FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – An AFC championship game rematch between Baltimore and New England wasn't even set before tough talk from the Ravens began.

Baltimore linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo took to Twitter in the first half of New England's divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans and started blasting the Patriots hurry-up offense as a gimmick and mocking the organization for the 2007 "SpyGate" scandal.

Brendon Ayanbadejo (AP)"In a sport that is predicated on mano y mano, 'let's hurry-up n snap it' = bitchassness," Ayanbadejo tweeted.

With New England eventually beating the Texans 41-28, the Patriots will host Baltimore next Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line again. Ayanbadejo's comments are the first shot in what could be a contentious week of trash talk between the two AFC rivals.

New England edged Baltimore 23-20 in last year's AFC championship game, in part because the Ravens dropped a potential game-winning pass and missed a game-tying kick in the final seconds.

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady both arrived in New England in 2000. The Super Bowl championships came fast – 2001 (Brady's first as a subbed-in starter), 2003 and 2004. It was a dynasty, almost overnight. And although the task wasn't easy or simple, it was accelerated.

Since then, nothing.

Tom Brady reacts after throwing an INT in the Super Bowl vs. the Giants last year. (AP)Seven years of falling short and make no mistake, anything less than everything is falling short for competitors of this intensity. Especially by now, with the Houston Texans arriving Sunday for an AFC divisional playoff game. Especially after all these years of relentless churn, of boilerplate double-digit win seasons derailed by crushing injuries and gut-punch defeats, of Januarys and Februarys somehow lost.

Everybody is trying to win in the NFL but no one tries (or succeeds) like the Patriots. Other franchises take entire seasons off. The Patriots rarely have a bad week, and never two in a row. This year, they went 12-4, their 10th consecutive season with 10 or more victories, which

From Division II Grand Valley State, where he won two national titles, to Central Michigan, where he won a MAC championship, to the University of Cincinnati, where he led a team to a 12-0 record, to, now, Notre Dame, where in his third season he took the once moribund Irish to the national title game, there's an obvious constant.

Brian Kelly has always been successful. And Brian Kelly has always been a climber.

That the NFL was on the horizon should surprise no one. Until word broke Wednesday with ESPN saying Kelly has met with the Philadelphia Eagles and there is mutual interest, the horizon still seemed off in the distance. Brian Kelly has reportedly interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles. (USA Today)

The interview, according to the NFL Network, took place Tuesday, just hours after the Irish's 42-14 BCS title game loss to Alabama, a disappointment that only slightly diminished a dream season. Kelly is now said to be out of the country for a brief vacation, an entirely separate bizarre turn. Notre Dame declined to comment on the reports.

For

In January 2011, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler sprained his MCL in the NFC championship game. Rather than stay in the locker room or head to the hospital, he stood on the sideline under a heavy coat and watched the Bears lose to the Green Bay Packers.

Doing so caused other NFL players to take to social media and rip him to shreds for his perceived lack of toughness.

An injured Jay Cutler was widely criticized during and after the NFC championship game in 2011. (Getty Images)

"Cmon cutler u have to come back. This is the NFC championship if u didn't know," Arizona Cardinals safety Kerry Rhodes tweeted.

"All I'm saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee … I played the whole season on one," Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew concurred.

Arizona's Darnell Dockett said Cutler shouldn't be allowed to shower with his teammates after the game. Hall of Famer Deion Sanders blasted that "in the playoffs u must drag me off the field."

On and on it went, an avalanche of vitriol seen and read by every football fan in America. Presumably, that

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – For the record, the first hug from AJ McCarron went to his dad; the second to his mom.

Then a bunch to other assorted family got in for high fives and pats on the back as McCarron, standing on an electrical box, reached up and into the front row of Sun Life Stadium where Alabama fans wildly celebrated the Crimson Tide's 42-14 destruction of Notre Dame for a second consecutive BCS title behind their star quarterback.

It was then, finally, when McCarron reached over and kissed his girlfriend, Katherine Webb, the reigning Miss Alabama and a young lady that, due to ESPN repeatedly flashing to her during the game broadcast, is America's newest celebrity.

So let it be known, here on a charmed night in the charmed life of AJ McCarron, it was still family first. Webb just had to wait.

"That means he's a family guy, a mama's boy," Webb said with a laugh to Yahoo! Sports. "And I'm totally good with that. It's that personality that attracted me to him in

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Nick Saban was telling stories the other day in a way he rarely does publicly, the kind of stories that might offer a glimpse into just how he's come to dominate college football in a way that no other person is dominating a sport in America.

Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide won a third BCS title in four years here Monday, absolutely demolishing Notre Dame 42-14 in a game that – if you can believe it – wasn't as close as that lopsided score.

It was the latest example of Saban's ability to meld group after group into seemingly indomitable units, another 60-minute showcase of blunt-force trauma.

This time it was AJ McCarron (20 of 28 for 264 yards and four TDs) throwing it around, but it could've been Greg McElroy. This time it was Eddie Lacy (140 yards, one TD) spinning and slamming over the Irish, but it could've been Trent Richardson or Mark Ingram before him. This time it was Amari Cooper (six catches for 105 yards and two TDs) getting loose in the

LANDOVER, Md. – Robert Griffin III couldn't run, at least not in any way resembling his usual sprints through the line and into open turf. Robert Griffin III couldn't throw, at least not the deep darts that move the chains and keep defenses honest.

Robert Griffin III couldn't lead the Washington Redskins' offense, not after his knee buckled in the first quarter of this NFC wild-card game against Seattle. A couple plays later Washington took a two-touchdown lead but the deal was done. It would gain just 41 yards over the next two and a half futile quarters with Griffin as quarterback, all but assuring Seattle's 24-14 victory.

Robert Griffin III couldn't do much of anything Sunday except lie, which is what he's been trained to do in situations like this.

Lie to himself that he can still deliver like no backup could. Lie to his coach that this was nothing big. Lie to the doctors who tried to assess him in the swirl of a playoff sideline.Robert Griffin was a shell of himself in Sunday's loss to the Seahawks. (AP)

LANDOVER, Md. – Across failed series after failed series, painful step after painful step, Washington coach Mike Shanahan stuck to his guns and to his hobbled quarterback Robert Griffin III, whose damaged knee left him almost incapable of playing.

Finally, midway through the fourth quarter, a low snap caused Griffin to bend awkwardly. His injured right knee crumpled and hyper-extended under him as Seattle recovered the fumble. Suddenly few here at FedEx Field cared that Seattle was in business inside the Redskins' 10-yard line, en route to a 24-14 victory in Sunday's NFC wild-card game. The Seahawks will play in Atlanta on Sunday.

Griffin sprawled out on the field, gripping his knee as the stadium grew quite silent. The future of Washington's franchise quarterback suddenly hung in the balance. Robert Griffin III limped through much of Sunday's playoff game against Seattle. (AP)

RG3 eventually got to his feet and hobbled off the field. There was no early word on his prognosis. Kirk Cousins replaced Griffin but was unable to lead a comeback.

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