Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor Miami, FL (AHN) - Miami Dolphins fans can breath a sigh of relief, for at least another year.Executive vice president of football operations Bill Parcells will return to Miami next season and not exercise an escape clause in his contract, team owner H. Wayne Huizenga said Sunday.Parcells is known for jumping ship from one team to another rather quickly."Bill's going to stay," Huizenga told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

AHN Sports Staff Minneapolis, MN (AHN) - Philadelphia gutted its way through a rousing victory in hostile territory, thanks to a crushing 71-yard catch from running back Brian Westbrook, and the Eagles drubbed the Minnesota Vikings 26-14 in the NFC Wild Card game Sunday night at HHH Metrodome.With the Vikings hosting its first playoff game since 2002, the Eagles cut the Vikings to size and withstood Adrian Peterson's two rushing scores to reach the

Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor New York, NY (AHN) - After being pursued by multiple teams over the past few weeks, former NFL coach Bill Cowher said Sunday he will not be back to the sideline in 2009.Cowher said he is taking it one year at a time and will not return to the NFL to coach the New York Jets, who just fired coach Eric Mangini last week.Cowher plans to stay on

AHN Sports Staff Miami, FL (AHN) - Baltimore ran its unforgiving defense to perfection, tearing apart Miami's offense with five interceptions and the Ravens advanced to the AFC divisional round with a 27-9 victory Sunday at Dolphin Stadium.Hardly underestimated despite having a first-year coach in John Harbaugh and a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco, the Ravens went to their top arsenal-defense, with the NFL-best 26 pickoffs during the regular season.Comeback Player of the Year

AHN Sports Staff Foxborough, MA (NewsBahn) - The New England Patriots have reportedly decided to ensure that Matt Cassel will not be an unrestricted free agent in March by placing the franchise tag on the quarterback.As a result, the Pats are expected to give the 26-year-old Cassel a one-year contract worth an average of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL.According to reports, the franchising gives the Patriots two options: trading Cassel in exchange

AHN Sports Staff Glendale, AZ (AHN) - Kurt Warner, in the playoffs for the first time since leading St. Louis to a second Super Bowl in 2001, tallied two touchowns and the Arizona Cardinals downed the Atlanta Falcons 38-24 in NFC Wild Card play Saturday.Warner was 19-of-32, including 13-for-17 in the second half for 271 yards with one interception, while Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald each had a touchdown catch for the NFC West-champion

AHN Sports Staff San Diego, CA (AHN) - Running back Darren Sproles, playing in place of injured LaDainian Tomlinson, scooted 22 yards for the winning score 6:20 into overtime, and the San Diego Chargers thumped the Indianapolis Colts, 23-17 Saturday, in the AFC Wild Card match-up.Sproles scored another rushing TD and added 105 yards on the ground, 45 yards on five catches through the air, and 178 combined return yardage for the Chargers (9-8),

Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor Owings Mills, MD (AHN) - The playoffs haven't even started yet and teams out of them are already looking to fill coaching vacancies.Two hot names are coordinators that are currently game planning for the playoffs, defensive coordinator Rex Ryan of the Ravens and Miami Dolphins assistant Todd Bowles.Thursday, Ryan acknowledged that at least two teams, the Detroit Lions and the St. Louis Rams, are expressing preliminary interest in

Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor New York, NY (AHN) - The search for the next head coach of the 9-7 New York Jets continues.The Jets lost to the Dolphins Sunday and when the team missed the playoffs, they fired coach Eric Mangini.After Bill Cowher recently withdrew his name from possible candidates, the Jets got permission to speak with Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan Wednesday.In addition to Ryan, newly fired Mike Shanahan was added

Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor San Diego, CA (AHN) - It will be a game-time decision if Chargers stars LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates will play Saturday against the Colts.San Diego will host the first round of the playoffs against Indianapolis but will have their Pro-Bowl back questionable with a strained groin.The Chargers' Pro-Bowl tight end is in worse condition. Gates is suffering from a sprained ankle, and if the team's played Thursday,

Matthew Harvey - AHN Sports Reporter Cleveland, OH (AHN) - The Browns have told New England Patriots VP Scott Pioli that they need a decision on their top executive job offer, and they need it by the end of the day.Pioli was offered the position of the Browns' top football executive, and he met with Browns owner Randy Lerner Wednesday about coming to Cleveland.The Boston Herald reported the offer to be nothing short of

AHN Sports Staff Irving, TX (AHN) - The Dallas Cowboys axed special teams coach Bruce Read Wednesday following the unit's second straight disappointing season.Dallas' special teams were ranked near the bottom of the NFL in both punt coverage and kick coverage.The unit surrendered a 93-yard kickoff return to Arizona in October before a costly blocked punt sealed the team's fate in overtime.In that same game, the Cowboys lost Pro Bowl punter Mat McBriar to

AHN Sports Staff East Rutherford, NJ (AHN) - New York Jets lead running back Thomas Jones ripped teammate Brett Favre Tuesday following the quarterback's three-interception outing last weekend against the Miami Dolphins.Jones said the veteran's play warranted benching from the team, telling New York Hot 97 FM that "if somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game.""The other day, the three interceptions really hurt us. I mean, that's just

Matthew Harvey - AHN Sports Reporter San Francisco, CA (NewsBahn) - San Francisco's quarterbacks coach Ted Tollner, and running backs coach Tony Nathan will be following offensive coordinator Mike Martz out the door.Head coach Mike Singletary announced Wednesday the all-but total clean-sweep of his offensive staff. The defensive end of the 49ers game has more or less remained intact.The 49ers have been unable to keep an offensive coordinator for more than a year in

Matthew Harvey - AHN Sports Reporter New York, NY (AHN) - New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre suffered from a torn biceps tendon, but will only need minor arthoscopic surgery to correct the problem the team reported Tuesday.Favre has suffered numerous injuries throughout the season, and many in the latter few years. They will factor in heavily on the Jets decision whether or not to re-sign Favre.Fortunately, the fact this surgery may be avoided

Matthew Harvey - AHN Sports Reporter Santa Clara, CA (AHN) - San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary plans to take the franchise is a new direction, the first step of which was firing assistant coach Mike Martz Tuesday.This marks the third firing Martz has endured within a three year period. Martz and Singletary have clashed on strategy, and reportedly had insurmountable differences on how an offense should be run.In one particular instance, Singletary's

Matt Aug - AHN Sports Editor Buffalo, NY (AHN) - The Buffalo Bills 2-8 stretch to end the season did not cost coach Dick Jauron his job, as owner Ralph Wilson decided to bring him back for at least 2009.The odds seemed to be against the move, or lack of one, as Buffalo posted its third straight 7-9 season.Terms of Jauron's return were not disclosed.Wilson indicated he liked the effort and the stability Jauron

Matt Aug - AHN Sports Editor Denver, CO (AHN) - The Denver Broncos late-season collapse cost coach Mike Shanahan his job, the organization announced Tuesday.The Broncos blew a three-game lead in the AFC West and failed to make the playoffs.Denver has not made the postseason the last three years, factoring into the team's decision to have Shanahan relinquish his duties as head coach and executive vice president of football operations."After giving this careful consideration,

Matthew Harvey - AHN Sports Reporter Oakland, CA (AHN) - Following the end of the regular NFL season, Giants assistant coach Kevin Gilbride, is one of the more hot commodities many struggling franchises are hoping to land as a new head coach.One of these teams is the Raiders, who capped off an unsuccessful 5-11 season with a two- game winning streak. They are looking to fill a head coach position, and Gilbride appears to

Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor Nashville, TN (AHN) - Heading into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the 13-3 Tennessee Titans can now talk to Albert Haynesworth about a new contract.He was tagged the franchise player in 2008, and the rules of the tag prohibit a team from negotiating with the player on a long-term deal until the regular season is complete.Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt called Haynesworth's agent Monday

Kareem Shaker - AHN Sports Reporter Miami, FL (AHN) - A source directly related to the planning of the NFL Pro Bowl reported Sunday the 2010 event will be played in the week prior to the Super Bowl, to be held at Dolphins Stadium.After discussing the move multiple times in for the past several years. it seems that the NFL has finally decided to end the season with the Super Bowl, instead of the

Matt Aug - AHN Sports Editor Detroit, MI (AHN) - The Detroit Lions made history of the worst kind this season with the NFL's first-ever 0-16 campaign.Rod Marinelli is now history as the team's coach, losing his job Monday.Marinelli tried to be a stand-up guy, taking the brunt of the blame throughout his three seasons, but former GM Matt Millen was far more culpable.Millen was finally let go in September after eight seasons of

Matt Aug - AHN Sports Editor New York, NY (AHN) - The New York Jets collapse at the end of the season cost coach Eric Mangini his job Monday.The Jets completed a run of four losses in five games with Sunday's 24-17 setback to the Miami Dolphins.Mangini's overall record of 33-26 wasn't too bad, but defeats to Denver, San Francisco and Seattle killed a promising season for the Jets.New York, after all, knocked off

Mike Rothman - AHN Sports Contributor Pittsburgh, PN (AHN) - In a meaningless game, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was driven into the ground by defenders and sustained a concussion.Roethlisberger, 26, who has thrown for 3,301 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2008, should be ready for the playoffs.The quarterback was hit by two Browns defenders in Pittsburgh's 31-0 beat-down of Cleveland Sunday.Roethlisberger moved his arms and legs and was talking before being placed onto a

Matt Aug - AHN Sports Editor San Diego, CA (AHN) - The San Diego Chargers are having another December to remember, capturing their third straight AFC West title with a 52-21 rout of the Denver Broncos Sunday.The Chargers poured it on from beginning to end, scoring in each quarter to rout the Broncos and send Denver home after a 3-0 start to the season.The Chargers will play on, despite a mediocre 8-8 record, becoming