VanFulpen's NFL Week 4 Winners

San Francisco at Atlanta 1:00 PM FOX – The 49ers need this win and the Falcons are coming off a huge win against the Saints.


WINNER: FALCONS


Cincinnati at Cleveland 1:00 PM CBS – The Bengals should be able to get their offense going this week.


WINNER: BENGALS


NY Jets at Buffalo 1:00 PM CBS – The Bills will fight hard like they did last week against the Patriots but it most like won’t be enough.


WINNER: JETS


Seattle at St. Louis 1:00 PM FOX – The Rams won their first game of the season last week and the Seahawks had a huge win against the Chargers as well.


WINNER: SEAHAWKS


Denver at Tennessee 1:00 PM CBS – Chris Johnson and Vince Young got back on track last week and hope to keep it going.


WINNER: TITANS


Detroit at Green Bay 1:00 PM FOX – The Packers lost on Monday Night to the Bears and should take that out on the Lions.


WINNER: PACKERS


Baltimore at Pittsburgh 1:00 PM CBS – This game should be a hard hitting game as neither team likes each other.


WINNER: RAVENS


Carolina at New Orleans 1:00 PM FOX – The Saints are coming off a loss and are out to prove that they are still the team to beat.


WINNER: SAINTS


Indianapolis at Jacksonville 4:05 PM CBS – The Jaguars are in a tough spot this week and the Colts keep rolling.


WINNER: COLTS


Houston at Oakland 4:05 PM CBS – The Texans played great the first two weeks of the season, and then slipped up last week against the Cowboys.


WINNER: TEXANS


Washington at Philadelphia 4:15 PM FOX – In a huge game as Donovan McNabb return to Philadelphia to face off against the Eagles and Michael Vick.


Arizona at San Diego 4:15 PM FOX – The Chargers are too good of a football team to start the season 1-3 aren’t they?


WINNER: CHARGERS


Chicago at NY Giants 8:20 PM NBC – The Bears go into New York on a role and try to push their record to 4-0.


WINNER: GIANTS


New England at Miami 8:30 PM ESPN (Monday Night) – Both teams have lost their only game of the season to the Jets.


WINNER: DOLPHINS


Last week: 7-9


Overall: 27-21

Power Ranking Number 14: Philadelphia Eagles

The Donovan McNabb era is over in Philadelphia and now Kevin Kolb is not the quarterback of the future he is the quarterback of the present for the Eagles. Brian Westbrook is not in Philadelphia anymore and LeSean McCoy takes on the roll of starting running back. Things have changed in Philadelphia and now it is the young players chance to shine. Wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are game changing wide receivers with speed and athleticism, and tight Brent Celek is a stead tight end who is one of the better receiving tight ends in the NFL. The young skills players are all around Kolb it up to him to make it happen this year.

On defense last year long time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson pasted away and it seemed like the Eagles defense never really recovered from the lost of him. Linebacker Stewart Bradley is coming back from a knee injury that caused him to miss the full 2009 season and he should be a welcome addition to the defense. They drafted defensive end Brandon Graham in the first round to help the pass rush and other defensive end Trent Cole. They also traded from linebacker Ernie Sims a former 1st round pick of the Detroit Lions who should bring more speed to their defense. With Bradley coming back and the additions of Graham and Sims the Eagles defense should be better this season.

The Eagles should be in the hunt for a playoff spot this season like always but them being a Super Bowl contender isn’t as likely as in the past because we don’t know what to expect from Kolb as a full time starter, but as always it should be interesting in Philadelphia.

Southern Illinois Karim not a sleeper anymore

Southern Illinois running back Deji Karim came into the NFL Draft process without a lot of fan fare, but he is one of the fast rising players as we lead up to the NFL Draft. He was one of the NFL Draft sleepers when he first arrived in El Paso, TX for the Texas vs. the Nation game, but he is a sleeper no more.

Karim this past season rushed for 1,694 yard and 18 touchdowns averaging 7.1 yards per carry. He also caught 17 passes for 212 yards and 1 touchdown averaging 12.5 per reception. He was invited to play in the Texas vs. the Nation game, but was given an invite to the NFL Combine.

“At first it was a disappointment (not to get invited to the NFL Combine), but I knew I had to do something at my Pro Day to open their (NFL scouts) eyes,” said Karim.

Karim did just that at his Pro Day, where he, out jumped the best running back in Indianapolis by two inches in the vertical jump (43 inches). Karim measured in at 5-8 1/2, 209 pounds and ran the 40 yard dash in 4.40 seconds, the short shuttle in 4.33 seconds, and the three-cone drill in 6.95 seconds. He measured a 10-foot-3 inch broad jump and did 19 reps of 225 pounds.

“I start training down in Florida even before the Texas vs. the Nation game, and it really helped me their and also get everything out of my ability to have a great Pro Day,” said Karim.

After his performance at the Texas vs. the Nation game and his Pro Day, people started to take notice of him and he end up having personal visiting with a number of teams including the Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Indianapolis Colts.

But despite all the post season success that Karim is having he knows he can still improve.

“I need to work on my blocking, I have the effort but I need to improve on my technique,” said Karim. “I also need to work on my vision at the second level when I’m running the ball.”

With Karim being one of the fast risers on every teams draft board soon we will all find out what team he goes to.

How the McNabb trade effects the draft.

With the news that the Philadelphia Eagles traded quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins, not only is Washington getting a possible Hall of Fame type quarterback but now the impact of the NFL Draft will be felt.

Now with the Redskins have their quarterback there is no shot that they will draft Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, if like we figure the St. Louis Rams draft Sam Bradford number one overall. The Redskins will most likely draft the best offensive tackle at number four hoping that Russell Okung of Oklahoma State is still there.

So the biggest question mark is where does Clausen go, well right now it looks like he will be available for the Buffalo Bills to select him with the ninth overall pick, but if he doesn’t go there how far will he fall. Would the Jacksonville Jaguars think about him at number ten? Or what about the San Francisco 49ers and one of their two first round picks if they are not sold on Alex Smith. Then there is always the Oakland Raiders, and we know they where looking at Donovan McNabb. A dark house could be the Kansas City Chiefs, since Clausen’s former head coach Charlie Weis is now the offensive coordinator and he has been all around the country working out college quarterback so that tells me they are not sold on quarterback Matt Cassel.

The other person in this situation is Jason Campbell and where does he go now, the Redskins don’t have to trade him, but I would think that they would want to. Some dentations for him could be Buffalo, Jacksonville, Carolina, Cleveland, or even Oakland. We have to see, but things now are getting more interesting.

Another note of interest, the Eagles only have two quarterbacks on their roster, so expect them to draft one late, or sign a few as un-drafted rookie free-agents.

S Mike Newton, Buffalo: Pro Day Star

Buffalo safety Mike Newton had a great pro day to open up the pro day schedule that NFL Scouts, GM and Head Coaches will be attending in the next month leading up to the NFL Draft. Newton who has started since his red-shirt freshman year was 5-10 197 pounds, ran a 4.46 and a 4.48, 40 yard dash, which would have been second for all safeties at the NFL Combine. He had a 41 inch vertical jump again which would have been tied for second among all safeties at the NFL Combine with USC Taylor Mays. He had a 10 foot broard jump, ran a 6.94 3 cone drill, a 4.17, 20 yard shuttle. The only thing that he didn’t do as well was the 225 bench, which he only had 9 reps.

There where 12 teams at the work which where the Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, and the Atlanta Falcons. He was also asked to defensive back drills by the Packers, Eagles, Bills, Browns, Jets and Saints.