Whatever happend with our NFL pre-season predictions? We review

When we actually venture to make predictions on an upcoming season or game we stand by our picks, darn it. We plan to make it a habit, from time to time, to give a look back at our season predictions and take our picks to task. Yes, we’re self-critical like that. And, we also take some solace in knowing that we don’t just make predictions and forget about them. If we’re wrong, we’ll own up. But, hopefully, we won’t be wrong often.

So, having just passed the halfway point of the NFL season, we thought we’d take a critical look back at our season predictions and evaluate the happenings of the first half – the players and teams that surprised, the coaches that made a difference and the trends that matter going into the playoffs.

We pick the AFC division winners like a master clairvoyant

First, let’s take a look at our picks for the division winners in the AFC. They were: Patriots (East), Bengals (North), Colts (South) and Chargers (West). As the standings are today, we were right on 3 of the 4 picks – not too shabby. The Patriots, Colts and Chargers each lead their respective divisions to this point. The Bengals not so much, sitting in last place with a 3-4 record.

Yes, we severely underestimated Steelers rookie head coach Mike Tomlin (though we did pick them, along with the Ravens as the AFC wildcard entries). But more so, we horribly undersold the talent that Tomlin had to work with in Pittsburgh. Rothleisberger, Parker, Ward, Holmes and that defense are all seriously legit. The Steelers play hard-nosed football and have an almost unstoppable running game. It doesn’t seem like they’ll have any problems mixing it up during the playoffs on the road. Will the Steelers make it all the way to the Super Bowl this year? The crystal ball and the New England Patriots say “not likely.” But, Tomlin and his crew will be a really tough out for teams like the Colts, Pats and Chargers.

We pick the NFC division winners like a retarded monkey

Now, begrudgingly, let’s take a look at our picks for the NFC division winners. Here’s where some of our picks went horribly wrong. We didn’t see Brett Favre and the Packers coming. At 38 years old, we had essentially written off Favre and the running game deficit Packers. But, lo and behold, they’re 8-1 and sporting a really stingy defense. And, despite Jon Kitna’s bold pre-season prediction, we also didn’t expect the Detroit Lions to make much noise.

Our own NFC North pick, the Chicago Bears, are languishing, dealing with serious injuries on the defensive side of the ball. At least we were right in that Rex Grossman would be out as the starting QB by mid-season. It is pretty apparent at this point that the QB carousel with Grossman and Brian Griese will continue all year, while the Detroit Lions and aforementioned Packers run away in the division.

Looking at the other divisions in the NFC, we picked the Eagles, Saints and Rams. Wrong, wrong and wrong again – although the Saints could very well turn it around, win the division and still make a serious run in the playoffs. The Cowboys, who we picked as a strong wildcard entry, is making the Eagles, Giants and Redskins look pedestrian and should wrap up the NFC East division crown within the next 3-4 weeks. And the Rams…oh, the pitiful Rams. Sure, they’ve dealt with injuries to stud running back Steven Jackson and quarterback Marc Bulger, but the defense looks absolutely pathetic and the offense isn’t much better. Let’s just say that we were expecting the team to have more than 1 win by week 10. Hey Steven Jackson, what happened to that prediction of 2,500+ total yards this season? With 440 total rushing and receiving yards to date, Mr. Jackson, you’ve got some serious work left.

Breaking News: The Patriots will win the Super Bowl

So, finally, on to our Super Bowl prediction; we picked the Patriots over the Saints. The Pats look like they’re still in track to make our – and just about everyone else’s – most important pre-season prediction come true. But, do we still think the Saints will make it to the final game? Not as much as we did on September 6. Just about every team in the NFC, except for the Cowboys, seems to have at least one or two glaring flaws. It makes us shudder to think that the un-drafted Tony Romo could actually be a Super Bowl quarterback, but he was one botched snap from possibly achieving that feat last year.

Patriots so-called confidence is starting to wear thin

The New England Patriots are treading carelessly close to that thin line between confidence and arrogance. All season opposing fans and neutral bystanders alike have questioned whether the Pats and Head Coach Bill Belichick were purposefully running up the score. Now the Patriots themselves are whining about possible rules infractions by conference rivals the Indianapolis Colts.

After his team squeaked out a slim 24-20 victory against the Colts on Sunday, Patriots President Jonathan Kraft accused the Colts of distracting tactics, including enhancing the home crowd by playing digital crowd noise over the stadium speakers. Apparently, that would be against NFL rules.

The Patriots were obviously hoping for another blow-out, while making a serious statement to the rest of the league, the media and fans. Unfortunately for them, Peyton Manning and the Colts were not at all interested in conceding such a result. But, just because you didn’t roll over your opponents as you had hoped, does that mean you accuse your opponents of cheating? And even if they were cheating, the Patriots, who themselves earlier this year were implicated and fined for cheating, are in no position to act all high and mighty when it comes to scrupulous tactics that bend the NFL rules.

After being the door-mat of the NFL for decades, under Belichick the Patriots had become a classy NFL franchise. Unfortunately, it seems that the unprecedented success this season is going to their head a little bit, as the confident swagger is starting to look a little like obnoxious haughtiness.

This New England team hasn’t won anything just yet and last time we checked, despite the result on Sunday, Indianapolis is still the defending Super Bowl champion. It would be wise for the Patriots to keep that in mind and maintain some humility, lest arrogance be their ultimate demise during what otherwise could be one of the most historic Super Bowl runs ever.

Will history repeat itself during latest Colts-Patriots showdown?

The 8-0 undefeated New England Patriots play the 7-0 undefeated Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, in what will be the highest profile regular season game of the current 2007-2008 season. The general consensus, from the talking heads on sports talk radio to the fan on the street, is that the Patriots high-powered offense will prove to be too much for the Colts, leading to yet another New England blowout. But, to look ahead to the game on Sunday, we must look back to the past. More specifically, the AFC Conference Championship Sunday in January 2007, when the Colts beat the Patriots 38-34 and went on to take home the Super Bowl crown.

A fumble recovery in the Colt’s end-zone, a Corey Dillon TD run and an Asante Samuel interception return for a touchdown had the Patriots up big early. In fact, the Colts went into half-time down 21-6. But, of course, we all know what happened next. Playing at home under the dome in Indianapolis, Peyton Manning and the Colts orchestrated the largest comeback in Conference Championship game history. The Patriots defense could only hold the offensive juggernaut of Manning, Harrison, Addai, Wayne and company in check for one half. On the opening drive of the second half, the Colts marched down the field and Manning scored the team’s first touchdown of the game with a 1-yard scramble. The flood-gates had opened, and the team went on to score another 25 points en route to the win.

All those expecting a Patriots blowout this weekend should pay very close attention to last year’s epic battle. Sure, the Patriots offense is reaching historic proportions – averaging by far more points per game, 41.4, than any team ever – but the Colts defense is also better than last season. The Colts have the #1 ranked pass defense in the game, giving up a measly 165.4 yards per contest. Their run defense, which was much maligned during certain points last year, has solidified in giving up 107.4 yards per game for a rank of #13 in the league. The defensive line, led by sack-master Dwight Freeney, is playing with more discipline – respecting the run more and being more selective in rushing the quarterback. The Colts defense overall is the second toughest in the league to score on, giving up a mere 14.6 points per game.

On the other side, the Colts offense is not to shabby either, putting up 32 points per game and gaining just about 400 total yards per contest – and that’s with soon-to-be Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison missing significant time because of injury. The video game numbers the Patriots offense is putting up may be overshadowing what Manning and company are doing in Indy, but the Colts offense is just about on par with what they’ve done in year’s past. Of course, the Colts will be facing a New England defense that’s giving up 15.9 points per game, good for fifth in the league. The ranking of fifth in the league also extends to both their team run and pass defensive numbers – the Pats are giving up 87 yards on the ground and 181.5 yards through the air per game.

So, what do those numbers mean and who will win on Sunday? More or less, we expect a repeat of last year’s Conference Championship game. Just as they’re done with every team they played this year, the Patriots will surprise the Colts defense early with their speed at wide receiver and the deep passing game. We expect the Pats to come out and dominate both sides of the ball and take a big early lead. But, just like last year, the Patriots defense just isn't dominant enough to contain Manning and the Colts offensive horses, particularly when the team goes into hurry up mode – they have a tendency to overwhelm defenses with a mix of play action passing, screens, and Joseph Addai runs. In the end, the Patriots should hold off the Colts and head back home with a close win, but, as history tells us, don’t underestimate the Indianapolis offense – even if they’re down by 15 points at the half.

In The News: September 30, 2007

Team McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton is on the cusp of history, as he ran away with a first place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. With the win and with only 2 Formula One races remaining till season’s end, Hamilton, who came in only 2 points ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso in the driver’s championship race, put himself in position to become the first rookie ever to win the Formula One driver’s championship – pretty impressive indeed. As for the rest of the drivers that matter, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished third, moving all the way up the field after finding himself second to last earlier in the race, while Alonso crashed out (perhaps bad karma finally catching?) and didn’t finish the race. With 2 races and 20 maximum points remaining the top 3 drivers are: Lewis Hamilton (107 pts), Fernando Alonso (95 pts) and Kimi Raikkonen (90 pts).

A weekend of upsets shakes up college football

Talk about a looney Saturday in college football! In a day of upsets, the third, fourth, seventh and tenth ranked teams all lost their respective games, while the fifth ranked team lost on Thursday – the first time since 2003 where half of the college football top 10 lost in one crazy weekend. This weekend, No. 5 ranked West Virginia lost to South Florida, No. 3 Oklahoma lost to Colorado, No. 4 Florida lost to Auburn and No. 7 Texas lost to Kansas State. The weekend has thrown the BCS race and the college football rankings for a loop, but this is what makes college football – and football in general – such a great sport. On any given day, the most powerful teams in the land can take a dive against a scrappy challenger who outplays, outhustles, outworks and outsmarts their stronger opponent.

Favre breaks career touchdown record

Brett Favre broke Dan Marino’s career record by throwing his 421st career touchdown in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. Good for Favre, but his record might not last very long given what Peyton Manning has done in his first 9 seasons in the league. Not counting the 5 touchdowns he has thrown this year, Manning has 275 touchdowns in those 9 seasons. At his current pace, if he were to play 17 seasons like Favre has, Manning could end up with more than 500 career TDs.

In The News: September 27, 2007

McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is on the cusp of making motosports history, but he literally and figuratively has miles to go before he can become the first rookie driver ever to win the Formula One driver’s championship. Earlier in the season, the incredibly talented driver sat on top of the world, a whopping 14 points ahead of rival teammate Fernando Alonso for the driver’s points lead. But now, having finished behind Alonso in five of the last six races, and with only 3 races to the end of the season, Hamilton finds himself up by a mere 2 points, 97-95.

To make matters more dicey, the relationship between Hamilton and Alonso, and Alonso and Team McLaren is severely strained. Alonso, for one, is essentially driving for himself, as it seems possible that this may be his final season with McLaren, after he snitched on the team costing them a whopping $100 million, as part of the now infamous “spygate” scandal. McLaren team Boss Ron Dennis and Alonso apparently aren’t speaking any longer, with Dennis recently calling Alonso a “remarkable recluse”.

Formula One makes its stop at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.

Kevin McHale looking to wash his hands of past sins

If you’re going to strip a team of superstar talent like Kevin Garnett, you might as well take the rest of the proverbial fat off the bones and try to unload the remaining veteran players and their bloated salaries. It seems that’s exactly the plan for embattled Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale. According to reports, McHale is trying his darndest to trade veteran players like Ricky Davis, Trenton Hassell and Juwan Howard, and truly start from scratch with a young core of Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Corey Brewer and Randy Foye. According to the Miami Herald, the T’Wolves may have found a suitor for the services of Ricky Davis in Pat Riley and the Miami Heat.

The Redskins have issues at Wide Receiver

While one team tries to go young, another, in a different sport, is for whatever reason going increasingly old. The Washington Redskins, whose key off-season free agent signing was nine year veteran London Fletcher, is apparently close to signing 37-year old wide receiver Keenan McCardell. There are rumblings out of FedEx field that the groin injury that stud receiver Santana Moss suffered this past weekend is a bit more serious than the team and snake-oil salesman coach Joe Gibbs is letting on publicly, thus the signing of McCardell.

It’s on again, it’s off again. The Shawn Marion trade saga contines

The Arizona Republic, which as would be expected is doing an excellent job staying on top of the Shawn Marion situation in Phoenix, reports that given all of the extranuating circumstances a trade seems unlikely. Marion said he would report to camp and realistically he is still bound to the Suns by the 2 years remaining on his contract, so any potential trade offer would have to be significant for the Suns to make the move. We’re not sure there are any truly mind-blowing, signifcant offers out there for the Suns, at least not at this moment.

An impressive sports streak comes to an end

One of the most impressive streaks in recent sports history is over. The US Women’s Soccer Team, which had previously won an amazing 51 straight matches, lost in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup to competing powerhouse Brazil by a score of 4-0.

Warrior’s coach Nelson to make rebounding a priority, or is he?

In an interview with the Associated Press, Golden State Warrior’s coach Don Nelson is rather candid in his assesment of the young, surprisingly overachieving team. Nelson, like the rest of the NBA world, is skeptical about whether the Warriors can replicate the success of last season, when they knocked out the Western Conference powerhouse Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. More specifically, Nelson is concerned about the teams lack of height and strength on the boards. Interestingly enough though, Nelson goes on to say that at least early in the season he anticipates playing 6’ 5” rookie shooting guard Marco Belinelli a lot more than 6’ 10” rookie power forward Brandon Wright. What were you saying about rebounding need again? That Nellie, he’s such a wild and crazy guy.

The benching of Rex Grossman is long overdue

After yet another horrific performance yesterday, where he threw no less than 3 interceptions, bringing his season total to a whopping 6 interceptions in only 3 games, Rex Grossman, the incumbent quarterback of the Chicago Bears sounded like a broken record.

"Turnovers were the issue,'' Grossman said during the post-game press conference. "You just can't have that. We have to fix that. We have to be able to make plays and still hold onto the football. We're just gonna come to practice, have a team meeting, work out, realize we're a good football team and fix our problems.''

Bears fans have heard enough of this tune.

Time and again on Sunday night the Bears brick-wall defense made plays, turnovers and key stops, which Rex Grossman and the offense promptly squandered. Interceptions on defense turned into 3-and-out punts on offense. Over and over, and over again, Rex Grossman was unable to take advantage of good field position. This is of course a familiar scene for Bears fans – games like Sunday night, where turnovers essentially gave the game away to the Dallas Cowboys, have happened all too frequently during the dreadful tenure of Rex Grossman at the helm.

How much longer can the Chicago Bears defensive players put up with this ineptitude before they lose all patience and stop playing? Judging from the booing in Soldier Field, Bears fans have already given up and have had enough of Grossman’s uselessness. Most realize that backup quarterback Brian Griese may not be the answer, but they’re absolutely, 100 percent sure that Grossman doesn’t even know the question.

GM Jerry Angelo and Bears management share the blame

It’s not as though the Bears haven’t had the chances to fix this quarterback issue. Every summer for the last three seasons Bears management has had ample opportunity, if they were so inclined, to shore up the quarterback position with a veteran presence, or look to the future with a stud rookie. But, despite the unbelievably apparent shortcomings at the QB position, they paid no mind to free agents like Drew Bress, Matt Shaub, Jeff Garcia and Matt Hasselbeck, as, one after another, they found homes in places other than Soldier Field. This so called “commitment” to Grossman, in the face of repeated futility, is absolutely inexcusable.

Take a look at some of the free-agent quarterbacks that have been available over the last 3 summers:

2007: Matt Shaub, David Carr, Jeff Garcia, Joey Harrington
2006: Drew Brees, Jon Kitna (Bears signed Brian Griese)
2005: Matt Hasselbeck, Drew Bress, Jeff Garcia

Or some rookie quarterbacks that the Bears have passed up in the draft over the past 3 seasons:

2007: Kevin Kolb, Drew Stanton
2006: Travaris Jackson, DJ Shockley
2005: Jason Campbell, Aaron Rogers, Derek Anderson (Bears picked Kyle Orton in the 4th round)

Bears fans can only imagine Shaub, Hasselbeck or Bress as their quarterback? Any one of those guys could easily make the Bears favorites in the relatively weak NFC, and give them a legitimate shot at taking out their AFC opponent in the Super Bowl. Any one of those quarterbacks could make the efforts of one of the toughest defenses in recent memory worthwhile.

As it stands though, the Chicago Bears are a pathetic 1-2, with the 1 win coming against the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the worst teams in the league this season. Every single player on the Bears defense, who give their blood and sweat every week in shutting down their opponents, deserve better. Players on the offensive side of the ball, talented players like Bernard Berrian, Mushin Muhammad, Olin Kreutz and Devin Hester deserve better.

"It's on my shoulders to take care of the football,'' Grossman said yesterday. "I have to start making plays, do what I do best. You have to get back to basics, make sure you see where you're throwing it. Football is mental. We're all talented players."

Yes Rex, the Bears are a talented team, but please don’t include yourself in that conversation.

Chicago Bears defensive leader may be down for the count

This is a story about two talented young stars of the National Football League, Mike Brown and Brian Urlacher. Both play for the storied Chicago Bears franchise, under the shadow of legends like Dick Butkus, Walter Payton and George Halas. Brown plays strong safety, while Urlacher plays a few steps closer to the line at middle linebacker. Both epitomize the prototype player for their respective positions, and are hugely successful. And each plays with unrivaled passion, leaving every last ounce of energy, enthusiasm and love for the game on the football field. But, this is more than a story about football. It’s a story about life, triumph, loss, sadness and how fate can sometimes take parallel lives in completely unparallel directions.

It’s Sunday, September 9, 2007 and the Chicago Bears locker room is distraught, having just come off a tough-fought 14-3 loss to the powerhouse San Diego Chargers. But, not a single man in the locker room can feel the sadness Mike Brown must be felling. He limped off the field in the fourth quarter with an apparent knee injury, and can sense from experience that fate is about to throw yet another curveball his way.

"We're holding out a little hope, but right now it doesn't look too good," Brown tells reporters trying hard to maintain his tough-guy persona, fighting back tears. "It's a sprained knee right now, but it doesn't look too good. It's a shame. It hurts my feelings really bad"

His teammates can certainly sympathize, but can’t fully comprehend Brown’s agony.

"Mike doesn't want us to feel sorry for him," says teammate Daniel Manning. "He can't get a break. Mike, he showed me a lot today…after he got injured, he still came back to the sideline and cheered us on. When you see Mike play, that's how you want to play football. When I go out there on the field, I want to play like him."

"I don't know exactly what happened to Mike, but to see him come off the field like that was terrible. Our guys felt awful for him," defensive coordinator Bob Babich chimes in.

Monday, September 10, 2007, Mike Brown hears the inevitable. He has suffered a ruptured arterior cruciate ligament in the left knee and will be out for the entire 2007-2008 season. And, at 28-years old, which can be ancient for NFL defensive backs, his career may also be in jeopardy. Lately, bad news seems to find Mike Brown at every turn.

Brown & Urlacher: A new hope for Chicago football

Mike Brown and Brian Urlacher were both selected by the Chicago Bears during the 2000 NFL draft. Urlacher played for the University of New Mexico, setting numerous school records, culminating in a selection to the AP National All-America Team. Brown was the safety on that college All-America team during the 1999-2000 college football season, and equaled, if not surpassed, Urlacher’s college achievements.

Brown was the only Bears rookie to start in the season opener in 2000, while fellow rookie Urlacher watched from the sidelines. Urlacher, of course, got his chance soon enough, replacing injured veteran Brian Minter early in the season and becoming an instant hit, recording 15 tackles in each of his first two games as a starter. Urlacher and Brown would go on to compete for the NFL Rookie of the Year award in 2000, with Urlacher taking home the hardware – Brown took home his share of media accolades.

Over the next four seasons Brown built a reputation as one of the toughest and most talented safeties in the league, changing games with his ball-hawking play. In 2001, the Chicago Bears finished with a 13-3 record and, with Brown and Urlacher as their anchor, the team fielded one of the best defenses in the league – Brown led the team with 4 interceptions that season. The following year, Brown finished with a whopping 111 tackles from the safety potion and 3 interceptions. As Brown saw success in his early years, so did Urlacher. The linebacker made the Pro-Bowl during his stunning rookie campaign and went on to make the “all-star” team 4 more times. Both players enjoyed individual and team success in those first few years, as the Bears changed coaches from Dick Juroan to Lovie Smith and became one of the elite teams in the NFL.

Unfortunately for Mike Brown, that is where the congruence between his and Brian Urlacher’s careers end. Late in the 2005 season, a promising one for the Bears as a team and Brown as a player, the former Nebraska star suffered an Achilles injury. He tried, unsuccessfully, to make a comeback in a playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, but in reality Brown’s season was done. During week 6 of the following season, after once again getting off to a great start, Brown fracture bones in his foot, again knocking him out for the entire season.

But of course, Brown had built his name, and his game, on perseverance. He wouldn’t be the player and, perhaps more importantly, the person that he is without his uncanny resolve. So, he went to work this past summer and came back from his foot injury earlier than expected, showing up in time for the Bears mini-camp, surprising his coaches and teammates in the process.

The end of a career?

But, for the third time in nearly as many years, Brown's dream of a productive NFL career came crashing down. Brown recorded an interception and a fumble recovery during the game on Sunday, September 9, 2007 against San Diego, and helped the Bears defense look impenetrable, before he once again had to limp off the field, face down in anger, frustration and sadness.

We’re not sure if this latest setback is too much to bear for Brown. We can’t predict if this latest twist of fate will bring the promising career of young Mike Brown to an end. But we do take this story as a lesson in life’s setbacks and the power of human perseverance.

''It's another sad day in the chapter of my football playing career, it looks like,'' said Brown on Sunday.

NFL Watercooler: A recap of week 1

There are two Monday Night Football games still remaining, but the majority of week 1 of the National Football League season is in the books. As we tend to do during week 1 of every NFL season, we spent Thursday evening and most of Sunday plopped in front of a TV with a laptop in tow, keeping close tabs on all of the opening weekend games. There really weren’t any major surprises, in terms of team or player performances, and after watching all of the teams in action we’re okay with sticking to our pre-season predictions.

However, it was definitely a busy weekend and there were some significant happenings of note in week 1 of the NFL season, including:

Peyton Manning. If you drafted him in the first round of your fantasy football league, you must be feeling really good about yourself right about now. Manning looked great against the New Orleans Saints and looks poised to have a monster year. The emergence of Joseph Addai and the running game will open up the passing game again for Manning, as it did during Edgerrin James’ heyday with the Colts. Could he approach the record 49 TDs he threw during the 2004 season?

Who looked worse, the Browns or the Chiefs? Both teams looked absolutely pathetic, particularly offensively, but we’ll take the Chiefs by a nose. We expect Chief’s running back Larry Johnson to bounce back next week, so the Chiefs will at least have some semblance of a running game. Also, on the over/under, we are picking week 3 as the official start of the Brady Quinn era in Cleveland.

News flash: Adrian Peterson is talented

Adrian Peterson is in for a big rookie year and will challenge for ROY considerations, but the Vikings looked better than they actually are against a fatigued Falcons team – the Michael Vick saga must have had some significant effect on Atlanta, as they looked tired both mentally and physically. Although, we do expect Joey Harrington to bounce back and have a decent 2007 season.

Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell seems to have an US Army certified cannon for an arm. But, his accuracy is about as consistent as former attorney general Roberto Gonzales’ testimony on wire tapping. Campbell threw above, behind and way ahead of his receivers several times during the Redskins game against Miami. We expect the accuracy to improve as the year progresses, but we also expect a ton of interceptions from Campbell (he threw 2 on Sunday). As pretty as some of his passes can be, we can’t see the Redskins making the playoffs this season with the inexperienced Campbell at the helm.

Randy Moss had a breakout game for the Patriots. But, he also had a breakout game in his first game for the Raiders, and we all know what eventually happened there. Those are of course two completely different situations and we’re not saying that Moss won’t be in for a big year with the Patriots, but beware of injuries and of conflict with Tom Brady and/or Bill Belichick at some point during the season.

The Cowboys and Giants (and NBC) puts on a show

The Cowboys/Giants Sunday night game was a lot of fun to watch. Dallas QB Tony Romo threw for 5 touchdowns and the Giants’ Eli Manning threw 4 TDs. Even the pre-game show on NBC, Football Night in America, was intelligent and entertaining, with Bob Costas, Keith Olbermann, Chris Collingsworth, Tiki Barber, and Jerome Bettis in the studio, and Al Michaels and John Madden calling the game. Good stuff.

When Chris Brown can stay healthy (he has missed a total of 12 games in the last 2 seasons), he’s a pretty good running back. Brown torched a very good Jacksonville run defense by racking up an astounding 175 yards on the ground – pretty damn impressive. If Brown can avoid the injury bug, he should claim the starting HB spot from LenDale White in Tennessee.

Please God, make the Bears bench Grossman...please!

We must say we underestimated the Chicago Bears defense, because we expected in our season predictions that they might be a little soft this year. But, in week 1 against a really good San Diego Chargers offense, the Bears D was about as soft as a brick wall. With anchors Tommie Harris and Mike Brown healthy to start the year, joined by names like Urlacher, Tillman, Briggs, Vasher, et al, the Bears mercilessly stifled the Chargers’ running game, holding NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson to a total of 25 yards on the ground on 17 attempts. But, as good as the defense looked on Sunday the Bears’ offense looked equally as bad. Backup Brian Griese may not be the answer either, but coach Lovie Smith’s Rex Grossman experiment needs to end now – never let him even touch a football again, please.

If you’re into fantasy football, think about adding the following players, who may still be sitting on your league’s waiver wire: Chris Brown (RB, Titans), Ronald Curry (WR, Raiders), Eric Johnson (TE, Saints), Brady Quinn (QB, Browns), Wes Welker (WR, Patriots), Matt Schaub (QB, Texans).

And finally, if you watched any of the games on Sunday, you probably saw the Nike ad titled “Leave Nothing” with Chargers LB Shawne Merriman and Rams RB Stephen Jackson. Although it debuted earlier, Nike bought a ton of Sunday air time to showcase the ad for the masses. Check it out here on YouTube. Great concept, great execution, very intense – one of the best football ads we’ve seen come out of the Nike marketing machine in some time. Michael Mann (yes, that Michael Mann of “Heat” and “Miami Vice” fame) directed the commercial, which features music from the film “The Last of the Mohicans”.

All my rowdy friends are here...well you know. We make our picks for the new NFL season.

Sure it’s past Labor Day, but for most of the country the weather here in the US still feels a lot like summer. Folks are still going to the beach, putting up that fence in the back yard, fighting unbearable heat, playing those late evening pick-up basketball games at the local court or simply enjoying the still relatively long days. But all of that extracurricular activity, for football fans at least, is about to come to an abrupt end, as the National Football League kicks off its 2007-2008 season with tonight’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints.

To commemorate the start of the NFL season, we thought we’d slip on our prognostic’s hat and go through our picks for the upcoming season – from each of the individual division winners and wild card teams in the AFC and NFC, to the eventual champion of Super Bowl XLII.

First up, the all-powerful, uber-competitive American Football Conference:

AFC East Winner: New England Patriots – Brady finally has some WR targets to throw at, and given the talent infusion we wouldn’t bet against a Belichick coached team.

AFC North Winner: Cincinnati Bengals – A rookie coach in Pittsburgh, a rookie QB who will probably start by mid-season in Cleveland and little offense to speak of in Baltimore means that the Bengals will sort of win this division by default.

AFC South Winner: Indianapolis Colts – The Colts are one of the top 3 teams in the league and they play in one of the worst divisions. Even our poor math skills can calculate the winner of the South division.

AFC West Winner: San Diego Chargers – The Chargers are probably the most talented team in the AFC, perhaps the NFL, with studs on both sides of the ball. Despite Norv Turner at head coach, they take the division with ease.

AFC Wild Card Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

Now for the less powerful, not-too-competitive National Football Conference:

NFC East Winner: Philadelphia Eagles – If McNabb stays healthy, and it is definitely a big “if”, we’re taking the Eagles by a slim margin. Jerry Jones’ Cowboys are very good, but their secondary and QB Tony Romo are somewhat suspect. The Redskins and Giants are in for a sub-500 campaign.

NFC North Winner: Chicago Bears – The Bears defense won’t be as good as the past two seasons and their QB Rex Grossman may very well be benched by mid-season, but the monsters of the midway will easily handle Green Bay, Minnesota and Detroit to win this division.

NFC South Winner: New Orleans Saints – We really believe that the Carolina Panthers will have a huge bounce-back year, but we also think that Reggie Bush can become the LT of the NFC – besides, the no-longer ‘Aints are such a feel good story.

NFC West Winner: St. Louis Rams – Every team in this division has serious flaws, but if the Rams can play some semblance of defense, their offense will overpower the rest of the teams in the weak NFC West.

NFC Wild Card Teams: Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys

So now, the Super Bowl picks.

If the New England Patriots are able to get home field advantage, they will roll over San Diego and/or Indianapolis in Foxboro to go to yet another Super Bowl. But, if San Diego is at home in the AFC Championship game, we may find ourselves talking about Philip Rivers and Tomlinson as the co-Super Bowl MVPs. We, however, tend to think that the Patriots will somehow end up with the best record in the AFC.

On the NFC side, if McNabb can stay healthy all season, especially going into the playoffs, we’d take the Eagles, but we don’t think he can or will. So, we’ll pick the New Orleans Saints, and red-hot quarterback Drew Brees, to join the party in Arizona.

Super Bowl Matchup: New England Patriots vs. New Orleans Saints

Super Bowl Winner: As much as we hate to say it, New England Patriots

The Michael Vick saga, when news isn't fit to print

Like just about everyone else, we’ve been following Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s trials and tribulations in the FBI dog-fighting probe. So far, we’ve purposefully stayed away from commenting on the proceedings, because we’re sure you’ve already been inundated with all forms of new details and forceful opinions on Vick and this story on an hourly basis.

But, at this stage, the media coverage itself is something we wanted to specifically focus on, because since the beginning we’ve felt that the reporting of this on-going story has been lacking some serious perspective. The collective media, it seems, has gathered around this story like a pack of hungry wolves chomping at the bit for the next morsel of information to trickle out through sources within the Falcons, the NFL, FBI, Michael Vick’s family, his neighbor’s cousin and his college roommate’s uncle, twice removed. Through all of this “reporting” by every news source from The New York Times to the New Virginian the story has become larger than life, significantly larger than it ever needed to be, or should have been.

The grizzly details of this case are horrible and everyone involved should be punished – Vick deserves every hour, day, week, month and year of jail time he gets as a result of his boneheaded and malicious acts. But, how did Vick’s actions become bigger news than the charges faced by former NFL player Rae Carruth, who had a hand in murdering his girlfriend in cold blood? How is dog-fighting a more heinous crime than the murder charges that were facing former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams or current Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis? What about former Chicago Bear Tank Johnson facing gun possession and assault charges? Or the case of current Tennessee Titan Pacman Jones, where a bar patron was left paralyzed stemming from an incident involving the cornerback? The list goes on. The media attention in these cases were dwarfed in comparison to the coverage of the Michael Vick dog-fighting trail. Is dog-fighting, however gruesome the details, more gruesome and shocking than murdering a human being?

Perhaps it’s because Vick has, or is about to be labeled guilty, in court, but it finally seems like the media is finding some time to step back from the feeding frenzy and gain some much needed perspective -- something that should have happened as soon as this news first broke. Sports radio and some newspaper stories are starting to really get to the heart of a serious problem with today’s media, and really the general populace, in identifying the most important, not the most sensational, stories. It seems the mainstream media is losing the ability to identify what matters most in news, and that is a huge problem.

The Super Bowl gets in touch with its "softer" side

We were having a very productive and enjoyable Friday here in the nation’s capital, until the moment we happened to stumble across this gem of a news story. It seems that the NFL has tabbed do-it-all, metro-sexual Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame to emcee a red carpet event at this season’s Super Bowl. Apparently producers at Fox Sports are working with the NFL to funnel all celebrity arrivals through what is sure to be a vomit-inducing red carpet extravaganza during the network’s pre-game show.

Generally, we have nothing against red carpet shows when it’s tied appropriately to the Golden Globes or the Oscars, but the Super Bowl does not need a freakin’ red carpet and celebrity watching! The Super Bowl is a bellwether event for manhood and it doesn’t need to be “prissied up” by Seacrest and a celebrity red-carpet show. We understand the motivation to jazz up the generally snooze-inducing pre-game show with new ideas and segments, and the apparent need to appeal to a broader audience, but let’s try other options like more behind-the-scenes access with the players. Or, perhaps recruiting a comedian like Chris Rock (I’m sure he’s not very busy these days) to take a tongue-in-cheek look at the rules of the game, its history or its most outrageous characters. That’s what football fans want, not Seacrest.