FanHouse Jerod Mayo

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6:35: Hunter Hillenmeyer, the Bears' replacement for injured LB Brian Urlacher, has left Sunday's game in Seattle with a rib injury.

6:17: Bengals LB Ray Maualuga limped off the field, then was carted to the locker room with an apparent knee injury.

6:00: NFL Network reports that Frank Gore suffered a high ankle sprain and could miss a couple of weeks.

5:53: Shawne Merriman has reaggravated a groin injury and is done for the day.

Junior Seau might soon be taking a page out of Roger Clemens' playbook.

Clemens opted to come out of retirement midway through the 2006 baseball season to sign with Houston, then sat out the early portions of 2007 before joining the Yankees. Seau -- who signed with the Patriots four days after announcing his retirement from San Diego following the 2006 season --thinks he can contribute to New England's Super Bowl aspirations again this season. He just doesn't want to help them out quite yet.

After an injury-filled, $8 million season in Washington, Jason Taylor was back on the free-agent market this spring. Several teams needing a pass rusher showed interest, including the Patriots, who had previously traded veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs.

Taylor ended up in Miami, where he started his career and played for 10 seasons. It was one of the few examples of a player turning down a chance to join the Pats; head coach and evil genius Bill Belichick has an incredible knack for convincing free agents -- through Charles Manson-styled brainwashing, no doubt -- to come to Foxboro. Not this time.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

Even though they lost franchise quarterback Tom Brady to a knee injury in Week 1, the Patriots managed to finish with a rather impressive 11-5 record in 2008. Impressive because they did so with a quarterback (Matt Cassel) that hadn't started a game since he was a senior in high school.

In most years, an 11-5 record is a lock for the NFL's postseason, but the Patriots became the first team since the 1985 Denver Broncos to miss the playoffs with such a mark. They already started the offseason by placing the franchise tag on Cassel, and it remains to be seen if they intend to trade him off to the highest bidder, or keep him around is a rather expensive insurance policy.

Whatever happens Sunday, the Patriots will undoubtedly be the team to beat come September -- at least according to the predictably sycophantic media who assume that, as long as Bill Belichick is breathing and Tom Brady is walking, New England is winning.

There are still concerns about Brady's reconstructed left knee, but if he's fully operational by training camp, the prognosticating bobbleheads should take great comfort in anointing the Patriots as favorites to win their fourth Super Bowl this decade. It's the same banal "analysis" that fans have been beaten about the head with since New England won its last championship four years ago.

Whatever happens Sunday, the Patriots will undoubtedly be the team to beat come September -- at least according to the predictably sycophantic media who assume that, as long as Bill Belichick is breathing and Tom Brady is walking, New England is winning.

There are still concerns about Brady's reconstructed left knee, but if he's fully operational by training camp, the prognosticating bobbleheads should take great comfort in anointing the Patriots as favorites to win their fourth Super Bowl this decade. It's the same banal "analysis" that fans have been beaten about the head with since New England won its last championship four years ago.

When the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting was tallied, it was no surprise that New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo was the runaway winner, with 49 votes on the 50-member media panel, chosen by the Associated Press.

But it was a big surprise that the one other vote went to Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers, who played in only seven games all season. How on earth could anyone pick Rivers over Mayo? To find out, I asked the guy who voted for Rivers, Jay Paris of the North County Times.

Via e-mail, he told me he had no excuse -- he just made a mistake and voted for Rivers even though he acknowledges that the award should have gone to Mayo.

Despite having their first-round pick taken away for their top-secret advanced scouting techniques, the New England Patriots still had a first-round pick in the 2008 NFL draft, thanks to a shrewd deal during the 2007 NFL draft that landed them San Francisco's pick in '08. And because the 49ers were pretty lousy in 2007, the Patriots ended up with the No. 10 overall selection following a 16-0 regular season, and a trip to the Super Bowl.

With the No. 10 pick, the Patriots selected linebacker Jerod Mayo from the University of Tennessee, and he became an instant star in the New England defense, starting every game for the Patriots and recording 128 tackles (five for loss), four pass defenses, and a forced fumble. For his efforts, Mayo was named the NFL's defensive rookie of the year on Wednesday, picking up 49 of a possible 50 votes.

According to Pro Football Talk, the 50th vote went to Bengals rookie linebacker Keith Rivers for the seven games he played during the season. I'm going to take a wild guess and say Rivers' vote came from someone who happens to work in Cincinnati. If you're not going to vote for Mayo, who was pretty obviously the best rookie on the defensive side of the ball, the No. 2 choice probably should have been Arizona's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for his 19 pass defenses, four interceptions, blocked kick and one touchdown.

As the regular season concluded, the FanHouse football writers all got together in a secret meeting in Will Brinson's mother's basement to discuss the players of the year. Who was the best coach? Which rookie stood out? Who was the most valuable player?

After much deliberation (and tons of meatloaf), here are the FanHouse NFL Award Winners. Only players/coaches who got votes were included in the final results.

Defensive Player of the Year

Justin Tuck, NY Giants -- 10 percent
Shaun Rogers, Cleveland -- 10 percent
Albert Haynesworth, Tennessee -- 15 percent
Jared Allen, Minnesota -- 20 percent
DeMarcus Ware, Dallas -- 45 percent

His last game not withstanding, can you really argue with 20 sacks? The Cowboys' linebacker was also involved in 84 tackles and six forced fumbles in 2008.

Luckily for football fans, tonight isn't just another Thursday night. It's a Thursday night with a pretty incredible football game between division rivals with the same record and the same question in their respective heads -- are we really any good?

The Patriots play host to the Jets in a game that will decide who is the better team in the AFC East, and probably who is the better career quarterback. Here are five notes before the big game tonight.

1. It's on NFL Network -- Yep, that means a lot of you won't get it. The biggest problem with the NFL Network coverage is if it was nationwide and readily available it would pretty awesome, with some decent guys in the booth and the studio. The problem is, according to the NFL Network, some networks are handcuffing you from your football coverage! Damn the man! The good news is you can watch the game here, which will only be acceptable if you have the awesome FanHouse chat open in another window. Come on, you know you wanna...