NFL

It’s rare that Jim (a Colts fan) and I (a Patriots fan) agree on anything either team does. But we agree on this: The Colts really stunk up the joint by pulling their starters with the ball, up 5 in the third quarter against the Jets. Some people seize the opportunity for greatness; others turn […]

The final Monday Night Football game of the season was a doozy — Bears 36, Vikings 30 in overtime on a Jay Cutler 39-yard touchdown pass to Devin Aromashodu. The end spoiled a terrific comeback by the Vikings, who scored 30 second-half points. It also continued a tailspin that has seen Minnesota lose three of […]

I am enjoying the reports out of Minnesota about how quarterback Brett Favre has no problem letting Coach Brad Childress who is running the team, and that it’s not Chilly. On Sunday, Favre refused to leave the game when asked by Childress, with the quarterback airing the dispute publicly after, and not keeping it in-house. […]

Tony Romo So much for two unbeaten teams meeting the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys spoiled the New Orleans Saints' perfect season, going into the Big Easy to win, 24-17, Saturday night. The Cowboys never trailed and were the better team. The Saints had a last-gasp chance to play for the tie, but Drew Brees […]

Peyton Manning threw 4 TD passes. For the first time this year, I think the Colts will go 16-0. They made it 14 straight this season after a wild, 35-31 win at Jacksonville that saw nine lead changes. It was an NFL-record seventh time this season the Colts have won despite trailing in the fourth […]

On his ESPN radio show yesterday, former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin said he’d trade in his three Super Bowl rings and his Hall of Fame jacket to go 19-0 one season. I'd give them all back for perfection. Being the best for a season (Super Bowl champ) is great but being one of the greatest […]

When asked at Monday’s press conference about the team’s routine December decline, coach Wade Philips lost his cool a bit, of course blaming the perception on the media. No, I don't think it's a mental block. I think it's something you made up. Made up? Hmmmm. Since Tony Romo became the starting quarterback of the […]

Drew Brees How badly did the New Orleans Saints manhandle the New England Patriots on Monday night? So badly that Patriots Coach Bill Belichick threw in the towel with 5:22 to play down 38-17. He benched quarterback Tom Brady and the offensive stars even though the game was theoretically winnable (we've seen stranger things on […]

Do you believe in karma? If you do and you’re a Cincinnati Bengals fan, you may want to shield your eyes from the rest of the season. The Bengals have signed running back Larry Johnson as an “insurance” policy against injuries to their other running backs, including Cedric Benson who’s nursing a hip injury. On […]

This was supposed to be his third chance. His big breakout. Brady Quinn was being named the starter of the Cleveland Browns for the third time in the last two seasons, and we were finally going to see the player who earned first-round draft status. And then he had to play a game…and had one […]

All anyone is discussing around the NFL today is the end of the Colts’ 35-34 stunner over the Patriots on Sunday night. Not the Colts coming back from 17 down in the fourth, but Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick’s decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from HIS OWN 28 with a little over […]

Wow, what a great trade the Chicago Bears made in getting quarterback Jay Cutler. He was going to be the missing piece that would finally give Chicago a big-league quarterback. The Bears and their fans must be having buyers' remorse after Cutler's latest flameout — five interceptions in a 10-6 loss at San Francisco; the […]

Oh how quickly the stars of two Outsports faves are fading in the NFL. I’ve written before about the demise of Brady Quinn in Cleveland. It seems he’s on the precipice of losing about $11 million this year because he couldn’t hang onto the starting job there. He’s also put his Cleveland-area house up for […]

The Tennessee Titans are 0-6 and are coming off a 59-0 loss to New England, so Titans fans are not a happy bunch. They are less happy after Titans coach Jeff Fisher donned a Peyton Manning jersey at a fundraiser Tuesday because he “wanted to feel like a winner.” Manning plays for the arch-rival Indianapolis […]

I keep waiting for the Denver Broncos to wake up and realize they are supposed to be mediocre. But they keep surprising me and their 34-23 win at the San Diego Chargers on Monday night convinces me they are legit. Denver used two kick returns for touchdowns by Eddie Royal and a suffocating defense to […]

Brett Favre got all the pregame hype prior to his first game against his old team, the Green Bay Packers, on Monday night. And while Favre played quite well, the real story was along the offensive line. Favre was barely touched and on one play had 7 1/2 seconds to throw. His counterpart, Aaron Rodgers, […]

Speaking of fortune-telling, I was thinking today about the drafting of one Brady Quinn. If you remember, the Cleveland Browns chased him down late in the first round of the 2007 draft, giving up a first- and second-round pick for him. The reasoning was, “We’ll have to draft a quarterback next year anyway, so let’s […]

Last year I picked NFL games against the spread on the Michael Irvin Show on ESPN Radio. This year, I'm going up against Michael, former Cowboy Nate Newton and Michael's co-host and dear friend of mine, Kevin Kiley. We'll be picking around 10 games per week, and I already have the lead after two weeks. […]

How bizarre was the Indianapolis Colts’ 27-23 thriller over the Miami Dolphins on Monday? The Dolphins ran 84 plays, the Colts 35. The Dolphins had 49 rushes for 239 yards, the Colts 11 for 61. The Dolphins held the ball for 45:07, the Colts for 14:53. Yet the Colts improbably still won. It was the […]

New England Patriots fans will extol the 11-point comeback by Tom Brady that led to a 25-24 win Monday in the NFL season opener for both teams. But an impartial observer will point out the obvious — the Buffalo Bills choked it away. They had an 11-point lead (24-13) with 5:30 to play, then played […]