Players on the New England Patriots are the latest to confirm that they will vote to decertify the player’s union, a procedural step that will allow the union to take the NFL owners to court should it become necessary to fight an expected lockout in 2011. The lockout will occur unless a collective bargaining agreement is reached before the 2011 season. Decertification will allow the NFL Players Association to take the owners to antitrust court, as occurred in 1987.

Teams that have voted to decertify now include New Orleans, Dallas, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, the New York Giants and the New York Jets. The New England Patriots will become the tenth team to so vote when the vote is taken, which should happen within days.

The last time the NFLPA took the owners to antitrust Court was in 1987. That episode led to several of the structures that are now in place between the owners and players. These include free agency, the salary cap and a salary floor. It is not clear what the players would push for this time around if they are given the opportunity.

With the number of teams who have voted to decertify approaching 10 and no teams taking the opposite position, an eventual resolution to decertify the players’ union seems certain. In the meantime, players are doing what they can to get ready for the potential lockout. They are being encouraged by the union to save 25% of their 2010 salaries. The union has made a program available that will automatically deposit that portion of a player’s check into a separate savings account. With players and the union taking such concrete steps to prepare for a lockout that is not yet certain, the chances of avoiding this grim result seem to be waning.

New York Jets vs Miami Dolphins Sun. Sept. 26^th 8:20pm EST

The New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins are two AFC East teams that are riding high right now as they are coming off some impressive wins against the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2.

In my opinion, the Miami Dolphins got a little bit lucky against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2 as Brett Favre and company were having an off day, but their defense was legit and could quite possibly be amongst the best in the league at season’s end.  We have some of the NFL football betting odds below. Continue Reading…

San Diego Chargers vs Seattle Seahawks Sun. Sept. 26^th 4:15pm EST

The San Diego Chargers came into this season with Super Bowl aspirations once again, but were given somewhat of a wakeup call in Week 1 against the division rival Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football as Philip Rivers and company were only able to put up 14 points on an uncharacteristically good Chiefs defense.

Needless to say, the Chiefs went on to win 21-14 and the talk of the Chargers falling apart once again began to circulate around the league. Continue Reading…

Marcus McNeill has signed a one-year tender worth $630,000 with the Bolts after holding out this entire time in hopes for a long-term contract.  The two have just a few weeks to come up with and agree on a long-term contract, which is something likely to be accomplished in the coming weeks.

The 26-year-old left tackle will be required to sit out the following three games since he was put on the roster exempt list along with Vincent Jackson on August 20.  The first game that he’ll be eligible to participate in is when the Chargers meet the St. Louis Rams at St. Louis in Week 6 of the 2010 NFL regular season.  His return will come just in time to hopefully be back with the team when the Chargers face some of the best right ends with the Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans.

Vincent Jackson has been a spark of many trade talks; however, McNeill has not been.  While the Chargers went ahead without the signing of McNeill, they were not entertaining any trade offers.  While McNeill has been out, second-year Brandyn Dombrowski has been on the blindside of QB Philip Rivers and has done a decent job of protecting the quarterback allowing only three sacks on Rivers, who has a passer rating of 107.  Once McNeill returns on the field and takes back his left tackle position, Dombrowski is likely to move to right tackle.

With the two-time Pro Bowler finally signing his one-year tender, wide receiver Vincent Jackson now remains as the only holdout for the San Diego Chargers.  Along with his signing as well will be an improved offense, which has been struggling during the left tackle’s absence due to his holdout.

The Chargers are currently 1-1 going into Sunday’s game at Seattle against the Seahawks.

Oakland Raiders vs Arizona Cardinals Sun. Sept. 26^th 4:15pm EST

The Oakland Raiders started this season with high hopes of finally being able to turn around their struggling NFL franchise after they made a bold move by releasing draft bust quarterback JaMarcus Russell and making a trade for up and comer Jason Campbell, but even though Campbell was getting rave reviews ever since joining the team in the offseason, he has been a disappointment in his first two games under center for the silver and black.

Fortunately, the Raiders had a promising quarterback behind Jason Campbell on the depth chart in Bruce Gradkowski. Despite being a relatively unknown QB in this league, Gradkowski has been impressive in his short time under center for Oakland and after leading his team to victory last week against the St. Louis Rams (16-14) in place of Campbell, he may very well be the starter in Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals. Bodog, one of the leading online sportsbooks have set the odds at -4.5 Arizona. Btu this is something to watch the way the Raiders played last week. Continue Reading…

Tennessee Titans vs New York Giants Sun. Sept. 26^th 1pm EST

The Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants are two promising young teams that have seemed to hit a bum in the road as they have a lot of questions about how good they really are on both sides of the football.

In my opinion, the Tennessee Titans are the better all around team right now, but the New York Giants do have the edge at quarterback with veteran Eli Manning under center. The problem for the Giants is that they have an inexperienced receiving corps and some turmoil at running back as Brandon Jacobs has asked to be traded. Expert online sportsbook odds makers have the spread at -3 Giants, so this should be interesting. Continue Reading…

Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens finally reached an agreement with their second-round draft pick and the injured Sergio Kindle, who is also the very last rookie left unsigned from this year’s draft.  Since Kindle is injured from an injury not related to football, he will not be playing during the 2010 NFL season.

Kindle is currently recovering from an injury that took him out of training camp before it even started as well as what could have been his first career NFL season that he participated in.  He suffered a fractured skull, which he sustained when he fell took a fall down two sets of stairs prior to the start of training camp in July.   Continue Reading…

Indianapolis Colts vs Denver Broncos Sun. Sept. 26^th 4:15pm EST

The Indianapolis Colts came into this NFL regular season with Super Bowl aspirations and practically every NFL analysts and former player backing them to go all the way this season and lift the Lombardi trophy for the second time in the Peyton Manning era, but after Week 1’s devastating loss to the division rival Houston Texans, many people started to question whether or not this defense could compliment the potent offense.

Fortunately, in Week 2 the defense did just that as Dwight Freeney and company had Peyton’s baby brother Eli running for his life with constant pressure on every snap made by the New York Giants. As a result, both the Colts offense and defense dominated on Sunday night and gave Indianapolis their first win of the season 38-14. The spread with this matchup has the Colts at -5.5 by Bodog, one of the top US A online sportsbooks anywhere. Continue Reading…

Atlanta Falcons vs New Orleans Saints Sun. Sept. 26^th 1pm EST

The defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints have played pretty well thus far in the first two games of the NFL regular season as they have beaten the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers in consecutive weeks, but they will have their work cut out for them in Week 3 as they will be playing in a very crucial NFC South division battle against Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons.

Even though Drew Brees and company are favored to come out on top in the NFC South division once again this season, the Atlanta Falcons looked really good in their impressive win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 as they were able to get their potent offense back on track by scoring 41 points and will be looking to do the same against the Saints this Sunday.

Obviously, the Saints defense will not be as easy to score on as the Cardinals defense was, but the defending champs have shown signs of weakness on both sides of the football this season and the Falcons will look to expose their flaws in this divisional showdown. The Saints have the edge here by odds makers with a spread of -3.5 by BetUs, one of the leading online sportsbooks. Continue Reading…

Both the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies will be attempting to capture a win today at Citizens Bank Park.  The Phillies will be trying to capture their fourth consecutive NL East title and if they succeed in winning, it will be their 10th straight win and the Braves’ third consecutive loss.

Oddsmakers, including one of the most trusted online sportsbooks, Bodog Sportsbook, have the Phillies has -153 favorites on the moneyline. Continue Reading…