AFCN

In these sports-deprived times, there’s sadly not much direct AFC North information to impart, although I’ll do my best.  My usual column, “Speaking of which”, is getting awfully hard to generate, as transitional themes from topic to topic aren’t always easy, especially in these addled times.  But why waste time reading my disclaimers?  On to…

All hail the NFL! The advent of COVID-19 across the world has enabled the NFL to effectively steal most of the current sports headlines.  For house-locked fans around the country, news of free agency and the draft proceeding as scheduled was a welcome tonic amid widespread financial and social upheaval.  Fortunately for fans of the…

I refuse to write a filler article. I engaged in a bit of online ranting this week in my own feeble attempt to out the industry’s worst offenders.  Right now, most NFL-entwined publications are hard-pressed for news, as evidence by the slate of current headlines – “The Falcons Think They’re in Good Shape”, or “Jacoby…

By now, you’ve settled into your offseason routine. You’ve started to review various mock drafts, probably while chuckling at the fact the inimitable Mel Kiper’s few months in the spotlight are still considered by non die-hards to be the sport’s most in-tune draft analysis.  Today, you’re balancing time between this place, ProFootballFocus, WalterFootball, Twitter, SpoTrac,…

(attempts to sound excited) With a wealth of prospective free agent information having been added to most draftnik websites and a smattering of mock drafts popping up, it appears the NFL offseason is officially in full swing.  Lots of formerly locked-down (in some cases legendary) players are suddenly without teams, so determining their direction right…

It’s the postseason!!!  Yay!!! Why aren’t you celebrating?  Oh, right.  There’s no meaningful football being played. With all apologies to the XFL, American football will always be associated with the NFL and will remain embedded as such in the minds of every fan who appreciates the game being played at its highest level.  Although these…

I didn’t choose the term “broken” lightly. To be sure, the 8-8 Steelers suffered their share of injuries during the 2019 season; none more consequential than the Week 1 loss of starting QB Ben Roethlisberger for the season, courtesy of a torn elbow on his throwing arm.  Ben’s normally prodigious elbow single-handedly deprived the Steelers…

The Bengals are back, baby. No, not the Carson Palmer or Andy Dalton-led Bengals, which both managed a playoff appearance every other year and an occasional AFCN title.  No, we’re referring to the illustrious David Klingler or Akili Smith eras, which featured a bizarre willingness of the front office to embrace and stand by mediocre…

Schizophrenia, thy name is the Cleveland Browns. Seriously, the emotional toll the 6-10 Browns must inflict on their fans has to be wearying.  Granted, the Cleveland fanbase has had little to cheer for football-wise for nearly a generation, and the Browns’ 2018 finish lifted expectations to unsustainable levels.  The 2019 version of the Browns remains…

So that’s that. Despite the fanfare, hype, projections, eye-popping numbers, yards gained and touchdowns scored, the top-seeded Ravens lasted exactly one game and two weeks longer than their AFC North counterparts, losing in ugly, disjointed fashion to the plodding, methodical, sixth-seeded Tennessee Titans and mammoth running back Derrick Henry (why isn’t this guy promoted as…