Yahoo are reporting that the Chargers are keen to get rid of Cromartie and after seeing his this year, I can understand why. However, he's still and upgrade on what we have and seeing how much the Chargers are shopping him, we could get a steal.

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We all love a player who puts a lot of effort in. Tevez and Bellamy have been putting other players to shame, tracking players everywhere and playing their hearts out. Tonight, against Bolton, SWP and Adam Johnson did the same. But is this costing City dearly?

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At the start of the year, I wrote a review for a sports website on the season just passed and my predictions for my beloved Falcons in that season.

Here, I will analyse where I was correct (and where I wasnt) while briefly analysing our up and down year.

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This game is doing the rounds on the internet. While it means no offense its probably better people look at the game as light hearted realistic view of the Saints as opposed to insulting them.

(Incase you dont know, 1 drink  = 2 fingers depth of a pint of beer)

I bring you, The New Orleans Saints Superbowl Drinking Game!

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The NFL. The Superbowl. The big game is fast approaching and the two titans of the regular season have beaten all those placed before them in the playoffs. On the 7th of February it will be Indiannapolis Colts vs New Orleans Saints.

In recent years its been relatively easy picking an underdog team to support as a neutral. However, this one is different. New Orleans are the division rival of my beloved Atlanta Falcons. Very easy decision I hear you say?

Well no actually.

The Saints are actually a very likeable team. Their fans are one of the loudest and most accomodating, their colours are sharp and stylish and their style of play entertaining. Not to mention, the way the city dealt with Hurricane Katrina is admirable and heart warming. Real dilemma you see.

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http://www.eastcoastsportsnews.com/als09scoop.html

Im not going to pretend this is an amazing source but he did predict the Peters to Phillie trade over a month ago and he must have some credibility....

What you guys think?

*A potential draft-day trade between the Chiefs and Falcons could become a reality, since the Falcons need a DT to replace Grady Jackson, and the Chiefs are looking to move DT Glenn Dorsey, and acquire more picks...*

I took over the Falcons as part of a Fan mock on a UK Forum. Some of the other GMs made some crazy picks so i decided to trade down twice to get value and then traded up again.

I ended up with:

Round 2

#55 - Clint Sintim - LB - Virginia

#57 - Rashad Johnson - S - Alabama

#58 - Marcus Freeman - LB - Ohio State

Round 3

#90 - Yet to pick

I figured that Freeman is perfect for WLB and Sintim is perfect for SLB and both would play the next 5-10 years with Lofton in the middle.

I got drunk last night drinking Falcohol and i had an arguement with a Redskins friend of mine over who was better, Turner or Portis. In some strange moment i felt that if i  could grow my facial like Michael Turner in the off season it would prove me right. Not one to shy from a challenge/dare/bet i duly accepted, probably something to do with the Falcohol.

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I just wanted to share with you guys that i have updated my madden to include all the cuts and signings and our defense is BARE

However,

With a few signings (Cato June LOLB, Leigh Bodden/Chris McAllister CB, Morlon Greenwood ROLB, James Butler/Jermaine Phillips SS) it soon became one of the best defenses in the league.

My point is have some patience. Obviously i dont expect all these signings but we can get a good squad of players who dont cost the earth. Very much like New England.....

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/27/ravens-sign-cb-foxworth/

Baltimore continues to be one of the busiest teams on the first day of free agency. The Ravens signed cornerback Domonique Foxworth to a four-year, $28 million deal that includes $16.5 million guaranteed.

Not good news

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/27/lb-boley-will-visit-giants/

Falcons free-agent linebacker Michael Boley was at the Phoenix airport Friday, preparing to fly to New York for a visit with the Giants. Boley would be an ideal Giants linebacker and the fact they’re brining him in the first day indicates New York is serious about signing him.

Boley, who will visit with the Giants Friday night and Saturday, was an emerging star and potential Pro Bowler during the 2007 season with the Falcons. However, he fell out of favor late last season in new coach Mike Smith’s scheme and was used primarily as a coverage linebacker over the final few games.

Boley started most of his career at strongside linebacker, but the rangy 238-pounder could best be suited to play weakside linebacker. Boley is considered one of the top outside linebacker prospects in free agency

More bad news

Those of you unfamiliar with the 370 curse check this article out, it was written after Ricky Williams retired and is quite old but still relevant (you have to scroll down a bit for the table)

Those running backs who have had over 370 carries have seen dramatic fall offs the next season and beyond. Ask Shaun Alexander. This has happened more than once.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/sta...lliams-retires

Michael Turner is the only RB currently on par to break the 370 mark - 332 carries with 23.7 carries per game and 2 games left. (380 carries)

Adrian Peterson is the only other RB that can come close - 320 carries with 22.9 carries per game and 2 games left. (366)

This excellent article compares a teams wins compared with the amount of wins their stats suggest they should have....

Interestingly, Last year Packers were number 1 luckiest and Jets were number 32. This year vice versa...the correlation?.....yep you guessed it, Brett Favre is the luckiest man in football!

The Full List

RANK	TEAM	GWP	Curr W	Exp W	Luck
1	NYJ	0.42	9	6.0	+3.0
2	NE	0.45	9	6.5	+2.5
3	TEN	0.68	12	9.7	+2.3
4	BUF	0.27	6	4.0	+2.0
5	DEN	0.42	8	6.0	+2.0
6	MIN	0.49	9	7.1	+1.9
7	NYG	0.66	11	9.4	+1.6
8	DAL	0.54	9	7.8	+1.2
9	SF	0.26	5	3.8	+1.2
10	ARI	0.48	8	6.9	+1.1
11	IND	0.63	10	9.0	+1.0
12	CAR	0.72	11	10.2	+0.8
13	MIA	0.59	9	8.4	+0.6
14	PIT	0.74	11	10.5	+0.5
15	HOU	0.47	7	6.7	+0.3
16	STL	0.12	2	1.8	+0.2
17	SEA	0.24	3	3.5	-0.5
18	BAL	0.68	9	9.6	-0.6
19	TB	0.68	9	9.7	-0.7
20	JAX	0.40	5	5.7	-0.7
21	OAK	0.26	3	3.8	-0.8
22	CHI	0.62	8	8.8	-0.8
23	CIN	0.24	2.5	3.5	-1.0
24	ATL	0.72	9	10.2	-1.2
25	CLE	0.37	4	5.3	-1.3
26	WAS	0.59	7	8.4	-1.4
27	PHI	0.71	8.5	10.1	-1.6
28	DET	0.11	0	1.7	-1.7
29	KC	0.27	2	4.0	-2.0
30	NO	0.65	7	9.3	-2.3
31	SD	0.60	6	8.5	-2.5
32	GB	0.55	5	7.9	-2.9

5 Pro Bowls (2005-2009) Amount of selections:

Julius Peppers - 4
Dwight Freeney - 3
Michael Strahan - 2
Jared Allen - 2
Kyle Vanden Bosch - 2
Jason Taylor - 2
Aaron Schobel - 2
Aaron Kampman - 2
Patrick Kerney - 2
Osi Umenyiora - 2
Berrick Burgess - 2
Michael Strahan - 2
Will Smith - 1
Mario Williams - 1
Robert Mathis - 1
Justin Tuck - 1
Trent Cole - 1
Aaron Smith - 1
Betrand Berry -1

Every year there are 3 DE's chosen for each the NFC and AFC. For a different player to be chosen for each slot every year (and complete parity) there should be 30 different players in this list. There are only 19.

So to the question asked...do the same players get voted to the Pro Bowl repeatedly year upon year?

To a degree yes, obviously the way the Pro Bowl voting is structured helps this to occur. Not just the fan voting but some writers are guilty of this too.

But often, the players voted to the Pro Bowl do deserve it, and as we have found this year some suffer the number crunch. There are 3 spots and 4 players playing well enough to be selected.

There is some confusion about this amongst different blogs and article writers (to do with Dallas, Atlanta & Tampa all 9-5). Here's the situation (i formatted it for ease of finding your team);

West

Arizona has clinched the division.

South

Carolina has a two-game lead over Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Because the Panthers would not win a tiebreaker with either team, Carolina needs one win or one loss from both teams to clinch the division.

In the event of a three-way 11-5 tie, Tampa Bay and Atlanta would be in an extremely close Strength of Victory battle for the division title. Atlanta couldn’t win Strength of Victory, but could tie, and, with help from Dallas losing, could win based on Strength of Schedule.

North

Minnesota holds a one-game lead over Chicago, as well as the tiebreaker advantage. So one Vikings win or one Bears loss gives the Vikings the division championship.

East

The New York Giants have clinched the division.

Wild Card

The wild-card standings are as follows: Dallas, Tampa Bay and Atlanta are at 9-5, Chicago is at 8-6, Philadelphia is at 7-5-1 and plays Monday and Washington is at 7-7. New Orleans is eliminated at 7-7.

Dallas and Tampa Bay control their own destiny. Atlanta needs a loss by either team to control its own destiny. In a three-way tie with Dallas and Tampa Bay, Atlanta can not gain a Strength of Victory advantage over the Buccaneers, and if that were a tie, the Falcons would lose on Strength of Schedule.

In the event of a mutli-team 10-6 tie for the Wild Card, Tampa Bay holds a huge advantage based on conference record.

The AJC is reporting that the falcons are set to annihilate a special teams punting record set by the Buffalo Bills in 1991.

"Koenen has punted 48 times this season and just 15 have been returned for only 26 yards, 28 yards under the record. Koenen’s punts have led to 20 fair catches, most of which were covered by Antoine Harris, who suffered a groin injury and was placed on injury reserved Tuesday."

The record is 53 yards.

"The Falcons punt coverage unit will be tested on Sunday by Tampa Bay’s Clifton Smith. He was the top punt returner coming out of college last season with a 17.1 career average at Fresno State."

I think this has been a vital part of the reason we have stopped point scoring well this year despite giving up a lot of yards. I think special teams can be very underrated, especially defensive special teams.

Do you think we will miss Antoine Harris this weekend?

In a thread on another forum about a London team a discussion broke out about whether or not it could sustain an NFL team, this got me thinking about the recent valuations results. This isn't much to do with the original post but that's where i got started from.

How have valuations changed recently? How much by? Does this affect winning? Who has increased the most?

- I started by entering the valuations from both 2000 and 2008 and then ranking out of 32 (obviously with the Texans 32 due to no data).

- Next i began comparing the percentage change between valuations of franchises in 2000 and 2008. I then ranked each increase out of 32 (again the Texans 32 due to no data).

- This then lead to me working out the numerical change in rank.

- Finally i added previous data on number of wins to the end of the spreadsheet to look for correlation.

Issues with the study

- Firstly, the Texans once again caused problems as they were set up in 2002 and so were dropped from a lot of data sets.

- Secondly, the Seahawks moved divisions in 2001 but i have decided to include them in NFC valuations as in essence any potential improvement will have occurred in the NFC and this is what we are looking for.

Results

TOP 10 in 2000

1. Redskins - $741m
2. Cowboys - $713m
3. Browns - $557m
4. Bucs - $532m
5. Panthers - $513m
6. Titans - $506m
7. Ravens - $479m
8. Dolphins - $472m
9. Broncos - $471m
10. Pats - $464m

TOP 10 in 2008

1. Redskins - $1,423m
2. Pats - $1,176m
3. Cowboys - $1,173m
4. Texans - $1,043m
5. Eagles - $1,024m
6. Broncos - $975m
7. Browns - $970m
8. Bucs - $955m
9. Ravens - $946m
10. Bears - $945m

TOP 10 % Change from 2000-20008

1. Eagles - 211.25%
2. Bears - 196.24%
3. Packers - 170.33%
4. Cardinals - 158.69%
5. Pats - 153.45%
6. Colts - 152.11%
7. Chiefs - 143.60%
8. Raiders - 133.65%
9. Giants - 129.97%
10. Jets - 128.13%

Evaluation

- The first thing i noticed was that franchises appear to have large valuations early in their life cycles (Titans, Texans, Panthers), this is probably due to brand new stadia and facilities that are top of the range and heavy capital investment.

- In addition to this there appears to be a pattern of this valuation drying up (Titans and Panthers) and these franchise don't grow as fast as the others.

- The next thing that jumped out at me is that it appears the NFC behind, although gaining, on the AFC in terms of total valuation in both periods.

 - However, the average increase's were:

AFC - 108.02%
NFC - 124.92%

- If this soon continues the NFC as a whole will be worth more financial than the AFC, however some may attribute that to the shift of the Seahawks, but this is not the case as i included them in the NFC count in the first place.

- The top 10 rankings appear to show parity throughout the NFL, however, the top 4 growing valued teams were all from the NFC.

- It is worth noting that the Broncos were the only team that moved up rankings numerically but not into the TOP 10 ranked % increase in valuation (18)

- The Jags were ranked 31st for increasing their valuation yet gained 4 wins over the 2 seasons, on the contrary, the Eagles increased the most and lost 3 wins over the same period.

- This leads me to believe that comparing just 2 seasons is inappropriate but also that valuation has little to do with performance.

- However, going the opposite way i would say that success feeds valuation, the most obviously example being the Patriots.

Thank you for your patience.  Once again i have a spreadsheet with more data on but i can't attach it on this forum