Not for nothing, but ...
• Chris Berman Unscripted was fun while it lasted.

• Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel complained that the media was to blame for New England players getting booed when introduced at the Pro Bowl, saying, "What’s written and talked about on TV, that’s the only way the fans can formulate an opinion." C’mon, Mike, let’s be honest. Have the Patriots gone out of their way to be likable to fans outside New England? Haven’t I seen you score defensive touchdowns on the road (Carolina in 2005), go to the stands to hand the ball to waiting fans then pull it back when they reach for it? You wear the black hats. Embrace the black hats.

• Zach Thomas won’t want for potential suitors. And given that Bill Belichick has long believed Thomas to be the best middle linebacker in the game, New England may be one of them.

• Wow, Gary Zimmerman, Fred Dean, Andre Tippett, Art Monk and Emmitt Thomas had great years in 2007, didn’t they? How else to explain the fact that these five men went from waiting a combined 65 years for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Thomas, a Senior Selection, was first eligible in 1983) to all getting swept in at once on February 2? A Hall of Famer is a Hall of Famer, no? Only once since 1990 has the maximum number of inductees (seven) been reached. That was in 2001. So, for instance, Monk and Dean weren’t good enough in 2005 when four guys were inducted but they are now? It’s weird.

• You can keep your passing yards and total touchdown passes. For me, the greatest statistical measures for quarterbacks are yards per attempt and touchdown-to-interception ratio. And in the latter category, none of the greats are even really close to Tom Brady who’s thrown 2.2 touchdowns to every interception in his career (197 TD passes, 86 picks). Peyton Manning is the only other iconic quarterback with a 2-to-1 ratio (306 TD passes, 153 picks). Joe Montana finished at 1.96, Dan Marino was at 1.67, Brett Favre is at 1.53, John Elway was at 1.32 and Johnny Unitas (different era, different rules, I know) was at 1.14.

• Despite the outcome of the Super Bowl -- and the Pro Bowl -- the AFC still has its edge over the NFC in conference power. But the gap is tightening. In the 2007 regular season, the AFC went 32-29 against the NFC. The six AFC playoff teams went a combined 19-5 against the NFC; the NFC playoff teams went 15-9 against the AFC. Every AFC playoff team had a winning record against the NFC except San Diego which went 2-2.

YA DON’T SAY
"Congratulations to them, they deserved it. To go through what they went through in the first part of the season, everybody doubting them...I think they shut up a lot of people, especially a lot of people who doubted Peyton Manning's brother, Eli. I was telling Peyton I was very proud of what (Eli Manning) did. He showed what a true champion's all about. He took in all of the criticism and turned it around."
-- Vince Wilfork, Patriots nose tackle, giving the Giants their due while at the Pro Bowl last week.

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