As you know I pride myself as having the most accurate preseason college football magazine and I’m pleased to announce that after the 2009 season my magazine stills ranks #1 in accuracy the last 5 years and still #1 over the past 11 years!!

Last year, I decided to expand my NFL magazine to 6 pages per team and put it on the newsstands for the first time. Unlike my college magazine I do not write every word for each team but I do write the forecasts for each division and I must say I am pleased with the results.

Overall out of the eight major publications, no one predicted more division winners than me as I correctly forecasted 7 of the 8 division winners with Pittsburgh being the only exception in the AFC North.

My division forecast that I am most proud of is the NFC South where coming into the season no one was a bigger Saints fan than me as I was the only magazine to have them winning the division! Some publications didn’t even have the Saints among the Top 20 teams in the NFL however my power poll had them at #6 which was significantly higher than any other magazine! Read more…

Last night the New Orleans Saints won their 1st Super Bowl in franchise history defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV. The Saints became the 1st team since the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win a Super Bowl in their 1st appearance and just the 5th team to win one in their 1st appearance against a franchise with multiple appearances (5-15). QB Drew Brees completed 32 of 39 passes (82.1) for 288 yards and 2 TDs to tie the Super Bowl record for completions and won the game’s MVP honors.

KEY PLAY OF THE GAME – Late in the 4Q with the Colts driving for the game tying TD, Manning fired a pass to WR Wayne on a routine slant pattern that the Colts run several times every game. However, Saints DB Tracy Porter stepped in front of Wayne, gathered the ball in and raced 74 yards for a TD giving the Saints an insurmountable 31-17 lead with just 3:12 left. Read more…

6:00 ET • CBS

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AFC Championship • 3:00 ET • CBS

NY Jets vs Indianapolis

The AFC comes full circle here. Having already dispatched Cincinnati in the Wildcard Round the Jets have the opportunity to take out the other team that essentially gifted them a playoff spot. Indianapolis had a 15-10 lead after the 1st drive of the 2H in the 1st meeting when they pulled Manning & the rest of the starters. At that point Indy had 16-7 FD & 254-115 yd edges & the Jets TD came when Brad Smith returned the 2H’s opening KO 106 yards for a TD. However the combo of Jones & Greene had 68 yds (4.5) rushing in the 1H. The Jets #1D sacked Indy QB Painter on his 2nd series forcing a fumble which they returned to take the lead & the run defense took over. Last week was a story of 2 halves for the Jets as while they were outgained 212-99 in the 1H they allowed just 1 TD as San Diego missed 2 FG’s. In the 2H the Jets had a 163-132 yd edge & held San Diego to just 9 yds on their 1st 4 drives of the 2H. Indianapolis quieted doubters about how ready they would be after shutting it down for the final 2 games. The Colts #18 defense used their impressive team speed to hold Rice to just 67 yds (5.2). Manning is 4-1 vs a Rex Ryan defense avg 227 ypg (62%) with a 9-2 ratio.

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Tomorrow’s Blog will have the forecasts for the remaining two NFL Divisional games. Coming up on Monday I will have the teams hit hardest by players leaving early and also the teams that have the best returners that turned down the NFL.

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Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.

Make sure you check out the Bowl Matchup section at PhilSteele.com where you’ll find all the latest and greatest information on the remaining bowl games. At the bottom of each individual bowl matchup page, there is a checklist that breakdowns on who has the advantage position by position, coaching, intangibles, and crowd advantage. You’ll also find game-by-game stats for each team, recaps of the 2009 season with box scores and each team’s stats.

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