Chemistry, perhaps that’s the key to winning a Super Bowl.

Or is it defense? A hot shot quarterback with reliable receivers? The wildcat? Those are just some of the questions NFL teams are trying to answer as they prepare for the 2010 NFL football season in a few months.

That’s probably why some of these teams are signing names here and there to get that perfect combination they are hoping will win them the Super Bowl. The Arizona Cardinals, for instance, have scheduled a visit with Chargers quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, a restricted free agent, as they explore adding depth as well as potential competition for Matt Leinart for that QB spot.

If the Cardinals sign Whitehurst and the Chargers decline to match the offer, Arizona would owe San Diego a third-round draft pick, which is the qualifying contract tender that was used on the quarterback, who was a third-round choice in 2006. That tender is worth $1,176,000 for the 2010 season.

The Cardinals have two third-round draft choices next month, having acquired Baltimore’s third- and fourth-round picks in a deal that sent wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the Ravens.

Leinart is the only quarterback currently under contract on the Cardinals’ roster.

On the other hand, New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis says the club has agreed to re-sign reserve defensive back Leigh Torrence to a one-year contract.

Torrence has been with the Saints since being claimed off waivers in…

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is still pondering about his retirement.

After his team suffered a 45 – 14 blowout versus the Super Bowl XLIV bound New Orleans Saints, Kurt Warner talked to his head coach and said he needs some time to think about his future.

I case you missed it, the 38-year-old Kurt Warner took a vicious hit in their divisional playoff game with the Saints and left the game briefly after throwing an interception. That probably convinced him to reevaluate his future with the Arizona Cardinals.

”I have some ideas in my head, but you want to get away from the season for a minute and make sure what you’re feeling stays that way. But I don’t think it will be a long process,” Kurt Warner said.

Warner has missed only one regular season game in the last two seasons. He threw 26 touchdowns and 14 interceptions this year, and played a nearly-flawless wild-card game against the Packers, completing 29 of 33 passes with five touchdowns.

”It’s really going to come down to what I want to do moving forward, what’s the best thing for me,” he said.

It is easy to find reasons he would step away, even with one year and as much as $11 million left on his contract. Many athletes ”Favre it” and unretire because they fail to find comparable means to fill the void. Little can match the rush of an NFL stage. Warner is a…

Can the Saints get back to form in time for the visiting Cardinals?

The New Orleans Saints missed out on perfection when they lost to the then struggling Dallas Cowboys. Then shockingly, they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers too in a game the Saints could’ve won if it wasn’t for Saints kicker Garrett Hartley missing a very makeable 37-yard field goal attempt.

But after they lost for the third straight time, this time losing to the Carolina Panthers big, 23-10, it’s clear that the Saints have a lot of fixing to do coming to their first game in the 2010 NFL playoffs against the red-hot Arizona Cardinals.

Heck, after watching the Arizona Cardinals put up 51 points to beat the Green Bay Packers last week, it’s clear that the Cardinals are clicking at just the right time.

Thanks to their ageless leader Kurt Warner who have put up a whopping five touchdowns in their 51-45 win over the Packers in overtime, the Cardinals qualified for this NFC divisional playoff game against New Orleans. And with the way the Saints have been playing lately, it seems everything has been set to motion for Arizona to defend that NFC title in the NFC championship game.

The Saints need to have a great game from Drew Brees if they want to deny the Cardinals a return trip to the NFC title game. He led the NFC in completion this year with 70.6 markers, 292.5 passing yards per game and a 109.6 passer rating. However, in their three-game losing streak to finish the season, Brees only had a couple of touchdowns and an interception, a far cry from the numbers he has been putting up early in the season.

If the Saints want to advance to the NFC championship game…

The defending NFC champions are hoping that they can put up more than just seven points this time around.

In the final wild card game of the 2010 NFL playoffs, the Arizona Cardinals play the Green Bay Packers for the second straight week after the Pack’ blew them away last Sunday following a 33-7 loss at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Yup, defending NFC champions Arizona Cardinals and their high flying offense were neutralized as the Green Bay Packers held them scoreless for three quarters. Arizona’s only score was in the final three minutes of what was already a lost ball game as Green Bay was already in command, 33-0.

Thanks to yet another efficient day from quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Rod Woodson’s career-high ninth interception of the season, one of three picks on the day by the Green Bay Packers last Sunday against Arizona, Green Bay rolled to a 33-7 victory.

Rodgers quietly put together an impressive season despite early season sack woes. He finished with a passer rating of over 100 percent and averaged 8.2 yards per attempt. Running back Ryan Grant also rebounded with a decent season, though Green Bay averaged just 4.3 yards per carry.

The Packers will have to maintain that balance against…

But for how long?

In case you haven’t noticed, the New England Patriots haven’t been Patriot – like lately this 2009 NFL football season. They are just barely leading a football division they should’ve been dominating with both the Dolphins and the Jets breathing down their necks.

Last Sunday though, the New England Patriots may have discovered an even bigger issue they need to address. There’s some sort of dissension going on withing the mighty Patriots contingent and as far as some Panthers are concerned, Randy Moss is in the middle of it.

Despite losing to the New England Patriots last Sunday, 20-10, two of the Carolina Panthers secondary, specifically Chris Gamble and Chris Harris, felt the need to call out Moss, saying that the Patriots wide receiver wasn’t giving his all for his team last Sunday.

”We knew he was going to shut it down,” Chris Gamble said. ”That’s what we wanted him to do. That’s what we did. He’d just give up a lot. Slow down, he’s not going deep, not trying to run a route. You can tell, his body language.”

”I know everyone who plays against him, they can sense that. Once you get into him in the beginning of the game, he shuts it down a little bit.”

Rumors claim that this was the result of Moss getting sent home…

Uh oh.

It looks like the New England Patriots are having all sorts of problems this 2009 NFL football season. After suffering back to back losses in the last two weekends, the Patriots finally snapped their losing streak last Sunday. However, despite beating the Carolina Panthers 20-10 to get themselves back in the win column, it seems they still have one huge issue they need to address.

Apparently, Randy Moss had the worst performance of his three-year marriage with the Patriots and according to two Panthers corners, the enigmatic Patriots receiver did it on purpose. Yikes.

Randy Moss finished with just one catch for 16 yards, one dropped pass, one lost fumble and a fourth quarter false start penalty for the New England Patriots. Moss was so terrible last Sunday that the home crowd at Foxboro started to boo him. Was it because of the fantastic defense shown by the Panthers or did Moss just stopped playing?

In case you didn’t know, Moss was sent home by head coach Bill Belichick when the receiver was late for a team practice in preparation for this contest against Carolina. The Patriots lost two in a row and were in desperate need of a win then and being late for an agitated Belichick is definitely something you don’t want to do. Moss did, Belichick sent him packing and the receiver’s ego was hurt since.

Against the Carolina Panthers, Randy Moss looked like…

Another chance.

That’s exactly what the Arizona Cardinals have been having lately this 2009 NFL football season after coming out of the gate stumbling.

And since the Arizona Cardinals started their campaign this year with a loss to the San Francisco 49ers back in Week 1, they will probably make the most out of this second chance they have against the Niners this Monday night in San Francisco.

The last time the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers met, the Niners handed the NFC defending champions a 20-16 loss right in front of their fans at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to kick off the season.

However, don’t expect the same thing to happen this Monday night. Because unlike the season opener, the Cardinals now have a healthy corps of receivers, they finally got the running game going and the offensive line is finally protecting Kurt Warner.

That’s a good thing too since we all know that Warner is the key in the Cardinals’ success. Warner has become one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league at this point of the season. He turned in a passer rating of more than 120.0 in each of their past four games and Arizona’s two receivers; Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, couldn’t be any happier.

The only other guy to do it is Johnny Unitas and on…

Holy mother of god, the Steelers have now sunk to a whole different level.

In what is shaping up to be one of the most disappointing runs in the 2009 NFL football season, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their fifth straight game to drop to 6-7 and possibly out of the playoff race.

Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers, a year removed from winning Super Bowl XLIII, have now lost FIVE straight games. However, what’s even more unsettling is the fact that the champions lost to a team that shouldn’t have any business beating them in the first place and in case you missed the headline, yes, the Steelers lost to the freaking Cleveland Browns.

You read it, the Cleveland Browns, a team ten games below .500, kicked the defending champions’ butts Thursday night to put an end to the Steelers’ hopes of defending their title in the playoffs. The last time something like this happened to the champions was almost four years ago when the Super Bowl XL champions had a sub par campaign the following season.

Guess what, that team was the Pittsburgh Steelers too.

Of course, all is not lost for Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers, yet. They are 6-7 and still have a shot at a wild card playoff spot. However, they need other wild card hopefuls to start losing games the way they’ve been losing too.

Five weeks ago, the Steelers were 6-2 and looking at a return to the Super Bowl. Unexpected losses to the Kansas City Chiefs (that was bad…), the Oakland Raiders (that was worse…) and the Cleveland Browns (now that’s just pushing it…) pushed this team over the edge and on the brink of not even making the playoffs.

It’s humiliating and the Steelers…

Can the defending champions get the chance to defend their title?

That is the question some football fans are wondering coming to Week 14 of the 2009 NFL football season. You see, the defending champions Pittsburgh Steelers are in danger of missing out on the opportunity to defend the championship they won last February. Hell, with the rate the Steelers are going, they could even MISS THE PLAYOFFS. Ouch.

At 6-6, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in danger of not even making the postseason. They have dropped four straight and are still trailing the Broncos and the Jaguars for that wild card playoff spot.

Luckily, they have the Cleveland Browns, a team that has lost seven straight to put themselves in a three-way tie with the Buccaneers and the Rams for the worst record in the league at 1-11. The Browns are going nowhere and the Steelers shouldn’t have a problem taking care of business this Thursday night to kick off Week 14.

Besides, despite losing last Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger had a quarterback rating of over 100.0 for the second straight game. And since he had a whopping 417 yards and two touchdowns the last time he played the Browns, I don’t expect him to have a bad game against this team.

Steelers by 14 points on Thursday Night Football.

Next, we have a classic NFC East rivalry on Sunday Night Football where…

Because a player like him certainly won’t settle being a gadget player for the remaining days of his career.

And in case you haven’t notice, that’s exactly how his new team, the Philadelphia Eagles, have been using him this 2009 NFL football season, a gadget player. For a guy who was once the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, it’s probably eating him inside the way the Eagles have been using him, sparingly, in the field.

And if the Philadelphia Eagles don’t give him more minutes on the playing field soon, the guy they signed for $ 1.6 million could move to Buffalo. You see, the Bills were one of those teams that initially wanted him anyway and since the Bills are struggling at the quarterback position, getting Vick makes sense.

Tony Dungy, the former NFL head coach who helped lead the Indianapolis Colts to win Super Bowl XLI and now serving as the adviser to Michael Vick (among others…) claims that Vick could end up in Buffalo since the Bills and Michael Vick ”talked originally” when his man was still looking for a job in the NFL.

Vick could definitely help the Buffalo Bills, one way or another, since he is a lot better than anybody they have at quarterback in Buffalo.

”I told Michael to just worry about this year,” Tony Dungy said. ”It’s technically up to Philadelphia. If they want him back, he has to stay there. If they don’t, there are some teams looking for quarterbacks; Cleveland, St. Louis and Washington.”

”But I think a dark horse is Buffalo. They talked…”