Campbell is playing himself to roster relevance

Tampa Bay The Falcons met some unpleasant road blocks at home against the Bucs when Matt Ryan left the game early and Michael Turner re-injured himself. Josh Freeman played the best game of his young career as well (his career is off to a very good start, by the way).All things pointed to an upset by the Bucs, yet Chris Redman led Atlanta down the field and found Roddy White with about a half minute to go for the go-ahead score Must be depressing to be a Bucs fan this year 5 Philadelphia vs. Washington Have to admit, I did watch a second of this game, but who would. Washington is the most boring team to watch in the NFL year after year, and I find Philly boring as well for some reason.Maybe it's because the broadcast shows Andy Reid seemingly more than any other coach in the NFL Kinda weird Good game, though. Philly didn't impress anybody with a three-point victory against the 'Skins at home Five Things to Watch for Next Week 1. Tennessee's five-game win streak is on the line in Indy against the undefeated Colts Should be one heck of a game.2.

Will the concussed quarterbacks come back this week The Cardinals really need Warner if they can hope to beat the Vikings. The Steelers would be wise to sit Big Ben one more week since they play the hapless Raiders, but if either still can't go it will be a big turn for their team's season 3. Green Bay-Baltimore on Monday Night Football should separate one of those teams as being good and one as mediocre My money's on the Ravens 4. Can Terrell Owens keep up his outstanding play He's playing like a No 1 right now Bad news T.O., you've got Darrelle Revis this week 5. It's one of my very outspoken opinions that Cutler just isn't built to be a successful quarterback Maybe not physically, but mentally The kid isn't a good decision maker, on and off the field.

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End of the Year...If I Had to Pick MVP: Peyton Manning Offensive Player of the Year: Chris Johnson Defensive Player of the Year: Jered Allen Offensive Rookie of the Year: Percy Harvin Defensive Rookie of the Year: Brian Cushing Comeback Player of the Year: Tom Brady Coach of the Year: Jim Caldwell AFC Divisional Champions (in seed order): Indianapolis, San Diego, New England, Cincinnati AFC Wild Cards: Baltimore, Pittsburgh NFC Divisional Champions: New Orleans, Minnesota, Arizona, Philadelphia NFC Wild Cards: Green Bay, Dallas AFC Champion: San Diego NFC Champion: Minnesota Super Bowl Champion (MVP): Minnesota (Peterson) Thursday Game Prediction: New York Jets 20 (-3.5), Buffalo 13 Hope you guys enjoyed -A.T.. The opinions expressed are his own RussiaBy Paul TaylorPARIS (Reuters) - The European Union is entering a lame duck year just as new challenges are mounting from Israel's assault on Gaza, Russia's gas cut-off to Ukraine and the impending inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.The EU's active crisis management in the Georgia war and the global financial meltdown last year under the energetic leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy was an exception, not the dawn of a new, more effective Union.Europe now faces 12 months of stasis with two peripheral small countries - the Czech Republic and Sweden holding the six-month rotating presidency, EU legislation on hold because of European Parliament elections in June, and the European Commission winding down to the end of its term in November.Domestic politics in key member states will also constrain EU initiatives. Germany, the biggest member state, has a general election in September in which the two major parties in its ungainly grand coalition will be fighting each other.That seems to preclude agreement on bold economic stimulus measures or foreign policy risk-taking.Europe will also be held in check for most of the year by a second Irish referendum, expected in October or November, on the EU's Lisbon treaty on institutional reform designed to give the bloc stronger leadership and a fairer decision-making system.EU leaders will be careful not to do or say anything that could jeopardize the chances of reversing last year's "No" vote.LACK OF LEVERAGEThe first few days of the year have highlighted the EU's divisions and lack of leverage in dealing with Israel, the Palestinians, Russia and Ukraine.The Europeans exposed themselves to ridicule with two separate diplomatic missions touring the Middle East - an official EU delegation led by Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and a French one led by Sarkozy, behaving as if he were still president of the Union.The dual missions also reflected policy differences. While France, Britain and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana demanded an immediate ceasefire, the Czechs and Germans blamed the Palestinian militant group Hamas squarely for the fighting and showed more sympathy toward Israel.The EU has little leverage with either side, since the Israelis consider the United States to be the sole power broker in the region, and the Europeans will not talk officially to Hamas, which they have declared a terrorist organization.The one card Europe can play is the possibility of deploying European monitors to help secure Gaza's southern border with Egypt and prevent arms smuggling into the Palestinian area.The offer of an EU monitoring presence helped achieve a ceasefire between Russia and Georgia last August.France and Turkey have offered monitors to support an Egyptian ceasefire plan put forward by President Hosni Mubarak after talks with Sarkozy.But there are snags: Israel does not trust the Europeans to enforce an arms embargo, Egypt does not want European forces on its soil, and Hamas does not want its hands tied by Europe.If the monitors do go in, they could end up caught in the crossfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops.European forces already run that risk in southern Lebanon, where they deployed in a buffer zone in 2006 to help end a conflict between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli border.WRONG-FOOTEDThe EU has also been wrong-footed by Russia's gas cut-off to Ukraine, which has now led to severe reductions in gas supplies to EU member states in central and southeastern Europe.The European Commission and the Czech presidency have so far scrupulously avoided taking sides in what they describe as a commercial dispute.But Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said if supplies to Europe were not restored by Thursday, the talks should be escalated to the top political level and the EU would intervene.While many European governments, especially in former communist central Europe, suspect Moscow is playing with the gas taps to intimidate Ukraine's pro-western government and send a message to other European countries dependent on Russian supplies, the EU has no common position.The German election is a factor here too. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Social Democratic candidate for chancellor, is widely seen as sympathetic to Russia, while Christian Democratic Chancellor Angela Merkel is more critical.The same paralyzing factors may make it difficult for the EU to respond to challenges it is likely to receive from Obama.Germany seems set to resist joining any massive fiscal stimulus of the kind the U.S.

approval.Berlin has also made clear it will not send more troops to Afghanistan or commit its forces to frontline combat missions.The one issue on which a lame-duck Europe will be an eager partner for Obama is in fighting climate change But EU hopes that the new U.S. One of the perverse pleasures of the season is watching Daniel Snyder squirm. His decision about the Washington Redskins' next quarterback will be his third-most important of the offseason, after his decision for the 2010 GM and head coach.Almost everything tilts in Snyder's favor when it comes to Jason Campbell.With the season five weeks from a merciful end, Daniel Snyder expects to sweep out the old and bring in the new, we think.Snyder has a well-known adolescent penchant of reaching for the next shiny bauble while discarding gems in the drawer. In 2000, he let free agent quarterback Brad Johnson walk away and reached for Jeff George, unwanted by everyone but Snyder.Odds are that Jason Campbell's a goner by the 2010 draft. Heck, Campbell was the offense in the Philadelphia Eagles game last Sunday.Yet despite a touchdown run and two touchdown passes, the casual Sunday fan, which may include Snyder, lays the Eagles loss at Campbell's feet instead of the defense and special teams that gave up two fourth-quarter scoring drives and a two-point conversion to allow Philly's come-from-behind win.Would Jay Cutler or Mark Sanchez have done betterCampbell ranks higher than those gentlemen in quarterback rating (18th with 84.6), completions (10th with 65.2 percent), and the critical yards per pass attempt (15th with 7.19).Campbell is playing himself to roster relevance.