The NFL plans to expand the league's Rooney Rule in the aftermath of zero minority hires among the 14 head coach and general manager positions so far this offseason.

NFL executive vice president of Human Resources Robert Gulliver said in a statement issued by the league Friday: "While there has been full compliance with the interview requirements of the Rooney Rule and we wish the new head coaches and general managers much success, the hiring results this year have been unexpected and reflect a disappointing lack of diversity."

Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton has gotten passed over. (Getty Images)According to several sources, the league is hoping to add team president, assistant head coach and both offensive and defensive coordinator to the list of positions that will require a minority candidate be interviewed. In addition, the league is hoping to restart its annual coaching and management symposium program to help train assistant coaches and staff members (both black and white) on the duties that go with head coach and general manager

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – References to the "S-word" really don't irritate the Patriots, because Spygate or not, New England keeps winning.

As the Patriots attempt to make the Super Bowl for the sixth time in 12 seasons, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo became the latest player to discredit the Patriots with tweets last Sunday that touched on Spygate. Although Ayanbadejo subsequently apologized, he's unlikely the last critic to make such a dig.

Led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the Patriots have been to the playoffs in 10 of the past 12 seasons. (USA TODAY Sports)"For me, honestly, no, it doesn't matter," New England quarterback Tom Brady said. "By this time, we've heard it all."

And they keep beating people in the process.

This year marks the sixth season since the scandal broke following the 2007 season opener, putting the incident in the midpoint of New England's long run of high-end play. Since the start of the '07 season, New England has gone 76-20 in the regular season. In the six seasons before the scandal, the Patriots are 70-26.

Critics will point to the lack of

Barring another bizarre twist, the biggest issue NFL draft evaluators may have in the tale of Manti Te'o's imaginary dead girlfriend is the extra work involved on his background check.

"You're going to have to know what's going on with this whole deal," said an NFC personnel man, one of three scouts and/or executives who would only address the situation on the condition that their names were withheld. "And you have to go way beyond what the Notre Dame people tell you or what the kid and his agent tell you. You have to know what you're dealing with."

But …

Manti Te'o was the 2012 Heisman Trophy runner up. (AP)"At the end of the day, he's a good football player. As long as he and your team can deal with that first wave of publicity, you take him," the personnel man said in between chuckles that were equal parts weary and amused. "From everything I can tell, he's a good kid and a good player. He didn't hurt anybody. It's just weird. Really, really weird."

Among some NFL personnel people, Te'o is considered either

FOXBORO, Mass. – The multimillion-dollar questions facing the Philadelphia Eagles and new coach Chip Kelly are intriguing:

Do you keep quarterback Michael Vick around at least for a while to see how he might fit in Kelly's high-tempo offense? Do you fully commit to using Vick, a passer who seems to be at a career crossroads, because he happens to have enough running ability to add that extra bit of pizzazz to Kelly's attack? Or do you part ways right away with Vick, save a small amount of money and commit to either Nick Foles or somebody else to run your offense.

Michael Vick was relegated to spectator the final six games of 2012. (AP)Vick's future just got cloudier with the hiring of Kelly, who shifted gears Wednesday on the NFL after previously turning down the Cleveland Browns earlier this month and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year.

Kelly's top reason for changing his mind is not as much about money as some people will lead you to believe. According to a source close to Kelly, he was intrigued by the challenge of the NFL, but only wanted to

Nevada football coach Chris Ault was nervous. It was a mid-September day in 2010 as the Wolf Pack prepared for a landmark game against No. 24-ranked California.

This was the first time in Nevada history that a Pac-10 (now Pac-12) Conference team had ever played at Mackay Stadium, the school's cozy home field of 29,993 seats in Reno. Nevada had played historic powers such as Notre Dame and Nebraska in recent years, but never at home. Other top schools, particularly from the West Coast, had never deigned to give Nevada that much respect.

With that in the back of his mind, Ault watched his team go through an uninspired practice and voiced his concern.

"If we're going to practice like this, we might as well forfeit now so that we don't embarrass ourselves on [Friday]," Ault, who retired following the 2012 season, said to his team.

That's when quarterback Colin Kaepernick spoke up, hugging the line between respect and defiance. In front of all the players, Kaepernick told

One NFL legend cried after the first playoff victory of his 16-year career, two other future Hall of Famers met in the sixth double-overtime playoff game in league history, and perhaps the game's best current passer was vanquished by one of the best quarterback performances in playoff history …

A performance authored by a guy making the eighth start of his career.

If that wasn't enough to make the second round the NFL playoffs entertaining, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won the 17th playoff game of his career, breaking a tie with childhood hero Joe Montana for the most in league history.

Tony Gonzalez sports a big smile after the Falcons' dramatic victory. (Getty Images)Between the tears of Tony Gonzalez, who helped the Atlanta Falcons to an improbable and difficult win over Seattle on Sunday, the historic duel of Ray Lewis and Peyton Manning on Saturday and the record running of San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick against Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers, the NFL may have provided one of the greatest playoff weekends in its storied history.

SAN FRANCISCO – Quarterback Colin Kaepernick was virtually perfect, except at the start.

Colin Kaepernick runs for a 56-yard touchdown against the Packers. (AP)

The lone blemish on Kaepernick's overwhelming performance came on the very first series of San Francisco's dominant 45-31 win over Green Bay in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs Saturday night at Candlestick Park. As Kaepernick dropped to pass, he first looked right, only to see wide receiver Michael Crabtree fall after making a cut.

Kaepernick then looked left and forced a pass into double coverage that Green Bay's Sam Shields snagged and returned 52 yards for a 7-0 lead. It's fair to say that many 49ers fan were probably ruing coach Jim Harbaugh's decision to replace Alex Smith with Kaepernick at that moment.

Sitting in his seat, Rick Kaepernick, Colin's father, had a different point of view. In a twisted way, the elder Kaepernick knew his son had Green Bay right where he wanted them:

In the younger Kaepernick's now-angry

Pick five and only five.

Seriously, pick five guys out of the following 15 finalists for consideration to the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month: Larry Allen, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Kevin Greene, Charles Haley, Art Modell, Jonathan Ogden, Bill Parcells, Andre Reed, Warren Sapp, Will Shields, Mike Strahan and Aeneas Williams.

Then, after you're done, submit your five selections to the general, NFL-loving public and see what other people think of your picks.

Jonathan Ogden blocks during a game against the Steelers in 2006. (AP)This year's group of 15 finalists (excluding the two senior nominees) is as difficult as any to sort through, including some who changed the game off the field (DeBartolo and Modell) to some who defined winning (Haley is the only man to ever play on five Super Bowl-winning teams) to a man who might be the greatest to ever play his position (Ogden) to a coach (Parcells) who has influenced the game for 30 years.

In short, when the 46 Hall of Fame selectors gather Feb. 2 in New