It only took until the end of week sixteen to get a clear view of the outlook of the 2004 playoff run. With the varied level of teams the seedings are an important aspect of a team?s chances at succeeding. Even though a team may have clinched a third seed, it could present match up problems that wouldn?t have been there at the fourth seed. Excuses though aren?t going to get a true champion anywhere, and playing your strengths over your weaknesses is ultimately going to be the decider in any contest. The seedings are all but stable locks and now is the fun part where we can break down all presentable future matchups.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the NFC.

AFC

1. Pittsburgh Steelers-
It?s great when a veteran quarterback can sit back and accept the fact he has lost his job to a youngster. This situation is developing in the same shape of the Brady-Bledsoe encounter, as Tommy Maddox has shown veteran leadership to help develop Maddox. Roeslinberger?s rib injury shouldn?t be a factor with him not having to play for three weeks. With the advanced treatment for an athlete he should be 100 percent or fully protected with a device. Hopefully with Ben going down, other teams will take notice to not leave their starters out on the field to long in week seventeen. With clinched spots, there is no need to risk your team?s season after coming this far.

2. New England
Keeping the spotlight off himself, Tom Brady quietly macks on and off the field. All of the AFC talk has constantly been about stellar rookie Ben Roeslinberger and Peyton Manning with his record year. With their controlled style of play, there isn?t a team that can beat them if Brady stays away from mistakes. Sure they?ve added a January running back, but will their injuries on defense hurt them in shootouts.

3. Indianapolis
Any quarterback that waves the punting team off the field you would think is a cocky player. It?s the exact opposite with Manning though as he just wanted to win, and that move just pumped up his team even more. He doesn?t give a damn about any records, and they?d be worthless to him if he doesn?t win the Super Bowl. Dan Marino will tell you himself, that?d he give up all his records for a Super Bowl. If you?re the Colts you can?t help but look ahead to the future possible matchup against the Patriots in the divisional round. It?s the team that has had Manning?s number, and will be an ultimate fight until the end.

4. San Diego
A loss usually doesn?t bestow confidence in a team, but the Chargers have to be somewhat high on themselves going into the playoffs. They may have collapsed in the fourth quarter, but at least they know that they can go into Indianapolis with extreme confidence. Another great factor is that they have one of the best coaches in NFL history on their side in Marty Shottenheimer. They?ll get a tough draw on wild card weekend with a game against the Jets. It may be a trap game but the Chargers just will prove to have too much offensive firepower than the Jets.

5. New York Jets
The Jets have had a successful year but it just seems like they don?t have any room or talent to be a deciding factor this season. Chad Pennington is already starting to get the label for not being able to win big games, and all you have to do is look at the Jets losses for evidence. Losses to New England twice, Buffalo, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh all of which are playoff teams or contenders is a standout statistic. Plus they?ve had a lot of close wins against weak teams. In all honesty there are a few teams that will be left out that would serve a better shot at knocking off the stronghold AFC teams. They?ll have an immediate exit in the wild card weekend against the Chargers.

6. Buffalo
The Bills will need the Colts to beat the Broncos, and win against the Steelers to get in. The deciding factor will be how much the Steelers and Colts coaches will play their starters. Hopefully Buffalo can get in because they would be able to do more damage than the Broncos. The Bills would be riding a seven game winning streak, and clinch the idea of making the playoffs (Notjustagame.com November story). Willis McGahee is establishing the running game against every opponent, which has lead to Drew Bledsoe?s ability to hit rookie Lee Evans for nine touchdowns. The Bills 10-6 record is misleading considering they lost their first four games by close margins. Buffalo could definitely compete and have a great shot at knocking off the Colts in the wild card game.

By Zack Cimini

As the season winds down, front offices and coaches are quietly already evaluating the team for the off season. Winning is every goal of an organization and when you?re missing out on January, something is wrong. A coach isn?t going to wait for development, when the front office and media are down their throats. Great play all starts from the quarterback position, and there are plenty of quarterbacks with asterisks hanging next to their name for next season. Adjustments at quarterback are becoming like an annual renewal trip as a free agent. If you take a look at a lot of the starters two years ago, they?re either backup quarterbacks or out of the league now. Notjustagame.com breaks down the top ten-quarterback question marks heading into the off-season that fantasy owners should keep an eye on.

1. Steve McNair-
All eyebrows have been raised with the play of Billy Volek. If it weren?t for their defense giving up big plays and Chris Brown being hurt, we would have seen a strong finish from the Titans. He has started only six games for the Titans this year but is statistically ahead of many starting quarterbacks with 17 touchdowns. Just imagine what he can do with an improved defense, and a full season. It?s going to be hard to part ways with McNair, but it is not only a benefit for the Titans but for McNair?s health.

2. Vinny Testaverde
Ughh, this scenario is shaping up to be like the last days of Jimmy Johnson and Dan Marino. Bill Parcells for some reason doesn?t like Drew Henson, and obviously the fans of Dallas and Jerry Jones want him in there. I wouldn?t be shocked to see Parcells make an abrupt exit from the game with Testaverde retiring. Henson is going to be raw two to three year project, and Parcell?s doesn?t have the patience to wait that long. Sure he always had a five-year plan in New York and with New England, but he wanted to do that with a nucleus of players. If he were to stay in Dallas, it would be his third different starting quarterback going into the season.

3. Joey Harrington
Harrington?s early season success rose expectations for the Lions fans too quickly. There time will come sooner than thought but not this season. Many people feel Harrington isn?t the answer, and that McMahon is. It?d be a mistake if the Lions didn?t give Harrington one more year to shine, with Kevin Jones and stud receivers Roy Williams and a healthy returning Charles Rogers.

4. Jeff Garcia
It seems like Garcia has been in the league for more than six years, but he is just in the beginning stages of a veteran quarterback. Garcia is a short quarterback at 6?1, and has struggled this year in the Browns offense. He has more interceptions than touchdowns, and besides a game against Cincinnati he hasn?t had a game with more than one touchdown. At least he knows that he is light years ahead of Luke McCown, who played horrific in his first start.

5. Josh McCown
The Cardinals would have been number one on this list for a quarterback change, if it weren?t for McCown?s sudden improvement. This is the type of play Dennis Green expected when he was bragging in front of the media during mini camps. Just like Harrington, McCown deserves at least one more year to actually show his worth through an entire season.

6. Tim Rattay
Rattay is another short quarterback at 6?0, but possesses a strong arm and okay mobility to move around the pocket. For the second straight season though he couldn?t stay away from injuries, and that?s a bad sign for a prospective future signal caller. The 49ers might have no choice but to go with Rattay, because of the hole they dug themselves in with poor free agent moves over the last five years.

7. Patrick Ramsey
Gibbs has already ?claimed? that Ramsey is the starter next season, but when haven?t we heard a coach do something similar to that? A coach is always trying to play a mind game with his players to show trust, but deep down they are cringing at the thought of another bad year by that quarterback. So expect Washington to sign or draft somebody, that?ll immediately be shot down by Gibbs and company as just a secure backup. Then if and when Ramsey starts off the year bad, it?ll be an easy copout to put in the backup. If Ramsey plays well, Gibbs looks like a genius for saying what he did now, when everyone else thinks he is out of his mind. Either way it ends up, it?s a public relation move that goes on every year with numerous teams.

8. AJ Feeley
Feeley?s problem has never been with his toughness or ability to make throws His play sort of reminds me of a pitcher in baseball. He can look great for four or five innings, but then he just goes into stretches where he gives up home runs (interceptions) that destroy a team?s mentality and focus. The last two to three weeks he has calmed his tendencies to force the ball, and it has the Dolphins playing well. Miami is a 3-11 team that could easily be .500 if Feeley would have stayed away from costly mistakes. So the high draft pick Miami ends up with, logically ends up a pick they would have wanted to trade up for if they finished .500. Overall Feeley should be even better with an improved offensive line, and Miami deciding on whether to give the starting job to Sammy Morris or use their draft picks on one.

9. Aaron Brooks
There comes a time when a player and team just reach the end of trying to build success, and New Orleans has been over the edge for sometime. Brooks erratic play has never stopped, and the question is will it? This team has too much talent to be average every year, and the only way I see Brooks and Haslett coming back is if the Saints get in at 8-8. If they can get in, the Saints pose threat to any team in the NFC. They?re the worst team in the league at losing games themselves by folding for stretches in games.

10. Jake Plummer
Mike Shanahan isn?t afraid to make decisive quick decisions, and Plummer?s play as of late is going to put that to attest. Who can forget how quickly Shanahan jumped off the Brian Griese bandwagon, and what he has done with his running backs? Plummer has played ugly for the majority of the year, and is bringing up the thought that his play in Arizona wasn?t just a fluke because of the team he was on.

By Zack Cimini

There have been a lot of prominent athletes that have wasted their talent, once money becomes a factor. Coming out of Ohio State, wide receiver, David Boston had a lot to prove. For one thing he was picked behind Rams receiver Torry Holt, and secondly he was picked by the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals had brief success with receivers like Rob Moore and Frank Sanders, but there was no true heat for a player in the desert. Boston came in immediately and became one of Jake Plummer’s favorite targets. After an okay rookie season, he improved even better his second and third seasons. At one point he was considered right there with Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. So what happened to Boston?

He came into the 2002 season expecting another Pro Bowl year, but it turned out to be a quick reversal of happenings. In the off season he was arrested in Phoenix, and there were reports that he tested positive for cocaine. He adamantly denied any such accusations and the Cardinals ignored the rumors as well. Another big change in Boston was that he came to training camp at 240 pounds. It quickly caught the attention of the NFL media, and had Fox out to ARIZONA to do a story on Boston. Terry Bradshaw was the reporter and they were having a grand time. Bradshaw couldn’t believe how big he was, and I sat there watching the interview, disbelieved as well.

Boston’s whole story was that his trainer put him on an extensive rigorous workout plan, that bulked his body up from 220 to 240. He wanted to be able to not only use his speed to beat defenders, but also use his strength. He would be a hulk type force on the field, with a tight end’s body. As the interview ended, something was fishy about the whole scenario.

Not even a few months after the interview, ESPN the magazine published a story on Boston’s body development. Rumors are rumors, but everyone was trying to break the story and find the truth behind Boston. ESPN brought up great points in their article on how David Boston’s cheek structure had changed with his body. The only thing that can cause that is steroids, and his body weight was too much for his body to carry.

So his 2002 season with the Cardinals went down the tubes. As the stress of his weight wore his hamstring out and sidelined him for eight games that season. It was Boston’s free agent year, and who wouldn’t want a Pro Bowl caliber receiver? How about all but two teams in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals refused to designate their franchise tag on Boston, and pretty much let him go for nothing. The only two teams interested in Boston were the San Diego Chargers and the NY Jets.

The Chargers won the bidding war, and it looked like he would get a fresh start. Marty Shottenheimer has always been known as a no non sense kind of guy, and with Boston that quickly clashed. It got so bad that Boston ended up being suspended for one game. He didn’t have a bad year, but the rap on him was he had a serious ego and attitude problem. Shottenheimer wanted nothing of it, and in the off season the Chargers gave him away for a poor developing cornerback in Jamar Fletcher and a sixth round pick.

People down in Miami were ecstatic to have the combination of David Boston and Chris Chambers. But soon Miami’s season turned for the worse, with Williams retiring and Boston going down with a season ending knee injury. It could have been a freak accident like most football injuries, but once again the mindset automatically points to his weight. Even though he has been out for the year, it hasn’t kept him from staying out of trouble. In October he was arrested in a Vermont airport for assault on a 59 year old gate agent. Almost a month later he was told by the NFL that he faces a four game suspension for testing positive for steroids.

The road he is taking is a sure fire way out of the NFL. If it does end up happening, Boston will have to go down as one of the top ten players of wasted talent. Every athlete wants to get better with an advantage, and that’s what makes sports so competitive. David Boston obviously overused his steroids to a point that was extremely noticeable, ala Barry Bonds. What about the athletes that keep it under raps and just use it to boost their strength? It’s definitely going on in all sports, as athletes are able to get advice on what to take when a random test comes around. Why can’t an athlete just be satisfied with the money they are making and be all they can be on their own?

By Zack Cimini

When fantasy football drafts roll around fantasy owners are scraping up and down their cheat sheets pondering quick decisions. Often an owner will take a youthful player that is coming off a phenomenal year expecting nothing short of a duplicate performance. It?s a big gamble because one year doesn?t mean anything, it?s all about how that player has performed over a four or five year period.

Age always catches up to a professional athlete, but unless you?re blind you can see a player?s downfall ahead of time. There was a big reason why the Tennessee Titans finally parted ways with Eddie George, because they knew his time was up. George then moved on to Dallas where he couldn?t take control of the starting job after Julius Jones went down. His speed just isn?t there anymore, and fantasy owners new that George was an outside shot as a number three fantasy running back.

Then you have a player like Amani Toomer who?s seasons have went from 8 touchdowns, to five last season, and to a grand total of zero this season. The blame can?t all go on his shoulders, as the Giants have yet to have a receiver with a touchdown. But owners knew the risk of taking Toomer because of rookie quarterback Eli Manning. It can be a frustrating transition for a player like Toomer to adjust to a new quarterback, but expect him to have a bounce back year with Manning?s improvement.

So what is this leading to? There is a certain team out there that has two of the best consistent players in the entire league. They?ve been a catalyst to this team for years, but seem to be under appreciated for their worth when fantasy drafts come around. For some reason owners expect these two to fold and they keep being steals in fantasy drafts.

The two players are Fred Taylor and Jimmy Smith. Try to name any other consistent receivers or running backs that have done it as long as them and you?ll be hard pressed to think of one. They?re the main reason why Byron Leftwich has matured each and every game, and why they?re a scary threat if they can get in the playoffs.

Fred Taylor came into the league with Robert Edwards in the 1998 NFL Draft as the two had dominant rookie years. Taylor then struggled a couple of years with injuries, but still had solid seasons. From then on Taylor has always been labeled with a question mark injury prone symbol when drafts come around. Yet, he is two games away from playing his third straight complete season. He has always been a monster for yards, and has 1500 total yards to go along with three touchdowns. The touchdowns could be better, but at least you know he isn?t going to lose you points by fumbling the football (McAllister, Green, etc.).

Taylor?s versatility as a power back and speed demon is unmatched among any other running back in the league. He can breakaway from anyone and once he is hit is one of the best at getting extra yards. Almost every fantasy draft I see he always slips into the mid to late second round, and sometimes even the third round. Taylor has at least three great years left in him, and it?s time for the fantasy owners to wake up and smell the coffee and stop letting him slip. Of course the owners that get him as their second running back aren?t complaining.

Jimmy Smith?s days are numbered but his reign as a top receiver over the last ten years is also under rated. In fact if it weren?t for his four game suspension last season, he would have nine straight 1000 yard seasons. There isn?t another receiver even close to that consistency, and Smith has always been good for six to eight touchdowns every year. Somehow he has managed to keep his work ethic ahead of the age of his body and maintain his great speed. Hopefully his presence will rub off on youngsters Troy Edwards and Reggie Williams and develop them in the way Cris Carter did to Randy Moss.

By Zack Cimini

Injuries, fumbling problems, and age all lead to the quick downfall of a starting running back. For years they are catapulted into the limelight and give 100 percent of their body for franchises. All of that quickly means nothing to the front office, as they need a new fresh physical speed demon. The back that has sacrificed his body is thrown in the dust, and an after thought when that team finally makes it from point b to point a.

So why when a running back turns their back on a franchise is it all of the sudden wrong? Barry Sanders abruptly left, followed by Robert Smith, and then during the summer Ricky Williams. Williams?s reason was different as he exposed his thoughts on 60 minutes last weekend. Still in all if anyone was watching the pounding Williams was taking, it wouldn?t have been much longer before Williams suffered a serious injury. There is only so much that a body can take, and the Dolphins were giving Williams 400 carries a year.

The old days of having an every day bruiser are long gone. Most great teams have a nice one two combination to keep their backs fresh and the defense off balance. It?s logically a better idea, because the defense has to prepare for two different styles and still focus on the quarterback. It was the type of situation Buffalo had in mind this season, but Travis Henry quickly went down with a leg injury. Willis McGahee was forced to take on extra carries, and has had more than 25 carries in five games. It leads to a lot of red zone touchdowns for him, but you can tell he has worn out before the season is even over.

This is after a serious knee injury just two years earlier. Usually backs are brought along slower to get back in the rhythm and adjust to be on the safe side. Buffalo is now likely to let Travis Henry go, and put their whole faith into McGahee. Who?s to say that McGahee doesn?t falter in the off-season because of the pressure put on his knee this year? With Drew Bledsoe improving and Lee Evans stepping up across Eric Moulds, it may be wise for the Bills to spread it out more.

Jamal Anderson is the prime example of a running back left in the dust. Six years ago the Falcons were having an unbelievable year and had everyone doing the dirty bird. He had 410 carries that year, and less than eight months later went down with a serious injury. A year and a half later he had absolutely no love from the Falcons, and was forced to compete at the Patriots training camp. The rigorous affects of the 1998 season completely shut down Anderson?s body physically, and he never was successful on a comeback.

With Priest Holmes having suffered an injury, Larry Johnson has stepped in and produced just as well. The Chiefs were on the verge of giving up on Johnson, and now they?re saying to themselves wait a minute. Here is the guy that we drafted in the first place to take over for Holmes. With Holmes just reaching the age of 30, there will need to be a bold decision reached by the Chiefs in the off season. There isn?t room for Holmes, Blaylock, and Johnson all on the same roster. Will they keep their faith in Holmes, and trade one of their backs? More than likely they?ll keep Johnson and Holmes and let a situation develop during the season.

That eventual story is exactly what is happening in St. Louis. Marshall Faulk has had a tough time staying healthy, but even when he is on the field the Rams don?t use him nearly enough. It?s a strange philosophy that Mike Martz plotted in his head to throw the ball 100 times a game, instead of running the football.

Jackson has had 100 carries for about 500 yards, and has fantasy owners drooling for the minute Faulk is gone permanently. It?ll happen rather soon folks, as the past examples of star running backs aren?t a phase they?re a trend. It?s a shame and franchises want to know why players aren?t giving it their all on a weekly basis. Randy Moss was one of the first stars to admit it, but you can bet he isn?t the only one.

By Zack Cimini

AJ Feeley surprised a lot Monday night by not giving up and forcing the football. 90 percent of the time this season Feeley has cost Miami games by throwing costly interceptions. In fact, Miami has been ahead and many games this season only to have the offense lose the game. Monday, it was the defense that was giving up points, but Feeley and the Dolphins offense never gave up. The defense finally came up with a few big plays and it set off the crowd and the Dolphins offense.

That type of play is what Miami expected when they traded a second round pick for him. This week is the deciding factor for many fantasy football leagues, and starting the Feeley may be a beneficial idea against the Cleveland Browns. It?s just a thought if you?re regular starting quarterback has a tough matchup. The Browns and Dolphins haven?t played much defense as of late, and that means a lot of big plays offensively.

By know means should you consider Feeley to be a franchise fantasy quarterback. It?ll take more than just this final stretch of the season to prove that. If he finishes strong though, he may be worthy of consideration for a fantasy backup quarterback. He possesses a great arm, and just needs to learn the Dolphins offense a little more. He?ll definitely have the talent at wide receiver with Chris Chambers, an improving Derrius Thompson, Randy McMichael, and a big physical receiver in David Boston after his suspension.