GM A.J. Smith must have jumped the gun when the San Diego Chargers said they would tender running back Darren Sproles for the coming season. The Chargers announced today that in fact they were going to put a 1st and third round tender on Sproles for next season. It is unlikely any other team in the NFL will be able to sign the 26-year-old with the tender. Sproles will make around $7.27 million next season, a hefty price tag for a player that’s never rushed for more than 343 yards in a season. The six-year pro is a duel threat out of the back field catching 45 balls and scoring eight touchdowns in total in 2009. Prior to the Chargers tender offer, Sproles was thought to be in talks with a number of teams.

Brian Westbrook was released earlier this week by the Philadelphia Eagles leaving the 30-year-old looking for a new city to take his game. The running back spent most of this season hurt only playing in 8 games all season. From 2004-2008, Westbrook was a dependable weapon in the Eagles’ offense both running and catching the ball out of the backfield. The two-time Pro Bowler told the media today that he was not planning to retire. Many experts have been pointing to the lack of success running back over thirty typically have in the NFL as a reason why Westbrook was let go by the Eagles. Former MVP and fellow 30-year-old Ladainian Tomlinson was also released earlier this month after a decline in production in 2009-10. The NFL is turning into a league where every team has a rotation of running backs, so guys like Westbrook and Tomlinson don’t have to carry the load of carries on their next time like in the past. I imagine a guy like Westbrook, who’s had a wealth of success in his career, will find a home before too long.

The NFC Championship game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints was watched by some 57.9 million viewers as the Saints prevailed in the classic back and forth overtime battle. The allure of Brett Farve possibly making it back to the Super Bowl and the feel good appeal of the Saints drew in the mammoth audience. Not since the finale of Seinfeld had so many people watched a television program outside of the Super Bowl. Following the tremendous success of the NFC Championship and the star appeal of everyone’s favorite pitchman Peyton Manning, Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIV could beat the 1982 Super Bowl for highest Super Bowl ratings ever. The Colts and Saints’ two high powered offenses should make the game itself should be must-watch-TV for Super Bowl viewers.

Some Brett Farve sentimentalists might have preferred seeing the 40-year-old have one more go at the NFL’s biggest game, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that the 44th Super Bowl is a football fan’s ideal match up. Not since 1993 has two #1 seed teams met in the Super Bowl. The Saints and Colts have been the two best teams in the NFL all season and deserve to be where they are. On one side you have the most accomplished quarterback in the NFL in Peyton Manning (some say the best QB ever) and the other you have the feel good story of the New Orleans Saints, a shinning light to the Louisiana city still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina. To add further meat to the game’s back story Peyton’s father Archie Manning is one of the beloved Saints of all-time having played 10 years in the Big Easy during his playing career. Having reached their first Super Bowl in the organization’s 44-year history, the “Who Dat Nation” (as New Orleans fans call themselves) believe their Saints are a team of destiny. Colts fans would disagree as they’re hoping to see their boys bring hope a second Vince Lombardi Trophy in four years. No matter what happens in Miami on February 7th football fans should prepare themselves for one great game.

After Baltimore put out a shocking win against the New England Patriots in first round action, they will have to take on another of the toughest teams in the league, the Indianapolis Colts. This is the year of the Colts. Or it certainly looked like it was going to be until they decided to fold in the towel (as someone once told me) during one of the last games of the year. It turns out that they didn’t even want to go for the undefeated season and let the opponents win. Baltimore, however, is doing what they usually do by making a very late season run and throwing off everyone else’s game plan. This could be the perfect storm for the Colts. The football fan base seems to be divided about whether they want to see the Colts win or lose. Some people still admire Peyton Manning’s playing abilities. Others are tired of seeing Indy win so much all the time. On Sunday, we will get to find out and it’s going to be very exciting indeed!

The New York Jets were able to beat all odds by winning against the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend. The difference maker was the play of Mark Sanchez, who has finally come to the realization that he doesn’t have to win the game on a single play most of the time. He was able to put together a good solid offensive game and then his win was amazing. The Jets weren’t supposed to come this far. They played great guns at the beginning of the year, but then slackened off. Now Sanchez & Co have jumped back into their original ability. They are maturing and might be a real force in the AFC next season. It’s not clear that they will survive their next game, but they will have learned a lot either way. If they make it, so much the better. Nicely done!

For certain sections of the NFL, the biggest game this weekend will be the Philadelphia Eagles vs Dallas Cowboys. Since they are division rivals and playing in Dallas, the whole thing is going to be rocking. One or another of these teams is going to be one-and-done and no one is going to be happy about that. In Philly, there has been a lack of playoff success for a long time. People are considering making big changes if they don’t get anything close to playoff success. The Cowboys were able to avoid the much-touted December meltdown that people were talking about. But since they have had so many troubles in getting deeper into the playoffs, the consequences for failure might be very high. Let’s get ready for a great game this weekend!

The NFL playoffs are about to begin. For most of the fans, it would appear that the top two teams are going to be hard to beat. In the AFC, the Colts and Chargers are going to be very difficult to show up on the field. The Chargers are an amazing team that has gone on a huge run here at the end of the season, which is what they’ve been doing for years. But no one has seen a San Diego team like this for a long time. Meanwhile, the Colts almost went undefeated. On the NFC side, the top two are the Saints and Vikings. These two are a little bit softer, because we’ve seen them fold a little more easily at the end of the season. Maybe that’s just because they didn’t have as much to prove, but we’ll have to keep an eye out for any weakness in them. Otherwise, it would appear that the Cowboys and Eagles are looking like strong potential teams to arrive in the second round of the playoffs now. It’s coming up soon so make sure that your show is ready to go.

There’s just one more week of regular season NFL action, so we know quite a bit about the list of teams that will be playing in January’s football playoffs. The AFC has the Colts, Chargers, Patriots and Bengals. For the last two slots there are a bunch of teams that are in contention. At the moment, the Jets and Broncos have the advantage, but the Steelers, Texans and Ravens are among the other possibilities. In the NFC, the Saints, Eagles, Vikings, Cardinals, Cowboys and Packers are in the playoffs. It’s not clear which rankings they will have, however. This week, on Monday night, the Vikings let their chance at a high seed slide away when they lost in overtime to the Chicago Bears. They might have even lost their 2nd place ranking too and would then have to play on Wild Card weekend. This could be a bad thing, because Favre is a little older and because their team seems to be struggling. We’ll know more next week, but Happy New Year!

You couldn’t expect that Brett Favre would have a permanently easy time in Minnesota. The team seemed to be shockingly well organized and getting along a bit too easily. At the same time, there isn’t any big intrigue in Indianapolis or New Orleans; but these are places where the quarterback isn’t new or anything. But Favre tends to bring his drama with him to his places. This week there was a big discussion about whether the coach had tried to take his QB out during the third quarter of a close game, to avoid getting him hurt. This erupted into the media. Apparently part of the problem is that Favre isn’t allowed such free reign over the offense as he might like. With his experience this is understandable, but the coach is the guy who makes those decisions too. It’s a tough political choice for them, but that’s the way that is.