Patience is a virtue, as I’m sure you know, but this old adage or pep talk lingo never goes very far with players, with press, and most especially not with fans. Two major play makers on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster have been out for two and four games, so enough is enough already with the injury talk! Unfortunately for us, football players do need their toes, as well as their knee ligaments, so I guess we’re trumped on that argument. The good news is that both Willie Parker and Troy Polamalu returned to full practice gear and intensity on Wednesday with the rest of their teammates.

Of course, this is by no means an all lights are a go, but it certainly brings a ray of hope to the Pittsburgh Steelers bench, as well as to the team’s fan base. The Steelers did just fine against the Detroit Lions last Sunday without the two powerhouse players, but also sustained yet another injury during that game to defensive end Aaron Smith. The shoulder injury has been quoted as being “significant”, giving even more urgency to the call for Polamalu and Parker.

Willie Parker sustained a turf toe injury which has placed him out of commission for the past two games, while the left knee ligament tear sustained by Polamalu happened during the season opener and has taken far more time to heal. Both players were said to be exercising fully during Wednesday’s practice, in a sort of sink or swim type of test.

Plans to return both players back to the game this coming week have been in talks for some days now, though the actual call has yet to be made regarding the two. It will be interesting to see who makes it back to the field of play come Sunday.

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Steelers Update: Record (3-2)

Last game: Oct 11, Pittsburgh Steelers 28 – Detroit Lions 20
Next game: vs. Cleveland Browns, Oct 18 1:00pm ET

We have officially captured 4 regular season games per team in the NFL, and there are certainly a few standouts who deserve an honorable mention. As they say with all things, it ain’t over til the play clock on the Superbowl board runs out. Well, maybe they don’t say it exactly that way, but for the true football fan, that’s exactly the way it feels. Let’s start with the very best of the best, those who have gone 4-0 for the season.

The New York Giants top the NFC East, while the Minnesota Vikings have the NFC North. The New Orleans Saints are rocking it our for the NFC South, and the Indianapolis Colts have control over the AFC South. Our final 4-0 team for this week in NFL history would be the Denver Broncos, showing the way home for the AFC West. The score leaders for the remaining divisions are not with a perfect record, those being NFC West San Francisco,  AFC East Buffalo, and AFC North Baltimore.

We’ve got five goose egg teams thus far this season, or in other words, teams who have not yet managed to squeeze out a victory. These include the NFC South Carolina Panthers, NFC West St. Louis, AFC North Cleveland, AFC South Tennessee, and AFC West Kansas City. All of the middlemen in the league, realizing that they have already blown the chance for top honors, are just hoping to stay within that quiet in-between until they figure out what the problem is and how to fix it.

This is where everything starts to pull into shape across the league. Those whose teams were at 0-3 last week were still able to draw a breath of hope, but once week 4 has come and gone, ¼ of the season tallied and gone, fans start to really understand where their favorite teams measured up in the pack. For some, that really hurts.

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The knock out combo for the New England Patriots was set up systematically by three of the teams’ more prominent players, namely Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and Fred Taylor. For the veteran running back Fred Taylor, the game was about momentum and vision, both of which need to be realized even if they cannot be planned for. Though Randy Moss wasn’t able to rack any points onto his impressive record, his efforts and successful plays were key to the Pats’ 26-10 victory last Sunday.

The only scoring tacked on by the Atlanta Falcons happened during the first half of the game, after which point they were found out and held to a standstill by an impressive Patriots defense. It was certainly not a full-out, runaway win for New England, but they are responsible for reading, breaking up, and squashing key plays which could have kept Atlanta in the game.

According to  a statement by New England safety Brandon McGowan, the Pats did fail at one of their predetermined goals for Sunday’s game. They were to stop Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez of the Falcons from making any catches at all. Grinning, McGowan joked that the plan was indeed a failure, as Gonzalez was afforded one catch during the game. Here’s to thinking that they may not want to beat up on themselves too badly over this one.

The running game for New England caught fire Sunday, with 115 yards rushing coming from Fred Taylor alone, who turned his momentum into a touchdown run. Brady connected with Randy Moss 10 times for a total of 116 yards, and the Pats’ defense held the Falcons at bay for the entirety of the second half. For more up to the minute updates, and for secure ticket sales, visit StubPass.com.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers just couldn’t hold it together on Sunday against Eli Manning and his New York Giants. And talk about unraveling lawn chairs, this team wasn’t able to rally for more than 5 first downs throughout the entire time of play. While the passing and running games dug in and took control of the field in the Giants direction, the Buccaneers struggled with some of even the most basic fundamentals of football. With the Bucs head coach, Raheem Morris, quipping the game and his teams’ effort as “completely disastrous”, one wonders what went on in that post-game locker room.

The Buccaneers did set a new record for their team franchise this past week, that of the fewest first downs ever created during a regulation game. As the Giants prepare for their next bidding against the Kansas City Chiefs, they will be spit-polishing the shine from this momentous game and applying to their daily preparations.

The Buccaneers, however, will be back to the drawing board, starting fresh, and trying to figure out what went wrong before they head off into combat against the Washington Redskins. Let us hope that they are armed this time. Perhaps on the plus side for the Bucs, the Redskins are also coming off of a defeat, though not nearly as harsh or disheartening as their own.

Eli Manning passed for 161 yards and threw two touchdown passes to the lock the game down at 24-0 Giants. With a little help from his running back friends, the Manning-led offense managed to carry 40 times against the Bucs’ struggling defense. Giants coach Tom Coughlin is impressed with his teams’ turn about last Sunday, stating that many of the things they had struggled with had been addressed and were now ticking more smoothly on the field of play.

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During these early games, we fans may believe that early loses are natural, and that they give their favorite team a chance to reevaluate, regroup, and refocus their energies on the tasks ahead. For coaches, players, and owners, however, the preseason games were supposed to do that, and these first games tend to be indicative of what’s to come over the remainder of the season. They are the ones out there, so they have to be pessimistic in order to spark a reversal of old habits and self-defeating attitudes. OK, so the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were taken by the Dallas Cowboys at a score of 37-21. What went wrong?

In all actuality, the game was a good one, and if anyone seemed to be slow at the start of it, it would have to be the Cowboys. Romo wound up with 353 passing yards, teaming up most often with Patrick Crayton who caught 4 passes for 135 yards. Roy Williams, formerly of the Detroit Lions, earned praise for his steady effort and opportunistic play, earning a 66 yard touchdown for the Cowboys after slipping through the Bucs secondary and streaking it home.

The Buccaneers head coach sufficed it to say that he and his team knew the Cowboys were play makers before they got into the game, and that they failed to capitalize on many opportunities to both shut down the Cowboys’ offense and turn on their own scoring line. Leftwich gained an honest and hard-fought 276 passing yards for his Bucs, completing 27 of 41 passes, but the end zone so rarely seemed within reach, even after a 16 play offensive drive during the 3rd quarter. For accurate and update information on your favorite sports, events, and shows, as well as Dallas Cowboys tickets, please visit StubPass.com.

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This had been projected as a tough game form the start, and it turns out the two teams ended up with a battle of the defenses right to the nail-biting, pulse-pounding end. Both teams were held scoreless throughout the first quarter, with the running game of the Pittsburgh Steelers being foreseen and shut down by the Tennessee Titans for nearly 25 minutes of play. Roethlisberger needed to find a different strategy, and ended up with a winning combination in receivers Ward and Holmes. Once this dynamic passing game was set into motion, Ben was able to throw for 363 yards against the Titans defense, completing 33 of 44 passes.

Though Holmes was good for 131 yards, and Ward for 103, the biggest obstacle on the field continued to elude the team: the end zone. The third quarter would again find both teams with no scoring, and the raging battle between the two defenses continued to hold scoring at bay. With one touchdown and one field goal apiece at the close of regulation play, the stage was set for a 4 and a half minute overtime push toward the ending of the game.

Jeff Reed would win the game for the Pittsburgh Steelers with a field goal kick through the uprights at 4:32 counted on the overtime clock. Once the Steelers were declared the victors and their celebration began, Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher had a few things to say about his teams’ performance and chances for recovery during the remainder of the season. The Titans, according to their coach, are a strong team who missed some vital opportunities and had a field goal blocked, but who are very capable of bouncing right back and winning their remaining games.

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Summer may be coming to a close, but the good news is that the pro-football season is gearing up for another hot season. Just in case you have missed some of the buzz over the weekend, we have some of the news and predictions for some of the hottest NFL teams just for you.

From all accounts, it looks like the New York Giants could have an exceptional year. The Big Blue is experiencing a transition year in terms of their receiver, but there is no faulting the defense.

Provided that Tom Brady can hold up to the task, it looks as though the Pats will have a good year despite the fact that their defense is in transition.

The Minnesota Vikings have definitely attracted some attention, due in no small part to running back Adrian Peterson. The question of whether Brett Favre will be able to carry his load throughout the season is still up in the air, but the defense is in top notch condition. Only time will tell regarding exactly how well the Vikings are able to pull it out this season.

The Chicago Bears have the added benefit of Jay Cutler, who is adding more excitement to the offense than this team has seen in a long time. If the defense can hit the mark as well, this could end up delivering some surprises.

After suffering some knee and back problems last year, Matt Hasselbeck is back at the top of his game, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly what that means for the Seattle Seahawks this year.

Albert Haynesworth is definitely improving the defense for the Washington Redskins. How well they perform this year could come down to whether or not their quarterback, Jason Campbell, is able to pull it off.

No matter which team you’re rooting for this football season, we have all of the tickets you need to satisfy your gridiron thirst. Don’t wait another day to purchase NFL tickets to your favorite team at StubPass.com.

It has been official for a little while now, and the signing of Brett Favre to the Minnesota Vikings for the upcoming 2009-2010 football season has been the driving force of ticket sale surges across the country. Currently, the Vikings are ranked as the #2 best ticket sellers in the country, trumped only by the smash Broadway musical Wicked. Why are we so excited about a twice-retired, 39 year old quarterback?

Brett Favre’s long time ex-team, the Green Bay Packers, with whom he quarterbacked for over 15 years, is holding steady at the #4 position for overall ticket sales volume, as the whole of the country wants to get a feel for the Packers without their longtime front man. Favre retired in 2007, hanging up his Packers jersey and his career on one of the highest notes in history. But then, a yanking, a tugging, a pull at his heart.

Favre came out of retirement in 2008, just in time to sign on with the New York Jets for the 08-09 season. This turned out to be a rather disappointing move for all parties involved, and Favre went back into retirement for the winter and spring months.

The stringent and tedious negotiations of this, his second, post-retirement comeback were finally rewarded with a 2 year contract with the Minnesota Vikings at a cool $25 million. Fans aren’t nearly as worried about his paycheck as they are about his arm, however, and preseason statistics aren’t boding too well. But you just never know what’s coming with this miraculous player until he lays it all out there, so either way, football is looking momentous for Minnesota this year. Minnesota Vikings tickets, information, games schedules, secure online sales, and further details are all available at StubPass.com.

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Well, OK, maybe we wouldn’t go that far, but at a Dallas Cowboys preseason event, all of the whispers, worries, jokes, and suspicions about the precariously low-perched video screen housing at the brand new, billion-dollar Cowboy’s Stadium were breathed new life. Whether it was just a little gust from the gods, an astoundingly fit A.J. Trapasso, or one isolated though predictable coincidence, a punt was actually hooded by the enormous video screen casing and redirected toward the ground at midfield.

How do you call that one, ref? The consensus is that referees will never have to deal with this ever-so-slightly-obvious-and-frighteningly-avoidable design choice during the regular season, as the president of the NFL has announced that he will be present for the preseason game being contested on the Cowboy’s home turf against San Francisco on Saturday.

We have to believe, as fans, that the entire game of football, all of its officiating rules, video replay systems, interference calls, and attention will not change because one stadium owner is allowed to hang his pricey, elaborate monitor too low over the field. We want to see the Cowboy’s recognized for what they do best, not for what their stadium contributes to the bloopers shows each year. Surely, this will not stand, or hang, very much longer.

On another note, the new Cowboy’s Stadium is a modern marvel, a beautiful facility with, seemingly, no other faults. The team and management are gearing up for what looks to be an exciting and very challenging season, and fans are getting ready to christen this new building in classic Texas style. For those of you who don’t know what style that is, just think Big. Everything is bigger in Texas, from the hats to the egos to the jumbotron monitors. Fans get your Dallas Cowboys tickets soon, it will be an event to remember!

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