The AFC West has been pretty predictable for many recent seasons, with the San Diego Chargers claiming the divisional crown and post-season football after a traditionally slow start. In 2010, however, there were some surprises. The Chargers again started slow, but this time didn't manage to catch the rampant Kansas City Chiefs - and neither of these two could beat Oakland, who went 6-0 in the division. And in Denver, well, they had Tim Tebow...
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Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Pulling Linemen Previews 2011 - AFC West
The AFC West has been pretty predictable for many recent seasons, with the San Diego Chargers claiming the divisional crown and post-season football after a traditionally slow start. In 2010, however, there were some surprises. The Chargers again started slow, but this time didn't manage to catch the rampant Kansas City Chiefs - and neither of these two could beat Oakland, who went 6-0 in the division. And in Denver, well, they had Tim Tebow...
Friday, 26 August 2011
Pulling Linemen Previews 2011 - NFC West
The NFC West has, not unfairly, been labelled the worst division in football. None of the 4 teams made it to .500 last season, with the Seahawks finishing “the best of the worst” at 7-9. This year, the division really is there for the taking with each of the four teams in with a chance if certain pieces can just fall in to place - all it needs to someone to take it.
Pulling Linemen Previews 2011: AFC East
This has been the Patriots division for a long time. Since Tom Brady became their starter in 2001, New England have won the division every year bar the 2002 and 2008 campaigns (in ’08 Brady only played 1 quarter of football too). However, recently it’s been the New York Jets who have done better in the play-offs, reaching the AFC Championship game for the past 2 years and beating the Patriots on-route in 2010.
The Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins meanwhile, are very much playing catch-up and tend to offer little resistance when it comes to playing the 2 big boys at the top.
So without further ado, let’s do this thing.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Pulling Linemen Previews 2011: NFC South
Over the next few days, The Pulling Linemen will be telling you what to expect from every division around the league. First up is the only division in 2010 to have three teams with double-digit wins: the NFC South.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Fantasy Files
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Should Adrian Peterson be your no. 1? |
Don’t like what we’ve got to say? Then let us know by commenting at the bottom! Think we might be on to something, don’t tell anyone until after your draft – you’ve got to do everything you can to get one step ahead of the competition (although we draw the line at 4 hours of research on kickers...).
Monday, 22 August 2011
Roundtable - Canton Calling? A debate on future first-ballot Hall of Famers (part 2)

Toby Durant: Fair.
GS: Secondly we want to try and avoid any projections of careers, i.e. players who have only been in the league for a few seasons. We’re going to look at veteran guys who already have the majority of their career behind them.
Phil Gaskin: Good idea.
Friday, 12 August 2011
The Season's Bear-ly Started, But Tice Has His 5...
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(Chicago Tribune) |
56 sacks in a season is horrible. That is how many the Bears offensive line gave up last season, yet still they somehow made it all the way to the NFC Championship game and within an MCLs breadth of making it to the Superbowl. But even with so many things up in the air with the NFL due to the drastically shortened off-season period, the Bears have announced that they have chosen the five offensive linemen they will start with against the Falcons in their regular season opener on September 11th, but why, and will they be any better in 2011 than they were in 2010?
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Tweet-sized predictions for 2011
With the first pre-season games upon us today (HUZZAH!!!) The Pulling Linemen produce some tweet-sized predictions for the coming year:
Madden 12: Impressions of the demo.
Since the second edition of the Madden video game franchise in 1990, EA have released a new edition of the game every year. It is, perhaps, unreasonable to expect major overhauls of the game with each annual instalment; but since EA agreed to terms with the NFL on an exclusive license in 2004, stifling the threat posed by Sega’s NFL 2K series, there has been a sense amongst some gamers that EA have not really felt any need to make considerable improvements or innovations to the Madden games. This was particularly true after the release of Madden 11, which, aside from the little-used, quickly-ignored ‘Gameflow’ feature, was considered by many to essentially be a £40 roster update with some minor graphic improvements. With the NFL recently extending EA’s exclusive license, so that Madden will be the only official NFL game until at least Madden 14, many wondered if this year’s instalment would fail to live up to expectations in the way its immediate predecessor had.
After playing the Madden 12 demo, let me assure you that this is certainly not the case.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Randy Moss: A receiver like no other
It’s week one of the 2007 season. I’m with some friends enjoying the return of the NFL and watching my beloved New England Patriots control the game against the New York Jets. It’s the middle of the 3rd quarter when Tom Brady takes a snap and just stands around his own 43 yard line. I’m thinking: “Brady never holds the ball this long, something’s gone wrong.”, and as Brady launches a ball downfield I’m almost certain something bad was going to happen. It was a feeling I wouldn’t experience again until week 5 of the 2010 season.
As the camera tracks the ball a silver and blue blur comes across the field, racing past 3 Jet defenders who all seem to have better position to make the play than he does. But Brady’s weighted the ball just right. And this blur comfortably catches the ball before walking into the endzone. Welcome to Foxboro #81.
Roundtable - Canton Calling? A debate on future first-ballot Hall of Famers (part 1)
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(c) CityDictionary.com |
Thursday, 4 August 2011
So Long #10 - A Farewell To Marc Bulger
In a week where Randy Moss joined the queue for 1st ballot Hall of Famers right behind Brett Favre by announcing his retirement, the decision by Marc Bulger to hang up his cleats has passed by with relatively little fanfare. But here at TPL, we understand the plight of the forgotten man; and as a Rams fan, I remember the good times we had with Marc under centre. It’s with this in mind that I present a farewell to #10.
Monday, 1 August 2011
Roundtable - Evaluating the best, and worst, Offensive Lines in the NFL today.
Toby Durant: Welcome to what will be the first of many roundtable discussions about the NFL. With me I have fellow co-founders of The Pulling Linemen; Phil Gaskin and Gur Samuel. Firstly I feel I should tell you where our allegiances lie before we begin. I’ve been a long standing fan of the New England Patriots and Phil is a keen fan of the St. Louis Rams. Gur, the newest to the game out of us, follows the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So with the formalities out of the way let’s get down to business gentlemen. And what better topic to open up with than to discuss the best offensive lines in the game today, and those that might just surprise us in the coming season. So, your nominations please...
Hands In The Dirt – Rams 2011 D-Line Taking Shape

Welcome
Welcome to the Pulling Linemen: a football blog dedicated to bringing you stories, opinions, roundtables and more, from the guys at the centre of football - Linemen!
The Pulling Linemen are three passionate football fans from the UK, dedicated followers of the NFL who have played as linemen at college and senior level. We are committed to bring you a unique perspective on the NFL and the game in general. Make sure you follow us on twitter (@PullingLinemen) to keep up to date with our latest articles and take on NFL news.
The Pulling Linemen are three passionate football fans from the UK, dedicated followers of the NFL who have played as linemen at college and senior level. We are committed to bring you a unique perspective on the NFL and the game in general. Make sure you follow us on twitter (@PullingLinemen) to keep up to date with our latest articles and take on NFL news.
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