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The league’s 93rd season (and 47th of the Super Bowl Era) is less than two weeks away and once again, we’ll keep an eye on a few things that may or may not occur, as well as trends that have made the modern-day NFL so unpredictable (or is it predictable?)…

–In 2011, we saw the Packers (560), Saints (547) and Patriots (513) all score 500-plus points, the first time in NFL history three teams reached that mark in the same season. But Green Bay and New Orleans were eliminated the same weekend in the NFC Divisional Playoffs and New England fell to the Giants in the Super Bowl. That brings the total number of teams to score 500 or more points to 15 during the Super Bowl Era and those teams record in the Big Game is just 4-11…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1743-10-Things-To-Remember-For-‘12

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This weekend, six more men (CB Jack Butler, C Dermontti Dawson, DE/LB Chris Doleman, DT Cortez Kennedy, RB Curtis Martin and T Willie Roaf) will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and there’s little doubt that there will be a memorable moments when each of these greats step to the podium.

Of course, this is really a week-long celebration for the Class of 2012 and it really hits home for many of these former greats this Friday evening via the Enshrinees’ Dinner. It’s an event highlighted by the moment in which the latest inductees receive their gold jackets…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1516-Back-To-Canton

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We’re less than 4 weeks away from the start of the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions and the start of the preseason with the Hall of Fame, an interesting tilt as the New Orleans Saints square off with the Arizona Cardinals. And with the start of summertime football we will have the usual debates. To play hard or to not play hard? To win or not to win? Traditionally, starters see limited action in the first two games, play significant minutes in the third and are hardly seen in the fourth (or fifth in the case of the Saints and Cardinals this year)…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1329-The-Meaning-Of-(Preseason)-Life

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These days in the National Football League, it seems like any team can win the Super Bowl if they can just manage to get into the “tournament.” We consistently see at least 5 new teams in the playoffs each year. We’ve seen 3 Wild Card teams capture the title in the last 7 seasons and a year ago, a New York Giants’ team that was 7-7 after 14 games (and swept by a Redskins’ team that finished 5-11) caught fire down the stretch and in the postseason and became the first 9-7 Super Bowl champion in history. And remember, Tom Coughlin’s club gave up more points (400) than it scored (394) in 2011.
Hence, the NFC has certainly seen its share of unpredictability when it comes to getting to the Big Game as of late as the conference has sent 10 different teams to the last 11 Super Bowls, with the aforementioned Giants the only team in the conference to go twice (2007 and 2011)…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1319-Patriots-Steelers-and…

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It’s been a rough decade and change for this version of the Cleveland Browns.

After a three-year hiatus per say with the original franchise relocating to Baltimore and becoming the Ravens, the team is a combined 68-140 since “returning” to the NFL in 1999, producing just a pair of winning seasons (9-7 in 2002 and 10-6 in ’07) and one playoff berth (’02). And since that aforementioned 10-win season, the Browns are 18-46 since 2008–losing 11 or more games 4 consecutive years…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1282-If-Not-Now-When

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It’s been an incredible offseason for the National Football League. Quarterback Peyton Manning being released by the Colts and signing with the Broncos. Quarterback Tim Tebow taking his skills to New York after being traded from Denver to the Jets. And we’re still in the midst of the “bounty” scandal and all of its ramifications involving the New Orleans Saints and not only its current but former coaches and players as well…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1277-Southern-Hospitality

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What an incredible pairing in the Mile High City.

A man who was the first overall pick in 1983 and the final first-round selection of the then-Baltimore Colts (who never played for the organization) spent all 16 of his NFL seasons in Denver and concluded his career with back-to-back Super Bowl wins with the Broncos, the second the final contest of his Hall of Fame career and one that ended with him being named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Another man who was also the first overall pick in his respective draft in 1998 and would start every game at quarterback for the organization until this past season, when injury sent him to the sideline for the entire 2011 campaign. Along the way he would also win a Super Bowl title while putting up some of the most impressive numbers of any player at his position in the league’s history…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1269-We’re-Number-Ones

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ne year after there were 8 head coaching changes from the start of the previous season, 7 teams will have new sideline leaders in 2012. This year’s ‘class” of new hires is a mix of familiar faces and new men on the job. So which of these 7 have the most challenging road ahead?

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1258-Any-Of-These-Seven-Lucky

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One of the great stories for the 2011 Giants has been the emergence of WR Victor Cruz, who led the team with 82 catches and 9 touchdown receptions while setting a franchise record with 1,536 receiving yards.
One of the great stories for the Patriots the last 5 seasons has been WR Wes Welker, who once again led the NFL in receptions with 122, becoming only the second player in league history to total 120-plus catches in 2 different seasons (Vikings’ WR Cris Carter turned the trick in 1994 and ’95)…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1254-Wanted-The-Unwanted

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For the fifth time in 11 seasons, the New England Patriots are headed back to the Super Bowl. It’s been quite a run for a franchise that has had its ups and downs throughout its history. From the early days of the AFL when the then-Boston Patriots were often competitive but never able to win a league title, to the latter years of the Chuck Fairbanks Era of the mid- and late 1970s when the team emerged as contender, to the miserable 2-14 and 1-15 campaigns of 1981 and 1990, respectively, to the Raymond Berry and Bill Parcells Super Bowl squads of 1985 and 1996, respectively…

http://footballpros.com/content.php/1252-Dynasty-Intact