Skinning Them Alive

RG3 might just find himself a
seat in the Oval Office.

The Washington Redskins are ready to find their next franchise quarterback.

They may have completed that search on Friday.

According to FoxSports.com, the Redskins have agreed in principle to send three first-round draft picks and another second-round pick to the St. Louis Rams in exchange for the No. 2 overall in April's upcoming NFL Draft.

However, nothing is official as the league's new year doesn't start until Tuesday, March 12 at 4 p.m. ET, meaning the deal still needs to be signed off and processed by the league office.

Washington is expected to select either Stanford's Andrew Luck or Baylor's Robert Griffin III. Basically taking whomever the Indianapolis Colts choose not to add with the No. 1 pick.

All signs point to the Colts drafting Luck, leaving the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner for the taking.

Griffin had a fantastic collegiate career at Baylor, but impressed many with his athletic ability and raw talent at the combine. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder ran a 4.41 40-yard dash, which is the fastest time for a quarterback since Michael Vick ran a 4.25 in 2001.

If in fact Washington does select Griffin, he will try and follow in the footsteps of another African-American Redskin quarterback.

In 1987, Doug Williams was responsible for leading the Skins to their second of three Super Bowl titles. Becoming the first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, Williams was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

He routed the John Elway-led Denver Broncos, throwing a Super Bowl record four touchdowns passes in a single quarter, winning Super Bowl XXII, 42-10.

As for the Rams, they are one of the few teams in the NFL that believe they have their quarterback of the future after drafting Sam Bradford out of Oklahoma with the No. 1 overall pick in 2010. St. Louis and newly hired head coach, Jeff Fisher, are focused on winning and giving Bradford some offensive firepower and Oklahoma State's wide receiver Justin Blackmon could be just that.

The Rams last made the postseason in 2004 while Washington saw action in the 2007 playoffs. Both are hoping this deal can bring them back to the promise land.

'RG3' looks to be heading to our nation's capital and might just launch his own presidential campaign.

Mile High Miracle

Tebow has the Broncos one win away for the
AFC Championship game.

The magic is back.

Led by the best game in quarterback Tim Tebow's career, the Denver Broncos outlasted the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in a thrilling overtime matchup to wrap up Wild Card weekend in dramatic fashion.

After Denver scored 20-second quarter points and taking a 20-6 to lead into the locker room at the half, the Steelers responded like true champions do, scoring 10 points in the final ten minutes of regulation and knotted the game at 23 points apiece. The Pittsburgh defense forced only the fourth Bronco punt of the game, giving Ben Roethlisberger and Co. one last chance to seal an improbable comeback victory.

However, just when it look as if the Steelers offense was in position to kick a game-winning field goal and end Tebow's magical run, Denver defensive Elvis Dumervil got his hand on the football, forcing the two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback to fumble and take them out of field goal range.

On the drive, Roethlisberger was sacked three times by the Denver defense, giving running back Willis McGahee, whose fourth quarter fumble led to the game-tying TD for Pittsburgh, a chance at redemption.

In the first non-sudden death overtime in NFL postseason history, McGahee wouldn't get that chance, letting Tebow and wideout Demaryius Thomas take care of the rest.

After winning the coin toss and electing to receive, the Bronco offense would take the field for the final time at Sports Authority Field this season. On the first play of extra period and for only the second time in the game, Tebow threw on first down, completing the pass to Thomas, who ran 80 yards to the end zone, sending everyone, including Hall of Famer John Elway, in Mile High into a frenzy.

Tebow "pulled the trigger" alright.

The play took 11 seconds, which marked the shortest overtime period in NFL history, regular season or postseason. Not to mention the fact it was also the longest TD pass in overtime history.

The 80-yard TD pass from Tebow was the longest of his young career and tied him with Elway for the longest TD pass in Bronco postseason history. Elway accomplished that feat twice in his career, each of them coming in a different decade.

Thomas finished the game with 4 catches for 204 yards and a TD. Dick LaBeau's defense hadn't allowed a 100-yard receiver all season long. Thomas totaled that many yards in the second quarter alone.

In now seven games this season, Tebow has throw and rushed for a TD. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tebow is only the third quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for 300-plus yards without throwing an interception and record a rushing TD in a postseason game.

Completing only 10 passes, Tebow is the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for 300 or more yards while completing that many passes or fewer in the playoffs.

Tebow also becomes the third quarterback in postseason history to score a rushing TD against the  storied and vaunted Steeler defense. The other two are Ken Stabler and the late Steve McNair.

Tebow averaged 31.6 yards a completion and completed three passes of 50 yards or more. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, he becomes the first quarterback in postseason history to do so. Not only was Tebow's 316 passing yards a season-high, but a career-high, breaking one of Elway's franchise records, the most passing yards (123) in a playoff debut in franchise history.

Elway set that record in 1983 when his team lost 31-7 at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. However, in 1984, Elway's first postseason start, he lost to Pittsburgh, unlike Tebow.

Since the start of the quarterback rating era, beginning in 2008, the second-year quarterback's QBR of 97.3 on Sunday is the highest total in a playoff game, narrowly edging Aaron Rodgers' 97.2. A mark he set just a year ago in Green Bay's 48-21 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

Thomas stiff arming Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor

on his 80-yard overtime TD reception.

It truly has been a magical run for this unselfish Denver team.

They are only the fifth team in NFL history to make the postseason after a 2-5 start. The Broncos are also only one of eight teams since the merger to reach the postseason after losing their final three games of the regular season, but now head to East in a rematch with the always dangerous New England Patriots.

New England is responsible for ending Denver's six-game winning streak this season when they visited Mile High in Week 15. There Tom Brady and Co. torched the Bronco secondary, 41-23.

In their franchise history, the Patriots hold an 11-3 record at home in the postseason, but two of those three loses have come in Foxborough the last two years. Former Bronco head coach Josh McDaniels, who was recently rehired by the Patriots to fill the offensive coordinator position that will be vacated by Bill O'Brien at season's end, is responsible for drafting both Tebow and Thomas.

In the NFL, Tebow, who is known as a devout Christian, he is unable to display his usual John 3:16 on his eye black, something he did often at Florida, but still finds away to spread the word. Oddly enough his passing yardage for the game totaled 316 and his yards per completion at 31.6.

Also worth noting, the four officials on the field in Denver Sunday bare the first names, John, Luke, Matthew and Mark, all names in the Bible. Coincidence? Maybe.

But if you're not a believer, you better start. God Bless.

With the First Pick...

Newton was the third quarterback taken
first overall in as many years.

Radio City Music Hall held the 76th annual National Football League Draft Thursday night for the sixth consecutive year with most eyes locked onto the Carolina Panthers.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was received with an abundance of boos stepping to the podium for the first time, setting the stage for an exciting yet hostile night in New York City.

In light of all the labor agreement issues between the owners and players, the fans let it be know how they felt chanting, "We want football".

But the show must go on as Carolina was on the clock.

"With the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers select, Cam Newton, Quarterback, Auburn,"Goodell stated. That was the pick everyone was so anxiously awaiting without very much surprise in the result. Now, the question will be asked, did the Panthers make a good decision by drafting the kid from College Park, Georgia?

If history tells us anything Newton will be yet another first overall pick that never quite lives up to the hype.

Since the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, there has been 17 quarterbacks taken with the first overall pick, 18 if you count Newton. Only three of them have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Peyton and Eli Manning were taken with the first overall pick in their respective drafts and look to be headed towards Canton.

With the 17 quarterbacks taken, that have actually taken a snap in the NFL, they have combined for 13 Super Bowl rings, which may seem like a lot, but not when they come from only six players on the list.

Terry Bradshaw help orchestrate the Pittsburgh Steelers to four in 1970s. John Elway was a late bloomer, leading the Broncos to early Super Bowl appearances in the 1987 and '89, but came up short both times. He would have to wait ten years later to get back to the big game winning first in 1997 and then again in 1998.

Troy Aikman was the signal caller for three Super Bowl champions in the mid 90s for America's team, the Dallas Cowboys. That is nine of the 13 rings belonging to three players, coincidently those are the therein the Hall of Fame.

The Manning brothers hold two of the final four Super Bowl rings and in part are the reason why they will eventually end up with a plaque in Ohio, along with their eye popping numbers.

Oakland's Jim Plunkett is the only other quarterback taken first in the draft to hold a Super Bowl ring, in fact Plunkett has the remaining two. Despite Plunkett never being named to a Pro Bowl, he is the only quarterback in NFL history to have multiple Super Bowl wins as a starter and not be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Plunkett is also the last quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy and win a Super Bowl during their career, Newton will look to end that curse in the near future after winning the prestigious trophy in 2010.

In the last decade a quarterback has been taken first overall eight out of the last 10 drafts, more than any other decade since the draft began in 1936. Only three of those quarterbacks have made the Pro Bowl since being drafted combining for seven appearances in Hawaii. Four of those seven coming from Philadelphia's Michael Vick. Even though Vick has been successful on the field, his issues off the field have been well publicized.

Vick missed the entire 2007 and '08 season serving his 23 month prison sentence, but was reinstated to the league in 2009 and is coming off a Pro Bowl season. Carson Palmer and Eli Manning are the other players to make the Pro Bowl in that time period.

How can the name JaMarcus Russell, who was taken first overall in '07 by the Oakland Raiders out of LSU, not be mentioned. Along with Ryan Leaf, even though he was the second pick in the '98 draft, Russell qualifies as one of the biggest draft busts the game has ever seen.

As for Detroit's Matthew Stafford and St. Louis' Sam Bradford the sample size is much to small to predict if they will continue to have success in the NFL long-term. If Stafford can avoid another shoulder injury and Bradford continues to build off his impressive rookie campaign, where he won the Offensive Rookie of the Year, the future looks bright for both.

Newton's overall body of work is a piece of art and has been incredible to watch early on. The question is can all the skills he possesses translate to becoming a great NFL quarterback? Nobody is questioning the physical ability and tools he has shown with a 6-foot-6, 250-pound build. All that being said Newton only started one year in the NCAA and is coming from a spread offense at Auburn under head coach Gene Chizik.

Many adjustments are waiting in the wings for Newton if he intends to succeed. His character has even come into question with his off the field issues after being suspended by Florida for stealing a laptop. Most recently, Newton was suspected by the NCAA of violating recruiting rules, which later he was cleared of and was charged to his father.

Assuming the Panthers are able to sign Newton it almost assures the end of the Jimmy Clausen experiment in Carolina before it even got started. Clausen was selected in the second-round with the 48th overall pick in last year's draft out of Notre Dame by Carolina.

He was believed by many to be the most NFL ready quarterback in the '10 draft class.

Clausen played in 13 games during his rookie season, where he threw for 1,558 yards, three touchdowns and nine interceptions with a dismal 58.4 quarterback rating. With Newton the new face in town, Clausen might be on his way out.

In their first and only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history by Carolina back in 2004, they showed a first-round quarterback is not needed to come seconds away from a championship. Super Bowl XXXVIII showcased two quarterbacks, who were not highly recruited coming out of college.

Former Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme was the starter under center for Super Sunday and he went undrafted in '97 out of Louisiana-Lafayette. Delhomme threw for three touchdowns and 323 yards in a losing effort to the New England Patriots. Tom Brady was the opposing quarterback in that Super Bowl, and his story has been well told.

Brady was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft being selected in the sixth-round out of Michigan. Brady has gone on to win three Super Bowl rings, two NFL Most Valuable Player Awards and cemented himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.

The history of the NFL shows that taking a quarterback first overall is almost set to backfire, but there those exceptions and is what keeps teams coming back for more no matter how many times they fail.

Having a franchise quarterback seems to be the number one ingredient in constructing the right recipe to a championship contender.

The Panthers have not thought any different by taking Newton. Is he that guy?

Only time will tell.