When the Miami Dolphins lost starting quarterback Chad Pennington to a season-ending shoulder injury in September, club officials made all the right noises about how it was a terrible shame and a huge blow.
And they were right, to some degree. It was a shame. Pennington is a fighter who has come back from career-threatening injuries and he is the perfect guy to have in your locker room. He is smart, dedicated and a good leader. So dealing with Pennington on a personal level, the Dolphins felt bad about his injury and the fact his career was, once again, hanging in the balance.
However, while they would never admit such a thing publicly, there must also have been some in the organisation who saw the situation as a blessing in disguise because it accelerated the move to get Chad Henne into the starting line-up.
Even as a rookie in 2008, the Dolphins liked Henne a great deal having drafted him in the second round out of the University of Michigan. But with Pennington playing well and leading Miami to the playoffs, they could not throw the youngster into much live action in his first year.
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The NFL playoffs begin on Saturday January 9 and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra will chart every step on the road to the Super Bowl with our commentary teams bringing you the action each weekend from the United States.
For the New York Giants - the preseason Super Bowl favourite of many pundits, myself included - the playoffs begin this weekend when they take on the Dallas Cowboys in a must-win game being called live by the BBC duo of Darren Fletcher and Greg Brady from 2100 on Sunday.
That may sound like a rash statement with five weeks remaining in the regular season, but the Giants have got themselves into a bit of a pickle. After opening the year with five straight wins (albeit against fairly weak opponents), they have lost five of their last six encounters and are two games behind the Cowboys in the ultra-competitive NFC East. If they lose on Sunday, the Giants will be three back with four to play.
That makes this a fascinating encounter and means I will be following the game very closely on Sunday, even though I have a rare weekend off from the studio.
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Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young has never been short on confidence. There have been times during his short career when that confidence has been misplaced, but it has always been there.
On Sunday night, Young needed every ounce of that self-belief as he trotted onto the pitch at LP Field with his Titans trailing the Arizona Cardinals 17-13 with two minutes and 37 seconds left on the clock. A daunting 99 yards stood between Young and a game-winning touchdown as he gathered his team-mates on their own one-yard line.
And what followed was the highlight of Week 12, proving that Young has matured on and off the field. It also placed the Titans right back in the AFC playoff race, with five successive victories following a shocking start of six successive defeats.
Young guided the Titans on an 18-play, 99-yard drive that was a thing of beauty. If a quarterback is truly judged on how he performs when the stakes are at their highest, Young passed his latest test with flying colours.
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Hello, I'm Neil Reynolds. I commentate and write about the NFL. I've followed the NFL since 1983 and covered the league as a journalist and broadcaster since 1991. I also played for 10 years in the British American Football League. 
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