Pro Football

PITTSBURGH -- Chris Hoke spent 11 seasons carving out a niche as one of the best backup nose tackles in football, winning over coaches with his work ethic and his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates with his affability.

Even better, he did it while staying relatively injury free, remarkable considering his position. Yet when a neck injury sustained early in the 2011 season lingered and doctors told him surgery was required to fix the problem, he figured his time was up.

"I think the man upstairs was trying to talk to me," Hoke said.

He briefly considered attempting a comeback but thought better of it when warned of the risk of re-injury.

LAS VEGAS -- Casinos in Las Vegas think Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have a better shot at winning the Super Bowl than Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos have of getting past the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend.

Oddsmakers at Cantor Gaming have the Packers as 9-5 favorites to win the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, and the Broncos as 120-1 underdogs to win the NFL title.

But the Packers (15-1) are weak enough on defense to make it more likely that another team will prevent them from repeating as champions, Cantor Race & Sports Director Mike Colbert said.

"Offense seems to rule the day right now in the NFL, but I'm not sure that defense will be able to hold up long enough to win it all," Colbert said.

Sports gambling expert RJ Bell of Pregame.com says that after adjusting for fees, sports books think the Packers, the top seed in the NFC, have a 32 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl.

The official NFL awards will be handed out during Super Bowl week. The offbeat ones are being handed out now.

MOST MEMORABLE GAME

The season began with some sensational, down-to-the-wire matchups, including the overall opener, Green Bay's 42-34 win over New Orleans. It's also hard to forget Buffalo's wild 34-31 victory against New England in Week 3, or Detroit's stunning rally for a 34-30 win at Dallas in Week 4.

But for sheer impact, we have to go with two Tebow moments: Denver's 18-15 win at Miami in its sixth game and, seven weeks later, the 13-10 win over Chicago -- both in overtime.

Against the Dolphins in his first start of 2011, Tebow was awful until it mattered. He sparked the Broncos by throwing two TD passes in the final 2:44, though, and ran in a 2-point conversion with 17 seconds to go, forcing OT. Denver won on Matt Prater's 52-yard field goal.

Prepare for a hefty dose of Tim Tebow talk this week, even if Bill Belichick isn't about to get caught up in it.

Belichick's New England Patriots have won five straight games and are closing in on another AFC East title, but the only topic on the minds of Pats' fans this week is how the team will handle a quarterback who has completed the fewest passes in the NFL.

Tebow isn't defined by completions, quarterback ratings or any other statistic. The only stat he thrives on is wins, and the second-year Denver Broncos quarterback has led his team to seven victories in his eight starts, three in overtime.

Those fourth-quarter comeback wins have led many football fans to believe there is something mystical, even magical, going on in the Mile High City where Tebow and the Broncos are all anyone is talking about.

PHILADELPHIA — Andy Reid’s spirited defense of DeSean Jackson on Friday makes a lot more sense when you realize it wasn’t really a defense of the childish wide receiver at all. It was really Reid’s defending Reid against the growing perception that he has lost control of his football team.

In the span of four days, the Eagles lost two ugly games amid some strange sideline goings-on. During Sunday’s beat down by the Patriots, two assistant coaches embarrassed themselves, their boss, and their players by getting into a spat. Thursday night, while there was plenty more evidence his team just doesn’t care very much, the NFL Network focused on Jackson’s apparent misbehavior.

The bicoastal debacle came just three weeks after Reid himself suspended Jackson for a must-win game that turned into a loss against Arizona. And a few weeks before that, veteran cornerback Asante Samuel publicly mocked the front office for playing "fantasy football" with owner Jeff Lurie’s money.

Ryan Clady wasn't much for explaining it. Just enjoying it.

"It feels good," said the Denver offensive tackle after his new quarterback led the Broncos to an overtime victory over the reeling San Diego Chargers. "It feels good to win. I'm just rolling with it."

So is everyone in Denver. Explaining Tim Tebow's success is the hard part, so why examine it too closely?

Tebow is 5-1 as a starter. His quarterbacking skill set seems to be limited, particularly in the accuracy and arm strength departments. What he's limited to, apparently, is winning, known as the Tebow Effect.

The second-year left-hander from Florida did things NFL-backward again Sunday against the Chargers, completing just nine passes, but running 22 times for 67 yards. Thanks to Denver's defense, which effectively boxed up the Chargers, it only took a couple of big, key plays to generate the points needed to win.