The suddenly reeling New York Jets are going to have to try and get back on track without their immense nose tackle Kris Jenkins. Jenkins tore the ACL in his left knee during the Jets' dispiriting 16-13 overtime loss to the Bills on Sunday and he was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon which ends his 2009 season.
"It comes with the game," Jenkins said. "My feelings are hurt that I won't be able to be out there fighting with my teammates."
His teammates might be finding it a lot harder to win their future fights without Jenkins occupying the middle of the line. They'll have to figure something out, though, because there's not much chance of swinging a deal before Tuesday's trade deadline.
CLEVELAND -- If one play defined the Browns' opening day defeat Sunday on their home turf, it was when Vikings All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson sliced through Cleveland's defense with maddening ease on a 64-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Peterson tore through six Browns tackles, eluded several more and exposed Cleveland's revamped 3-4 scheme under new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan as a true work in progress.
The last three weeks have been a blur for Minnesota Viking fans. They've gone from a quarterback competition to a completely different kind of quarterback controversy.
When Brett Favre walked into Viking headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn., on Aug. 18, he brought with him the promise of a Super Bowl run. Either that, or the promise of another glorious Vikings flop. The only certainty with Favre's arrival is that nothing is a given. All the meaningless predictions are cast aside starting Sunday, as Minnesota launches their 2009 regular season at Cleveland.
Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.
The Cleveland Browns may have canned Romeo Crennel after a disastrous season (well, more than just one), but they aren't opposed to hiring clones of former Browns and current Patriots coach Bill Belichick. The team went from Crennel, a former defensive coordinator, to former defensive coordinator and -- most recently -- deposed Jets head coach Eric Mangini.
CLEVELAND -- Browns defensive tackle Shaun Rogers has fit in with the Cleveland franchise much like you'd expect a 350-plus-pound man to fit into a Mini Cooper -- not very easily.
Perpetually disgruntled, "Big Baby" lobbed trade demands in February after he took umbrage with new coach Eric Mangini failing to reach out to him. Rogers began skipping offseason workouts. The coach and Pro Bowl defensive tackle met halfway, and Rogers' outlook improved -- helped along, no doubt, by a $6 million roster bonus he received in March
That said, Rogers isn't complaining much about the rebuilding Browns these days, despite reports out of Detroit saying he's secretly pining to return to his former team, the Lions.
The Browns won four games last season. It cost Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel their jobs, and has led to an offseason full of speculation about whom the team will draft with the fifth-overall pick next Saturday.
Cleveland's collapse was mildly surprising; it won 10 games in 2007 and just missed the playoffs. With the quarterback position seemingly decided -- Derek Anderson went to the Pro Bowl in '07 -- only the defense needed fixing. Trading for Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams accomplished that (in theory, anyway) and all that remained was winning the Super Bowl.
It's a departure from Cleveland's free-agent strategy so far this offseason -- sign as many former Jets' castoffs as can fit under the salary cap -- but wide receiver David Patten, most recently of the Saints, is now under contract.
The 35-year-old, 13-year veteran played for the Browns in 2000, but emerged as one of Tom Brady's go-to guys during a three-Super Bowls-in-four-years stretch in New England. From 2001-04, Patten hauled in 165 passes (including 16 TDs) in 54 games with the Patriots. He had 54 more receptions with New Orleans in 2007 before injuries sidelined him last season.
There were no bright spots in the 2008 Lions season, except that it ended. Predictably, coaches were fired, players were released and the arduous task of rebuilding is now underway. (Although, to be fair, Detroit has been rebuilding for the entire decade, but that was part of some Matt Millen master plan gone horribly wrong.)
The draft has become one of the biggest events of the year for NFL fans. Maybe because everybody's a winner on draft day, or maybe because hope springs eternal and all that. Whatever the reason, we're fully trying to horn in on the action. Hence our first FanHouse mock draft of the '09 offseason. And we'd like to stress "mock."
The suddenly reeling New York Jets are going to have to try and get back on track without their immense nose tackle Kris Jenkins. Jenkins tore the ACL in his left knee during the Jets' dispiriting 16-13 overtime loss to the Bills on Sunday and he was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon which ends his 2009 season. 
CLEVELAND -- If one play defined the 
The last three weeks have been a blur for Minnesota Viking fans. They've gone from a quarterback competition to a completely different kind of quarterback controversy.
Training camps have wrapped up, the 
CLEVELAND -- Browns defensive tackle 
The Browns won four games last season. It cost 
It's a departure from Cleveland's free-agent strategy so far this offseason -- sign as many former Jets' castoffs as can fit under the salary cap -- but wide receiver 
There were no bright spots in the 2008 Lions season, except that it ended. Predictably, coaches were fired, players were released and the arduous task of rebuilding is now underway. (Although, to be fair, Detroit has been rebuilding for the entire decade, but that was part of some 
