Ugh. This was almost ready to go and then Brady’s knee got Gillooly’d by Bernard Pollack and I couldn’t think about football until now. By the way, love the consistency of the NFL – Vince Wilfork gets pushed into J.P. Losman in last season's opener and got flagged and fined; Pollack hits the reigning MVP below the knee and gets nothing. Anyway, I’m amazed by the amount of glee all the Patriots’ ‘Haters’ have shown to Brady’s injury and look forward to an exciting season. Not that last year’s season wasn’t exciting, but this year there’s suddenly no expectations and every game will be a true battle, unlike the cake-walks they were going to be. But enough about the AFC and the Patriots – let’s get on to the NFC. Call this an almost preview & predictions, since I have one week to base this on.
NFC East
1. Cowboys (14-2): These guys looked like a finely tuned machine last week. Their offense will be very good and they have a strong enough defense (especially with Pacman in the fold) that they should be very tough to beat. Romo, T.O. and Barber look like the 2nd coming of the Triplets. You know what’s going to hold them back in the end though? Wade Phillips. How can a team with this much talent have such a Magoo in charge. When they don’t win the Super Bowl and fire Phillips, how long until either Bill Cowher, Marty Schottenheimer or Mike Holgrem is running this team?
2. Eagles (12-4): Love the Eagles this year; of course, if they stay healthy. Already a little banged up at WR, they can ill afford an injury to Donovan McNabb or Brian Westbrook. Should either of those two go down, it will easily be the 2nd most devastating injury to a team this year. They looked good in Week 1 but the true test comes this week against Dallas.
3. Giants (7-9): Super Bowl hangover coming for them with them losing two key defensive linemen this year and still having the luckiest Frank Stallone ever in Eli Manning. They were several plays away on several different weeks from not ending up the champs; I expect them to be under .500 this year because the Devil will be there to collect his dues for giving them that unlikely title. But you know what? G-men fans won’t give a shit because they’re on house money this year. Okay, that's a stretch, they'll bitch a lot, but whatever. I hope the whole team gets the mumps. Bastards.
4. Redskins (5-11): Jim Zorn. Really? How can Dan Synder not hire one coach that fits his team. Jason Campbell might be a good QB someday but the lack of a consistent coaching staff hurts his development every year. What really sucks for the Skins is that if they were in the NFC West they’d probably get 10 or 11 wins and win that division with relative ease.
NFC North
1. Vikings (10-6): Tough loss to the Packers aside, the Vikings should make a run at the division, as they have the ability to run at will and stop the run at will. Very rarely are teams that are good in the trenches not good teams. Tavaris Jackson however, will do his best to submarine this team. Too bad their management and coaching is attached to him and want to prove they were run in their assessment of him, because if Chad Pennington and his D+ arm strength could catapulted this team into real contention.
2. Packers (10-6): Do you think the Niners’ management and fans were happy when Aaron Rodgers stepped in Brett Favre’s shoes and performed admirably on MNF? When they took Alex Smith with the No. 1 pick a few years ago, Rodgers slid to No. 23 as no one needed a QB that year (VERY hard to believe now). Imagine if it had gone the other way? Rodgers would have saved the Niners and the Pack would have brought back Brett because they would still be looking for a decent back-up.
3. Bears (8-8): The Bears looked great in working over the Colts with a very fast defense and a looks-to-be-a-stud rookie RB in Matt Forte. Unfortunately, Forte will soon have 8, maybe 9 lining up in the box because they have Kyle Orton at QB (another team that could have used Chad Pennington and his D+ arm strength). And unfortunately for Bears’ fans, this victory over the Colts came about 19 months too late.
4. Lions (4-12): The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Lions will always be the Lions. And with the other 3 teams in their division looking good, they are going to S-T-R-U-G-G-L-E struggle this year.
NFC South
1. Saints (10-6): The Saints are a fun team to watch – all offense, little defense. I mean, 20 points allowed to the Bucs?!? Their offense is awful. But Brees, Bush, Shockey & (when healthy) Colston form a very strong offensive nucleus. Like a poor man’s version of the Cowboys.
2. Panthers (9-7): Delhomme looks like he’s back to being a good NFL QB and the defense played great against the high-powered Chargers offense. They’ll continue to be the most maddening team to watch or bet on though, so wager with care my friends.
3. Buccaneers (8-8): They have to be one of the most irrelevant teams. I can’t believe they won this division last year. No way that happens again. And they’re getting old again about 2 years after rebuilding. How does that happen?
4. Falcons (4-12): Nice career starter for Matty Ryan and new team start by Michael Turner (who looked more like LDT than LDT). But that was against the Lions. This season will be tough, but they have a nice offense to build around.
NFC West
1. Seahawks (8-8): The Seahawks suck and so does this division. Can we get the top 4 teams from the Canadian Football League and send these 4 packing their bags and moving north? Seahawks will win this division, again, and win in practically by default, again.
2. Cardinals (6-10): They suck more than the Seahawks. What else is there to say? Leinart can’t beat out freaking 73-year old Kurt Warner for the starting QB job in his 3rd pro season, you know, when QBs should be getting it. Meanwhile in NE, his college backup is starting for the juggernaut Patriots. It’s a strange, confusing world.
3. 49ers (5-11): They suck more than the Seahawks and Cardinals. What else is there to say? Talk about getting their comeuppance for being so good from 1981 to 1998: their combined record was 198-66 (.752 winning %), they won five Super Bowls and only saw two men man the QB position, Joe Montana and Steve Young. I would puke if I were a Niners’ fan now with J.T. O’Sullivan going out there each week.
4. Rams (4-12): They really suck. And they shouldn’t because they have Jackson, Holt and Bulger. But I digress. Nothing else to write about them until the wise up and fire their coach.
NFC Playoffs
Wild Cards: Eagles, Packers
Wild Card Weekend
Eagles over Seahawks
Packers over Vikings
Divisional Round
Cowboys over Packers
Eagles over Saints
NFC Championship
Eagles over Cowboys
Super Bowl XLIII
Eagles over Patriots
That’s right – I’m predicting a Super Bowl XXXIX rematch – and if this happens that means the Pats pulled off the impossible getting here and the Eagles stayed healthy. No happy endings for me though, because a healthy (i.e. McNabb and Westbrook) team becomes the 3rd Wild Card team in the past 4 years to win the Super Bowl and give Philadelphia a LOOOONG overdue sports title, which should lead to the City of Philadelphia temporarily seceding from the nation before order is restored in that sports-crazed yet title-deprived city.
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skins over cowboys.. looks like zorn really wasn't that bad of a pick.