The Saints and Vikings opened the 2010 NFL regular season Thursday night, a rematch of last year's NFC championship game which the Saints won 31-28 in overtime. Thursday's game was nothing like last year's shootout, as the Saints prevailed 14-9. The defending Super Bowl champion has now played host to the last seven Thursday night openers and won them all. Some may find it hard to believe that the Saints are actually... Read more

Week 3 of the 2010 NFL preseason opened with the 49ers as the lone NFC team still undefeated while five AFC teams were unbeaten (Baltimore, Miami, New England, Oakland and Pittsburgh). NFC teams Carolina and Chicago were both 0-2 while five AFC teams entered the new week winless (Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Kansas City). The league's six unbeaten teams were a combined 11-1 ATS while the seven winless... Read more

Home teams got crushed last Saturday, as visiting teams went 9-2 SU and ATS. The high scoring continued as well, with eight of 11 games going over the total. Home teams got a small measure of revenge (as did under bettors)with the 49ers beating the Vikings 15-10 in San Francisco on Sunday night and the Titans beating the Cardinals 24-10 in Tennessee on Monday night (both games stayed under). The week began with the Bills... Read more

(Note: This is the final installment of my six-part preseason NFL articles) The NFL expanded its playoff field to include 12 teams beginning in the 1990 season. Heading into the 2009 season, there had been 110 teams from 1991 through 2008 to follow a playoff appearance with another one the very next season. That’s an average of 6.1 per season. The 2009 postseason included six teams from the 2008 field and six teams... Read more

(Note: This is the fifth in a series of six preseason NFL articles) The NFL expanded its playoff field to include 12 teams beginning in the 1990 season. Heading into the 2009 season, there had been 110 teams from 1991 through 2008 to follow a playoff appearance with another one the very next season. That’s an average of 6.1 per season. The 2009 postseason included six teams from the 2008 field and six teams that sat... Read more

(Note: This is the fourth in a six-part series). Three teams will open the 2010 season with a new head coach, the Buffalo Bills (Chan Gailey), the Seattle Seahawks (Pete Carroll) and the Washington Redskins (Mike Shanahan). It's a much smaller group than last year's "new coaches" but more experienced. The 2009 season began with nine teams featuring a different head coach from the one which had been on the sidelines... Read more

( Note: This is the third in a six-part series) Three teams will open the 2010 season with a new head coach, the Buffalo Bills (Chan Gailey), the Seattle Seahawks (Pete Carroll) and the Washington Redskins (Mike Shanahan). All three have previous NL head coaching experience with Shanahan owning two Super Bowl titles (back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998). Gailey spent two seasons as the Cowboys' head coach ... Read more

( Note: This is the second in a six-part series over the next three weeks) I opened my NFL preseason series last Monday (7/19) and beginning on August 10, I'll repeat my two-part series from last year which looks at which teams I expect back in this year's postseason (from the the 2009 field) and which teams I expect will be new to the 2010 postseason. Here, I will offer some early predictions on possible 2010 "playoff... Read more

( Note: This is the first in a six-part series over the next three weeks) The NFL expanded its playoff field to include 12 teams beginning in the 1990 season. Heading into the 2009 season, there had been 110 teams from 1991 through 2008 to follow a playoff appearance with another one the very next season. That’s an average of 6.1 per season. The 2009 postseason included six teams from the 2008 field and six teams that... Read more

While a Brett vs Peyton Super Bowl surely had a certain 'sex appeal,' it's hard to argue that a Colts/Saints matchup isn't a fitting conclusion to the 2009 season. The Colts opened 14-0 and the Saints 13-0. Two teams reaching 13-0 marked the latest in a season the NFL has ever had two teams which hadn't lost. Winning is nothing new for the Colts of this decade, while the Saints have reached rarified air. When the Colts... Read more