This is why coaches should rest their starters during the week before the playoffs.

The 2010 NFL playoffs are here and the New England Patriots are coming in without the guy who just broke his own franchise record for receptions with 123 catches this season. And for a guy who just racked up 1,348 receiving yards, his loss could be devastating for the Patriots’ hopes of another Super Bowl title.

We’re referring to Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker who was carted off the field in their 34-27 loss to the Houston Texans. He was injured when he tried to plant his foot after making a catch, tearing both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.

The New England Patriots were suppose to be the team nobody want to face in the postseason but with Welker out, I’m no longer certain if that adage is still true. Welker is Tom Brady’s safety net whenever things go bad inside the pocket. With him out, Brady would have to heave it downfield more often than usual to Randy Moss and we all know how much opposing corners like that.

You want more bad news? Tom Brady is banged up, as he’s always been the last few years.

”It’s football and guys go down all the time, on our team, on other teams, and it sucks, it’s unfortunate,” Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson said. ”When you are a team, you have 10 other guys and when one goes down, the other guy fills in and the train keeps on moving. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Well, it’ll be a little harder to fill the shoes of a…

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…

And that my friends is a new NFL record.

Any questions about Brady on whether he can be the same playmaker he once was this 2009 NFL football season after coming back from his injury last year have been answered with a resounding yes following the way he humiliated the Titans last Sunday.

For those of you who missed it, Tom Brady had arguably the best game of his career, setting a new NFL record after scoring 5 touchdowns, all in the second quarter of their 59-0 annihilation of the struggling Tennessee Titans.

The passing game was working for the New England Patriots early as Tom Brady took advantage of a Titans secondary that was missing two of its starting corners. Brady scored two touchdowns with Randy Moss, scored another with running back Kevin Faulk and then scored two more with Wes Welker to put his Patriots ahead 45-0 before halftime.

It sure has been one long Sunday afternoon for the team with the best record in the NFL last…

You just know this week will be all about Brett Favre facing off against the Packers for the first time in his illustrious NFL career.

But that’s on Monday night, and until Monday Night Football gets here, Week 4 of the 2009 NFL football season still has games that will keep you jacked before we all head to Minnesota for Favre’s biggest test yet.

Let’s kick things off with the New England Patriots. At 2-1, they are nowhere near from the form they displayed when Tom Brady and Randy Moss were both setting records two years ago. But after beating a very good Atlanta Falcons team 26-10 last week, it may have brought some of their mojo back.

They need it to since they have the Baltimore Ravens visiting them at Gillette Stadium this Sunday. The Ravens are on a roll as they go for their fourth straight win in as many games. Surprisingly, while their defense remains as solid as ever, it has been their offense that has done a great job in helping this team to this fast 3-0 start. They are hoping for another stellar performance from wide receiver Derrick Mason, who reached a milestone during their…

Well, they have to protect the ass of their prized quarterback first.

New England’s campaign last season was ruined after the loss of Tom Brady for the rest of the year. It was a huge disappointment to their fans as the Patriots were coming off a perfect regular season and came close to winning it all in Glendale, Arizona. Witnessing all that momentum shattered in the very first game of the 2008 season with Brady limping off the field, was disheartening to say the least.

Coming to the 2009 NFL football season, Brady is at least, back throwing footballs again and it is in the Patriots’ best interest to keep their guy healthy this time. Brady returns to the same offense that helped the franchise go undefeated, finishing the regular season at 16-0.

Sure, it was two years ago and last season’s run wasn’t as dominant as their unbeatable 2007 regular season campaign. But the fact of the matter is, the New England Patriots only had Tom Brady for just a single quarter last season and he should have no problems making that West Coast offense work wonders again this year.

The big improvements for the Patriots came on defense, particularly in the secondary. Cornerbacks Terrence Wheatley and Jonathon Wilhite return, and are joined by rookie corner Darius Butler and veteran corners Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs.

PLUS, the Patriots added Patrick Chung to an already deep…

Ah, the Madden Curse.

Never has a video game franchise create this much of an impact on its real counterpart than what the Madden NFL franchise had on the NFL. And since we already have the next installment of the Madden NFL video game coming, let’s see how, or WHO, will they be fucking with in the coming 2009 NFL football season.

In case you don’t know it yet, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald were tapped by software giant Electronic Arts to be their new Madden NFL 2010 cover boys.

Yep, the two NFL stars that faced-off in last year’s ho-hum Super Bowl XLIII will be sharing the new Madden cover, marking the first time the video game franchise had two athletes on tap for the dreaded Madden curse.

EA’s choice for an NFL All-Star to grace this year’s edition of the game seems as easy a decision as throwing the football towards Randy Moss in single coverage. But having two of them this time is unprecedented. Imagine that, they managed to get TWO GUYS agree on putting their careers on the line just for some stupid video game.

And just in case you have no idea how serious this…

Yes, the new NFL season is still four months away and yet, SPORTSBETTING.COM is already taking this opportunity to milk on shit.

NFL football still looms large even though the calendar tells us that the new 2009 NFL football season is more than four months away. Between now and opening kick-off, we still have training camp and all the preseason games but since SPORTSBETTING.COM figured that it doesn’t hurt to be four months early, they have already posted odds for opening week.

As has been the tradition since the year following 9/11, the regular season will kickoff on a Thursday, September 10 to be exact, with the defending champions Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Tennessee Titans. The Steelers are listed as 5-point favorites in early betting.

While the Steelers are a profitable 13-7 ATS against the Tennessee Titans at home, Pittsburgh hasn’t fared as well since the team relocated going 4-3 ATS in seven home games against the Titans. Known as a strong defensive team, Pittsburgh has actually been involved in some high-scoring affairs vs. the Titans, as far as the Total goes.

In the same seven meetings since the moving from Houston to Tennessee, the Titans and the Steelers have an O/U record of 6-1.

While recent NFL tradition dictates that the regular season starts on a Thursday, that same…

Now you’ll know the exact dates to file sick days.

The anticipation for the 2009 NFL football season heats up with the regular season schedule now known to the public.

That’s right, we now know who’ll be playing who even before September gets here. And mind you, we already have some huge key matchups to look forward to on the very first week of the season, starting with one of the best rivalry in football with a face-off between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.

Yep, the NFL season kicks off again on a Thursday night, reliving the rivalry between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. It will be the 178th meeting between the two franchises and while a lot of things has changed since their first dance, you can expect the new pieces that both Green Bay and Chicago added like Aaron Rodgers and Devin Hester respectively to keep the tradition going.

Week 1 of the 2009 season will also have the defending Super Bowl champions, Pittsburgh Steelers, on primetime when they take on the Tennessee Titans on Sunday Night Football to relive the oldest rivalry of the sport.

The Tennessee Titans beat the defending champions on their own yard at Heinz Field, 31-14 back in Week 15. The Titans also own the best regular season record of 2008 when they flirted with perfection so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare against the defending champs next season.

The opening week of the regular season will close out with…

It is understandable that the Bills’ acquisition of Terrell Owens has generated all sorts of excitement in the league.

Of course, we won’t really know how effective Owens will be until the 2009 NFL football season gets here. But since the Bills will be Owens’ fourth team in what is turning out to be the last days of his aging career, will Owens finally make the most of his dwindling chances for redemption?

One expert, Dr. Harry Edwards, is confident that Terrell Owens, despite his controversial track record, will be a good addition to the city of Buffalo. How? Read on.

”This young man has never had one iota of trouble with women, drugs, violence, anything like that,” Dr. Harry Edwards said. ”You’re not going to get that with Terrell. What you are going to get is the kind of behavior on the field that his generation celebrates. It’s cultural. You’re not going to change it.”

”You just have to manage it. Terrell is not of the same generation as Lynn Swann and Jerry Rice. He is of the generation of Randy Moss.”

Oh yes, Randy Moss.

Two years ago, Randy Moss was in the same situation where…