March 14, 2013; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker talks to the media during a press conference held at the teams training facility. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The release of the 2013 regular season schedule has taken over the sports world this morning. Most will over-analyze team’s strength-of-schedule, map out a “path to the playoffs,” or attempt to predict wins and losses for the regular season, despite the fact that teams have yet to make their first selection in the 2013 NFL Draft.

However, instead of focusing on wins and losses, lets look at the best “storylines” and “must watch” games of the 2013 season…

Week 2: Denver Broncos @ New York Giants

It can’t get much more high profile for the Broncos in the first two weeks of the season. They go from a matchup against the defending champions to the latest incarnation of the Manning Bowl. Peyton is 2-0 against his younger brother so far. Eli might need a win here to avoid going 0-2 after a tough opener in Dallas. -via NFL.com

There nothing else that need to be said about this matchup. Two “elite” quarterbacks, with powerful, dynamic offenses squaring off at the beginning of the season. Oh yea.. and the starting quarterbacks are brothers!

Week 4: New England Patriots @ Atlanta Falcons

If I was a betting man, and I am, my early money would be on this game being a preview of  Super Bowl XLVIII. Assuming New England can get Gronk back, their offense should be nothing short of unstoppable in a weak AFC, where only the Broncos appear to be a legitimate threat for the conference title. Atlanta appears to have one of the best rosters in the NFL, making several key re-signings, convincing Tony Gonzalez to come back for another year, and picking up Steven Jackson to replace Michael Turner, who appeared to be running on “E” during the final stretch of the 2012 season and into the playoffs.

Week 7: Denver Broncos @ Indianapolis Colts

No team has a more delicious schedule than the Broncos. Denver plays in perhaps the worst division in the league, so they can fatten up on wins there. But so many of the team’s out-of-division matchups include capital lettered subplots. This one is obvious: Peyton’s Return. Manning vs. Luck. Can’t wait. -via NFL.com

After last season, most expected that the NFL would attempt to milk Peyton Manning for all he is worth this season… and they are doing just that. After starting off the season against the Ravens, who knocked them out of the playoffs in 2012, and heading for a brotherly matchup in the “Big Apple” in Week 4, Manning will finally return home for the first time to face the Indianapolis crowd and go head-to-head with his replacement.

Week 9:  Tennessee Titans @ St. Louis Rams

The Jeff Fisher Bowl! The rematch of one of the weirdest Super Bowls with the best endings! St. Louis is getting overlooked in the NFC West, but their defense absolutely can compete with Seattle and San Francisco for a playoff spot. As Titans fans know, Fisher’s team almost always contend. -via NFL.com

This game is intriguing for a number of reasons: rematch of “the Tackle,” the return of Fisher to his long-time city and organization, and the presence of the “discarded” Jared Cook within the St. Louis Rams offense. While the Fisher subplot will garner the most attention, how Jared Cook is playing within the offense should be a major point of interest. If there is any game were Rams’ fans could see Cook “go off,” Week 9 might be it…

Week 11: Minnesota Vikings @ Seattle Seahawks

Assuming that Percy Harvin has not gone off the deep-end with “migraines” or some other injury concern, this should be a good matchup between “Harvin and the ‘Hawks” and his former team, the Minnesota Vikings. On top of that subplot, the two actual teams should be an interesting matchup. The Seattle Seahawks have trouble with teams that play a similar “style” of game; ground and pound on the offensive side of the ball, stout against the run on defense. Last season, the Seahawks handed the Vikings a 30-20 loss. However, Peterson trampled Seattle’s defense for 182 yards on the ground, including a 74 yard touchdown. Lynch vs. Peterson… Harvin vs. Vikings… Should be a good game!

Week 17: Washington Redskins @ New York Giants

According to NFL.com, the “biggest” game of the final week of the regular season is the Green Bay Packers versus the Chicago Bears. However, after a bit of fish-tailing by the New York Giants in 2012, the national media appears to be ignoring them (like usual), outside of the Manning-on-Manning matchup. If there is any division in the league that has shown to be a “question mark” season after season it is the NFC East, not the NFC North. It is hard to image that the Philadelphia Eagles are going to make a complete turn around, so naturally that points to the Giants and the Redskins being the last marque game in the NFC. Last season, the ‘Skins stole the division in the last couple of weeks, this game could very well be the determining factor again.

Jan 6, 2013; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) reacts after getting injured during the fourth quarter of the NFC Wild Card playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Sadly, the St. Louis Rams were not playing this weekend, but at least there were some good games on to occupy a thirsty football fan’s needs. Oh wait, no there weren’t… Aside from the first ugly, ugly game of the weekend between the Texans and Bengals, every matchup this weekend was won by at least 10 points, and none of them were “close.” Still, the Sunday night game may have made up for it, at least for Rams Nation, as two of our “rivals” battled for a chance to travel to Atlanta and play to #1 seed in the NFC. Although the games were pretty grotesque, there were some eventful things that happened. With that, here are Ramblin’ Fans’ quick thought on the weekend…

1. If you did not tear up during the defensive introduction of the Baltimore Ravens game, you either hate football or you have no heart… or both. Watching the pure passion of Ray Lewis, his teammates, and the crowd is what the game of football is all about, boys and girls. There will never be another player like Ray Lewis, and it is sad to be watching the final games of a true legend. Hopefully, Lewis watched how well Brett Favre handled retirement, and will continue to battle against hanging up the cleats for another couple of seasons.

2. When Clay Matthews jokingly mentioned holding Adrian Peterson under 200 yards, some questioned whether even that was possible. Well it was, helped by the fact that Christian Ponder’s elbow forced Joe Webb into the lineup. So, you work hard in the trenched, struggling week in and week out for the last five or six game to claim the final spot in the NFC? You are playing the team you beat, just one week earlier? Oh, your starting quarterback only played 3 total snaps this entire season, none of which were passing attempts? Nice! Looks like holding Peterson to 99 yards on the ground was more than enough push the Pack into the second round. Still not disappointed in missing breaking Dickerson’s record, AP?

3. Andy, Andy, Andy! The Bengals offense looked more stagnant than the St. Louis Rams in mid-season of ’11. A.J. Green was a complete non-factor until the very end of the game, being outplayed by the only other “Green” on the field, Benjarvus Green-Ellis. The Bengals finished the day converting 0% of their nine 3rd down attempts. In fact, the offense put no points on the board, relying on ex-Rams’ kicker, Josh Brown, and an interception return by Leon Hall to tally their 13 losing points. Maybe that is too harsh, but this is the playoffs, and Cincinnati looked out of their element in this game.

4. On the flip side, Houston looked to be firing no all cylinders on Saturday, both offensively and defensively. Foster got going on the ground, taking 32 carries for 140 yards, which opened up the skies for Schaub in the passing game. He took full advantage, completing 76.3% of his 38 attempts for 262 yards. Cincinnati played well in the red zone, but allowed the Texans to drive deep enough for four Shayne Graham field goals. The Texans look much more like the team that started off a red-hot 11-1, and no where near the team that finished 1-3 this season.

5. Andrew Luck looked very much like a rookie in this post season debute against the Baltimore Ravens. The high emotion and ear blistering roar of the Baltimore crowd seemed to effect the young signal caller, not helped by the fact that Bruce Arians was not on the sideline calling the plays. Vick Ballard played well out of the backfield, but outside of his 91 yard performance, there was little for the Colts to hang their hats on offensively. Donnie Avery looked, well like Donnie Avery, dropping a number of Luck’s passes and essentially disappearing from the game after the opening reverse. The defense was worse, making Joe Flacco look nearly competent, as an upper tier quarterback in the NFL.

6. The Ravens, looked good on both sides of the football, but more so on the offense. The controversial firing of their offensive coordinator looked brilliant in this game, as Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce dominated on the ground, racking up 173 yards on 28 carries. Flacco averaged over 12 yards per attempt, including some beautifully thrown deep balls to Anquan Boldin. Torrey Smith, who only caught two passes in the game, played his heart out blocking on the outside, leading to some huge plays in the game, including the 47 yard catch-and-run by Ray Rice early on. If Rice can hold onto the football, the Ravens may have jumped back into relevancy in the AFC playoff picture…

7. Now to the only respectable game of the weekend, the battle of the rookie quarterbacks. For anyone that follows me on Twitter at @nkearns12, you know that I have never been on the Robert Griffin III bandwagon, and have been pushing for Andrew Luck for Offensive Rookie of the Year since the Colts locked in a playoff spot. As poor as Luck was yesterday, Griffin was worse on the field, capped off by, what looked to be, a severe re-injuring of his right knee. Granted his play on the field was drastically effected by the injury, but, as Trent Dilfer, Ron Jaworski, and numerous other quarterback-lovers pointed out, if you are on the field you need to produce for your team. The ‘Skins did look unstoppable in their opening two drives, but after that, nothing! They converted under 50% of 3rd down tries, none of their 4th downs, and ended with barely over 200 yards of total offense on the day.

8. Even in my distain for the Washington rookie, no one ever wants to see an NFL player get injured on the field, especially one as young and talented at Griffin. We all understand that in this league, the name of the game is winning, but at the same time, as a head coach, the best interest of the player should be kept in mind. Griffin should not have been in the game once it was clearly obvious he was not able to accelerate on runs, move around in the pocket, or plant to throw the football. Cousins has shown to be more than capable of running that offense, and should have been given the reins. As a result, the franchise  player for the organization, one that they have bet on with their first rounders in the next two drafts, has, what appears to be, a severe knee injury. Luckily, it is the end of the season, so it will have plenty of time to heal. At the same time, Griffin has a history of knee issues, tearing his ACL in 2009 when he was still at Baylor. Knees are tricky, and can be a lingering issue, especially if they continue to get beaten on throughout a season. All the best to him and his recovery.

9. Finally, we can talk about the Seahawks, and the player that should be the Offensive Rookie of the Year, at least over RG3. Again, I am much more impressed by Luck taking a 1-15 team to 10+ wins in the AFC, but at the same time, Russell Wilson has been nothing short of phenomenal since throwing three interception against the St. Louis Rams earlier in the season. Aside from taking a surprising number or sacks in the last two games, the offense has ran very smoothly with Wilson manning the head. He is the only rookie left in the playoffs, and is the offensive leader on, what appears to be, the hottest team heading into the second round. On that note, all of Rams Nation thanks you for knocking off the Washington Redskins, but we hope that you get knocked out of the playoffs very, very soon.

November 4, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin (22) runs for a 70 yard touchdown against the Oakland Raiders in the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Buccaneers defeated the Raiders 42-32. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

With the St. Louis Rams sitting out this week on their bye, it was nice to sit back and watch some of the other games around the league. If you are a fan of monster performances, this was definitely the weekend to watch, as record after record got shattered throughout the day on Sunday. Here are Ramblin’ Fans quick thoughts from Week 9:

1. The Atlanta Falcons may be a perfect 9-0 on the season, but the Chicago Bears are the most dominate teams in the NFC, and probably the NFL. Their defense and special teams alone scored more points than the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills, and Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday. That doesn’t even include the three touchdown catches by Brandon Marshall… If Cutler is on his feet and on his game throwing the rock, the Bears are unstoppable.

2. Apparently, ACL tears are no longer a career ending, or even career altering, injury to young running backs in the NFL. In just over half of the season, Adrian Peterson leads the league in rushing with 168 carries for 957 yards and 6 touchdowns. Not only does he lead the league in rushing yards by nearly an 80 yards margin, but he tops the league in yards per carry for backs with 100+ rushing attempts.

3. Peyton Manning is the front runner for the MVP this season, and no one else is even close. Not only has Mannnig thrown at least 3 touchdowns in each of his last 5 games, he has led his team to a 5-3 record working in a completely new offensive system with completely (sort of) new offensive players. It’s one thing for Brady and Rodgers to repeat what they have been doing on their teams for half of a decade, it is another to do it starting off with a fresh slate. Oh yea, and he had multiple neck surgeries and did not play for a full year… Manning also broke Dan Marino’s record for fourth-quarter comebacks with this Sunday’s victory, taking the lead with 48 come-from-behind wins.

4. RGIII is having a premature sophomore slump… Since the Atlanta Falcons game, which saw RGIII leave with a concussion, he has been 86 of 138 for 923 yards (184.6 yards per game),with only 4 touchdown passes and 2 interceptions, all while leading the team to a 1-4 record. Worse, he has completed only 53.4% of his passes in the last two games, after averaging a 69.55% completion percentage in the first four games of the season

5. This is the strongest running back draft class to hit the NFL in a long, long time with  1) Doug Martin just tallying the 10th best performance on the ground in the history of the NFL, with 25 carries for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns, 2) Trent Richardson topping 100 yards rushing for the second consecutive week, and for the third time this season and 3) Alfred Morris averaging 4.5 yards per carry in 7 out of his 9 games this season, including 5 touchdowns on the season. You could also throw St. Louis Rams running back Daryl Richardson into the mix, who has 62 carries for 335 yards, good for 5.2 yards per carry (4th among running backs).

6. Arizona is completely falling apart on the defensive side of the football. Their defense was “top ranked” in both rushing defense and sacks coming into Sunday’s game against the Packers. Yet, they allowed a mediocre group of running backs to tally 176 total yards on the ground, and only sacked Aaron Rodgers one time. The Seahawks wrangled him down 8 times in one half…

7. Tannehill and Luck are both progressing nicely as rookies, especially the Stanford kid. Luck set an NFL rookie record for passing yards in a single game, going 30 of 48 for 433 yards, with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. He converted 13 out of 19 third downs, and passed for 22 first downs in the game. More importantly, the Colts are 5-3, which is second in the AFC South, and likely on track to snag a Wild Card spot in an extremely weak AFC Conference.

8. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense is still good…

9. Christian Ponder needs to get out of whatever funk he has been in for the last three weeks if the Minnesota Vikings want to steal a Wild Card spot in the NFC. In his last three performances, Ponder has averaged 125.4 passing yards, less than a touchdown per game, at least one interception per game, and has only completed 50.4% of his passing attempts. That type of play might beat the Arizona Cardinals, but that will not work against the Chicago Bears or Green Bay Packers, who the Vikings have to play twice each in the second half of the season.

10. Regardless of his numbers in the last 4 games, Chris Johnson is not longer an “elite” running back, whatever that means. Every season, Johnson puts up spectacular numbers in one or two games that keeps him on track to breaking the 1,000 yard barrier, and is currently on track to do the same this season. Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson, and Arian Foster are backs that carry their teams to wins… Johnson is a back who can play big against an irrelevant opponent (Buffalo) or when the stakes don’t matter and the second-string defense is in the game (Chicago and Houston).