Jerry Rice Autographed!

Matthew Stafford has yet to play a regular season NFL game and hes already the Detroit Lions starting quarterback. First year coach Jim Schwartz named Stafford as his starter for the teams opening game of the NFL regular season against the New Orleans Saints. Stafford beat out veteran Daunte Culpepper for the spot, though Schwartz went out of his way to stress that the rookie won the job as opposed to Culpepper losing it.

The Arizona Cardinals haven’t looked anything like a Superbowl team in the NFL preseason. They entered their final exhibition contest against the Denver Broncos looking for their first win. Denver, likewise, has struggled in their exhibition games and the result was a contest between two teams with identical 0-3 records. The Broncos controlled the contest on both sides of the ball en route to a 19-0 shutout victory over the struggling Cards.

The good news for the Kansas City Chiefs as they prepare for the start of the NFL regular season is that their starting quarterback is back at practice. The bad news is that they still don’t know when hell be able to play. Matt Cassel returned to the Chiefs practice field on Monday for the first time since he injured his left knee in a NFL preseason game on August 29th. Still, there’s been no confirmation from either he or the team as to when hell return to action. It would be an ironic twist if Cassel lost significant time due to injury, as it was a knee injury to Tom Brady while in New England that first brought him mainstream attention

Its that time of the year again–Americans are getting ready for football. In a few months NFL teams will be opening training camp and college football teams starting practice. Up north, however, the footballs are already flying as pro football is in full swing up in Canada with the Canadian Football League (CFL).

The Cincinnati Bengals were able to withstand a last minute Green Bay Packers comeback bid, and held on to win their first game of the NFL regular season 31-24. The Packers last drive stalled on the Bengals ten yard line, the victim of a false start penalty in the waning seconds. Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco scored the eventual game winning points on a 13 yard pass from Carson Palmer, after which he did his own version of the fabled Lambeau Leap into a sea of less than hospitable fans.

Alabama didn’t so much win their game against Tennessee on Saturday as much as they escaped. Despite playing one of their worst games of the year they managed to keep their undefeated season alive as nose tackle Terrance Cody blocked a potential game winning field goal on the last play of the game to preserve a 12-10 victory for the Crimson Tide. Alabama held a tenuous 12-3 lead late in the game before a Tennessee touchdown and recovered onside kick had them facing the specter of the defeat for the first time this season. Instead, Alabama improved to 8-0 while Tennessee slipped to 3-4.

American football has grown an enormous worldwide fan base since the American Expert Football Association was formed in 1920, with the very first game being played on October 3rd of that year. From that day on the sport has grown to be what it’s today with a larger fan base in America than Baseball, and a fan base that follows each and every season of American Football avidly from each and every corner from the globe. The NFL was born out from the APFL two years later in 1922 and eventually became the Major League of American Football.

A week after being named the New York Jets starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez rewarded his first year NFL coach with a victory. Rex Ryan got his first win at the helm of the Jets as his team held off a 4th quarter comeback to nip the crosstown rival New York Giants 27-25. Both teams are now 1-2 in NFL preseason play.

Even when the games don’t count and the starters play little, if at all, the Baltimore Ravens hate to lose. Despite the Atlanta Falcons starting QB Matt Ryan playing only one series and with the Ravens third string signal caller John Beck playing the entire game it was apparent that Baltimore wanted the victory more. The former BYU standout threw for 232 yards and a pair of touchdown passes as the Ravens easily beat the Atlanta Falcons 20-3 at the Georgia Dome.

The Indianapolis Colts offense was in high gear as Peyton Manning threw two TD passes in three series of action, leaving backup Curtis Painter with a 14-0 lead over the Philadelphia Eagles before exiting the game. The Colts would eventually depend as much on their defense as their offense over the course of the subsequent NFL season but on this day the Colts went on to win 23-15 in NFL preseason action at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.