NFL Defenses Tuning In This Season

Football players leave much to be desired as Christian role models

(NEWSER) - Christian evangelicals must be pretty amped up by the high profile of their religion in professional sports, David Gibson writes, but the "cozy coupling" of church and sport has its dark side. First, there’s what commentator Shirl James Hoffman recently called the “cheap grace” of athletic faith. Take the Saints’ locker room talk of their Super Bowl win being God's plan: Didn’t they stop to think He was more concerned with earthquake-ravaged Haiti than their “gridiron performance?” More»

But hold your bets: Rankings show winning isn't everything

(NEWSER) - Great NFL organizations don’t always win Super Bowls, so Adam Schein separates the well oiled from the well Lombardi’d for Fox Sports, ranking franchises on everything from their coaching staffs to public-relations people. The top three:

• New England Patriots: “The model franchise in all of professional sports.”
• Pittsburgh Steelers: A penchant for toughness and even tougher fan base.

(NEWSER) - The NFL is embracing new technology and exploring the possibility of broadcasting games in 3-D, the Wall Street Journal reports. Select industry insiders and executives have been invited to watch the Dec. 4 Chargers-Raiders game live at private screenings in theaters in LA, Boston, and New York. "We want to demonstrate this and let people get excited about it." says an NFL exec. More»

Walsh doesn't know of any pre-Super Bowl walkthrough video

(NEWSER) - A murmur rippled across the room as the NFL revealed the tapes provided by former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh. The cause was not some new revelation of wrongdoing by New England, which was caught last September recording opposing coaches' signals in violation of league rules. More»

But Rams' Super Bowl practice tape isn't there

(NEWSER) - A former New England Patriots assistant has given the NFL eight videotapes showing that the Pats broke the rules by recording rival teams' play-calling signals—but the rumored tape of the St. Louis Rams isn't among them, the New York Times reports. There had been reports that the worker had a video of the Rams' practice the day before the 2002 Super Bowl. More»