EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- They flew all over the field all night, racing to the ball, harassing the opposing quarterback with a variety of aggressive blitzes. The defense was disruptive, deep and energetic, and the main reason its team won the game. All of this was to be expected, of course...just not from this particular team.
On this night, it was the Arizona Cardinals beating the New York Giants at the latter's own game, forcing four turnovers and out-muscling Big Blue 24-17 on national TV in the swamps of Jersey.
"We definitely fed off our defense tonight," Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner said.
Anquan Boldin and Darnell Dockett are both a little upset with their current contract situation. Dockett's situation is a little less exposed because of the constant mention of Boldin's deal, but they're both looking for something new.
And they both have injured hamstrings. Which may or may not be true, but it wouldn't appear that coach Ken Whisenhunt is buying into the injury excuse.
It took the Bills less than 24 hours to find a replacement for J.P. Losman. After never playing consistently enough to convince the front office that he was a legitimate NFL starter -- and five years after Buffalo traded into the first round to select him -- Losman is now a free agent.
Former Harvard star and Rams' seventh-round pick Ryan Fitzpatrick was signed Friday to serve as Trent Edwards' backup. Fitzpatrick started 12 games for the Bengals last season in place of an injured Carson Palmer. He fared well considering the circumstances: 59.4 completion percentage, 1,905 passing yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions.
On Friday, the Oakland Raiders released safety Gibril Wilson, defensive end Kalimba Edwards and wide receiver Ronald Curry, saving the team about $6 million against the 2009 salary cap.
Think back to last offseason when owner Al Davis, in an effort to return his once proud franchise to glory, was signing blank checks with a stamp and passing them out to second-tier free agents like it was the fashionable thing to do. A year later, it's becoming obvious as to how much of a total failure the offseason was.
The Arizona Cardinals are coming off the most successful season in franchise history. This offseason, they'll face a myriad of personnel decisions which could go far in determining it we witnessed a beginning or an outlier. In addition to the high profile cases of Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Edgerrin James, the Cardinals also have several other key issues to resolve.
Karlos Dansby and Antonio Smith are free agents. The contracts Adrian Wilson and Darnell Dockett should be addressed, and they need to hire three significant coaching holes -- offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach.
Franchise tags and salary-cap concerns play a very important role in real-world wheelings and dealings, but what if the biggest-named free agents were matched with the teams that gave them the best chance to make a Super Bowl run? What would that list look like? Glad you asked.
Yes, this is a strictly fictional account, one that requires you to suspend reality for the next few minutes. But, hey, it's the NFL offseason, which means that there won't be any meaningful football for another seven months. What else do you have to do?
FanHouse's resident referee will chime in quasi-weekly with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report. Matt Snyder is a high school official with eight years experience. While this is like a third-year resident critiquing the work of a world-renowned surgeon, it's still better than someone who has never worn the stripes.
First of all, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was one hell of a Super Bowl with a dramatic ending. The first thing I want to say about the officiating is that I believe it was a very well officiated game. We'll delve right into the alleged controversial calls and sort things out.
After a slow start, Super Bowl XLIII finished with an explosion of big plays, capped by Santonio Holmes' incredible sideline TD grab to give the Steelers the 27-23 win, as well as Pittsburgh's sixth Super Bowl championship. Relive the big game with our live blog recap.
There aren't a lot of underappreciated Pittsburgh Steelers. As a team that spent most of the season on prime time or in national 4:15 p.m. games, any Steeler who stood out was seen all around the country.
But if there is one Steeler who could be considered a sleeper, it's tight end Heath Miller. Miller is one of the keys to the Steelers offense, but because most of his work is done blocking defensive ends and linebackers for the Steelers running game, he doesn't put up the numbers to be noticed.
TAMPA, Fla. -- The best Super Bowl pregame show on TV comes on at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM ET on Super Bowl Sunday, but it's worth getting up early (or setting the DVR) to see ESPN's NFL Matchup, the show that goes beyond highlights and analyzes the game with the same tape that coaches use. Today I watched the taping of the Matchup show that will air Sunday, and it was an Xs and Os education.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- They flew all over the field all night, racing to the ball, harassing the opposing quarterback with a variety of aggressive blitzes. The defense was disruptive, deep and energetic, and the main reason its team won the game. All of this was to be expected, of course...just not from this particular team.
It took the Bills less than 24 hours to find a replacement for 
On Friday, the Oakland Raiders released safety 
The Arizona Cardinals are coming off the most successful season in franchise history. This offseason, 
Franchise tags and salary-cap concerns play a very important role in real-world wheelings and dealings, but what if the biggest-named free agents were matched with the teams that gave them the best chance to make a Super Bowl run? What would that list look like? Glad you asked. 
FanHouse's resident referee will chime in quasi-weekly with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The 
There aren't a lot of underappreciated Pittsburgh Steelers. As a team that spent most of the season on prime time or in national 4:15 p.m. games, any Steeler who stood out was seen all around the country.
