“Upon further review” is a new recurring segment in which This Given Sunday analyzes quirks and fascinating tidbits from the NFL’s history books.  Today, cheerleaders complement the NFL as well as beer, pizza and the voice of Al Michaels. In fact, 26 of the league’s 32 teams now have cheerleading squads. But 43 years ago, […]

Because hindsight makes us smartasses, here’s how the 2013 NFL draft should have gone down based on what’s happened the last 12 months. Check out the first 10 picks here and the next 10 here. 21. Cincinnati Bengals: Jordan Reed (TE, Florida) — Same position, better player. Reed would have had 1,000 yards if he […]

Because hindsight makes us smartasses, here’s how the 2013 NFL draft should have gone down based on what’s happened the last 12 months. Check out the first 10 picks here.  11. San Diego Chargers: Tyrann Mathieu (DB, LSU) — D.J. Fluker wasn’t bad, but Mathieu is better and the Chargers badly need help in the defensive […]

Because hindsight makes us smartasses, here’s how the 2013 NFL draft should have gone down based on what’s happened the last 12 months. 1. Kansas City Chiefs: Keenan Allen (WR, Cal) — Seriously. Eric Fisher struggled a lot. They could have kept Branden Albert, and Allen looks like he’ll be a star for a long […]

“Upon further review” is a recurring segment in which This Given Sunday analyzes quirks and fascinating tidbits from the NFL’s history books. There was a time in pro football history, more than a century ago, when field goals were just as much of an accomplishment as touchdowns. As a result, the value of each was […]

So much of the blame for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 0-8 start last year was placed on head coach Greg Schiano, who is now gone. He’s been replaced by the well-respected Lovie Smith. And now a Buccaneers team that was never really short on talent in the first place has spent the offseason refueling in […]

I laugh nowadays when I see quarterbacks and position coaches analyzing plays on the sideline by staring at frozen print-outs from a nearby computer than I can only assume looks like this: It’s 2014, man. Paper playbooks have become a thing of the past, moving almost entirely to tablets. So why shouldn’t teams be allowed […]

Everybody calm the hell down! Yes, Johnny Manziel is the latest college quarterback with whom the nation has arbitrarily decided to fall in love with despite major concerns regarding his on-field abilities and his off-field antics. But let’s keep in mind that Pro Days amount to almost nothing in terms of how scouts and front […]

The NFL wimped out, again. The league’s Competition Committee gave the 32 owners a chance to do the right thing and adopt a broader, more widespread replay format, and instead they rejected this… Permit a coach to challenge any official’s decision, except scoring plays which are automatically reviewed. And this… Expand instant replay to include […]