It was a long NFL season: 151 days, 267 games. A summer’s optimism giving way to winter’s decay, leaving just two teams standing.
It was a long season for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. But while cheeseheads around the land rejoice in their record 13th NFL Championship and welcome the Lombardi Trophy back to Lambeau after a 14-year absence, Steeler Nation and 30 other teams are already thinking about how long it will take for September to return.
It was a long season, though it won’t be long before a new one begins.
But before we look ahead, we look back.
And because there aren’t enough words to describe the Super Bowl or what it takes to endure the long road there - and win it - “The NFL Season: A Biography Presented by SAP” shows you just how impactful this game is, when football’s grand finale took over North Texas for Super Bowl XLV.
This week on The Season, Presented by SAP - a look ahead at the new web series on NFL.com offering an unprecedented panoramic view of the NFL season, from the first kickoff to the final whistle; the fifty-yard line to the upper deck; and the training room to the board room.
Webisode 2 takes a unique look at Arrowhead stadium, home to some of the league’s most passionate fans. This 12-part series will take a unique look at the NFL, following stories that represent all facets of the game.
Experience the drama-filled days surrounding McNabb’s return to Philly to take on a resurgent Vick and the Eagles.
In the fall of 1891, a post office was platted in the Burnt River Valley of Eastern Oregon, and the small ranching community who mapped it also decided to set its stakes and build a town. They called it Unity.
In western Pennsylvania, six world championships, three rivers, and one hugely passionate fanbase converge. And on Sundays in Autumn, 65,000 Terrible Towels twirl as one, spurring a football phenomenon that is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When you think of Green Bay, some very distinct images come to mind -- a big block of aged cheddar, Vince Lombardi's gap-toothed grin, and the scruffy chin of a country boy from Mississippi.
Earl Campbell, Gale Sayers, Jim Brown. Besides being Hall of Fame running backs, they all limped away from the game at or before 30. It’s because no one takes a bigger beating than running backs. And that’s why greatness and durability go hand-in-hand when discussing the game’s all-time greats. One great who knows about durability is LaDainian Tomlinson, alluding Father Time and linebackers everywhere in 2010. But his current Jets teammates couldn’t allude our enduring cameras for the latest installment of “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP.”
Ray Lewis never wanted to be like his the father, the man who abandoned his family when he was six. Today, Lewis doesn’t want his son to be like him either. He wants him to better. The star sophomore at Lake Mary Prep in Central Florida has captured the attention of big time college programs across the nation -- including Miami, where his father went -- as well as the cameras of “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP.” Here now, an intimate look at the deep and distinctive bond between father and son.
“It’s verrrry uncomfortable having needles stuck 7-inches deep into your back. Not as bad as being cut open, but still rough.” That’s a tweet from the hospital bed of Giants’ offensive lineman Shawn Andrews before New York took on Jacksonville Sunday. He’s a man who knows how to deal with back pain, and how to stay in good spirits while recovering from it. But Andrews wasn’t always this jovial and optimistic in the face of injury, and as he looks to get back on the field for Big Blue, our weekly series “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP” looks back on his long and painful road to the Big Apple.
When the Michael Vick era ended in Atlanta, Falcons owner Arthur Blank wasted no time dwelling on it. In 2008, he put together what was then a rookie triumvirate - new coach, new GM, new quarterback - that observers hardly expected to quickly replace the incendiary star he’d lost. But three years later, the Falcons are now 10-2, best in the NFC, and those three men Blank assembled have made the Vick era in Atlanta seem a distant memory Today’s installment of “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP,” brings you the story of the mastermind behind it all - the man responsible for the transformation of a franchise.
This is the time of year we tell you, “The playoff picture is getting clearer.” But all you have to do is run your eyes over the standings in your local sports page to know who the true contenders are. After so many weeks of games, they are easy to single out. But there can only be a single winner when it’s all said and done. We’re just three weeks away from whittling the league down to 12 teams, and with that in mind, the next installment of our series “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP” reminds us, as if we needed reminding, of the only thing that matters in this game - winning.
In January 2003, when the Buccaneers hoisted the franchise’s first-ever Lombardi Trophy, Raheem Morris was there - a 26-year-old defensive quality control coach whose first taste of the NFL was a full-on championship entrée. But since taking over the team in 2009, he hasn’t forgotten what it tastes like. And as he tries to will his Buccaneers past their final two opponents - and with some help - into the playoffs, the cameras of “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP” stopped by Tampa Bay for a heaping helping of Raheem and his insatiable hunger for greatness.
When he isn’t punching holes in opposing defenses, the Giants’ Brandon Jacobs has a rather unique way of rebounding from the battering an NFL running back incurs throughout the season. Acupuncture, he says, gives him that extra poke in the ribs to get “at it” week after week. And with the cameras of “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP” rolling and ready, we found out how an Eastern practice helps this Beast of the NFC East run better
The race for the NFC West division title came down to a Week 17 grudge match between the Rams and Seahawks. The newest installment of “The NFL Season” captures Seattle’s fight to keep their season going.
Under the Hippocratic Oath, MDs follow three simple words -- do no harm. But Eagles Offensive Coordinator and long-time quarterbacks specialist, Marty Mornhinweg, put his most-recent patient, Michael Vick, through as much pain as possible to cure him. And though the coach did help heal Vick, it wasn’t enough to get the Eagles past the Packers last Sunday. But as you’ll see in this postseason edition of “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP” a unique doctor-patient relationship had these two men running better for seventeen amazing weeks...
Tom Brady didn’t have an answer for Rex Ryan’s defense in the Patriots’ divisional-round loss to the Jets. They sacked the QB five times, and it only took 6 minutes and 56 seconds into the game for him to throw his first interception since Week 6... In short, Brady looked very un-Brady last Sunday. But that’s where Tom Martinez comes in -- the man they call “The Quarterback Whisperer.” And as Boston's favorite son looks to find out what went wrong this year, “The NFL Season: A Biography presented by SAP” takes you to the suburban town of Menlo Park, California, where two Toms run better than one.
When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Super Bowl -- then just three seasons old -- would no longer be a spiteful battle for recognition and respect between separate leagues, but an all-encompassing sports phenomenon with a common goal for its combatants -- pro football pride.
Everything’s bigger in Texas, as they say. But nothing is bigger in the Lone Star State than Cowboys Stadium. The veritable $1.3 billion Death Star-of-an-edifice is visible from space, and it’s no surprise that something this big will play host to the biggest game in all of sport. Now, with Super Bowl Sunday just days away, and the cameras of “The NFL Season: A biography presented by SAP” rolling, we get a look inside this modern marvel, and a personal tour led by its renowned proprietor.
It was a long NFL season: 151 days, 267 games. However, it won’t be long, pending a lockout, before a new one begins. But before we look ahead, we look back to the biggest game in sports in the biggest stadium in sports -- the last stop for “The NFL Season: A Biography Presented by SAP”: Super Bowl XVL in Dallas.
