Last week I correctly picked the winner in 10 out of 14 games. Here are my picks for round 4.

24 vs 20	This one could go either way. David Carr currently has the highest QB rating in the NFL, but the Dolphins need to kick into gear sooner or later.
17 vs 24	It’s going to be tough for the Saints to recover from their emotional victory on Monday night and the Panthers will be looking to continue their winning form. Steve Smith WILL have a big game.
20 vs 24	The Bills and Vikings have been surprisingly good this year. The only reason I’m picking the Bills is because they are playing at home and Willis McGahee will score some TDs sooner or later (my fantasy team needs it!).
27 vs 13	The Ravens have a great defence, but the Chargers have LT and I think he will come up big after having last week off. The Chargers defence is nothing to sneeze at either and the fact that the Ravens almost lost to the Browns last week is why I like the Chargers.
27 vs 24	This is how I see it going down. In the first quarter Kurt Warner fumbles once and throws 2 INTs. Second quarter, Matt Leinart starts his NFL career throws 3 TDs and leads the Cardinals to victory over Michael Vick and the Falcons.
31 vs 17	Vince Young is making his first start tomorrow, but even though he will throw one TD and rush for another, the Cowboys will win this one comfortably.
41 vs 10	The Jets have been good this year, but the Colts have been even better. The Colts will establish the run against the Jets and open up the passing game for Peyton Manning who will throw 4 TDs.
20 vs 21	The 49ers have been impressive so far this year and Alex Smith has been very reliable. The Chiefs have not been impressive and without Trent Green they will struggle. However, the Chiefs still have Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez and playing at Arrowhead will help them get the victory.
24 vs 27	The Lions will put up a little up some offence this weekend because Mike Martz will want to prove something to his old team, but the Rams will have something to prove too and because the Lions suck so much the Rams will get the W.
13 vs 20	The Jags are coming off a tough loss to the Colts and will struggle against the rejuvenated Redskins. Clinton Portis is in great form and will help the Redskins defeat Jacksonville.
17 vs 9	Two of the worst teams in the League face each other and someone will get their first win. It won’t be the Raiders.
20 vs 31	This one had the potential to be a great showdown between two of the leagues best QBs. Even though Tom Brady has no weapons to work with, he will make this game interesting even though the Patriots will go down to the Bengals.
31 vs 17	The two best teams in the NFC face off in Chicago. Chicago has a great defence, but so does Seattle. The difference is that Seattle also has a great offence while the Bears don’t. The 4 WR sets that the Seahawks used last week against the Giants worked wonders – expect more of that this week.
21 vs 31	It’s a shame that Brett Favre is on such a bad team because he can still throw the football with the best of them. The Eagles have the advantage of playing at home and having Donovan McNabb. The Eagles win this one on Monday night.
Bye week:

Week 1 Top 16:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0) - Defending Super Bowl champs lose starting quarterback, but still come out and dismantle the supposed Super Bowl contender, Miami Dolphins.
2. Indianapolis Colts (1-0) - Peyton outlasts little brother, Eli. They’ll need a better running game to be a serious contender this year.
3. Baltimore Ravens (1-0) - Whoa. Look out for their defence this year. Shut-out Tampa Bay (a playoff team last year) at Tampa Bay - impressive.
4. Chicago Bears (1-0) - Most hyped defence in the league, prevents Green Bay from scoring a point for the first time in 15 years.
5. Atlanta Falcons (1-0) - Made every critics NFC pick to make the Super Bowl, Carolina Panthers, look like a high school team.
6. Cincinatti Bengals (1-0) - Looked good against a potent Kansas City offence.
7. Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) - T.O. who? Stallworth will fill the void without the drama.
8. Seattle Seahawks (1-0) - Either Detroits defence is superb or the Seahawks are going to be ordinary this year. The signing of Deion Branch will boost a sub-par receiving corp.
9. New York Giants (0-1) - If Eli Manning can maintain the level of play he displayed against the Colts, it will be a very good year for New York
10. San Diego Chargers (1-0) - Will LaDainian Tomlinson be able to handle the workload this year? My fantasy football team sure hopes so!
11. New England Patriots (1-0) - Bad start against Buffalo, first play from scrimage resulted in a Buffalo defensive touchdown, but you can never write off a team that has Tom Brady as their quarterback. However, the loss of Deion Branch will hurt the Pats this year.
12. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) - Came from behind to defeat the more fancied Dallas team. A sign of things to come or a flash in the pan?
13. Dallas Cowboys (0-1) - Allowed 17 unanswered points against Jacksonville. After one week and there are already calls for quaterback, Drew Bledsoe’s head. When will T.O. join the chorus?
14. Miami Dolphins (0-1) - Daunte Culpepper looked rusty in the opener, but there is still hope that this team will win the AFC East.
15. Minnesota Vikings (1-0) - Quarterback Brad Johnson did what he needed to do to earn the victory, but he has an inexperienced receiving corp which could prove troublesome as the season progresses.
16. Arizona Cardinals (1-0) - Their offence was never going to be an issue, but if you give up 27 points to San Francisco, you won’t be able to score enough points against a good team in order to win.

The rest:

17. Washington Redskins (0-1)
18. New Orleans Saints (1-0)
19. St Louis Rams (1-0)
20. Detroit Lions (0-1)
21. Buffalo Bills (0-1)
22. New York Jets (1-0)
23. Carolina Panthers (0-1)
24. Kansas City Chiefs (0-1)
25. Tampa Bay Bucaneers (0-1)
26. Denver Broncos (0-1)
27. San Francisco 49ers (0-1)
28. Houston Texans (0-1)
29. Cleveland Browns (0-1)
30. Tennessee Titans (0-1)
31. Oakland Raiders (0-1)
32. Green Bay Packers (0-1)

Vince Young, the #3 overall pick in this years NFL draft signed his rookie contract today, preventing a holdout that might have occurred when the Tennessee Titans open their training camp tomorrow. Young signed a five-year contract (the sixth year is an option) with a guaranteed $25.7 million. The contract is potentially worth $58 million if other performance bonuses are met - more than the contract #1 overall pick Mario Williams signed.

Vince Young has at least 25.7 million reasons to smile

Reggie Bush (who should have been the #1 overall pick) wasn’t going to take less money than what Williams got ($54 million over 6 years), and he certainly won’t take less than what the pick below him got. It is rumoured that the New Orleans owner promised Bush a contract that was identical to Williams’ moments after the New Orleans Saints took Bush with the #2 overall pick. New Orleans and Bush are still hashing out a contract, but New Orleans talks no doubt just got harder after Vince Young’s contract details were released. The Saints need to sign Bush more than Bush needs to sign with them (as horrible as that sounds). I have a feeling that Bush definitely won’t take anything less than a $60 million contract, but time will most definitely tell what happens. If Bush wants to play hardball, he doesn’t have to sign and can re-enter next year’s draft, but New Orleans doesn’t want to lose the most talented player in years and will definitely show him the cash.

Saints fans will be hoping to see Bush in action this year

I can’t get my head around the amount of money professional athletes make in the U.S. (NFL, MLB, NBA). What is even worse is the amount of players that complain about their financial situation being a disaster. Giving rookies big contracts like this is part of the problem. They haven’t done anything to prove their professional worth, but many of them are signing contracts that guarantee them millions upon millions of dollars. If a player proves their worth, then I’m all for them cashing in, but to see players bicker with teams over money before they have actually played professionally is disgusting. The NFL should introduce a payscale for rookies that is similar to that of the NBA. NBA rookies know what they are going to make as soon as they are drafted; however, the NBA has guaranteed contracts, whereas the NFL does not - another reason rookies try to get as much as they can in the beginning.

Thanks to Jim for passing this article on to me. He obviously knows that I’m a sucker for a feel-good story. After reading this article, I challenge anyone to find another NFL player who spends their offseason working three days a week in a hospital, drawing blood and helping patients go to the bathroom. I should clarify that statement - an NFL player who isn’t serving community service.

Unfortunately, after a breakout year in which he came from nowhere to appear in eight games for the Packers, Gado probably won’t be seeing much playing time this year or maybe ever again. I hope he will have a successful and fulfilling career in the medical field if his NFL dream doesn’t come true.

While doing the morning rounds of the sports sites that I visit regularly, I came across a two-part article (part 1 & part 2) that details an interview with Joey Harrington following his departure from the Detroit Lions.

Now while it has been said that I have biased feelings towards Harrington (I drafted him in my previous two fantasy league teams), it was good to finally hear how he felt about the way he was treated while in Detroit. He admits that he played poorly, but he also points out (correctly) that he was not the only player that played poorly and that he was unfairly made the scapegoat for the organization. When asked about his thoughts on when ex-coach Steve Mariucci had lost confidence in him, he offerred this:

There was an incident. It was about halfway through my third season. I went into his office to talk with him. I said, “Coach, I need you to give me permission to throw the ball downfield. To take some shots downfield. I feel like I can’t.” He said, “I don’t know where you’re getting that idea.” I said, “You tell me every day if there’s any chance of a mistake, pull it back, check down. I feel roped in. Let me take some chances.” He stood up, went to his sink and started brushing his teeth. He said, “I’ve got to go do some interviews. If you want to talk about this, come back later.”

I look back on that now and it seems like such a defining moment. But at the time, I was so focused on making him happy, on getting in his good graces, I just let it go.

I hardly feel that this is the right way for a coach to treat his quarterback - a quarterback that had no offensive line, no running game, and no support from anyone in the organisation. He was brought in to help turn the franchise around but was unsuccessful in doing so. He did, however, handle himself with poise and professionalism while under fire from the fans, the media, and his teammates. It was good to finally hear how he really felt about his treatment in Detroit - I hope Harrington finds the success he deserves while he is in Miami.

Of course, drafts are truly analysed a few seasons after they take place, but I believe there will be a few teams that will regret the choices they made in today’s NFL draft. Houston drafted a solid player in Mario Williams, but passing up Reggie Bush is going to turn out to be a big mistake. Bush is the most electric player in the draft and will have the biggest impact of any player going to any team. New Orleans must not have been able to hold in their excitement when Houston passed on Bush - it didn’t take them long to get their pick to Commissioner Tagliabue.

Other teams that made bad picks include Buffalo and every team who passed on Lendale White starting from pick 20. The guy is going to be an impact player in the league, and unfortunately for him, he had an injury at the wrong time and it affected his position in the draft. I think he is going to be extremely motivated to prove all the teams who passed on him wrong. I expect him to have a great year for Tennessee.

Baltimore got some help on the defensive line with Haloti Ngata. He has been criticised leading up to the draft because he has taken the occassional play off by not giving a 100% effort. There won’t be any problem of that happening in Baltimore because Ray Lewis will be on him as soon as he notices Ngata slacking off. Watching Ngata play college football with Oregon, I was impressed with his ability to make a difference in the game. Multiple times he blocked point after conversion attempts and punts, and shrugged off multiple offensive lineman to get to the quarterback. This was a great pick for Baltimore, and I think he will have an immediate impact on their team.

The team that really lucked out was the Arizona Cardinals. Matt Leinart is a great pickup for that team, and he will be starting for them as soon as Dennis Green gets sick of Kurt Warner. Because Leinart is the most NFL-ready of all the quarterbacks in the draft, I don’t think being thrown in at the deep end will be bad for him - especially with a supporting cast of running back Edgerrin James and wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Hopefully the Cardinals will be able to get some offensive line help so Leinart won’t be under pressure every down. Although Oakland drafted a solid defensive player in Michael Huff, they have the unreliable Aaron Brooks as their quarterback, and Leinart would have been a definite improvement in that area.