At only 26-years-old, Darren Sproles will be a much sought after target this NFL off season. The San Diego Chargers will allow the running back test the free agency waters in the coming months the team announced Friday. The Chargers would’ve had to pay the dual running/passing threat $7 million dollars next year had they tendered Sproles contract. Sproles follows teammate LaDainian Tomlinson who was released earlier this month by San Diego GM A.J. Smith. If teams are llooking for a every down running back Sproles might not be the ideal candidate. The back out of Kansas State has excelled in a secondary role where he catches a lot of balls and plays a lot on third down. That said, compared to older backs on the market like Tomlinson and Westbrook, Sproles might  be worth the extra money as he is young, athletic, and knows how to get in the end zone. I don’t know if a team will offer him more than the $7 million he was contracted for in San Diego, but teams will definitely be interested.

With All-Pro defensive back locked on the Indianapolis Colts leading receiver Reggie Wayne, Peyton Manning focused on second-year pro Pierre Garcon in last Sunday’s AFC Championship game. The muscular Garcon broke the record for receptions in a AFC Championship game catching 11 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown as the Colts defeated the New York Jets 30-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLIV. The young wide out has come a long way in a short time from his days playing Division III football at Mount Union. Garcon was drafted in sixth round of the 2008 draft only catching four balls in his rookie season. A knee injury to Anthony Gonzalez gave Garcon a chance to step into the second receiver role and #85 hasn’t disappointed.

The past few weeks having been bittersweet for Garcon who is of Haitian decent as he dedicated Sunday’s performance to the earthquake ravaged country. Growing up in South Florida, next week’s Super Bowl in Miami will also hold special significance for the 24-year-old as Garcon returns home. When the Colts run out onto field of Dolphin Stadium keep an eye out Pierre Garcon not just for his amazing story, but because he might just be the next big thing in the NFL.

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The NFC Championship for a moment seemed destined to be decided by the right boot of Minnesota Vikings place kicker Ryan Longwell. The broadcast kept cutting to the 35-year-old former Green Bay Packers kicker warming up as his teammates were moving the ball into field goal range with the score tied 28-28 with the New Orleans Saints in the final moments of the fourth quarter.

This is what Longwell worked all year for: the chance to kick the game-winning field goal that would send his team to the Super Bowl. Former Packers team mate and living legend Brett Farve had gotten the Vikings down the field to where Longwell would have to kick a 50+ yarder to win the game. Not ideal conditions for Longwell, but he had done it before with his career long being 54 yards. Time was running down and head coach Brad Childress wanted to see if he could get a few more yards to make the kick a little easier. Longwell waited on the sidelines preparing himself for what would be one of the most important kicks of his career.

The trouble is that Longwell never got the chance. The next play Brett Farve rolled out to his right and rifled the football across his body spiraling into the arms of Saints’ defensive back Tracy Porter. On the other sideline 23-year-old Garret Hartley celebrated with his team mates at their team’s good fortune. The Saints had won a number of games this season in odd fashion and Farve’s folly only furthered the idea that they were a team of destiny.

Cajun luck continued to the joy of the 70,000 Saints fans in the Superdome as New Orleans won the coin toss giving them the ball first in overtime. Hartley began taking his warm up kicks as QB Drew Brees (a Farve-like folk legend in the making in New Orleans) led the offense onto the field. The young kicker had called his father the night before the game in the middle of the night to tell him he just had a feeling he would kick the game-winning field goal from 40 yards away on the right hash mark. Hartley was only two yards off. The Saints strung together a few passes aided by a crucial pass interference call against the Vikings setting up the Texas-born kicker for a 42 yard kick to win the game.

The New Orleans Saints had never been to a Super Bowl in their 43 year existence as Hartley lined up for the kick. The entire city hung in the balance as long snapper Jason Kyle snapped the ball back to holder Mark Brunell with the young kicker waiting to strike. Brunell set the snap down perfectly and just as Hartley envisioned the night before he drilled the pigskin right through the goal posts sending the Big Easy into ecstasy. Hartley will forever be remembered for that kick and beloved in New Orleans while Longwell will always wonder about the kick he never got to take. So goes the life of a NFL placekicker.

He hasn’t played in awhile, but he is poised to be activated for the game this weekend. Deuce McAllister was one of the best players in the league once upon a time. The Saints are hoping against hope that he will reprise that role again this weekend when their team plays against the Arizona Cardinals. This team has been struggling for a long time already, having lost several games to close out the season and really not being on their game. But they did play some very dominating football for much of the season. They need to shake something up and also are hoping that they have improved a few things with the week off. The addition of McAllister could be a fantastic move that gives them an extra oomph, or just something that messes up the chemistry. We’ll see. They will have to be on their game during this game, because the Cards have been on fire. We’ll see if they can make it happen, and it’s going to be an amazing game no matter what.

Tom Brady had a tough game last evening in New England against the Baltimore Ravens. His three interceptions and a couple of lost fumbles are a big reason why the Pats lost by a couple of scores during that game. This eliminates the Patriots for this year. Does this mean that the Brady comeback is not complete? Was he perhaps too injured to get it all done in the end? Several people have suggested that Brady and the Patriots might be finished. He and his team will certainly have to adjust their style of game, particularly on offense, so that they can get back into the playoff hunt next year. They need to keep up with teams like San Diego and Indy. But with the purported injuries that Brady currently has, it’s not necessarily hard to understand that his play was so greatly compromised.

One of the most interesting things about this year’s Wild Card Weekend is that the teams have already competed once this year. This means that we have already seen a preview of the matchup and have some idea of how it could go. In the case of Philadelphia vs Dallas, we’ve seen it twice already. The Cowboys swept the Eagles, but it was a hotly contested game, just like any in the NFC East. The Pats and Ravens have already competed recently, and many people are concerned that the Patriots might have some big trouble against this team. Similarly, Green Bay and Arizona might be about to have a very difficult time against one another. Green Bay beat Arizona twice (possibly running up the score both times), but Arizona tends to hit their stride about the time of Wild Card weekend. Finally, the Jets vs Bengals will be an interesting battle of young teams that haven’t seen the playoffs in a long time. They are considered relatively weak, but we haven’t seen many of their players in the postseason before, so we’ll keep an eye on that.

Now that the regular season is over, we know who’s in the playoffs and who isn’t. In the NFC, we find that the two teams with first round bye’s are the New Orleans Saints, who came close to the perfect season, and the Minnesota Vikings who have had a great season but threaten to fall off a bit at this point. The Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys will have it out during Wild Card Weekend in just a few days. This will be greatly fun, especially when you look at teams like Dallas and Philly who competed hotly for the NFC East. But the real show appears to be in the AFC, where the two top seeds seem destined to meet up in the AFC Championship in just a few weeks, the Colts and Chargers being about as dominant as they come this year. But don’t count New England or Cincinnati out, because they have been tough throughout the year. This year, the playoffs look to be an especially exciting event, with teams that were perfect or close to perfect making their way through treacherous waters. Make sure that you’re tuning in or in the stadium for a lot of great games!

When the Lions use a QB during the next game, they will be going with Drew Stanton rather than Daunte Culpepper. Stanton will make his first NFL start next weekend against the 49ers and it’ll be an interesting game. With Stanton, you don’t really know what you’re going to get, except from his play a long time ago. Culpepper seems to be down and out this season since he’s not getting the kind of starts that he’s been hoping for. He might not even be having a start this season at all, instead having to sit around on the sidelines the entire time. This team is going to be be without a known quarterback for the rest of the season, it seems, but they’re out of the playoffs, so maybe it doesn’t matter nearly as much.

If the Carolina Panthers had wanted anything else from their season, it was a win against a good team. Last night they got their wish against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings have been dominant against all the other teams and it looked like this week might be as big a win as they’ve had. But the Vikings only took a 7-6 lead into the fourth quarter. It became an ugly mess as Carolina went on to score 20 points during the quarter. 26-7 was the way it looked at the end. The concern isn’t that they lost to the Panthers, but that this might signal some kind of awful drop that’s about to happen for Minnesota. They have been worried about Favre for a long time now, that he’s going to fade at the end of the year. We’ll have to see if this is true or just a team living in hubris. But it’s always exciting for these folks!

Mark Sanchez missed last week’s game, but he’s going to be back against the Atlanta Falcons this weekend. He had trouble with his knee before that, but now he’s on his way back to full power. And it’s just in time too. His team is still in the playoff hunt, though not likely going to make it to the top of the division again. They were ridiculously strong at the beginning of the season, going undefeated for a long time. But with him back at the helm, hopefully the team will be able to make this weekend’s battle a real game. We’ll see if his knees can hold out, even with the custom braces he’ll be wearing. He says that he’s completely ready, so we can’t count him out or anything. Expect a tough game this weekend!