NFL Preview

So training camp has just started, the first game is still five weeks away and Terrell Owens has yet to display any “Hollywood teen queen” antics, but why not get really over-excited anyway. Football season is just around the corner!!
Much like baseball in the spring, you can smell football in the air in the fall. It’s that feeling that makes grown men be absolutely oblivious to the rest of the world as they do nothing but grill and drink beer with their buddies as they yell at the television in vain trying to cheer on their team every Sunday for four and half months. Its that feeling that causes the economy to lose millions of dollars in lost productivity because people spend way to much time perfecting their fantasy team. Its that feeling that brings together all the neighborhood kids for games of tag-football on those cool October afternoons. From Philadelphia to Green Bay to Kansas City, we love our football.
Like the NFL or not, there is one undeniable fact: it has become America’s most successful sports league. The salary cap has created about as evenly competitive league as possible, they have managed to contain the use of performance-enhancing drugs (at least that we know of) and they have more viewers than any other league. Most people would love to get the viewer numbers that NFL Draft gets, which is four months from opening kickoff, much less the 90 million that watch the Super Bowl.
As always, we have a lot interesting questions and stories as the season gets closer. Will Mario Williams turn out to be better than Reggie Bush? And you got to feel sorry for the guy, the man has got to get four sacks a game and sell hot dogs in the stands between series before fans will ever believe he worthy to pass on the latest “I can’t believe he just did that” super freak from Tailback U. Most people don’t realize that there is more to a D-end’s job than just getting sacks. It also about keeping offensive linemen off linebackers and drawing double-teams to free up other teammates just to name a couple. I just hope that the pressure of being the #1 pick doesn’t kill his career before he gets out of the locker room. Of course Matt Leinart has a great team around him in Arizona and could make everyone look dumb by letting him drop to pick #10 if he keeps being a winner like he was for so long at USC.
We will also have to see how Carson Palmer, Daunte Culpepper and Drew Brees perform after coming back from major injuries. My bet is Palmer has the best season because he is the only one that is still on the same team and a winning team at that.
It will also be interesting to see how long it takes Terrell Owens’ relationship with Bill Parcells to explode. While he may be the greatest receiver since a certain #80 from San Francisco, he has pretty much wrecked every team it has been a part of and looked quite foolish doing so. The Cowboys have struggled to win consistently for several years now and if Owens leaves them in a mess like the 49ers and Eagles, it could be ten years before the Cowboys even think about being Super Bowl contenders again.
Is this the year that Peyton Manning and the Colts finally reach the Super Bowl? I think they were the best team last year by a mile before the death of Dungy’s son completely took the air out of them. Even without Edgerrin James, they are still one of the best teams and keep reading as to see how I think the playoffs treat them this year.
I would like to take the time here at the end to make my way-to-early-and-already-second-guessing picks for the upcoming season. I’m picking each division’s winner along with the two wildcards (*). I have also picked the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

NFC
New York Giants

Chicago Bears

Carolina Panthers

Seattle Seahawks

*Washington Redskins

*Atlanta Falcons

AFC
New England Patriots

Pittsburgh Steelers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

*Denver Broncos

*Cincinnati Bengals

NFC Championship Game
Carolina Panthers defeat New York Giants

AFC Championship Game
Indianapolis Colts defeat Cincinnati Bengals

Super Bowl XLI
Indianapolis Colts defeat Carolina Panthers