cutdown day, which means every play for the next three weeks counts.

Published: August 8th, 2008

The Buffalo Bills take on the Washington Redskins Saturday, August 9th, 7:00 pm at FedEx Field in Landover Maryland.