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What do smart NFL teams do in and around draft day that naive, stupid teams don't do? They draft better players, of course, but it's not that simple. They don't "want it more" and will themselves into picking better players. The dregs of the league d...

With the rest of this off week between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl, I'll be taking a look back at the playoffs (today) and the season at large (Thursday and Friday) before diving back into Super Bowl coverage next Monday. Today, I...

With a couple of rematches on tap, here are all the numbers you need to look smart when talking about the NFL playoffs.

The modern NFL is a game of matchups. Since the salary cap and the spread of strategic concepts throughout the league prevent a team from dominating the way that the 1980s Niners or the early-'90s Cowboys did, just about every team in football has on...

It's good to check in with the league's most relevant team statistics about once every four weeks. Four weeks isn't enough to dramatically shift things, but it's enough to see some change from (season) quarter to quarter and actually get a macro-leve...

This week, Fourth-and-Short travels around the league to touch on three notable news bits, beginning with Denver's stunning comeback victory over the Chargers last night. I Can't Believe I'm Going to Defend Norv Turner, But ... As you might ...

With 20 quarters in the books for 26 of the league's 32 teams, now seems like a good time to take a quick look back at the first five weeks of the year and start seeing which clubs have been enjoying notably good or bad times in those hidden factors ...

All aboard the Romocoaster! After 10 days as the shiny, winning-friendly leader of the Cowboys, the new Tony Romo suddenly crumbled to reveal that it was the same old loser all along. All the doubts that were erased by Romo's triumphant 1-on-53 victo...

Even with the addition of Peyton Manning, Denver's Super Bowl dream is dead.

Let's just acknowledge it: The acquisitions portion of the football offseason is over. Listen, we're not any happier about this than you are. Those halcyon days when half the league's teams were linked to Peyton Manning and Robert Griffin III in thes...

Congratulations, Denver Broncos. Your organization appears to have won the Peyton Manning sweepstakes. Now what? First, the Broncos have to negotiate a deal with Manning. The terms being thrown around are five years and $95 million, but this i...

It's finally here! With free agency just 24 hours away, we finish up our free agent preview today with a look at the teams who we think should spend exorbitant sums of money to improve themselves over the next couple of weeks. And while last year's f...

The Robert Griffin III trade on Friday night produced more than a marked uptick in celebrations on U Street; it set into motion a series of events that should have a profound impact on the NFL as it heads into free agency this week. We don't know how...

With the Divisional Round of the playoffs in the books, it's time to take a look at some of the numbers and storylines from this week's games in "The Fabulous and the Flops." And while we could just make this simple and pick guys like Vernon Davis an...

Part 1 of our team-by-team breakdown of this weekend's NFL playoff action.

While Monday's column focused on Tim Tebow and the weekend's confusing coaching decisions, there's a lot more to talk about. Players in each game came up big and small under the harsh glare of the bright postseason lights. Let's get past Tebowmania a...