Rejuvenated Matthew Stafford could help Rams defy expectations this season

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford feels rejuvenated after several injuries hindered him throughout multiple offseasons. “Three years, I don’t know,” Stafford told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer after the writer asked him when he last felt this good. “It’s really been a while. It’s the last four or five offseasons. I had a fractured thumb … Read more

Broncos back to conventional preseason approach under Sean Payton

The Denver Broncos are taking a different approach to the preseason a year after sitting the starters backfired on them. Coach Sean Payton — who last week walked back critical comments of his predecessor and others in a misguided defense of Russell Wilson — has said all along that he’ll play his starters in the … Read more

Le’Veon Bell, Ezekiel Elliott, Todd Gurley and the year the NFL running back position began to lose its power

“Running backs are expendable.”  Those words, recently spoken by my brother-in-law, stung me like a Clubber Lang punch to the stomach. I grew up in the 1990s, when the NFL’s biggest names were mostly running backs. Emmitt Smith won league and Super Bowl MVP in the same year. Barry Sanders shared league MVP honors with … Read more