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The New England Patriots have offered                a contract to Dolphins Linebacker Zach Thomas on Monday. Thomas along with his agent Drew Rosenhaus visited New England on Monday and will continue negotiating with the team. He is also supposed to visit the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday. The Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets are also showing interests in Thomas’ visits. 

Thomas who is a seven-time Pro Bown Linebacker and one of the most productive and popular players to have ever played for the Miami Dolphins was released on Thursday becoming the biggest move in the Dolphin’s massive rebuilding project. He missed the majority of the last season because of concussions and migraines and was placed on the injured reserved results in spite of his own protests. His migraines were an effect of a car crash that he was a part of on the 21^st of October. This move is the second major salary cut the Dolphins who had a poor last season with 1-15 and so brought in Bill Parcels to rebuild the side.

They reduced $ 9 million in base salary payments when they released quarterback Trent Green, wide receiver Marty Brooker and seven other players.  Thomas was supposed to make over $ 5.6 million in base salary alone in the coming season.  Thomas has led the Dolphins in tackles 10 times, and becomes the franchise’s all-time leader in that category by a wide margin. His 168 games is also the most by any Miami defensive player. What remains to be seen is whether this team rebuilding by the Miami Dolphins brings it any luck, in terms of wins in the coming season.

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Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings was named the 2007 Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the year today. In the 2007 season Peterson broke every Viking rookie rushing record and even set the NFL record for rushing yards in a game with 296 in the game against San Diego on the 4^th of November.

He was at the top of the NFC and second in the NFL in rushing yards with a total of 1,341 yards which is part of a total which also happens to be the second highest Vikings yards in a season.

He helped the Vikings along to scoring a new team record for rushing yards in a season with 2,634 yards and together with Chester Taylor who had 844 yards set a new team record for rushing yards by a tandem with 2,185.

He also had 2,021 combined net yards which ranks him second in Vikings history after Herschel Walker who set the record with 2,051 in 1990.

This year nearly 440,00 votes were polled for the Rookie of the Year Award between the 3^rd of January and the 28^th and this overtook last year’s total of 363,500. Peterson was one of the five finalists who were short listed to receive this award, the others being Dwayne Bowe of the Kansas City Chiefs, running back Marshawn Lycnh of the Buffalo Bills, offensive tackle Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns and linebacker Partick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers.

Each of the finalists were chosen for their outstanding performances through the year and the winner was selected through public voting as is the custom. This is the sixth time Pepsi is sponsoring the NFL Rookie of the year award and the 3^rd time running Diet Pepsi will present the award to the winner.

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Eli Manning’s first career playoff will ring warning bells in the Dallas Cowboys camp. During the 24-14 wild card win over the Buccaneers, the Buccaneers’ defense was more bothered about Brandon Jacobs. This mistake was fatal to their chances in the game and Manning made them pay dearly. Jacobs struggles but Manning made merry.

He played an excellent, mistake-free game in his usual fashion against the team that is acknowledged to have the best passing defense and completed 20 of his 27 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions, with a completion rate of 74.1%, the highest in his career.

This feat came in a playoff game where people had doubts about Manning’s match winning ability and this made it even more important for the team as well as Manning’s career. The Giants (16-11) will now face the Dallas Cowboys (13-3) on Sunday. The Giants in two attempts have been unsuccessful at beating the Cowboys this season. 

In those two games though Manning was at his best. He completed 68% of his passes with five touchdowns and three interceptions. He however saw a slump in his game until the end of 2007 when he came up with a great performance against the Patriots with four touchdowns.

Manning went about the game in his usual efficient and clinical manner and in spite of Jacobs not performing he got them that extremely important victory that still keeps them in running for the Championship. The team will be hoping that he keeps it up for Sunday’s big game against the Dallas Cowboys who have been superb this season.  The Giants’ defense has been a bit of a problem for the Giants but the team is confident that they will be able to overcome the difficulties and make their way into the finals of the Championship.  

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Tom Brady has been earning accolades from everyone this season and has now run away with the Associated Press NFL MVP award.  The record setting quarterback who plays for the New England Patriots got all but one of the votes in the voting process.  The Patriots have had the longest unbeaten season since Miami won 14-0. They have gone up 16-0. Brady has been playing for 8 years and has created a new record by throwing 50 touchdowns this season.

Though Brady has still not commented on receiving the award, there is jubilation in the Patriots’ locker room and for most people the award hasn’t come as a surprise. They instead feel that it has come a little late. The coach, owner and other players have always felt that Brady was the most valuable player and that it is surprising that he has been given the award so late. His efforts and motivation of the team has been well appreciated by all the members.

Brady is the first person to be selected as MVP from the Patriots. He got 49 out of the 50 votes cast by media persons who cover NFL games. He has scored at least 3 touchdowns in every game this season with the exception of one game against the Jets, which the Patriots won anyhow.  But it is not the statistics that made Tom Brady so popular. It is the fact that he is a great leader, an excellent motivator who gets the entire team moving. He has been known to give all to the game and shares a great equation with all the team members. There is a feeling of mutual respect which even the younger player get from him. So may the machine that is Tom Brady never stop and continue to want more for the rest of his playing days.

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One of the greatest unknowns in every NFL season is how well, or bad, rookie players will do. No matter how high or low players go, some rookies always exceed or fall below expectations. After seven weeks of play, one of the most talked about youngsters already is Adrian Peterson. Peterson, or All Day as he likes to be called, has been called everything from a steal to already one of the best at his position in the league.

I’ve seen Peterson play. He is good. No, strike that, he is very good. His performance against the Bears single-handedly kept the team in the game and he probably would have even better numbers if he started for the team. And his play is no fluke, he was the best running back in college by far when he played for Oklahoma. Looking back, it was quite foolish for teams to pass on him because of a minor injury he had in his last college season.

But to judge him as a better pick than players taken before him already is a mistake. Calvin Johnson, a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, has scored three touchdowns despite getting minimal looks and throws in his direction a game. His sheer physical attributes make him a match-up problem to just about every team and there is no doubt that he will continue to improve his numbers when he learns the system and plays better.

And lets not rush to judge JaMarcus Russell, who has yet to take a snap as a Raider, Joe Thomas, Gaines Adams, Levi Brown, or LaRon Landry yet either. The jury is still out on who the best player from the class of 2007 will be.

So its OK to admire Peterson, to give him praise, and to want to watch him every time he runs. But don’t rush to judge Peterson or try to degrade other rookies to further increase his stature. He just hasn’t played long enough to deserve it yet.

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