I’m not somebody that really cares about draft grades the day after a draft — how many times have these so-called “experts” been wrong in the past? — but since NFL is officially over, and since we’re stuck with a few boring NBA series right now and 145 more MLB games, I figure I may as well milk this post for what it’s worth.

It’s the last time we’ll be discussing the NFL until a Bengals player gets arrested in the offseason.

How’d your team do over the weekend? I’ve got lots of different opinions from lots of different people. Click here and you can see how Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline rates the picks; click here to see how Larry Weisman, writer for USA Today, breaks down all seven rounds. Clifton Brown, writer for Sporting News Today, has his take here; for Yahoo! Sports, go here.

I’d give you Todd McShay or Mel Kiper, Jr., but they’re douche bags and charge you $39.95 a year for their services — if I could charge everyone $39.95 to be completely wrong about how a player will turn out, I would. McShay isn’t that bad, but Kiper’s looked like a weatherman with some of his recent predictions.

Enjoy the grades. They mean nothing. At the end of the day, Calvin Johnson has to catch Matthew Stafford’s passes, and DHB wasn’t a stretch by Oakland until he officially busts in Oakland. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I’m counting down to September. Fall, you couldn’t get here soon enough.

ESPN has a nice little piece on each team’s strength of schedule for 2009. It also notes that if you went from worst to first in the NFC South, then you’re pretty much screwed (see: Falcons, who have the fourth hardest schedule this year, with opponents’ records being a combined 150-105).

An interesting note: The Cardinals, who made the Super Bowl, have the 27th hardest schedule, or sixth easiest next year; the Minnesota Vikings, who won their division and played a first round playoff game at home, have the second easiest schedule. The Patriots, who missed the playoffs, have the third easiest schedule.

You can see all teams here. With the addition of Jay Cutler, and with the easiest schedule in the NFL, it looks as if the Bears might have an easy ride to the playoffs next year.

[ESPN]

I’ve noted many times that the NFL Combine is the most overrated event in sports when it comes to gauging talent, yet every year I get caught up in what a guy runs or what a guy jumps or what a guy throws (combine studs that probably went a bit high: JaMarcus Russell, Donte Stallworth, and just last year, Vernon Gholston).

That said, via The Big Lead, here’s some guys that impressed, and some guys that didn’t. A couple of notables on my end, from what I’ve seen on NFL Network:

Pat White, QB/WR: He ran an unofficial time of 4.49 in the 40, and then it was adjusted to a 4.55. He also jumped a solid nine feet in the broad jump, which is real important once you’re actually in the game. I know I often see guys stand in place, squat, and leap as far forward as possible. Like I said: Great gauge at talent.

Darius Heyward-Bey, WR: This guy was being talked about as a second rounder, but after running a 4.3 flat, he’s probably going to end up cracking the top 15. Michael Crabtree is still “the guy” when it comes to receivers, but Heyward-Bey is sure creeping up.

Derrick Anderson, WR: This is the guy that I think will be a solid NFL player — probably a good number two receiver — but his 4.58 40 will have schools not paying attention to whether or not he can run a route and catch the ball, and just say he’s too slow to play.

Beanie Wells, RB: I can’t tell if a 4.59 40 is good or bad for him. On one side, it’s slower than most strong safeties. But he’s 235 pounds, and at that size, how fast do you want him to run?

[The Big Lead]
Getting Listy With The Combine

They’re not set-set, as there’s still some time in the Chargers/Steelers game, but up three scores with under a couple of minutes to play, we’ll go ahead and assume Pittsburgh takes this one home.

So there it is: Next week Baltimore will play at Pittsburgh for their third and final grudge match of the season. In the first game, Ravens players accused Heinz Ward of being dirty, and also ended the season of Rashad Mendenhall. In their second contest, there was the very disputed call when Ben Roethlisberger completed a touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes that didn’t quite look like a touchdown (certainly not something that was indisputable).

And on the NFC side? Well, not as much fun. It’ll feature a game in Arizona where the Cardinals — maybe the flattest team coming into the playoffs — will host the Eagles, a team whose fanbase was screaming that Andy Reed and Donnovan McNabb should both be doing their thing elsewhere.

I’ll admit: Philadelphia/Pittsburgh or Philadelphia/Baltimore has a decent ring to it. But Arizona playing one of those teams? Would they really stand a chance against that defense. I know they tore apart Carolina, but I feel most of that was contributed to really, really bad quarterback play. I’m not sure that’d be the case if they played Baltimore (who runs and relies on its defense) or Pittsburgh, who does much of the same.

Games are next Saturday and Sunday. Should be fun. No Peyton, no Tom, no Eli, no LT, but we do get an old QB, two great defenses, and a team that doesn’t believe in running the ball (what’s the over/under on passes thrown in that Philly/Arizona game?). I’m looking forward to it.

It’s a slow day in sports, with the biggest news being LT’s injury, which, given it’s playoff time, isn’t news, just routine. So in place of another boring LT story, I give you guy gymnast landing on his head. Much more fun to watch. And this guy’s actually really injured…

So much for Arizona and San Diego being home underdogs. Both took care of business on Saturday, with Arizona jumping offsides on every snap (yes, I’m a Falcons fan), beating the Falcons 30-24, and the Chargers took care of business in San Diego, eliminating the Colts for the second consecutive year on a day no one could stop Lil’ Darren Sproles.

This isn’t my place to vent about the Falcons and how they got screwed, because to be honest, they were simply outplayed. Matt Ryan finally looked like a rookie, though his offensive line, receivers, the ref’s inability to call an offsides, and his defense didn’t do much to help him out.

Darren Sproles, on the other hand, single-handedly beat Indianapolis, going for 328 all-purpose yards and the final touchdown to end the game in overtime.

Meanwhile, in Miami today, the Dolphins didn’t show up. Chad Pennington, who threw only seven interceptions all year, threw four today, one that was picked by Ed Reed for six.

Minnesota is currently trailing the Eagles at home 16-7, but are driving and look as though they’ll at least get a field goal before the half expires. If Minnesota wins, they’ll face the Panthers next week and the Cardinals will get the Giants (update: Minnesota just scored; 16-14, Eagles). If the Eagles win, they’ll go up to the Meadowlands to face off with New York, and Arizona will play the Panthers in Carolina.

The Ravens will face the Titans next week, and San Diego will head to the Steel City to take on the No. 1 ranked defense of the Steelers. Should be fun to watch. Enjoy the rest of today’s games. Go Vikings; although I’ve got no reason to want them to win, I just think they’re a more balanced team to make a run.

I know we’re in 2009, even if my New Year’s resolution has already been ousted (like I was really going to stick to my new healty, alcohol free diet). Maybe it’s the booze and the unhealthy food, or maybe it’s LT and Antonio Gates being injured for a playoff game that makes this feel like 2008 to me.

“Both of them are a lot better than they have been,” Turner said. “It really will be a Saturday decision, how they feel. We’ll get them out there and run around and see how they feel. I’m optimistic about both of them.”

LT says he’ll play, but we watched how this panned out last year. He had a hurt toe, after all. You can’t play when you’re toe is hurt, even if your quarterback is playing with a torn ACL. C’mon. Be realistic.

There’s one game left — and it’s essentially a playoff — between San Diego and Denver right now, with Denver up 6-3. The winner of that game will advance to the playoffs and play at home against the Colts next week. Here’s the rest of the playoff picture.

-Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins: The first time these two teams played, Baltimore killed them. But Miami’s done a lot of growing up since then.

-Indianapolis Colts @ Denver/San Diego: The Colts will be rooting hard for Denver in this one. The Chargers have given them absolute fits over the last couple of years.

-Philadelphia Eagles @ Minnesota Vikings: Are the Eagles the hottest team in the NFL right now? Minnesota can’t be happy about drawing them in the first round.

-Atlanta Falcons @ Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals will need to play better than they have the last few weeks to win this one. Atlanta can run, and they don’t turn the ball over often.

What you’ll notice is that Dallas is out. That’s because they sucked balls against Philadelphia, and there’ll surely be some heads rolling soon. And Tampa Bay is out because they lost again, only it was at home to the Raiders, which isn’t really excuseable.

Here’s how I’m doing against Vegas this year. Sorry for the abbreviated run down again this week, but I’ve got a real time crunch with work and Christmas coming up. Enjoy the picks.

Last Week: 7-6
On the Season: 115-100
Locks of the Week: 14-6

Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars (+6)
Baltimore Ravens @ Dallas Cowboys (-4)
Pittsburgh Steelers (-2) @ Tennessee Titans
Miami Dolphins (-4) @ KC Chiefs
Arizona Cardinals @ New England Patriots (-7)
Cincinnati Bengals (+3) @ Cleveland Browns
Philadelphia Eagles @ Washington Redskins (+5)
SF 49′ers @ St. Louis Rams (+5.5)
Atlanta Falcons (+3) @ Minnesota Vikings
New Orleans Saints (-7) @ Detroit Lions
Carolina Panthers @ New York Giants (-3)
New York Jets (-4) @ Seattle Seahawks
Houston Texans (-7) @ Oakland Raiders
Buffalo Bills @ Denver Broncos (-6.5)
San Diego Chargers @ Tampa Bay Bucs (-3)
Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears (-4)

The NFL Pro Bowl rosters have been announced, and like every year when these things are announced, there’s already a big uproar of who’s been snubbed and who doesn’t deserve to be there. You can get both the NFC and AFC starting rosters here and figure out who you think got snubbed.

To know who deserved to go at every position I’d have to be some kind of NFL machine. As much as I love the NFL, I couldn’t tell you if every guy picked deserved to be there or not. That said, here’s just a couple of snubs that jump out at me.

-John Abraham: He’s probably the biggest snub I see. The guy has 15.5 sacks and is the only reason Atlanta’s defense has been decent (if you look at that roster, their next best defensive player is Curtis Lofton, a rookie, or Lawyer Milloy, a 36 year-old). He had three sacks against the Bucs, and one of them came in overtime to help Matt Ryan and the offense get the ball in good field position to set up the winning field goal.

Brandon Jacobs: Maybe he doesn’t have the stats and yards of the other guys. But the Giants were 11-1 with that guy in the roster, and we all saw Sunday night what happens when that guy goes out. He’s the most important player to his team, and he’s the oil that helps run that offensive machine.

DeAngelo Williams: This one deserves an asterisk, because it’s not like you can take out AP, Michael Turner, or Clinton Portis. But the guy had a killer year.

Haloti Ngata: Big reason the Ravens D is back to being the Ravens D. He anchors that defensive line.

Brett Favre: This isn’t a snub. He actually made it in. How in the hell did Brett Favre make the Pro Bowl? This is another reason the NFL shouldn’t let fan votes. Every no-nothing football fan votes for Favre because they know him. Favre should give his ticket to Matt Cassel.

Calvin Johnson: He’s playing on the worst team maybe in the history of the league. He’s had four different starting quarterbacks. He’s still got 1,165 yards, 10 touchdowns, and is averaging 17.9 yards per catch. He’s Randy Moss, only there’s no players around him. A team would get a steal if they could somehow trade for this guy in the off-season.