The New England Patriots responded to the loss of Welker by signing former St. Louis Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola. Amendola is of similar stature and skill set as Wes Welker for a 5-year $31 million deal with $10 million guaranteed. It’s a slightly longer and bigger deal than Welker got, but Amendola is a few years younger. He had 63 rec, a devilish 666 yards, and 3 TDs last year while fighting through a shoulder injury.

Don’t be too surprised if neither receiver misses a beat due to the extraordinary circumstances of having 2 future Hall of Fame quarterbacks to throw them the ball.

Dec. 30, 2012; Orchard Park, NY, USA; New York Jets running back Shonn Greene (23) during the first half against the New York Jets at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Meanwhile in Music City, former New York Jets RB Shonn Grenne signed aboard with a 3-yr $10 million deal, with $5 million guaranteed. The Jets have given up on him, but the Titans look to use him as the thunder part of a thunder-and-lightning style attack with CJ2K obviously being the fast one. It’ll help a LOT with the workload with Chris Johnson’s slight 197-pound build and provide more power for short yardage and goal line situations by using Greene.

For Tennessee, it’s a move to try to put QB Jake Locker in the best possible position to succeed and typical of a young team. What you do is get your QB and protection, then add pieces around him to fit your offense and the Titans clearly can use a power-style running back.

It’s what they just got. Greene’s skill set isn’t very broad and perhaps a bit more can be coached out of him, but it’s an ideal 1-2 or 1-3 carries ratio with CJ2k getting the greater number.

Perhaps it takes a little of the sting out of losing TE Jared Cook to former Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher’s Rams.

Jan 13, 2013; Foxboro, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) leaves the field after the AFC divisional round playoff game against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots won 41-28. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

The Texans almost returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. The Texans were unable to convert the great field position into 6 and ended up settling for a field goal. Against the high octane Patriots offense field goals are not going to do it. So Tom Brady takes just 6 plays to go 65 yards for the Patriots first score. The Pats then add a field goal and another touchdown in the 2nd quarter to take a 17-3 lead. Toward the end of the 2nd quarter the Texans decided to get back into the game.

Arian Foster scores on a one yard plunge, well at least it looked like he scored. Then at the end of the 2nd quarter Graham adds a long field goal to make it 17-13 Patriots at halftime. The 3rd quarter was all New England. This is where we were able to see the greatness that is Tom Brady. He is not the most talented quarterback but he is the best quarterback. Being a Panther fan, nothing pains me more that to admit that. No one is able to will his team to victory like Brady is. He is willing to stand in the pocket and take hit after hit just to deliver the ball on time and on target. So at the end of the 3rd Patriots up 31-13.

There was more of Brady and the Pat’s to start the 4th, scoring on a nice pass play. Then Schaub and company try to make it a game scoring twice in the 4th quarter. They got the score as close as 38-28 but the Patriots prove again to be too much for the Texans. The Pats end the scoring on a Gostkowski field goal. Final score 41-28 Patriots. The real difference in the game was the rushing attack of the Pats. Most people would have thought the Texans would have the upper hand when it comes to running the ball but the defense of New England did an excellent job of bottling up the Houston Backs. The defense shown by the Patriots will need to step up again next week versus the Ravens.

The AFC Championship will be a rematch of  the week  matchup between the Ravens and the Patriots which the Ravens won 31-30. This time Brady will be at home however. It should be a very good game and I am personally looking forward to watching. In that one I don’t have a team I’m rooting for per say but I will be curious to see the chess match between Ray Lewis and Tom Brady. It could be a game for the ages.

God Bless!

Follow me on Twitter @JoeRiollano

The troubled 34 year old will likely have great difficulty in finding a new team due to several factors, not the least of which is that his wife intends to press charges.

Johnson, who had 15 catches with the New England Patriots last season, was released by them and picked up by the receiver-poor Miami Dolphins in an attempt to shore up the position somewhat. Neither of last year’s starting WRs have been present. Brandon Marshall was traded to Chicago in order to head off exactly the sort of thing Chad Johnson wound up bringing – massive off-the-field distraction and negative publicity.

Brian Hartline has yet to play any due to a calf injury and will probably miss the next preseason game against the Panthers, so Chad’s absence from the team leaves them with Legedu Naanee at one outside position, experienced and crafty but physically limited veteran slot receiver Davone Bess, and little else.

With project TE Zac Efron’s blocking struggles, Miami Head Coach Joe Philbin might entertain moving him to wideout, where he’d have a size and weight advantage against corners while having 4.4 speed. Interesting idea, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s in the cards.

In the end, Chad Johnson may very well have another chance to make a roster somewhere, but probably not until after the season starts and injuries begin to hit. In any case, the legal part is going to have to play out before anyone will probably take a chance on him.

Statistically, Johnson has had a nice career and was one of the league’s most dangerous threats starting in 2001 until just a few years ago. He’s had 6 consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons from ’02-07 and one more in ’09 – all with the Cincinnati Bengals.

He’s had 766 receptions for 11,059 yards for a very respectable 14.4 yds/rec average and 67 TDs over his career.