It has been two straight weeks of horrible defeats for MAC-heavy NFL teams. First the Steelers and then the Packers. Both were in the Super Bowl and both had the most MAC players. It only made sense for them to have success. However, this year is different. One team could manage to make the big game with exactly zero players from the underrated league. This would be a tragedy.

Baltimore Ravens:

Nobody. Zero. Zilch. Nada. In the land of defense, no players from the offensive-minded Mid-American Conference were chosen to be part of the Ravens scheme. However, with the addition of UMass to the East, the Ravens will get a better chance at scouting MAC players in the near future to play on their team. There is hope for the future.

New England Patriots:

DB Julian Edelman, Kent State

New York Giants:

MLB Chase Blackburn, Akron

WR Domenik Hixon, Akron (IR)

San Francisco 49ers

LT Joe Staley, Central Michigan

It's slim pickings. You've got Edelman, who used to be a WR this season. Blackburn, who just got added to the NYG roster. HIxon, who you won't see take the field. And finally Staley, a lineman that doubles as a receiver occasionally.

Let's do this.

Here are your active MAC players for the Wild Card games this weekend:

SATURDAY

Cincinnati Bengals: QB Bruce Gradkowski (Toledo), WR Andrew Hawkins (Toledo)

VS

Houston Texans: WR Kevin Walter (EMU)

Detroit Lions: FS Louis Delmas (WMU), TE Tony Scheffler (WMU)

VS

New Orleans Saints: TE Tory Humphrey (CMU), WR Lance Moore (Toledo)

SUNDAY

Atlanta Falcons: RB Michael Turner (NIU)

VS

New York Giants: MLB Chase Blackburn (Akron)

Denver: Nobody (TEBOW IS ANTI-MAC)

VS

Pittsburgh Steelers: QB Charlie Batch (EMU), WR Antonio Brown (CMU), OLB James Harrison (KSU), QB Ben Roethlisberger (Miami OH), RB Chad Spann (NIU), K Shaun Suisham (BGSU)

You'll notice that there are a couple new additions to the weekly list that we've been running. RB Chad Spann from Northern Illinois was just added to the Steelers roster, which is extremely exciting, given they already have some of the best MAC assets in the league.

MLB Chase Blackburn of Akron was signed by the NY Giants in the past month and TE Tory Humphrey of Central Michigan just signed to the Saints roster.

Root for every team except the Broncos.

With only two more weeks in the season, NFL teams are getting really beat up and are completely ready for the playoffs to start already. Just ask Big Ben, who waited through the lights going off and on in Candlestick park to limp through a game on a bum ankle while throwing 3 interceptions. Meanwhile, James Harrison served his one game suspension.

In other injury news Cowboys S Barry Church is on IR and needs surgery on his shoulder. Not injury news, but you won't see Sam Hurd in an NFL jersey probably ever again. Never thought he would be mentioned in the same article title as BLAGO. A bunch of guys didn't play for whatever reason. The NFL regular season is too long, I've decided.

Offense POW

Lance Moore (NO/UT) - had 5 rec for 91 yds and two touchdowns in a dominant win over the Vikings.

Defensive POW

DE Jason Babin (PHI/WMU) takes the cake again with 4 tackles, 3 of which were sacks against the hapless Jets.

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In the last couple of years the MAC's NBA presence has mostly consisted of Chris Kaman — and fortunately he's been a serviceable-enough center for the Clippers that we can even call him "All Star NBA Center And Former CMU Star Chris Kaman." It's a long moniker but it's totally accurate.

This year however the conference is poised to see two more players join its ranks; one a familiar face, and one a standout player from last year.

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For the past *cough* weeks, this column hasn't gone up because of various technological and personal failures, but now it's back better than ever to help you get through this long, ongoing bowl season. We've now organized how each of the MAC players in the NFL by position, making it easier to see who did what.

Aaaand we're going to kick this off by James Harrison doing what he does best:

there are a hundred different versions of this, all pointing a camera at the tv.. le sigh

Yup, as you might have guessed Harrison has been suspended one game for this concussion-inducing hit on Colt McCoy. On the other side of the ball, Ben Roethlisberger put up some decent stats after being knocked out in the 2nd quarter with an ankle injury against the Browns.

Two new players from Northern Illinois made NFL rosters recently in S Tracy Wilson for the NY Jets and CB Chris Smith for the St. Louis Rams. Smith was injured early on in the season, but he's back due the fact the Rams have 9 CBs on IR right now. Both had two special teams tackles.

Smith had a rather inauspicious debut giving up a puntblock to the Seahawks on the punt team, and it didn't help that Rams G Jacob Bell is now on the IR with a knee injury. In other injury news, the Texans Brett Hartmann (CMU) went down with a torn ACL, but Houston is still heading to the playoffs for the first time ever.

Offense POW

WR Antonio Brown had 5 rec for 151 yds and a touchdown, while TE Antonio Gates had 68 yds off 7 rec with 2 touchdowns of his own. Both led their teams to dominant victories

Defense POW

DE Jason Babin beat up on the now coach-less Miami Dolphins registering 3 sacks.

As always after the jump you can see all the NFL stats from former MAC players. Let me know if there are any mistakes (using a new system):

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Here are your offensive studs for the week: RB Michael Turner - 22 car for 96 yds, WR Antonio Brown - 5 rec for 86 yds. And that's about it. Also, Western Michigan alums TE Tony Scheffler & WR Greg Jennings both scored touchdowns for their respective squads.

I know we list Ben Roethlisberger's stats on here each week and it's probably because he's the best (and only) MAC starting QB in the NFL right now. He only was 21 of 33 for 245 yds and split a TD and INT, but the Steelers came out with the victory 24-17 over Cincinnati.

Did you know that every MAC QB in the NFL played in that game? That's right: Roethlisberger, his backup Charlie Batch (Eastern Michigan) and Bengals backup QB Bruce Gradkowski (Toledo) were all on the field. Well OK the latter two were on the bench, but who's counting?

Waiver Wire

DT Dan Muir (Kent State) got cut by the Colts the same day he visited a veteran's hospital. Not a good PR move by Indianapolis. Muir has been an NFL journeyman ever since entering the league in 2007 as an undrafted free agent. As they say, every time a MAC player in the NFL gets cut... I forget the rest of that sentence.

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The best performances came from players on both sides of the ball playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who fell to the Baltimore Ravens (a team with zero MAC players) 23-20. The world just doesn't make sense sometimes. Other than that, there wasn't too much out there in terms of performances by former MAC players in the pros. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Offense

Steelers WR Antonio Brown (Central Michigan) had 5 rec for 109 yds. Browns WR Josh Cribbs (Kent State) had 50 yds and a TD. RB Michael Turner (Northern Illinois) had 71 yds and a TD. Green Bay WR Greg Jennings (Western Michigan) caught 6 rec for 46 yds and a TD.

Defense

LB James Harrison (Kent State) had a monstrous return to lineup (from a broken orbial bone) for the Steelers racking up 8 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 TFLs, 6 QB hurries and a forced fumble. Nobody else even comes close to this.

Special Teams

Chicago Bear Sam Hurd (Northern Illinois) recovered a critical fumble late in the game to secure the victory for the Bears on Monday Night. Also, it seems like half the teams in the NFL have a punter from the MAC.

Click through to see the complete list of performances this week.

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The spotlight is on Patriots WR Julian Edelman, formally of Kent State. Not because of what he did on the football field (he wasn't active), but because of what happened at a Halloween party. Edelmen allegedly groped a woman underneath her Halloween costume and was charged with indecent assault and battery.

More interesting info: He was actually dressed as Lieutenant Jim Dangle of Reno 911 and hosted a costume contest the same night. Also, here is his mugshot. You can follow the story on SBN's story stream here.

Other scary (old) news: San Diego LB Larry English is out for the season with a broken foot. He was a former 1st rounder out of Northern Illinois)

On the playing field Ben Roethlisberger (Miami OH) and the MAC all-stars defeated the New England Patriots throwing for 365 yds and 2 tds. WR Antonio Brown (Central Michigan) had 9 rec for 67 yds and a td.

Also, San Francisco LT Joe Staley (Central Michigan) lined up tackle eligible and caught a pass for 17 yds!!

On defense, Philly DE Jason Babin (WMU) made Tony Romo's day unpleasant totalling 3 tkl, 2 sk, 2 tfl and 2 qbh.

Click through to see the complete stats for all MAC players this week:

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