The big upset everybody seems to be looking for is Arizona over the Dallas Cowboys. I wouldn't quite call that one just yet. I have a couple of other upset specials in the mix though. With weeks 1-5 failing to disappoint, I'm feeling week 6 will be just as exciting. Let's have at it then.
CHI @ ATL: Atlanta is young and exciting, but Chicago plays power football. Da Bears, by two scores. Winner: Chicago
MIA @ HOU: This is something of a trap-game for Miami, and as StreetCred has said, the Phins are very vulnerable to taking a step back here. But a Parcells’ team has an advantage in this situation, and the Dolphins will be coming out on top. The Texans simply are not smart with the football, turning it over much too often. Winner: Miami
BAL @ IND: The Baltimore Ravens’ defense has put up great stats, but they have yet to play a premiere offense. Indy’s defense has been nothing to speak of, and as a team, Indy’s been outscored by 11 points so far this year. Still, with Indianapolis, it is going to be a constant progression as they get guys back and Peyton Manning returns to form. Winner: Indianapolis
DET @ MIN: Detroit is hapless, helpless, and however else you could describe this miserable team. They’ve fallen pretty hard since posting a 6-2 mark at the ’07 season’s midway point. Hopefully the fans will have something to root for in a couple years. Winner: Minnesota
OAK @ NO: Why does this game have some serious upset potential? Well, when you have a Saints team that gives the opposing team opportunities via turnovers, losing to a hungry Raiders team that has been pretty sure with the football in relying heavily on a power running game, certainly becomes a possibility. Winner: Oakland CIN @ NYJ: If Carson Palmer were in for this one, and if Ocho wasn’t making a fool of himself, Cincinatti would have a good shot at an upset. It just ain’t in the cards. Winner: New York
CAR @ TB: Carolina is the more well balanced team, and their solid pass defense takes on a bit of a sloppy passing attack at Tampa Bay. Winner: Carolina
STL @ WAS: Two teams in the league have turned the ball over just once so far this year. Those two teams? The New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. Bad news for St. Louis fans, who have already gotten a taste of one of those squads. Winner: Washington
JAC @ DEN: Still not sold on Denver, a team giving up 388 yards per game on defense. Jaguars pull out a win, getting back to some of the football efficiency they were utilizing last year. Winner: Jacksonville
DAL @ ARI: So, some are just now realizing what anyone with half a brain could tell you before the season started: Dallas is a good football team, but their roster is not super-human. Still, they have talent and this is one that they’ll win via the ground game. Winner: Dallas
PHI @ SF: Donovan McNabb has called out himself and his teammates. I like the move, because this is a team that needs to get fired up if they want to hang in the East. Winner: Philadelphia GB @ SEA: Green Bay hasn’t been playing football near the level they were at last year, and a lot of that’s not on Aaron Rodgers. Seattle is awful though. Winner: Green Bay
NE @ SD: San Diego was caught off-guard by a team in Miami that will prove to be a good one, over the course of the year. Their defense needs to get back to its opportunistic old self, and they need to frustrate Cassel to win this one, which I think they can do. Winner: San Diego NYG @ CLE: On paper in the preseason, this looked like a premiere matchup. The Giants beat up the Browns starters in the preseason in a fashion that haunts players, and the Browns have completely fallen out of the conversation of decent teams since then. Winner: New Jersey
What to predict, what to predict? Let's take a look at some teams listed as viable Super Bowl contenders this year:
Colts: 1-2 Jaguars: 2-2 Patriots: 2-1 (and very misleading, at that) Chargers: 2-2 Vikings: 1-3 (though I never considered them a genuine Super Bowl team, the hype was certainly there)
Now, we all could imagine that some of the teams on this list would have come across some difficulties at this point in the season, but I don't think anybody imagined they all would. The AFC is wide open, and that's a preliminary to one of my picks. I'm not crazy, I swear to you. TEN @ BAL: Tennessee hasn’t beaten any great teams yet, but Baltimore doesn’t fall into the “great team” category anyhow. Tennessee has the stingier defense and a veteran at quarterback. Upset special for Baltimore? I can’t call it. Winner: Tennessee
KC @ CAR: Kansas City didn’t so much prove that they are decent football team as much as they merely highlighted just how bad Denver is on the defensive side on the ball. They won’t run all day on Carolina, and Carolina gets a sure win at home. Winner: Carolina
CHI @ DET: Detroit finally ousted Millen. Detroit is still the same Detroit we know and love, and the same Detroit that Detroit fans find painful to watch. Winner: Chicago
ATL @ GB: Aaron Rodgers doesn’t need to be Brett Favre. He’s known that for years as Favre’s backup, and with an organization that showed some guts in supporting him, he won’t forget it this week. It’s unrealistic. One thing I admire about Rodgers is that he looks like a guy who’s learned from a great quarterback and is trying to make a mark as a great quarterback in his own right, as opposed to trying to be the guy that he studied under. Rodgers will be ready to go if he plays on Sunday. Winner: Green Bay IND @ HOU: Indianapolis has been ####ed up. With the bye week, they are still hurting. They’ll be alright though. They have time to heal before playing Tennessee, and they’ll take this one from Houston. Peyton Manning will have a level-head, and for football fans, it’s going to be exciting to watch Peyton Manning grind out Ws. Winner: Indianopolis
SD @ MIA: In a recent blog post, I projected Miami sneaking into the playoffs this year on a wildcard spot in a shaky AFC. That starts here with a huge upset over San Diego. Granted, I think the Chargers are still looking damn good to take the conference this year with the way things have been going in the AFC, I still think this Miami team has upset potential. They don’t turn the ball over, and their one-two in the backfield is going to be rough on the Chargers. Winner: Miami
SEA @ NYG: Having the Bengals at home was a trap game, and as a Giants fan, it wasn’t the kind of thriller you like to see your team take part in. However, a “W” is a “W”, and the trap-game has come and gone. Or has it? The Giants are notoriously bad after the bye. Plaxico has been benched. However, I think the young guys will pick up the slack very nicely, seizing one of the few opportunities to be the go-to receivers they will have this year. The Giants have to pick up a win following a bye at some point or another, don’t they? Winner: New Jersey
WAS @ PHI: Philly is a physical team, and they are at home. But the Redskins have some confidence, and they’ll ride it out into this week over an Eagles team that has their greatest component on offense listed as questionable. This will put Philly in a tough spot if they lose, and Washington will be getting the Super Bowl hype when they win. Winner: Washington
TB @ DEN: Explosive offense, or great defense? I’ll take the great defense sir, and can I get a little “your offense couldn’t outscore the Kansas City Chiefs” on the side? Thank you. Have a good one. Winner: Tampa Bay
BUF @ ARI: Buffalo hasn’t gotten much credit at 4-0, and no, maybe they don’t deserve it. But take a look around the AFC and tell me who has lived up to the expectations? The Bills will be listed as a weak 5-0, but that’s still just two wins short of the total they accounted for last season in a 5 games as opposed to 16. Winner: Buffalo
CIN @ DAL: You know, Dallas has the talent, but I just think they are poised to fall apart against the Bengals. Oh, I couldn’t resist that. In all seriousness, Cincinatti without Carson Palmer means that the “any given Sunday” rule does not even apply. Winner: Dallas
NE @ SF: The Gold Rush is back! The Gold Rush is back! The Gold Rush is back! The problem is that New England is going to loot the 49ers down to their last peso. Winner: New England
PIT @ JAC: Pittsburgh is ####ed up. Jacksonville isn’t 100% either though, and Pittsburgh’s defense is still a rough unit. I’m going to bank on the fact that Jacksonville, while they will generate pressure, it won’t be enough to put Big Ben out of the game like the Eagles had. Winner: Pittsburgh
MIN @ NO: The Saints offense is starting to get some momentum going, and Minnesota has been dealt a tough slate and now finds themselves at 1-3. I’m going to pick against the Vikings in spite, seeing as in the preseason, they rivaled the Saints of ’07 with all of the Super Bowl hype surrounding what was in reality a .500 team. And to be honest, I just can’t stand that. Winner: Saints
First off, I would like to address the Monday Night "thriller" between the Cowboys and Eagles. Whoever buys into the idea that the shootout between these two teams was a showcase of talent is out of his mind. Alex Marvez calls Tony Romo's play heroic, and I'm thinking that he watched a different game. Tony Romo cost his team big on that endzone fumble, and when he had a chance to put the game away, he went three and out. Donovan McNabb simply wanted the game less, fumbling it twice on handoffs and running around like an #### and not making a play when afforded all of the time in the world. On third and long, a veteran quarterback should know that checking it down is a must. To take a sack there was absolutely horrendous.
Where was that mighty pro-bowl supplemented defense of the Dallas Cowboys last night? The Eagles moved the ball effortlessly. Just the same, while the Eagles did a great job stuffing the run, their secondary got beat on the deep ball too many times. The difference in the game was the awful special teams play of the Eagles, as Felix Jones picked them apart to provide beautiful field position time and time again. Overall, a pretty sloppy game, and these two teams better pick up their play or they will lose this week to two very hot teams in Green Bay and Pittsburgh.
KC 10 @ ATL 21: Atlanta will work off a Michael Turner to beat a weak Kansas City team and jump to a misleading 2-1 start.
OAK 7@ BUF 24: Buffalo is looking more and more like the team to beat in the AFC East. The Patriots/Jets game indicated that the Jets just aren't a playoff caliber team. Buffalo is looking like the only real threat out of a sorry division, but that is not to take any credit away from them. Buffalo is 2-0 against '07 playoff squads, a mere two weeks into the season.
CAR 27 @ MIN 17: Carolina has gotten back to their playoff-caliber form, but let's not write off the Vikings just yet. EDIT: Let's in fact write off the Vikings. Gus under center is worse than Jackson under center, and even if he plays well this week (which I wouldn't bank on), he'll fall apart sooner than later. This is a must win for the Vikings, and the coaching staff has decided that they must lose.
ARI 24 @ WAS 28: This Washington picked up some confidence last week, and while Kurt Warner has looked brilliant, his near-perfect game did come against the Miami Dolphins. The 'Skins take this one.
TB 14 @ CHI 20: The Bears showed last week that their win against the Colts was no fluke. Their defense is looking like more than Tampa can handle at the moment. Da Bears.
HOU 14 @ TEN 24: Tennessee will move to 3-0 with Collins under center. Collins can win games, and he looked pretty damn impressive in week two.
MIA 14 @ NE 17: If Miami can finally get their ground game going, it will be a close game. I expect them too, but Matt Cassel will still be a headline next week, with a miraculous 2-0 record as a starting quarterback.
CIN 10 @ NYG 31: The defending Super Bowl champions continue to sharpen their game against inferior opponents, such as the hapless Bengals.
NO 20 @ DEN 28: Denver is the more complete team. Sure, they may have been put into position to win by a bogus call, but they still had to take advantage and execute. I like the call by Shanahan. It was a gutsy move to go for the conversion, and that will pay dividends for him and his team's confidence.
STL 17 @ SEA 28: I cannot decide who is a bigger disappointment between the Rams and the 'Hawks, even though Seattle has the upper hand in this one. The Rams just look embarrassed, and Scott Linehan looks like a joke out there on the sideline. The Seahawks are looking like this year's first legitimate pretender, and the NFC West is no longer soft enough for them to slip into the playoffs.
DET 17 @ SF 24: Detroit is looking a lot like Detroit, and San Fransisco will come out on top in this one. No need for a lengthy explanation regarding why the Detroit Lions are just awful year after year. Though to me, it's more entertaining to have a team like the Lions to depend on to be a sub .500 squad every year. It gives you something to talk about during the week. "Hey Al, what happened to your team on Sunday? Lost to the Detroit Lions, and you said they were going places. Chuckle, chuckle."
JAC 13 @ IND 17: Indy is simply looking like they may have gotten it together, and Jacksonville, while still a good football team, looks like they haven't. Indy keeps within a game of the Titans at week three's conclusion.
CLE 21 @ BAL 20: Cleveland's been a disappointment this year, and injuries are only hurting an already shoddy defense, but they have enough firepower to beat out the Ravens, at the very least.
PIT 27 @ PHI 28: This is going to be a hell o####ame. I'm going back and forth on this one as I write this, but I'm going to have to give it to Philly in Philly. DAL 20 @ GB 31: I'm doing the unthinkable. That is, I'm putting the Cowboys down two scores to the Aaron Rodgers led Green Bay Packers. Who was it that gave the Pack a fighting chance with brilliant play when Brett "The Media's Beloved Jet" Favre was playing pretty damn poorly in the regular season against the Cowboys? Aaron Rodgers. The young quarterback is the real deal, and he faces an overrated defense on Sunday. Wade Phillips is a disgusting excuse for a head coach there in Dallas, judging by his reported comments at halftime and his refusal to acknowledge that the Eagles' offense moved the ball well against his defense ("well" is an understatement).
The NFC East loses it's first game to a non-division opponent, finishing week 3 at 9-3 collectively, and 7-1 against non-division opponents.
NYJ 14 @ SD 35: The San Diego Chargers are coming out fired up and will take out plenty of that aggression on an overrated Jets team. I'm kicking myself for picking the Jets last week, as my initial thoughts this season seemed to be a bit more accurate: the Jets and their savior are overrated. San Diego, after giving the fans a gut-wrenching first two weeks against teams that should not have taken them down to the wire let along beat them, finally gives them reason to cheer.
The Giants get off to a strong 2-0 start this season, and their level of play against the Rams is a strong sign for this Giants team. Granted, we are talking about the St. Louis Rams here. However, anytime you have a 28 point difference in the box score, the team that comes out on top is playing at a high level, regardless of how poor the other team is. The most impressive thing about this Giants team right now is the fact that, as a team, they are playing just as well as anybody across the board. Several different players came up with plays on defense. The ball distribution on offense was just downright scary. Whatever there might be to say about the state the St. Louis Rams are in, a 41 to 13 point victory can never be underestimated. Let's recap. Offense: The Giant offense picked apart the porous St. Louis defense pretty thoroughly. They put up the stats last week against the Redskins as well, but the difference-maker in this game was the fact that they could translate yardage into points. Eli Manning did a beautiful job spreading the ball around, with 8 different receivers hauling in passes on the night, and 3 of those receivers with 60 yards or more. This is a huge improvement over the Giants and how they played for much of the regular season last year, as they were largely one-dimensional in the passing game with inconsistent receivers behind an unhealthy Plax. Domenik Hixon and Steve Smith both showed some serious big play potential (though Smith ended up ruled down after review on a play he had stretched for an additional 18 yards, that was still one hell of a run after the catch).
Still, the first sighting of a three-headed beast is what should have the rest of the league worried. Between the trio of Jacobs, Ward, and Bradshaw in the backfield, the Giants running backs posted 203 yards on a mere 28 carries. Considering that each back contributed over 50 yards on the ground, it is clear that each one of these backs is just as effective as the next. Each back had a reception as well, and though Bradshaw got the least amount of playing time, he posted 2 of the team's 4 offensive touchdowns.
This Giants' backfield is the best in the league. Better than Dallas. Better than Minnesota. Better than Jacksonville. Granted, they haven't stacked up against great defenses. However, it's hard to say that any single running back or even duo of backs can match their versatility. And when push comes to shove, it is invaluable to be able to have a play-making back that virtually never gets tired. The only thing that could slow this group down is injury.
Defense: The defense shut down the only hope the Rams had in this one, and for another week, the Rams were unable to move the ball on offense. The Rams' O-line was embarrassed for another straight week, surrendering 6 six sacks to this Giant D. Unexpectedly, three of those sacks would come from Robbins and Alford, two of the guys on that line that don't get a whole lot of credit. There's not a whole lot else to say here, so I will put the spotlight on one particular individual.
Justin Tuck: This guy has showed up big in the absence of Strahan, and for those that do not believe him to be the real deal, expect to by the end of the season. Tuck fought off countless holds that were not called (for anybody that watched the game, you would have seen this, and if you ignored it, then Troy Aikman pointed it out at one point for you), adding two sacks in this one. Being able to come down with an interception and run it in for the score shows you that he is on his game and playing heads-up football.
Coaching: I have to say I disagree with the no-call on the St. Louis touchdown play, and there's no excuse for Coughlin not throwing the challenge flag on that one. At that point, there wasn't a whole lot of separation in the score, and while whether or not it was actually a legal catch will never be known, the call was clearly in question. Had the game been a lot closer, it would have meant quite a bit to have that one possibly called back.
Overall, the Giants look like they are ready to rumble with the best in the league, and thus far, there is nothing to suggest that they are not amongst the best in the league. They are in a heavyweight division, but this is a heavyweight team. Anybody that thought it would be Philly and Dallas in the East, not to take anything away from those teams as they are both very talented, ought to remember that the Giants can trade hands just as well as anybody.
Side Note: The NFC East will be 6-2 heading into week 3, getting off to a collective 4-0 start against out of division opponents (Browns/Saints/Rams twice). The East has outscored these opponents 136 to 50. There is a team that can challenge scattered here and there throughout the NFC, with the Packers and Panthers looking good thus far, but the NFC is all about the East this year, and with the Chargers taking an 0-2 start and Tom Brady going down, the team that comes out victorious in this division is more than liable to be favored to run away with a Lombardi trophy. each of these teams scheduled to play six divisional games a piece, this is a going to be a hell of a year for fans of NFC East teams.
After a crazy week in the NFL and a dismal week in regards to my picks, I'm looking for a much more sound week. While I did throw down one too many upset specials (by that, I'm referring to my picking of Cleveland over Dallas), the two other teams I picked to upset brought the game down to the final drive, threatening not only in their respective opponent's territory, but threatening with do or die circumstances. Those two teams would be the Dolphins and the Bucs. There were definitely a few games this week that were beyond predictable. The Colts lose at home to the Chicago Bears? The Chargers fall short to the Panthers? And while Buffalo was a reasonable pick to win, I don't think anybody could foresee them putting the lights out on the Seahawks.
One pick I did have going for me was the Green Bay Packers winning at home. Rodgers played just as well as he did at Dallas last year. That was not an upset, but merely just bringing the Minnesota Vikings back down to earth. I will reiterate. The Vikings are reminiscent to the Saints of '07: overhyped and overrated.
This is how the NFL is shaping up for week two:
TEN 20 @ CIN 10: Tennessee is minus Young, but that matters not. Kerry Collins is still a solid QB who can step in and win games. And well, Cincy was looking bad heading into week one, and now they just look awful.
BUF 24 @ JAC 27: One of the tougher games to call, but I'm going with Jacksonville at home over the upstart Bills. The Bills are exciting, but they played a soft-looking Seahawks team. Jacksonville bounces back in a close one. NO 28 @ WAS 17: The Redskins will take a few weeks before anybody gets a read on what will become of them this year. With the way Jim Zorn ran his two minute offense without that critical hurry-up aspect, don't expect a whole lot.
NYG 27 @ STL 7: In reference to a post I made a few weeks ago, the Giants looked very much like the NFL's Joe Frazier in the opener. They didn't continue to batter the Redskins offensively in the second half, but the defense held on eight of eleven in third down situations and looked strong throughout. Expect much of the same this week in a thoroughly one-sided Giants' victory.
GB 35 @ DET 14: The Aaron Rodgers led Green Bay Packers continue to roll.
CHI 14 @ CAR 24: I'm not hopping on the Bears' bandwagon, but Carolina looks to be tough this year, and they will win by two scores. IND 31 @ MIN 17: Indy, despite a poor week one performance, lays it to the Vikings, who unexpectedly start the season two games behind Green Bay after just two weeks.
OAK 14 @ KC 20: A battle between two pretty bad teams, and Oakland is the worse of the two.
ATL 17 @ TB 20: Michael Turner was signed to be the spark plug in this Atlanta offense, and he will make the game interesting. However, the Bucs are the better team all around, and they will bounce back this week.
SF 21 @ SEA 27: Wow. A week ago I wouldn't have imagined this one as a tough pick. Seattle at home, but not by much.
BAL 10 @ HOU 20: Rookie quarterbacks have their ups and downs, and the Texans will be looking to bounce back from the spanking they took last week. Texans even out against the Ravens, and Joe Flacco will get a taste a Mario Williams.
MIA 21 @ ARI 14: Call me crazy but I like what I saw from the Dolphins a week ago (minus the lack of a running game). They had a shot to win the game on the final drive, and that in itself is a good sign. Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown will show up big this week, and Pennington will manage a Dolphins victory.
SD 28 @ DEN24: The Chargers lost on the final play to what looks to be a very competent Panthers squad. Denver went out and beat the Raiders senseless, but they are the Oakland Raiders and still a miserable team at that. Still, a good, close game in a Chargers win.
NE 10 @ NYJ 17: The experts are saying not to write the Patriots off, and that makes guys like me look more like an expert every day. As in the preseason, New England just looks like they do not want to be their without Brady on the field. Cassel will soon follow suit once he begins to play decent NFL teams. PIT 28 @ CLE 27: I'm not sure that will be the actual score, but I'm lending emphasis to how close this game will be. Pittsburgh looked great last week and Cleveland looked awful. But in this rivalry, the games will be exciting and down to the wire, and they will still usually end with a Pittsburgh victory.
PHI 24 @ DAL 21: Hands down, the game of the week. I referred to the Giants/Dallas rivalry in another post as similar to that of Ali and Frazier. Philadelphia looks to be emerging as this year's George Foreman in that context, but there will be no rope-a-dope coming from Dallas. Philly wins in Philly fashion, with Donovan McNabb and Westbrook leading the offense and Jim Johnson masterminding this defense. Johnson's disciple Steve Spagnuolo ended the Cowboys' Super Bowl hopes this year, and the guru will pick up where his protege left off.
Jerry Reese, to his credit, has managed to orchestrate (or at the very least, keep intact), a combination in the backfield that resembles that of a mythical beast or god. A three-headed monster, if you will. Or, perhaps one might view the power trio of Jacobs, Ward, and Bradshaw as a one-headed beast, with Jacobs being the component that drives it while his two fists, Ward and Bradshaw, clean up what is left over. This backfield combination has an arsenal of its own to throw at a defense, and the scariest part is that the beast never gets tired.
Brandon Jacobs, at 6-4 and 264 pounds, is the definition of impact back. Not to mention, for a running back of that size, he has speed and pretty good moves. It's safe to say that nobody else in the NFL can finish quite like Jacobs, and while he posts great numbers (1009 on an exceptional 5.0 yards per carry in '07), his influence on a defense is still underestimated. Every game, he seems to find a defender or two to lay flat on the ground and embarrass on the highlight reel. Landry was the victim in the season opener. But to have a guy that virtually hits a defense back every time he has the ball is invaluable to an offense. That is exactly what Jacobs does, and just when a defender gets low enough to tackle him safely, he makes a cut move to pick up five more yards and level somebody else. At running back, he's an absolute phenomenon.
It does not end with Jacobs though, unfortunately for opposing defenses, as the Giants have two legitimate starting backs behind him. Starting with Derrick Ward, who posted 602 yards on just 125 carries in '07, the Giants have a downhill runner who can make cuts as well as catch the ball. He's a change of pace as well as a fresh pair of legs, and it's difficult for a defense to plan against that. In the opener, he moved the ball with efficiency and played his role exceptionally well, posting 60 total yards on nine carries and a pair of catches. While Jacobs' hands are apparently made of stone, Ward provides power and yet, flexibility out of the backfield.
Now, to this point a dangerous one-two punch has already been discussed. This is where the Giants backfield goes from great to groundbreaking, as yes, they can hit you with a mean one-two punch. But the one-three punch out of Big Blue's backfield is just a devastating, and while it may only make a rare appearance or two throughout the season, the two-three punch provides as much versatility and entertainment as the other two varieties.
The rookie out of Marshall has proven to be just as effective, whether it be as a compliment or as an every down back (posted 151 yards on 17 carries against the Bills). Ward was down with an injury during the playoff run, but Bradshaw filled in brilliantly. He is smaller and quicker than his two backfield counterparts, but he is making a strong case to have just as much pound for pound power as the other two. At 5'9" and 198 pounds, he was reminiscent of Tiki Barber in the Super Bowl, as he dragged multiple New England defenders to stretch yardage. Both running backs, generally too small to see when they are moving a pile, showed incredible strength for their size. Just as well, Bradshaw has the best hands of the trio, making him just as much of a threat as the other two. The Giants did not show Bradshaw in the first game, but let us not forget that he can be deadly. More importantly, defensive coordinators better not forget to have their defense prepared for when the Giants call on number forty-four.
The creature that inhabits the backfield of the New York Giants is an intriguing beast and of a nature that the NFL is going to have trouble absorbing over the next few years. Loaded with perhaps every weapon a coach could ask for within his running game, this is a trio that punch, cut, and sidestep a defense. As a great boxer would, the three can pound a defense hard and then hurt them when it comes to going to work on the cuts that have opened up. It must be a miserable experience for a defense, as injury is perhaps virtually the only way to slow this beast down. Sixty minutes between as many as three talented backs means that there will never be fatigue, and that is what makes the Giant backfield arguably the most potent in the league, not excluding the likes of Minnesota, Jacksonville, San Diego, and Dallas.
Let's kick it off. I will throw an upset special or two into the mix
here, and I look forward to any thoughts an opinions anyone might be
willing to share.
Crack open a cold one, 'coz it's football season, baby.
WAS 14 @ NYG 31: Giants by seventeen here, as the offense will
roll and the defense will look good. The Redskins haven't looked too
solid. If Jason Taylor does not play, the 'Skins D will have a
difficult task ahead of them.
DET 27 @ ATL 13: Detroit will win and Jon Kitna may feel good
enough about it to promise a Super Bowl. But everyone else will know
that the Atlanta Falcons are the Atlanta Falcons, Jon Kitna is Jon
Kitna, and the Lions are still a .500 team at best.
CIN 14 @ BAL 10: Cincy has a receiver to cover for a hurt Chad
Ocho Cinco, but may struggle in the running game. Still, the Ravens have no quarterback. Joe Flacco, did it really come to you already?
SEA 24 @ BUF 20: Seattle is not as tough as they are thought to
be, and the impression of a team that barely edged the Redskins in the
playoffs last year before getting walloped by the Packers remains. They
will still edge the Bills in this one.
NYJ 14@ MIA 17: Everybody will be looking to see Favre light it
up, and while that may happen, I have a feeling Pennington will be the
story of the week after upsetting his former team. He's about as tough
as they come and has more talent (but lacked blocking) than most would
care to realize.
KC 13 @ NE 28: Just because the entire New England team as a
whole looks as though they don't even want to be out there on the
field, my gut tells me to pick against them purely on principle.
Against any halfway decent team, I would. But NE is lucky to have KC as
a get-it-together game. That could still go both ways heading into week
two though, as getting back into the habit of going for it on fourth
downs will hurt them.
TB 28 @ NO 20: Tampa Bay, the more well-rounded team will win
this one. Looking at players who want it bad, one might be inclined to
focus on Shockey. But the moment things don't go Shockey's way, he
forgets how to be a teammate and how to just shut up and play his role.
On the other hand, we have Jeff Garcia, who just a few weeks ago was
more or less told by his organization that he would be Favre's backup.
Garcia is an average quarterback, but he can get fired up and playing
well. With something to prove, Garcia will have a big game.
STL 10 @ PHI 17: Philly has looked good lately, and they will
start the season on a good note against the Rams. The game will be a
lot more one-sided than the final score will suggest.
HOU 14 @ PIT 20: Pittsburgh at home. Pittsburgh at home. The Steelers have tough schedule, but this is a game they will win.
JAC 28 @ TEN 17: Jacksonville is a tough team and can move the
ball on offense, and I don't think Vince Young will be able to exploit
their secondary.
DAL 31 @ CLE 35: Upset special. The Cowboys will be brought down
to earth in week one, losing an offensive shootout with the Browns. The
Browns didn't look great in the preseason, but they are more liable to
show up determined to pull the upset, and they have the guns on offense
to do it.
CAR 17 @ SD 24: San Diego, and it will be their playmakers on
defense that make the difference. Phillip Rivers may struggle a bit,
especially with the impending comeback of Julius Peppers, but he has an
MVP in the backfield to bail him out.
ARI 20 @ SF 10: 'Zona, with Kurt Warner at the helm.
CHI 6 @ IND 24: Not even a question, as the Bears are a team
that have no upset potential in them. They are a mess, two years
removed from the Super Bowl, playing the very team that beat them up
pretty good.
MIN 14 @ GB 20: Minnesota are similar to the Saints of '07:
overhyped and overrated. Green Bay, a very talented team before even
considering the quarterback position, is underrated. Rodgers is the
right guy for them to have, as he is young enough to withstand the
temperatures at Lambeau in January, something Favre apparently could
not do.
DEN 21 @ OAK 7: The Raiders still aren't close yet. Another year of growing pains for Oakland fans.
Is it me, or does it seem that the NFL as a whole is more exciting to watch than in recent years? Sure, the regular season has yet to get underway, but it seems that we have more potential Super Bowl contenders and teams on the rise than we could care to count right now. Hell, even the preseason has been entertaining, and as a football fan, I feel as though there may not be a better time to be one. And while the Favre drama may have been a bit overdone during the offseason and into training camp, for a die-hard, it certainly took some of the pain away from not being able to catch a game of football at least twice a week.
Starting with the comparisons between the AFC and NFC, in recent years, the AFC has been unquestionably the better conference. The Patriots and the Colts had been considered a league of their own, and many went as far to say that their classic AFC championship game match-ups may very well have been the real "Super Bowl". Even right up until Super Bowl XLII had reached it's conclusion, the expectations of the NFC representative were limited.
Even before the Giants had made their postseason run, it seemed as though the so-called experts were merely picking which NFC team would make the game the most interesting, as the Patriots capped off their glorious 19-0 run that was never to be. Some favored Dallas, whose offense could at the very least make the game a high scoring affair. Others seemed to favor Green Bay for the irresistible headline Brady versus the Old Gunslinger Brett Favre would provide. But not many thought the JV team, whoever it may be, would pull through. The NFC is inferior. Let's go ahead and reformat the playoffs so that perhaps the Colts and Patriots can play each other in the Super Bowl. When the Giants had made their claim to be the NFC's representative, it was almost hysterical to the analysts. The predictions were ludicrous and nearly all of them had the Giants being blown out of the water, and this was a team that had played well against the Patriots in the regular season.
The AFC still may have more contenders, but the NFC has certainly made up quite a bit of ground. The rivalry between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys has always been intense, but now these two teams have proven to possess the amount of talent that when pitted against one another, football fans are in for a championship-caliber bout that matches a showdown between the Patriots and Colts. The NFC East as a whole is now right on par, if not half a step ahead of the AFC South in the debate over football's toughest division. The NFC is clearly catching up, and the remarkable thing about that is, the AFC hasn't gotten any worse.
Looking at the quarterbacks representing teams in each respective conference, the NFC has generally been overshadowed by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. In fact, the entire league has been out of the conversation when it comes to these two future Hall of Famers. Now, Tony Romo has emerged as a top-flight quarterback. Eli Manning has come into his own and made some brilliant plays down the stretch during the Giants' Super Bowl run. Drew Brees generally puts up big numbers, and if the Saints can get back to winning football games, he will certainly be back on the radar. Even the near-forgotten Donovan McNabb is poised to have a big year, and there remains to be mentioned a few others that could certainly make things interesting in the NFC with a big year, such as Jason Campbell, Matt Hasselback, and Jeff Garcia.
In the AFC, David Garrard has emerged as one who doesn't turn the ball over often and can scramble to make big plays. Derek Anderson came out of nowhere to lead the Browns just shy of a playoff berth, and Big Ben Roethlisberger knows how to win games. Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers certainly have the potential to be top quarterbacks in this league. And let's not forget about Favre, who at 38, seems more and more like a kid every day. What's not to like about the way the 2008 season is shaping up?
Football fans can witness several great match-ups on prime time:
Week 1: Giants at Redskins on Thursday Night, Vikings at Packers on Monday Night Week 2: Steelers at Browns on Sunday Night, Eagles at Cowboys on Monday Night Week 3: Cowboys at Packers on Sunday Night, Jets at Chargers on Monday Night Week 5: Steelers at Jaguars on Sunday Night, Vikings at Saints on Monday Night Week 6: Patriots at Chargers on Sunday Night, Giants at Browns on Monday Night Week 7: Seahawks at Buccaneers on Sunday Night Week 8: Colts at Titans on Monday Night Week 9: Patriots at Colts on Sunday Night Week 10: Giants at Eagles on Sunday Night Week 11: Jets at Patriots on Thursday Night, Cowboys at Redskins on Sunday Night, Browns at Bills on Monday Night Week 12: Colts at Chargers on Sunday Night Week 13: Seahawks at Dallas on Thursday (Thanksgiving) Week 14: Patriots at Seahawks on Sunday Night Week 15: Giants at Cowboys on Sunday Night, Browns at Eagles on Monday Night Week 16: Jaguars at Colts on Thursday Night, Chargers at Buccaneers on Sunday Night, Packers at Bears on Monday Night
That is a lineup loaded with great games on paper. Fifteen games in sixteen weeks feature match-ups between '07 playoff teams on prime time. Several other match-ups include teams favored to make a serious run at the playoffs this year. In my humble opinion this is as good as it gets for NFL football. The year is 2008, and it is a great time to be a fan.
Writing off a Super Bowl champion team is nothing new. Just a year ago, the idea of the Colts, a young team loaded with talent and also led by a future Hall of Famer behind center, was buried by the hype surrounding the Patriots' off-season moves. While I did not agree with it at the time, the hype was in some ways justified by a historical, record-setting season. However, the Colts proved to be on the same level as the Pats last season, and we saw that it was not just on paper during a regular season match-up in which the Colts stacked up well against New England without Marvin Harrison. Clearly, both teams finished on the same page. Any one of the thirty-one teams that fall into the broad spectrum of varying degrees of talent that are also not defending Super Bowl Champions begin the season on the same plane.
For any team to win a Super Bowl, all of the right elements must fall into place. That much is a given. Even as superb a regular season as anyone can have does not translate into a successful one. Any member of the Patriots' '07 roster can attest to that. That being said, there are a small handful of teams that have the talent to make a serious run at the Lombardi trophy this year. The Giants are one of them. And while winning one Super Bowl is a daunting task in itself, the Giants certainly have the talent to make it to Tampa this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances that generally cause the training camp favorites to miss.
To begin the defense and the loss of the future Hall of Fame defensive end, Michael Strahan, is the basis of most arguments against the Giants' shot at any kind of success, as many would argue that the team is not capable of winning the NFC East. Yes, the gap-toothed wonder will surely be missed out there, and the Giants' would unquestionably be a better unit with Strahan, despite his age. Depth at linebacker is certainly one of the team's largest concerns, and Gibril Wilson is a hard-hitting young safety who is really starting to develop. Still, the Giants' defensive unit will be an improvement on last year's.
The Giants have a young defense that played exceptionally well down the stretch last year. Young players, generally speaking, progress from year to year. Not to mention, this was a defense that went from giving up 80 points in the first two games of the season, to punishing one of the league's best offensive lines for five sacks in the Super Bowl. The reason for this was the progressions the unit made in Steve Spagnuolo's brilliant Jim Johnson-esque scheme. With the core of this defense now having a full season and another off-season to work on mastering their craft, we will see a defense that plays at a high level, consistently. Michael Strahan will surely be missed, but let's not forget that Justin Tuck recorded ten sacks as a backup.
Moving on to the offense, once again, we will see a unit that plays at a high level, much more consistently. However, this will be primarily due to strides Eli Manning has made as a quarterback. Eli Manning, while showing a glimpse of brilliance here and there has been awfully inconsistent throughout his career. However, over the course of his last five games last season, he made his leap into the top tier of quarterbacks in this league by doing something he hadn't done throughout his career: manage games consistently. Looking at the statistics, during this stretch he was 4-1 against opponents who posted a combined regular season record of 67-13 (counting the Pats twice). He threw twelve touchdown passes, while only throwing two interceptions (taking into account the fact that the only pick he threw in the post-season was more or less a ball Steve Smith should have caught, but instead, tossed it to Ellis Hobbes).
During this stretch, he was without Shockey, and while the running game certainly could have used the star tight end's blocking, the Giant's offense will be fine without Shockey this year. Kevin Boss will only get better, and Steve Smith (who missed much of the '07 regular season due to injury) will continue to progress as well. The Giants drafted another potential play maker in Mario Manningham, and Burress is poised to have another big year, especially if he is healthy enough to practice during the season. That being said, look for Eli to put up Peyton-like numbers during the season, and that will largely factor into them having a much better regular season this year as opposed to last. Combined with a powerful running game and a great deal of depth in the backfield, the Giants offense has a considerable amount of talent overall.
In the right frame of mind, the Giants are as dangerous as a team can be. While the talk is centered around their NFC East rival in Dallas, the Giants have the talent to match-up well with them every single time they take the field. When the Boys in Blue take the field this season, do not look for the team that went 10-6 during the regular season, posting a lowly 3-5 record at home. They probably will not show up. However, it would not be surprising to see something along the lines of the Giants team that went 4-1 over that five game stretch, taking the field week in and week out.
As for the Cowboys and Giants and how their seasons will end, one would be hard-pressed not to believe that either of the two could bring the NFC, a conference mocked as the junior varsity league in recent years, another Lombardi trophy. And until we have crowned this year's Super Bowl champion, whoever it may be, football fans everywhere can expect to witness one of the most exciting season's in recent history.
Power Rankings:
1. Giants (Defending champions with a young team that is only getting better.) 2. Cowboys (With the losses the Patriots have taken and the additions the Cowboys have made, they are a small notch ahead heading into the regular season) 3. Patriots (Much of the defending AFC champion's team returns, and if they can avoid the hangover, they will head into the playoffs with home-field advantage once more) 4. Colts (Has the talent to match any of the top teams in the league, but the question of durability is a big one) 5. Jaguars (A talented team that will be exciting to watch, and should also give the Colts a run for their money in the division) 6. Chargers (The difference in determining whether the Chargers will be good or great this year will rest on the play Philip Rivers.) 7. Steelers (A tough team with a tough schedule. The Steelers may falter at times in the regular season, but come playoff time, they will be battle-tested and as big a threat as anyone). 8. Browns (A young and exciting team that will make the playoffs, but is still half a step back in the AFC) 9. Packers (The NFC's third best team has fallen down the ranks due to the question mark surrounding Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Still, a talented enough team otherwise on both sides of the ball to compete and make the playoffs.) 10. Eagles (This may in fact be a little bit of a stretch, but I like the Eagles over the Vikings, who have huge question marks in the passing game and pass defense. Asante Samuel to an already solid defense and a healthy McNabb to take some of the pressure off of Westbrook in making plays will make this team a playoff contender in the NFC.)
