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The New Orleans Saints are looking strong towards the end of the season. The squad is motivated and they knew very well what it takes to make it into the Super Bowl and come out with the Vince Lombardi Trophy. In its core, this is still the same team that was guided by Drew Brees and Co. to the XLIV Super Bowl Championship ring in 2009. The Saints have won their last 8 straight games, and despite running the chance of injury, they finished the regular season without mercy and just proving that their offensive lineup is as frightening and effective as any other squad in the team, including Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

The Saints are doing things so well this season under head coach Sean Peyton’s orders that they finished off with a 45-17 blowout of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Sure enough, Cam Newton might finish of his first year of his pro career with the rookie MVP award, but on Sunday, it would be up to Drew Brees to show the youngster how the pros do it. On the one hand we have to recognize that this was quite a risky move for Peyton. Winning or losing against the Panthers wouldn’t have really changed much for his playoffs plans, but on the other hand, he knew that there was just a bit too much at stake just to let the bench play this one out.

In the 2010-09 season, coach Peyton opted to rest his starters on the last stretch of the 16-game stretch. He wanted to prevent injuries and rest his players. This time around, he wants to give his players a motivational boost: so he keep his starters out to finish off the Panthers and finish the season breaking all sorts of records for the franchise and the league. Check it out: the Saints broke the NFL single-season records in the following categories: season total offensive yards with 7,474; team total yards passing with 5,347 and first downs with 416.

Brees also collected some good records for his own career. Brees, who was 28 of 35, finished with a record 468 completions this season, breaking Peyton Manning’s 2010 mark of 450. He finished the season completing 71.6 percent of his passes, breaking his own 2009 NFL record 70.6 completion percentage. But perhaps the most significant record is the one he battled out against Tom Brady this same season: Most Pass Yards in a single season. For almost 30 years, Dan Marino had held the record with 5,084 total yards back in 1984. At the end, 2011 would be the year when both Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Drew Brees of the Saints would break that record. Brady finished the season with 5,235 yards, but he wasn’t able to catch up to Brees who finished off the regular season with a whopping 5,476 passing yards.

We need to give the Carolina Panthers a little credit. Cam Newton and Co. had managed to win four of their last five games, and even managed to keep up against the Saints for the better part of the first half.  But there was simply no stopping the Saints in the final two quarters. How is this for building up momentum before the postseason: the Saints set a franchise single-game record with 617 yards of total offense on Sunday.

We all knew that at one point or another, it was all going to come down to this: Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos were not going to keep on pulling off miraculous come from behind wins in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. It would be up to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots to get the record straight and try to bring an end to what many had called the Tebownian Madness. Slowly but surely, Tom Brady overcame a first quarter slump to sign a 41-23 victory over the Denver Broncos at the Mile High.

It was a slightly peculiar mix. For all we know, Tebow was bringing religion and football into the table in a way that made many feel uncomfortable but even for those out there who don’t really believe, well, Tim Tebow and the Broncos were turning more then just some Christian heads. They were actually pulling off many at least 4 wins against the spread and were putting the Broncos very close to making it into the Playoffs.

And this comes from a team that under Kyle Orton hadn’t really managed to make anything but a somewhat overrated win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The Broncos were 4-1 before their BYE week and before John Fox made his move to get Tim Tebow as the starter. And somehow, this wild move, paid off. Sure, they just lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, but then again, at 7-2 since Tebow got at the helm, it really seems that whatever it is his prayers are doing, might have been working. Or may we say, might have been working against quarterbacks that are not among the league’s top 10.

The Broncos still have to get it together before they can really secure a spot in the postseason. The Broncos hadn’t dropped a game since before Halloween, and even thought they are still the team ahead of the AFC West, they have two very tough games ahead of them. They first need to face the Buffalo Bills next week. Then they’ve got to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. And that could get really interesting. On the one side, Tim Tebow is going to be facing Kyle Orton for the season finale, the man he came in to replace at Denver. The Chiefs’ on the other hand, couldn’t be more pumped about their most recent win, which officially ended Aaron Rodgers and the Greeen Bay Packer’s 19^th straight wins.

With the win, the New England Patriots secured a spot in the playoffs, won yet another AFC East title and have now recorded their sixth consecutive win for an 11-3 record for the season. Their main man, Tom Brady, finished the game with 23 of 34 passing for 320 yards and two touchdowns. Tim Tebow, on the other hand, finished with 11 of 22 passing for 194 yards. He also ran for 93 yards and two scores but was sacked four times, including a 28-yard loss in the fourth quarter. At the end, the big question is if the Denver Broncos are really going to have what it takes to keep up with the elite level quarterbacks they’ll be facing in the Playoffs. I guess only time will tell

Tim Tebow has been brilliant in the fourth quarters. To be more precise, he’s been on top of his game during the last 3-5 minutes of a game. That strong finish has allowed him to guide the Broncos to a 6-1 record ever since he came in to replace Kyle Orton. But this time, against the Minnesota Vikings, he had a great second half and he was able to bring the Broncos from behind and set up Matt Prater’s 23-yard field goal as the game expired. So even for his detractors, and those who don’t believe in making the Tebowian movement, you got to give the guy some credit: he turned around the Denver Broncos season and even managed to tie the Oakland Raiders for the first place in the AFC West.

It seems as if was only a matter of time before Tim Tebow catch the drift and figure out how to become an efficient quarterback in the NFL. Many critics and sports commentators had said that the Heisman Trophy winner wasn’t going to adjust to the play stile of the pros, and that just like many other quarterbacks who succeeded in the NCAA Football scene, he was going to struggle and not make the cut once he played with the big boys on Sundays. Now again, it seems that after 7 consecutive starts, Tim Tebow is really picking up on his game, and he could easily be responsible for turning the Denver Broncos season around after a disastrous start under Kyle Orton.

Lets not forget that for the better part of this season, the Denver Broncos seemed to be falling down a black hole. They really had nothing going on for them. It’s not just a matter of blaming Orton, truth is that deep inside the core of the team, things weren’t running smooth and that became evident since week 1. Other then a mediocre win at home against the Cincinnati Tigers, the Broncos found themselves in a 1-4 rout before BYE week and that was enough to get the panic alarms off at Denver’s locker room. John Fox opted to bring forth Tebow and take advantage of the extra week of rest to work out a very limited and yet efficient playbook that relied heavily on the running option. Tebow and the offensive line have been able to extend the playbook and even adjust the game a bit so that Tebow can perform much more like an NFL quarterback and not depend so much on his rushing abilities.

And that’s exactly what he did against the Minnesota Vikings. Tebow threw for a career high 202 yards in 10 of 15 passing for, 2 third quarter touchdowns with no interceptions and a career best 149.3 passer rating. This is the Broncos fifth straight win. Perhaps it’s just not the numbers or the records. It is eveident that despite Christian Ponder’s efforts as a young quarterback at the helm of the Vikings, at 52-10 for the season Minnesota is not a solid rival. But it really makes no difference, Tebow is figuring it out, getting it right. If he manages to consolidate his performance as a top-notch passer and an agile and athletic rusher, he might actually have a real chance of making a name for himself in the NFL.

Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos managed to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs despite the unusual fact that the starting quarterback completed only two passes for merely 66 yards and yet beat the Chiefs by a humbling 17-10. John Fox had set up a very simple plan: run the option until the Kansas City defense figure out a way to slow down his runners. Luckily enough for Fox, when the Chief’s defense finally managed to control the Broncos running game, Tim Tebow proved that once in a while, he can actually complete a brilliant pass. In the fourth quarter Tebow completed a beautiful 56-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker that seal the deal for the Broncos.

Playing pretty isn’t always the best option. Particularly when you find yourself 1-4 at the beginning of the season, with a rookie quarterback as your most solid option among the backups and a playbook that fits any pocket passer but not a Heisman Trophy winner who’s probably better at running than passing. So yes, at one point or another the Broncos decided to let Kyle Orton go and give Tim Tebow a try. It hasn’t been pretty, that’s for sure. For the many critics that said that Tebow just didn’t had what it takes to be a successful quarterback in the NFL, this past few games have certainly proved them right.

And yet, I might have to clear things up a bit before I continue down this road. For starters, let’s consider here that Tebow certainly is not going to be a phenomenal quarterback, but he might just find a way for this system of his to work. His passing hasn’t really improved much, that’s a given, but heck, the kid has also proved one thing to all his critics: he knows how to win. And for a team that began the season with a 1-4 record, reaching a 5-4 comeback and evening the San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs for second place in the AFC West behind the Oakland Raiders, its an unequivocal sign that things are going well.

The Chiefs weren’t at its finest, that certainly helped out the Denver Broncos’ cause. Matt Cassel finished the game with 13 of 28 passing for 93 yards and a touchdown. Not bad, but just not enough to make up for all of the Chiefs’ flaws in defense. Truth be said, things were working very well on either side of the ball for the Chiefs. As a matter of fact, they only managed 258 yards of total offense. Not exactly what any Kansas City fan would have expected from a team that had been utterly humiliated by a 31-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins only a week before.

The Kansas City Chiefs will now have to make it work against the motivated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Monday Night football. The Denver Broncos, on the other hand, will face the New York Jets on Thursday night. As of press time the Jets are a -4½ point favorite on the NFL betting lines. No official line has yet been posted for the Monday Night football game between the Patriots and the Chiefs.