Are the Bengals for real?

That’s the question the Bengals will try to answer as Week 10 of the 2009 NFL football season continues. They have the defending champions Pittsburgh Steelers this week. Can the Bengals surprise this team like they did the Ravens last week?

This matchup between the defending Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the red hot Cincinnati Bengals should be an awesome AFC North face-off. The Steelers are on a five – game winning streak, looking to ride on their momentum heading to their matchup with Cincinnati.

They just brought down one Cinderella team in the NFL last Monday night, beating the Denver Broncos 28-10. Hines Ward caught two touchdown passes from Ben Roethisberger in Denver as the Steelers dominated the Broncos 28-10, despite playing without three of their starters on defense.

The Steelers hope they can bring another Cinderella team down this week when they go up against the Cincinnati Bengals. And as far as the Steelers’ three starters on defense who missed last Monday night’s game are concerned; safety Ryan Clark, linebacker Lawrence Timmons and defensive end Travis Kirschke could all start against Cincinnati this Sunday.

That’s a good thing too since the Super Bowl champions are…

Will the Broncos offense succumb to another talented defensive team for the second straight week?

Yep, Week 9 of the 2009 NFL football season continues on Monday night as the Denver Broncos go up against yet another defensive minded powerhouse when they take on the Steel Curtain and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium.

The Denver Broncos suffered their first loss of the season last Sunday, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 30-7. And in case you didn’t notice it, yes, that high powered offense that helped Denver to a scintillating 6-0 start only put up seven points against that Ravens D.

Of course, those guys would love to return to the win column, the problem is, they have the Pittsburgh Steelers next, a team that takes pride on playing defense as good as the Ravens have the last few years. Can the Broncos get it going against this D?

The fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers have been undefeated since their 1-2 start to the season is reason enough for the Broncos to be a little worried. Pittsburgh now has a legitimate shot to win a third straight AFC North title and the Broncos expect Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers to go at ‘em at full throttle.

Roethlisberger, third in the NFL with 2,062 passing yards…

The race for postseason slots are starting to heat up.

Yep, we are now starting to see which of the teams this 2009 NFL football season will be making a run at the Super Bowl come February.

After eight weeks, we have the Indianapolis Colts tearing it up in the AFC and the New Orleans Saints having a dream season for the Big Easy. Will these two teams meet each other in Super Bowl XLIV?

But before you contemplate on that, we still have some huge games for you this week as the season continues with Week 9. Sure, Brett Favre and those Minnesota Vikings have the week off, but will that stop you from watching more of the NFL this Sunday? Probably not.

One game you should watch out for is this game between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Miami is coming off a huge win over the New York Jets last Sunday as they look to take Sanchez and the rest of his Jets out of that no.2 spot in the AFC East. A win over Tom Brady at Foxboro could give ‘em just that but of course, that’s easier said than done.

The New England Patriots are starting to look like the Patriots team that broke all kinds of records two years ago. They are currently lording over the AFC East coming to their divisional rivalry game with the Dolphins this Sunday.

I don’t like Miami’s chances this weekend. Tom Brady is throwing…

No.4 should be one of the prime candidates to win league MVP this season.

But this Sunday, getting another win and staying undefeated is the only thing Brett Favre and the Vikings are concerned about as Week 8 of the 2009 NFL football season continues. Can the impressive 6-0 Vikings stay on top of the NFC?

The Minnesota Vikings look to remain undefeated as they visit the defending champions Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field. This is clearly a huge test for Brett Favre as he takes on Troy Polamalu and that impressive Steelers secondary.

The immortal Brett Favre, who is who is 6-0 for the first time in his career after last week’s 33-31 win over Baltimore, aims to join Dieter Brock (1985 Rams) as the only two quarterbacks since the merger to win their first seven starts to start a season with a new team.

Last week, Favre threw a 58-yard pass to wide receiver Sidney Rice, who finished with a career-high 176 yards, late in the fourth quarter to set up Ryan Longwell’s field goal for the 33-31 lead. The Ravens almost stole this one with a late field goal but thanks to Favre’s magic, Ravens kicker…

We’re asking because the last time they came into a season as the defending champions, they didn’t even made it to the playoffs.

That was after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL only to finish the following year barely .500. In the coming 2009 NFL football season, the Steelers are once again the defending champs, but can they finish better this time?

The NFL has not seen a repeat winner since New England in 2003 and 2004, proving that it is so hard to repeat as a champion in any sport. Sportsbooks know it too as oddsmakers have the Pittsburgh Steelers at (+1000) to win it again in 2010. Right now they are the 4th favorite and two of the three teams in front of them are from the AFC.

For those of you betting on a Steeler re-peat, what do the Steelers have to do to win it all again? Read on.

For starters, the Steel Curtain must remain dominant. Arguably their biggest advantage over every other team in the NFL is their dominant defense. In 2008, they allowed the fewest points in the NFL (223), the fewest yards in the NFL (237.2), the fewest passing yards (156.9) and the second fewest rushing yards (80.2).

They were also tied for first in the fewest rushing yards per attempt (3.3), first in fewest passing yards per attempt allowed (5.4), second in quarterback sacks (51), second in QB rating allowed (63.4), tied for second in rushing touchdowns allowed (7) and tied for second in passing touchdowns allowed (12).

The Steelers defense was at the top of the NFL in almost…

We all know the kind of Cinderella run the Cardinals had last year. But will 2009 be the same?

That is the question Arizona Cardinals fans are probably asking themselves with only a few months left before the new 2009 NFL football season kicks off. In a conference dominated by the best division in football, that being the NFC East, the Cardinals came out of the NFC West, arguably one of the worst divisions in pro sports, to come close to winning the biggest prize in pro sports. Go figure.

The Arizona Cardinals, thanks to a rejuvenated Kurt Warner, had probably the best passing game in the NFL last season. Despite that, they couldn’t go past the defense of the Steel Curtain as they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, failing to win what would’ve been the Super Bowl title that could vindicate their franchise.

That’s why the Arizona Cardinals have decided to make some changes, hoping that they can improve where the left off last year.

For starters, the Cardinals now have a new one-two punch in the running game. RBs Beanie Wells and Jason Wright will make a much better running duo than Tim Hightower, who will handle goal line duty, and the departed Edgerin James.

Kurt Warner and backup Matt Leinart will return, giving them good depth at the quarterback position. LB Cody Brown and S Rashad Johnson are great draft picks that should help them establish a young, strong defense for many years.

The Cardinals are almost certain to be better than last year’s version that nearly won the Super Bowl. The only problem they might have this season is Kurt Warner who is 39 years old since the list of QBs who have been successful at that age are limited to no one. Thankfully, Warner has Larry Fitzgerald to keep the passing game interesting, and their opponents, guessing.

Another deep playoff run might require Matt Leinart to…

I guess the better question here would have to be, which team will you be putting all your money on?

Because Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida is ON this Sunday when the two remaining teams in the National Football League, that’s the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, play for arguably the biggest prize in all of sports.

Dubbed as Super Bowl Sunday, plenty of sports pundits and gamblers have started making their picks for the big game and it’s understandable that many are picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to win it all.

The Steelers started this season’s Super Bowl betting activities listed as -6.5 favorites, God knows how much will this team be favored to beat the Arizona Cardinals come game time.

How come majority of the male population favor Pittsburgh? Easy. The Steelers have been in the playoffs six times this decade, and won Super Bowl XL four years ago with Ben Roethlisberger coming off from an impressive rookie year then. The Steelers ended this year’s regular season campaign with an impressive 12-4 record, while the Cardinals limped into…

When the fiendish favorites meet the ultimate underdogs.

Yes, Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida is finally set as the favorites to win it all this year, the Pittsburgh Steelers, will do battle with the season’s ultimate underdogs, the Arizona Cardinals. This is Pittsburgh’s second trip to the Super Bowl in four years while Arizona finally earned the trip to the big dance for the first time in franchise history.

It has been one heckuva’ season and one that could very well be described as one of the most unpredictable campaigns the NFL has ever seen. Who would’ve thought that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be kings of the AFC again with Ben Roethlisberger? Of course, nobody saw the Arizona Cardinals coming and the kind of campaign those guys just had.

The Pittsburgh Steelers punched their ticket after closing the curtains on the Ravens offense. Baltimore’s undrafted rookie quarterback Joe Flacco was harrased by the Steel Curtain all night. After posting awesome numbers during the last two playoff games, he had a terrible night against the Steelers secondary, forcing him to finish 13-for-30 for 141 yards and THREE interceptions.

The Steelers defense stopped the running game for the Baltimore Ravens as well, although nobody thought Pittsburgh would be doing it in a literal sense. Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark literally stopped Baltimore’s most productive…

Merry Christmas people!

By now, I’m already off to a much needed vacation. (More specifically, playing Madden all day long without anyone bothering me…) But before I leave ya’ll here, I’m going to give ya’ll my very last weekly preview of the 2008-09 NFL football season. It’s already Week 17 people. Boy, time sure flies huh? And after 16 weeks, we learned that the Lions are only a loss away from becoming the most fucked up team in years, Tom Brady continues to lose his job to Matt Cassel and the Cowboys desperately need to win this Sunday to make the playoffs.

Yes, the Dallas Cowboys, after losing to Baltimore, 33-24, need to beat the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday to give themselves a shot of making the playoffs. And since Philly can only put up three points in their game against Washington last Sunday, this is probably the perfect opportunity for the Cowboys to steal one in Philly.

Dallas Cowboys by 3.

The Atlanta Falcons, with a playoff berth already secured, will probably just look for some momentum heading for the postseason when they face the struggling the St. Louis Rams, who have now lost nine in a row. The Rams won’t have anything to gain on this game and they’d probably just rest some of their starters to give those guys a chance to rest up and…

They have to, that is if they still have plans to keep pace with the surging G-Men from New York City.

Ah, the NFC East. After eight weeks into the 2008-09 NFL football season, that division is still arguably the best division in football today. From first to last, all four teams in this division are all legitimate title contenders and at this point, there’s only one way to go to survive there, simply be better than the rest.

As of press time, the Washington Redskins are the second best team in the NFC East, behind only to the defending Super Bowl champions, New York Giants. The Redskins hold a one-game advantage over the 5-3 Eagles while their rivals from Dallas are still in contention at 5-4.

And thanks to division rivals Philly and Dallas stumbling somewhat lately, the Washington Redskins managed to pad their lead further over the aforementioned teams, thanks primarily to the two-game winning streak they managed to ride on after beating the 3-5 Browns and the still winless Lions.

Unfortunately, the level of competition will go up a notch with the Pittsburgh Steelers about to test the mettle of this team on Monday Night Football. The West Coast offense has done wonders for this Redskins team so far and…