Seattle over New Orleans.  No one saw this coming and I mean no one.   The Seahawks scored one of the biggest upsets in NFL playoff history by defeating the defending NFL champs.  Matt Hasselbeck played like he found the fountain of youth lighting up the Saints defense with four touchdown passes.  Marshawn Lynch clinched the game and become an instant playoff legend with a tackle breaking 67 yard touchdown run over seemingly the entire Saint defense.  The Seahawks showed offense fire power that had not been there all year.  Hasselbeck was on the money overcoming a early interception. They ran the ball effectively and the Seahawks won even without getting any big plays out of return specialist Leon Washington.  The Saints scored enough to win but on defense they were inept in every way.  The defining moment was when Tracy Porter who scored the game clinching interception in the Super Bowl was stiff armed into the field turf during the Lynch touch down run.

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New England beating Detroit.  Detroit kept it close for over three quarters, until the Patriots and Tom Brady found Lions corner back 180 pound turkey Alphonso Smith and fried him good the entire second half.  Brady finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3 (which even Will Hunting can't figure out).  Tom Brady is the ultimate man.  I bet he went home and whipped up a five course thanksgiving dinner without even breaking a sweat.
New Orleans edging Dallas.  The Saints won a game they were in control of for most of the game.  They were not very efficient in the red zone, and Reggie Bush who had every reason to be rusty after being out for eight weeks and he was.  He dropped sure touchdown pass that cost the Saints a chance to put the game away in the 3rd quarter and his punt return fumble allowed the Cowboys to get back in the game.  The Saints do have a top five quarterback in Drew Brees though.  When the Saints got the ball back with three minutes to play it was a ... [more]

Proper strategy in the draft is extremely crucial to a teams long term success in the NFL. Throughout history it has been proven time and time again that the teams that consistently draft better will have a higher probability of success. The NFL is a league that has a lot of parity so the margin for error is tiny. To win week in and week out a team must have a variety of good players and depth at each position. In the modern day era of the salary cap the only way to ensure long term success is through the draft.
Playing professional football is a very physically challenging game, so much so that each year many players get injured for significant amounts of time. As a result of this a team has to plan for the possibility that a key piece of their team will not be there. Each team has to have as quality a backup as they can at every position. Bringing in young, hungry players through the draft is the best way to accomplish this. It also helps to have more guys in camp becau... [more]