For the first time ever, the Pro Bowl will come a week before THE big game, as this year’s Pro Bowl kicks off Super Bowl week with a bang.

Yes, the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl will now come before the Super Bowl and this year, the best players from both the AFC and the NFC will play at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida for this year’s annual showcase of the league’s premiere talent.

This way, football fans will be able to further build their anticipation heading to Super Bowl XLIV and as far as this year’s Pro Bowl starters are concerned, both teams’ rosters have some familiar faces.

Leading the pack for the AFC squad is Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Other selections include Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson, Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson and Colts teammate Reggie Wayne.

Dallas Clark, who also plays for the Indianapolis Colts, was also voted in for the Pro Bowl to play tight end, starting tackles will be the Dolphins’ Jake Long and the Broncos’ Ryan Clady. Starting guards for the AFC will be the Patriots’ Logan Mankins and Alan Faneca of the New York Jets.

Faneca’s teammate Nick Mangold will be the AFC’s starting center…

First, the Bengals then the Chargers. How good has this Jets team been?!?

In case you didn’t know, YES, the last team to make it to the NFL playoffs will play in the 2010 AFC championship game. Go figure.

Coach Rex Ryan said the New York Jets should be the favorites to win every single game they play in the postseason and they certainly made a point in their last two playoff games. But can these guys keep it going against arguably THE team to beat in the AFC the last few years?

Yup, Mark Sanchez and the rest of the Jets are going to take on Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts with the winner earning the ticket to Super Bowl XLIV at Dolphins, Stadium in Miami, Florida. Can the Jets keep this Cinderella run they’ve been having?

Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, who completed 12 of 15 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown in the Jets’ wildcard playoff win over the Bengals, had another stellar performance in their playoff win over the heavy favorites San Diego Chargers. The USC product completed 12 of 23 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in his return to California, sending the state’s beloved Chargers to an early vacation.

The Jets’ strength however, is their defense. They managed to shut down Chad Ochocinco in Cincinnati before neutralizing the Chargers offense in San Diego last Sunday. Can they do the same against Peyton Manning? That friends, is…

After they took down Tom Brady and the mighty Patriots last weekend, you can no longer question what these guys can do anymore.

The 2010 NFL playoffs continue with a huge AFC divisional playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts. The Ravens are fresh from eliminating NFL Comeback Player of the Year Tom Brady and his Patriots, this time they are looking to take out the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player of the Year Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts.

A tall order? I’d definitely say so. I mean, Peyton Manning just won his fourth league MVP trophy, his second in a row. And as long as Manning is leading the offense, the Colts can score with the best in the league. But if there’s a team that can come up with an upset win at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, it’s the Ravens.

Fresh from their 33-14 win over the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens offense will once again rely on their running game led by their three-headed monster of Ray Rice, Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain.

Rice had a huge game last week with 159 yards and two touchdowns on 22 rushing attempts against the Patriots. The Ravens are hoping for the same against the Indianapolis Colts this weekend. Rice…

From 2001 to 2010, they have been a title contender. But after such a humiliating loss to the Ravens last Sunday, is it time for the Pats to start rebuilding?

In case you missed it, yes, the Patriots are out of the 2010 NFL playoffs after the Ravens came in Foxboro and simply whip the Patriots’ asses right in front of the faithful Patriots crowd.

It was humiliating to say the least, especially for a team like the New England Patriots that has become the measuring stick by which most teams in the NFL compare themselves with to determine if they finally have what it takes to play with the league’s elite.

Last Sunday, the Patriots wasn’t anything like that as the Baltimore Ravens simply dominated the Patriots right from the get go. Heck, the Ravens were already up seven merely 17 seconds into the game after Ray Rice ran up the middle for 83 yards.

When it was all said and done, Ray Rice had 159 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, leading the Ravens to a 33-14 whipping of the New England Patriots to advance to the…

Wild card weekend continues this Sunday.

That’s right, the 2010 NFL playoffs continue this Sunday with a huge AFC wild card round match between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots. In case you didn’t know, the Patriots lost Wes Welker for the playoffs last week, setting the stage for the Ravens D to take advantage.

This playoff matchup between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens is the only playoff game that won’t be a rematch of last week as the Jets and the Bengals, the Eagles and the Cowboys and the Packers and the Cardinals have all played each other last Sunday heading to their wild card matchup.

The first meeting between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens back in Week 4 was as exciting as ever as the Patriots barely edged Baltimore, 27-21. That game left both teams at 3-1 and provided an exciting quarterback battle that might have gone the other way had Derrick Mason not dropped a pass that would have led to a fourth-down conversion.

Joe Flacco threw for 264 yards, but needed nearly 50 completions to get there, numbers indicative of Baltimore’s mark of 7.1 yards per completion. Ray Rice eclipsed the 100-yard mark on the ground in just 11 carries, a number that helped bolster an impressive rushing mark of nearly five yards per carry.

The Ravens will likely have to use that ground game against…

Why are we asking? Because the last few trips the Ravens made to the NFC North, they haven’t been good ones.

The Baltimore Ravens have struggled when facing teams from the NFC North, especially playing against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. And since that’s where these Ravens are going to be this Sunday when we conclude Week 13 of the 2009 NFL football season, the Ravens know exactly what they have to deal with at Lambeau.

”You know what comes with Lambeau Field,” Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said. ”You know the history behind it.” However, it seems the Ravens have had their problems with other NFC North stadiums as well. In the 14 years that the Ravens have been in the NFL, they have never EVER won in Green Bay, Chicago, Minnesota or Detroit, losing all of the six games the Ravens have played in those stadiums.

And since they have a young Aaron Rodgers who just went for three touchdowns and 348 yards to lead the Green Bay Packers pound the Lions last week on Thanksgiving, I’m definitely not liking the Ravens’ chances this Monday.

To say that the Baltimore Ravens hate playing in the NFC North could be an understatement.

You see, the Ravens have always been humiliated every single time they make the trip north. They lost to the Lions in a penalty-filled game once. They also let then Bears running back James Allen look like Walter Payton the way he ran the ball against the Ravens defense. They let then Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre rip them apart in Green Bay after a…

This week, we’ll go across the border, in Canada.

Because Week 13 of the 2009 NFL football season will kick off in Toronto where the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills will renew their AFC East rivalry on Thursday Night Football.

That’s right, the Buffalo Bills, trying to reach out to fans across Lake Ontario, is scheduled to play a total of five contests in Toronto, one per season through 2012. Unfortunately, the experiment did not begin well last year, with many in attendance supporting the opposing team in the Bills’ 16-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins on December 7.

On the verge of four straight losing seasons with a 3-7 mark, the Bills gave their home fans reason to smile with a 31-14 win over Miami last Sunday.

After averaging 12.3 points in the previous eight games, Buffalo broke out with 24 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, including a 51-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Terrell Owens, the second time the duo hooked up for a lengthy score in the last two weeks.

As far as the New York Jets are concerned, rookie Mark Sanchez will look to bounce back on Thursday as he has continued to struggle, tossing only two touchdowns against seven interceptions in the last three games. Sanchez was 13 of 17 for 154 yards and just one interception Sunday, enabling the defense to carry the Jets to a 17-6 victory over Carolina to snap a three-game losing streak.

Will that be enough to beat the Bills? We’re giving…

We have a good one for you this week.

Everybody knows that the intensity of the 2009 NFL football season picks up after Thanksgiving and the games we have for you this weekend proves why.

First, we have MVP candidate Brett Favre and the rest of the Minnesota Vikings playing hosts to the Chicago Bears. The Vikings are on a three-game winning streak and since the Bears virtually don’t have anything going for them at this point of the season, this game gives the Vikes the perfect opportunity to extend that streak to four straight wins.

Since the Minnesota Vikings welcomed Brett Favre in mid-August, the team has gone to great lengths. The Vikings are averaging more than 30 points per game, they have the consensus top running back in the league in Adrian Peterson and the future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, who is playing better at 40 than he ever has.

On the defensive end, the Vikings are no.3 against the run, allowing just 85.5 yards per game with defensive end Jared Allen ranking second in the NFL with 10.5 sacks.

As for the Chicago Bears, they are on a streak of their own, a losing one. While the Vikings have won three in a row, the Bears have lost three in a row. Jay Cutler and the rest of the Bears have also lost five of their last six games, definitely not something you want to be in the middle of at this point of the season.

In the past 30 days, the Chicago Bears have been lit up by…

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Get ready to watch the men separate themselves from the boys this week in the NFL as the playoff races heat up. It’s the proverbial “go time” for many teams.

Cincinnati at Oakland:

The Bengals are sitting pretty…right now anyway, but they need to keep winning and especially winning games against weak teams.

They head to Oakland this week to face, big surprise, a troubled Raider team. Cincy has been one of this season’s surprises, currently leading the AFC North with records of 7-2 straight up and 6-3 against the spread.

But they’re facing a bit of adversity this week, as the team’s leading rusher, Cedric Benson, is nursing what ESPN is calling a sore abductor muscle. His pain resulted in the team signing recent Kansas City Chiefs castoff RB Larry Johnson. LJ’s attitude wore thin on the Chiefs and his addition already seems to be wearing on Benson. We’ll see how it shakes out.

There have been changes made to the Raiders’ starting lineup as well as QB JaMarcus Russell has been demoted while QB Bruce Gradkowski will start in Russell’s place.

In its last nine when an underdog of more than 8-points, Oakland is 6-3 ATS.

Going into Sunday’s game in Oakland, online sportsbooks have…

And since the Ravens are in dire need of a kickboard to get their season going again, facing the struggling Browns couldn’t have come at a better time.

Week 10 of the 2009 NFL football season concludes at the Dawg Pound in Cleveland Browns Stadium where the Ravens will look to improve on what has been a disappointing 4-4 mark. Thankfully, at 1-7, the Browns don’t have anything going for them and the Ravens should be able to take care of this one and get back in the race in the AFC North.

To say that the Baltimore Ravens are struggling could be an understatement. In their last game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens were anemic, especially on what was usually a solid offense led by second-year quarterback Joe Flacco.

Against Cincinnati, Joe Flacco struggled. He gave up two interceptions in 18 for 32 passing for just 195 yards. Wide receiver Derrick Mason was also a disappointment, catching only three passes of the 13 balls Flacco threw at his direction.

Will these guys struggle again against the Cleveland Browns defense? Luckily, the Ravens absolutely hate the Browns and for some reason, these guys always come up with their A-game when facing their…