Historically, players who are featured on the cover of the “Madden NFL” franchise experience significant drops in their offensive production. NFL.com is tracking the performance of Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions over the course of the 2012 season because we believe Johnson will debunk the Madden curse.

Week 17 has finally arrived. The Detroit Lions will not be returning to the playoffs, and since Calvin Johnson had already claimed the record for receiving yards in a single season, the Lions looked to play spoiler to the playoff hopes of their division rival Chicago Bears.

Let’s see just how far Megatron pushed his record, and if the Bears were able to triumph on the road and keep their playoff hopes alive.

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FIRST QUARTER

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The Lions receive the opening kickoff, and after two short Mikel Leshoure runs, Matthew Stafford is pressured on third down and forced to throw it away.

After receiving the punt the Bears waste no time going to work, as Jay Cutler finds Alshon Jeffrey for a deep completion down the sideline to the Lions 27-yard line.

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2012. What can we say? The Mayans were obviously wrong. Thank goodness because the NFL experienced quite a year of amazement from the Giants improbable Super Bowl win against the New England Patriots to this season’s comebacks of Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson to the establishment of the 2012 rookie QB class of Andrew Luck, RG3 and Russell Wilson.

So, relax and enjoy as our staff takes you back to the good, the bad, and the memorable of 2012.  We present to you, dear reader, our 2012 NFL-ballooza.

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Rex Ryan: Oscar Nominee?

What was the biggest bit of acting from the Jets this season? Rex Ryan in the Adam Sandler vehicle “That’s My Boy” or the Jets masquerading as a playoff contender deep into the season?

Click here to check out the rest of the list

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2. Favorite NFL Research Nuggets

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1. With Redskins QB Robert Griffin III’s win at Saints in Week 1 and QB Kirk Cousins’ Week 15 win at Browns, the Redskins became the first team in a non-strike season to have two different rookie quarterbacks win their first career starts in the same season, since rookies John Elway and Gary Kubiak won their starting debuts with the 1983 Broncos.

Click here to check the rest of the nuggets

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Flip Wilson. #NOvsNYG #thenflseason

Click here to check out rest of the images

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I make no apologies for being a Jets fan. In fact, they should apologize to me for 2012, but we’ll save that for another day. Despite a lack of wins, they stayed in the headlines all year long. For every circus attraction that was their season, the biggest moment wasn’t the Butt Fumble, or the Sanchez Drama. Or the Rex Ryan drama. Or the Tebow drama. Okay, there was a lot of drama. In fact, more drama than victories, for sure. BUT. (Not Butt as in fumble) BUT. What never gets talked about was a moment that could have not only saved the Jets season, but possibly catapulted them to the playoffs.

Check out the rest of Jason’s column here

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5. My Favorite 2012 Football Card – Tim Tebow – Topps Chrome #180

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Tim Tebow passing stats: 6 for 8, 0 touchdowns, 39 passing yards

Like John Keat’s Grecian Urn this Tim Tebow card above will remain frozen in time.  By now the season has concluded and Tebow’s days of being a Jet trickle down to his inevitable departure to Jacksonville.  As a Jets fan and a Gator alum, I can’t help but meditate on the possibilities of what may have been, the miracles that could have happened, and the Tebowing that will never be be…

Check out the rest of Amar’s rant here

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6. The Year on the Fringe…Fantasy

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It’s all sorts of fun to sit around and figure out who was fantasy football’s best player (Adrian Peterson) or best rookie (Robert Griffin III) and any number of other top awards. But what about some of the fringe fantasy honors that too often go overlooked?

Check out the rest here

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7. Unexpected (and expected) Year in Review

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The 2012 regular season has come to a close and what a year it was. Here’s a look at the most Unexpected (and expected) outcomes of the year.

Check out the rest of this year’s Unexpected and (expected) here

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8. Memories of Experiencing Chuck Strong

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Even though the team I was rooting for lost, to this day I am still glad I was there. It was the start of one of the best stories of the 2012 NFL season, and an instance where the country was able to see again that football is more than a game as it pulled a community together. The day I’m referring to is when the Indianapolis Colts beat the Green Bay Packers, and ChuckStrong became a part of the NFL lexicon.

The game took place a mere six days after news broke about Chuck Pagano’s diagnosis of a treatable form of leukemia. Hearts were heavy at Lucas Oil stadium, but most were optimistic about Pagano’s recovery. It was great to see players on both sides of the game respond by wearing #ChuckStrong t-shirts under their uniforms.

Despite the aura surrounding the game, early on it looked like a Packers rout would sour the mood in Indianapolis. The Packers were up 21-3 at halftime, and received the second half kickoff. That was, until, this happened.

Read the rest of Alex’s story here

We hope you all had a wonderful end to the holiday week as we all prepare for New Years’ Eve, and a wild week 17 in the NFL. We didn’t let the holidays slow us down, as we churned out a fresh batch of great content for you to consume. Enjoy.

Record Zones: 

Follow the record-breaking pursuits of J.J. Watt, Aldon Smith, and Adrian Peterson with these handy zones:

Record Zone

J.J. Watt Zone

Aldon Smith Zone

Adrian Peterson Zone

The Cardboard Bio:

We profiled the careers of Eric Dickerson and Adrian Peterson through their playing cards.

Best Draft Picks of 2012:

We began a look back at some of the best picks from the 2012 NFL draft not named Andrew Luck, RG3, and Russell Wilson.

First Round

Second & Third Round

Stay tuned for more entertaining NFL related content on the Sidelines Blog. Until next time…

Adrian Peterson has a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s hallowed single-season rushing record. The Los Angeles Rams runner rushed for 2,105 yards in 1984, in just his second season in the NFL. Peterson also challenged Dickerson’s rookie record, too, before he fell short, so this isn’t the first time the  two have tangled.

With that in mind, we take a look back at the careers of Dickerson and Peterson through trading cards in a little feature we like to call The Cardboard Bio.

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ERIC DICKERSON
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Yesterday I profiled the five best first round draft picks not named Andrew Luck or RG3, so today I’m continuing that trend and featuring the best players from the next two rounds not named Russell Wilson. Since Wilson is the most recognized name after the top two picks and was drafted in the third round, I wanted to give some love to the many great players making an impact that were drafted in rounds two and three who are living in the enormous shadow cast by Luck, RG3, and Wilson.

Here are eight rookies from the second and third round that you may have forgotten about. Let’s get to it.

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The season may be winding down, but the hyperbole is just getting started. The much-lauded 2012 rookie class has featured the likes of such playmakers as Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, and Doug Martin, all of whom have been fixtures in league headlines for the last 16 weeks. But what about the rest of the gang?

I’m not talking about the likes of Alfred Morris or Josh Gordon, going from draft day afterthoughts to key players in their teams’ seasons. I’m talking about the other big guns, the best of the rest who stood in the spotlight on the Radio City Music Hall stage with the commish, but have somehow ended up in the shadows during the 2012 season. Well, their relative obscurity ends today. Here are five of the best rookies from the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft you may have forgotten about:

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NFL.com Illustration

We’re still in holiday mode, even though Santa didn’t bring our favorite team a playoff spot. However, jolly old St. Nick has been generous with a few other teams.  The NFC playoff spots are still up for grabs.  But even if you’ve been naughty or nice, we’re going to present you with out generous gift of content for this past week.

Sunday:

• RG3 Zone – RG3 makes a comeback against the Eagles.  It’s like he’s never left.
• Madden Curse Watch - Megatron transforms Jerry Rice’s all-time record.
• Adrian Peterson – All Day Zone – All the highlights from every game Adrian Peterson’s played in as he inches closer to breaking Eric Dickerson’s all-time season rushing record.

Monday:

• Week 16: Curse, Coincidence or Superstition – The Jets find another quarterback. And it’s not Sanchez, or Tebow or even Greg McElroy.
• Expected, Unexpected - A coach dances, Aaron Rodgers on fire and Cam Newton gets chippy.
• Rookie Bucket List - Russell Wilson making a late run for Rookie of the Year.

Hope Santa delivered everything that was on your wish list this year.

We don’t have dancing elves, but we’ve got some movers and shakers on Week 16′s version of Dancing with the Starters.

Enjoy!

Welcome to week 16, where we saw several records be broken… by kickers! There was also a 50-burger dropped in Green Bay, a real record broken in Detroit, and a heart-warming moment as the cherry on top of a wild Sunday.

Let’s get to the unexpected (and expected) for week 16.

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Greg McElroy, tackler extraordanaire

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After “winning” the starting job from turnover machine Mark Sanchez, Greg McElroy showed Rex Ryan what he learned while watching Sanchez from the bench.

And it certainly wasn’t how to tackle.

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Historically, players who are featured on the cover of the “Madden NFL” franchise experience significant drops in their offensive production. NFL.com is tracking the performance of Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions over the course of the 2012 season because we believe Johnson will debunk the Madden curse.

It’s week 16 and with the Lions officially eliminated from the playoffs, all eyes turn to Calvin Johnson and his pursuit of Jerry Rice’s all-time receiving record.

Let’s take a look at Megatron’s quest for greatness.

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FIRST QUARTER

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The Lions receive the opening kickoff, and Matthew Stafford finds Calvin Johnson on the first play for a gain of three yards. Unfortunately, the Lions weren’t able to move the ball much more after that, and punted the ball to the Falcons after a three-and-out.

After Michael Turner rumbled for a first down for Atlanta on a short pass from Matt Ryan, the Lions defense stiffened up and forced a punt.

Taking over from their own 10-yard line, facing a third and short, Stafford again finds Johnson who streaked down the sideline for a gain of 49 yards.

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NFL.com Photo Illustration

Few things can be as precious as a road trip with your mom. As the film The Guilt Trip bows in theaters Friday, I started thinking about what a road trip with my mom would have felt like. Mainly, it would have been her sleeping and pointing out things on hills. But then I thought of a better road trip. A much better one – with three people instead of two. And how would that conversation between them go?

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The “Island of Misfit Toys” was an island where all of the unwanted toys were sent during the TV special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” (You really should hear Dave Dameshek’s take on Rudolph in the latest Dave Dameshek Football Program).

To be honest, I was kind of fond of the “Island of Misfit Toys.” I mean, a cowboys riding an ostrich and a bird that swims? Awesome toys. Some people have no imagination.

But the NFL has its own version with these following players:

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Tim Tebow

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Speaking of a bird that can’t fly, that reminds me an awful lot of a pass thrown by Tebow. And now his girlfriend has dumped him too?

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Happy Holidays!

We here at NFL.com and NFL Network shepherded our merry crew of carolers along with some special guests to serenade you with our rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

We call ours “12 Days of Pigskin.”

You’ll see appearances by LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson and more. Enjoy!

NFL.com Photo Illustration

If the Mayans are correct, the world will end tomorrow.  That, or they just got tired of scribbling in their calendars so far in advance. Nevertheless, while it’s up to you to believe or not believe, one cannot deny that the writing has been on the wall throughout this crazy NFL season. That’s right, if you’ve been paying attention there have been several signs in the NFL that the world could in fact be ending on Friday, December 21, 2012. Seven of them, in fact, by our unofficial and highly speculative calculations. If you’ve found more, feel free to leave them in the comments below, before it’s too late.

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7) The superhuman recoveries of Adrian Peterson and Peyton Manning

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Sure, Peyton Manning’s recovery may have not been as marvelous as Adrian Peterson’s return from an ACL and MCL tear, but the fact that two prominent players returned from such serious injuries only to put up career numbers could easily be interpreted as a sign that the end is nigh.

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Associated Press

Every year many of us gather around the TV to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a lovely Christmas tale where George Bailey is given a second chance on life after a visit from a guardian angel. And many of you are likely a little morose after your team has failed to reach the playoffs in 2012.

Well, consider me your Clarence as I show you why there is reason for hope with your favorite team.

And without further ado …

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Kansas City Chiefs

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Marty Schottenheimer says he has a great love for the Chiefs and the Hunt family. Marty was run out of town because of his playoff failures, but Chiefs fans would just like a return to the playoffs.

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