Before we get into this Friday and the weekend, I wanted to make a couple of notes.

First, thank you to everyone who has been writing diaries. They're the engine of this site and as you can see, a lot of times the conversation is more lively there than it is on the front page. We have one of the best diary sections in SB Nation football. Again, thank you. Your good work does not go unnoticed.

Second, I used to welcome each new commenter to the site but that's becoming difficult to do. We've had a big increase in active participants on this site (don't be shy!) in the last month or so and I just can't welcome everyone without invading the conversation. So to all of you new commenters out there who I haven't welcomed, welcome to the site.

Finally, if you're a lurker who's been reading for a while and not commenting, please jump in the conversation. We're very welcoming here. You won't get insulted for your point of view but except to have it thoroughly beaten down if you can't back it up. The hallmark of AP is our intelligent commenters and we intend to keep it that way. Its pretty lively here on game days too when I put up our open game thread. If you get a chance, check it out this weekend and see what its like.

So, if you haven't already, register for a user name and begin commenting (It only requires an e-mail address and filling out about four lines). One nice feature of registering is that it keeps track of what comments you've read and which ones you haven't read in each post. So when your scrolling down the front page of AP,you can immediately see which posts have new comments that you haven't read. Pretty cool and it will only get cooler after we add some new features over the next few months.

I'll go ahead and make this a totally open thread this morning. Talk about whatever is going on in the world of the NFL/sports. Anything interesting you come across today, drop it in here. Got another post coming up in a bit.