FOOTBALL NFL ARTICLES

The Cleveland Browns roster looks like an expansion team. It’s not that much different than the roster in 1999, when the Browns actually were an expansion team. The quarterback spots are filled by a veteran desperate for a second chance to start, an older veteran backup and a developmental rookie. The best skill-position player is a tight end, who had a breakout nobody saw coming at age 30.... 

The Texans were a quarterback away from being a really good football team in 2015. As it was, they overcame a 2-5 start to finish the year at 9-7, winning the AFC South. But that wasn’t enough for Houston in Bill O’Brien’s second season.... 

The Dolphins crashed and burned last season costing two coaches their job. Entering 2015 with high hopes, Miami stumbled to three losses after an opening day win. It’s not that the Fins lost, rather who they lost to that upset many. Losing at Jacksonville and an embarrassing home opening defeat to Buffalo set the stage for Joe Philbin’s exit after the team lost to the Jets the following week.... 

The wait continues for Jets fans, who saw their team miss the playoffs last season by losing the regular season finale in Buffalo. It was a torturous loss for the Jets, falling to their former coach, Rex Ryan. And in some ways, it spoiled many of the good feelings that had built up throughout a 10-6 season in 2015.... 

Injuries are part of life in the NFL and the Ravens clearly hope the bug bites elsewhere in 2016, particularly when it comes to their quarterback Joe Flacco who missed the final six games of 2015 with a knee injury. Baltimore got the worst of it last season with the most players of any team on injured reserve.... 

The final story on the Seattle Seahawks in 2015 says that they reached the divisional round of the playoffs and lost to the eventual conference champs by just a touchdown. More realistically, they were never anywhere near the best team in their division, should've been beaten in the first round of the playoffs by Minnesota and were absolutely destroyed by Carolina. Are the Seahawks on the rebound in 2016, or are they destined to stay behind Arizona and be nothing more than a Wild Card contender?... 

Jay Gruden deserves all the credit in the world for turning the Washington Redskins into contenders last season. This franchise has been marred with troubles for years and years, posting just one winning season from 2009 through 2014, but the '15 season was a banner year for sure with the NFC East title. That said, this club still hasn't won a playoff game since 2005 and hasn't been the NFC Championship Game since 1991. There's still plenty of work to do to get over the hump from here.... 

Last year when the San Diego Chargers were beaten by the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in a tightly-contested game from start to finish, Jim Nantz appropriated referred to them as the best 2-4 team in football. They finished as the best 4-12 team in football. The Chargers badly need a renaissance, and they're good candidates to do it as well in the wide open AFC West. They've got a real uphill climb and have Father Time working against them as well though, and that's why the oddsmakers don'... 

A strong start in 2015 made the second half of the season that much more painful to watch for Atlanta Falcons fans. After winning the first five games, the Falcons lost eight of the last 11, including a six-game losing streak.... 

The Bengals have assembled a talented roster and will once again compete for supremacy in the AFC North. Cincinnati won the division for the second time in the last three seasons last year, matching the franchise record with 12 regular season wins and reached double-digits for the fourth straight time.... 

Every team is optimistic about their chances during the offseason. But for team that is now more than five years removed from its Super Bowl XLV title and is looking to bounce back from watching its last two seasons end in gut-wrenching style, the optimism is real in Green Bay.... 

After 20 seasons mired in the Midwest, the Rams are back in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they drag a decade-long playoff drought along with them. Coach Jeff Fisher made the move as well with a team seemingly on the cusp of being good. However, the Rams haven’t had a .500 or better season with him at the helm.... 

New York struggled through a forgettable 2015 campaign, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season and then parting ways with two-time Super Bowl champion head coach Tom Coughlin. So the Giants now move forward with a new head coach, Ben McAdoo, a 35-year-old Eli Manning and last year's 32nd-ranked defense.... 

The Saints trotted out the NFL’s worst defense last year and the offense just couldn’t keep up. The flop cost coordinator Rob Ryan his job. And no team allowed more points than the Saints, though it made for some exciting games. Perhaps that's why they used three of their first four picks in the draft on that side of the ball.... 

The Tennessee Titans are clearly starting to turn the corner. They've got their franchise quarterback in Marcus Mariota, and they're starting to put some pieces around him which make some sense. Will it all translate into victories in 2016? The oddsmakers aren't giving them a ton of credit quite yet.... 

Death. Taxes. And the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be in the discussion for the Super Bowl year in and year out. Sure, it's been a while since the Steelers have made it all the way to the Promised Land, but they haven't had a losing season since 2003. That, if nothing else, makes them awfully interesting to watch when it comes to their relatively lofty regular season win total.... 

Kansas City picked up the pieces after an awful start to challenge for the AFC West crown and is the favorite to win it in 2016. The Chiefs went over two months without losing a football game last season and have the pieces to fill in at the top.... 

The Lions begin the post-Megatron era with plenty of questions, not many answers, and a new management team in place to oversee the on-field product. That product won’t have Calvin Johnson, who retired this offseason after nine seasons in a Lions uniform, taking the face of the franchise over the last decade away.... 

Most of the remnants from the previous regime have been discarded and the Bears are now general manager Ryan Pace’s and head coach John Fox’s team. And that’s a good thing. In Carolina, Fox’s team improved by four games from his first season to the second, reaching 11 wins and the Super Bowl in Year 2.... 

The Cardinals were ridiculous last year. Not only did they go 13-3, but they scored the second-most points in the NFL with 30.6 per game while allowing the seventh-fewest at 19.6 per game. They were incredibly efficient on both sides of the ball, but unfortunately bowed out to the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game.... 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and Week 16 of the 2016 NFL regular season will bring plenty of gifts for football fans. With Christmas Day falling on Sunday, the league adjusted its slate for plenty of fun the day before the Holiday. Two AFC division rivalry games are waiting under the tree while Saturday offers a feast of pigskin action.... 

A couple of mouthwatering AFC matchups highlight the Week 15 schedule of the 2016 NFL regular season. The Patriots and Broncos will tangle in a rematch of the conference championship minus one key element. Tom Brady gets a shot to avenge a 2-point loss that kept the Pats from a repeat opportunity. The Steelers and Bengals will also hook up in what is likely to be another bloodbath in the AFC North.... 

The primetime lineup in Week 14 of the 2016 NFL regular season schedule promises to be one of the best of the year. AFC West rivals Oakland and Kansas City get the slate started on Thursday night with an NFC East matchup between the Cowboys and Giants on Sunday Night Football. The Ravens and Patriots have met in the playoffs three times in the last five seasons and end week on Monday night.... 

If you like betting on the road underdog, Week 13 of the NFL regular season is your week to play. Only one visitor is pegged as a favorite on the early lines, with the Denver Broncos 3.5-point chalk at Jacksonville. Sunday Night Football is a must see with another clash between the Panthers and Seahawks, who have produced some memorable regular and postseason games in the past few years.... 

Week 12 of the NFL regular season gets going on Thanksgiving Day with a smorgasbord of football. There are few holidays – at least football related ones – like Thanksgiving and the turkey day games are going to be fun ones. Besides, who doesn’t like a couple of division rivalries to spice the cranberry sauce?...