NFL crumples Sunday night rivals
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The marquee matchup that  opened NBC's regular-season "Sunday Night Football" prevailed  in an unusually strong night of television highlighted by  September 11-related programming and premieres of Fox's sitcom  lineup.
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The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles are expected to produce a bruising battle for Super Bowl XXXIX on Sunday.
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This week&#39;s bandwagon-crisis quota was reached when Monday Night Football crossed the linen of scrimmage. Now in its 35th season, MNF also dragged us past the neutral zone and into the partisan box.
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FOXBOROUGH -- It seems to happen every Sunday. That's the one thing opponents of the New England Patriots can count on these days. Something will happen.
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If you hadn&#39;t been following the NFL lately and tuned into yesterday&#39;s Monday night game, you may have thought you had stepped into a time warp.
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GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Ticker) -- The battle of the banged-up quarterbacks - Brett Favre and Steve McNair - is the feature attraction on Monday night when the Green Bay Packers host the Tennessee Titans in an interconference matchup.
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I hope your Thanksgiving dinner was more enjoyable than the two NFL games I was forced to watch. Three of the worst teams in the NFL struggled on national television and the entire country had to witness their substandard play.
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With the Redskins hosting the Ravens, and the Nationals and Orioles both playing night games, the Washington-Baltimore region has more sporting events tonight than its television networks can handle.
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Not long ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers' final two games against downtrodden teams appeared to be a victory lap. Now they're sweating just a bit. Consecutive losses to the Jaguars and Patriots have dropped the Steelers (9-5) into a tie for the AFC North lead with the Cleveland Browns, making them more dependent on what the competition is doing heading into Thursday night's game against the St. Louis Rams.
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Until the final 11 minutes of the Rams-Seahawks game last week, Seattle&#39;s visit to New England this Sunday looked like one of those overhyped matchups labelled &quot;Super Bowl Preview&quot; or &quot;Streak-Ender.
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Betting on the home underdog on Monday Night Football has long been considered a savvy play, but the Miami Dolphins didn&#39;t appear to be a good bet against the New England Patriots.
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The NBA scheduled a pair of big East vs. West matchups for the first Sunday after the Super Bowl, and something happened that would have been almost unthinkable in recent years &#151; the teams from the historically weaker conference won.
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Helped by the last "Heroes"  for a while and a strong New Orleans Saints-Dallas Cowboys  matchup on "Sunday Night Football," ratings laggard NBC pulled  out a win in the key adults 18-49 demographic last week, while  CBS took a 12th consecutive week in viewership.
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It's a week for schmoozing, networking and catching up, guys in NFL jackets and caps of all colors putting little things such as the Super Bowl aside for some pleasant chitchat with intense rivals.
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The Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans will try to keep from falling to 1-4 Monday night. But after the nationally televised game in Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of them will be.
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There are no easy wins in the NFL, as every week is a new challenge. However, there are some games that are more winnable than others.
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The NFL is set to kick off the 2004 season with a rematch of last season&#39;s AFC Championship Game -- the Indianapolis Colts at the New England Patriots -- on Thursday night.