AFCN

“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” – Carl Sagan It goes well beyond hyperbole to say that CY2020 didn’t unfold as most had hoped.  As COVID-19 laid waste to sports protocols and norms for months, players and fans were left…

“Hubris is one of the great renewable resources.” – P.J. O’Rourke Let’s just be perfectly honest here – the terms “Browns” and “elite talent” have rarely been synonymous the last 22 years.  Sure, there’s been a few Browns players that matched that description, like LT Joe Thomas or WR Josh Gordon (whose talent was clearly…

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway As followers of the AFC North, we’re all keenly aware of who Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is.   We’ve followed his career, spent entirely in Pittsburgh, thus far.  We know all about the…

The NFL offseason’s here. Although it may seem strange, I like the offseason.  As I opine every year, it’s the lone time annually that every team is 0-0 on both the scoreboard and the standings, and the losers of the previous season can exercise hope that the next season will be much greater and more…

It’s Super Bowl Week!  Yay…? Super Bowl Week is always a little…wistful.  If your team isn’t playing in the title game, watching myriad interviews, retrospectives and pressers with teams, players and coaches you care little about becomes tiresome, bordering on depressing after awhile.  This year in particular, the doldrums surely began to settle in as…

The AFC North may not be in the Super Bowl this year, but it remains the best overall conference in the NFL…as far as we’re concerned, anyway.  As such, while the NFL celebrates the notion of the “Pro Bowl” this week, I’ll run down the latest news items and discussions regarding our favorite teams.  Onward……

Been awhile since I’ve written one of these, but in a week featuring a tense presidential inauguration, there wasn’t much football to write directly about.  Sure, it’s the playoffs and all, but without an AFC North representative, what’s there to pay attention to? It’s Conference Championship Week, and despite three playoff entrants, the AFC North…

Welcome back! Last week’s wild card round was…wild, culminating in unlikely outcomes, depending on your preferred narratives for each game.  The Browns slayed their decades-old dragon in the form of Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field with barely ten seconds off the game clock, establishing a lead via fumble over the Steelers they never came close to relinquishing. …

Hey! We survived the regular season, more or less.  Here’s hoping your favorite team made it into the draw and has a chance to move forward.  If not, I’m sure you’re already poring over scouting reports and draft prospects, looking for that magic bullet that will guarantee 2021 success.  Either way, you’re sure to settle…

Howdy. Welcome back and all that.  Each week, I’ll post a quick writeup of pending AFC North games, with a few notable points and, yes, timely, knowledgeable predictions regarding the games’ outcomes. Thanks for sticking with me this season.  It’s been a weird, challenging year on all fronts, but nothing is as daunting as picking…