The AFC The Buddy Nix Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings: “Yesterday, we talked briefly about Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey's indications that Demetrius Bell would be seeing some time at tackle this weekend. The point of bringing that up on my end was to suggest that he should split time at both left and right tackle, with the goal of getting some right tackle tape on him in the event that he's re-signed this off-season to be the team's primary backup to both Chris Hairston and Erik Pears next season.” The Jeff Ireland Omar Kelly of South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “The irony of Sunday's game between the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles is overflowing. These teams have matching 4-8 records, but their courses to mediocrity drastically contrast.” The Jonathan Kraft Pats Pulpit: “CBS will keep the Patriots-Broncos game that will still be at 4:15 Eastern. That means the Ravens-Charges game will remain on Sunday night. So, all that for nothing. And Kraft wins. So do the Patriots, who get to come back to Foxboro earlier with a short week to face the Dolphins on Christmas Eve.” The Mike Tannenbaum Gang Green Nation: “I have not met a single Jets fan that isn't happy with what Aaron "Mayhem" Maybin, has brought to the Jets pass rush. He is one of the few bright spots that the Jets have to fall back on as our season slithers across the edge of a razor blade.” The Ozzie Newsome Baltimore Beat Down: “The Indianapolis Colts have always given the Ravens fits. Usually lead by all world quarterback Peyton Manning, they have knocked the Ravens out of the playoffs on more than one occasion.” The Mike Brown Jason Garrison of Cincy Jungle: “The Texans have only allowed an opposing team to score more than 14 points three times this season. In Week 3 they gave up 40 points to the Saints, in Week 5 they gave up 25 points to the Raiders and in Week 6 they gave up 29 points to the Ravens. The Texans lost all three of those games.” The Tom Heckert Chris Pokorny of Dawgs by Nature: “Has anyone noticed how much Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur likes to use his timeouts before the end of a half in order to get the ball back? I actually like the fact that Shurmur has been doing this; it actually reminds me of the way I would traditionally play Madden.” The Kevin Colbert Behind The Steel Curtain: “After the Steelers were questioned as a title contender following a rough outing against Kansas City, they rebounded nicely in dominating the Bengals.” The Rick Smith Battle Red Blog: “No matter what happens the rest of the season, Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith should be in the conversation for Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year, respectively.” The Chris Polian Stampede Blue: “This week with someone to finally throw them the ball, the receivers came alive. Garcon and Collie both had season highs in catches with Garcon exploding for another season high 150 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. With Garcon in particular, it was nice to see he wasn't just taking bubble screens to the house and was actually making catches downfield.” The Gene Smith Adam Stites of Big Cat Country: “For the first time since news broke last Tuesday that a deal had been struck to make him the new owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Shahid Khan spoke briefly with local Jacksonville media that made the trip to New York in hopes to speak with Khan at the site of the finance committee meeting.” The Mike Reinfeldt August West of Music City Miracles: “The Tennessean has an update on the improvements to LP Field, which were approved by the Metro City Council earlier this week. All of the major improvements (most notably the huge jumbotron, elevators and sound system) are expected to be complete before the Titans kick-off next season.” The Brian Xanders Mile High Report: “Willis McGahee was the first free agent pick-up of the Denver Broncos latest regime, though the Broncos seemed to be doing their best to get DeAngelo Williams away from the Carolina Panthers. If you were to compare the two running backs stats this season Denver seemed to come away with the better transaction (and a healthier wallet).” The Scott Pioli Arrowhead Pride: “I don't know about you folks, but this season for the Kansas City Chiefs is probably one of the most unusual that I can remember in recent times.” The Al Davis Silver and Black Pride: “These next two games might end up deciding our season obviously but I see no reason we can not compete against them. Especially, if we can finally get DMC back on the field.” The Dean Spanos Bolts From The Blue: “San Diego’s top play was a gang sack that pretty much shut the door in momentum terms on any chance of a Jaguars comeback. Tommie Harris got the stat sack, but Antonio Garay and true fan #1 (aka Shaun Phillips) were right there in the pile too.” The NFC The Stephen Jones Blogging The Boys: “For all its faults, the passer rating does go beyond simple volume stats like yards, number of TDs or number of interceptions. This is a good thing. Yet to this day, it remains perhaps the only advanced stat used to evaluate a passer. That is a bad thing.” The Jerry Reese Ebenezer Samuel of The New York Daily News: “DeMarcus Ware has a simple theory about Justin Tuck. To the Dallas Cowboys’ pass-rusher, Tuck is nothing more than a desperate wannabe. And every time Tuck trashes the Cowboys, every time he talks about how much he “hates” Dallas and how he thinks Cowboys Stadium a dump, Ware feels a sense of pity for the struggling Giants defensive lineman.” The Howie Roseman Bleeding Green Nation: “Michael Vick owes a lot to Andy Reid. Not only was Reid the guy who gave him his shot to return to the NFL, but under his tutelage, Vick has transformed himself into essentially a new player. So it stands to reason that of all Eagles, he's the least likely to want to see Andy Reid fired.” The Bruce Allen Hogs Haven: “Redskins defensive co-coordinator Jim Haslett likes his blitzes. We've already seen plenty of the Cover Zero defense called at key times this year. But another blitz that has come up consistently over the course of the season is the 'Cornerback Blitz'. Most commonly used with Kevin Barnes when he's lined up on top of the slot receiver.” The Jerry Angelo Steven Ronkowski of Windy City Gridiron: “For all its faults, one thing Lovie Smith's Tampa 2 has done well is defending against a dual-threat quarterback. While there is plenty on tape to back this up, most notably the many games against Michael Vick, the Bears have never faced a quarterback quite like Tim Tebow.” The Martin Mayhew Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit: “Detroit Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew released an apology today for the personal foul penalty he received in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints. Pettigrew was penalized for contacting an official who was trying to restrain him from getting into it with Saints safety Roman Harper. Pettigrew was flagged 15 yards for the penalty and added to Detroit's list of self-inflicted mistakes during the game.” The Mark Murphy Acme Packing Company: “While the defense has been consistently bad, that isn't a reason for their perfect record. However the defense is pretty consistent when it comes to forcing turnovers, and their league-leading 23 interceptions have been pretty well spaced over the course of the season.” The Mark Wilf The Star Tribune: “Vikings coach Leslie Frazier says quarterback Christian Ponder shouldn't be too hard on himself for mistakes.” The Thomas Dimitroff Caleb Rutherford of The Falcoholic: “After the game on Sunday, Roddy said we should just stop throwing deep balls since, for whatever reason, they're hitting them in practice but not in the games. Now the players don't want deep balls. How about that.” The Marty Hurney Cat Scratch Reader: “During Monday Night Countdown, ESPN showed a flyover shot of Jacksonville's skyline before the game between the Jaguars and Chargers. Seems harmless enough, right? I mean, they do this every week, so what's the problem? Well, the problem is they actually showed Charlotte's skyline instead.” The Mickey Loomis Andrew Juge of Canal Street Chronicles: “At 9-3 the Saints are now firmly in control of both the NFC South and the No. 3 seed in the conference, so now we can turn our focus to rooting against the 49ers and hoping for a chance at the two seed and a first round bye.” The Mark Dominik Bucs Nation: “As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to play the way they have been playing, it seems inevitable that Raheem Morris will lose his job. I cannot read the Glazers' minds and they've done surprising things before, but another double-digit losing season three years into a rebuilding year cannot sit well with them.” The Rod Graves Tyler Nickel of Revenge of the Birds: “When the 49ers roll into the desert this weekend to take on the Cardinals, they will probably be doing so without their star linebacker, Patrick Willis. During the first quarter of the 49ers/Rams game, Willis left with what has now been diagnosed as a grade two hamstring strain. Even if Willis isn't able to suit up, don't think for a second that the 49ers defense is going to stall.” The Billy Devaney Ryan Van Bibber of Turf Show Times: “ESPN's Week 13 Monday Night Football, between the Chargers and Jaguars, earned a season-low 6.9 overnight rating. Based on that, this week's game should score even lower, featuring the league's second worst team playing against the most forgettable five-win team in the league.” The Trent Baalke David Fucillo of Niners Nation: “One of the most underappreciated aspects of Alex Smith's game is his ability to move in the pocket and scramble when a play breaks down. There have been times in the past where he seemed to get happy feet and bad things happened.” The John Schneider Charlie Todaro of Field Gulls: “Earl Thomas' stats to this point in pass defense may be lower than many expected heading into the season - one interception compared to four for Kam Chancellor - but Earl's been a major contributor around the line of scrimmage.”