The NFL hadn't seen both of its No. 1 seeds make it to "Championship Sunday" since 2004 and with wins by both the Colts and Saints, it marks just the third time both No. 1 seeds have advanced to a Super Bowl since the league expanded its playoff field to 12 teams twenty years ago (1990). It hadn't happened since the 1993 season when the Cowboys beat the Bills 30-13 in Super Bowl XXVIII (both teams were 12-4), with the... Read more

The NFL conducted a season-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the AFL during the 2009 season, as most know. Using simple math, one didn't have to attend Ohio University to realize that since the AFL began in 1960 and the first year of the merger was the 1970 season, that this weekend's AFC and NFC championship games are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Both home teams have won and advanced to the Super Bowl... Read more

Home teams went 2-2 SU and ATS in the wildcard round with underdogs going 3-1 ATS (huge move on the GB/Ari game saw the Cards go from 2 1/2-point favorites to 2 1/2-point underdogs by game time). All four games went over the total (had been 32 overs, 43 unders and one push since 1990) and of course the average of 57.3 PPG was skewered by the GB/Ari game (other three games averaged 44.3 PPG which was consistent with the... Read more

The Cards, Cowboys, Jets and Ravens advanced last week and all four will play on the road this week against rested teams which were able to have last weekend off after a grueling 17-week (16-game) regular season. As I've mentioned in previous columns, the NFL has featured a 12-team playoff field since 1990. Since that time, the teams with the best records in each conference have had a bye during wildcard weekend and the... Read more

The NFL's wildcard weekend opened with Mark Sanchez becoming just the fourth rookie QB in NFL history to win his postseason debut, as the Jets beat the Bengals in Cincinnati 24-14. It ended with Arizona beating Green Bay 51-45 (OT), a game which ranks as the highest-scoring playoff game in NFL history. In between, the Cowboys made it a 3-0 sweep of the Eagles this year with a 34-14 win Saturday night at Dallas and the... Read more

The NFC's playoff field of six was set heading into last Sunday. The winner of the Philly/Dallas game would clinch the NFC East title and those two teams plus the Cards and Vikes all had some chance of earning the No. 2 seed (Saints had clinched the No. 1 seed in Week 16). As for the AFC, the four division winners were set with the Bengals and Pats 'fighting' over the No. 3 seed plus seven teams were still 'alive' (some... Read more

While the college football season featured five bowl games on three consecutive days (Thursday-Saturday), including two of this year's five BCS Bowls (Rose and Sugar on January 1), the NFL prepares for its final Sunday of the 2009 season on January 3. With John Lennon on bass guitar and Paul McCartney on piano (as well as lead vocal), "The Long And Winding Road" (written by McCartney) was recorded at Apple Studios, London... Read more

Home teams went 11-5 SU in each of the first two weeks of this year's preseason (22-10 for a winning percentage of .688), although they were a more modest 17-14-1 ATS (54.8 percent). That's in keeping with the idea that the pointspread is the "great equalizer" (more on that in a bit). However, with the Vikings' 17-10 win over the Texans Monday night concluding Week 3's play, it was rough week for home team bettors. ... Read more

The Ravens and Jets concluded Week 2 of the preseason Monday night, as the Jets' TD with 22 seconds remaining (but failed two-point conversion), left Baltimore with a 24-23 win but the Jets with the cover. Home teams went 11-5 SU in Week 1 but just 8-7-1 ATS and then repeated their SU record in Week 2 (11-5), while improving their ATS mark just slightly (9-7). The Bills and Titans have played three games (Titans won... Read more