Preseason is over and just for the heck of it. Make your picks, people!
I pick these four teams to reach the title game:
Denver vs. Tennessee
Plummer fits into this offense like a glove. With Portis, Smith, Sharpe and all those fast linebackers, this team still racked up top 10s in offense and defense last year, and it never matters where they are in the standings, any Shanahan team is a threat.
McNair and Kearse are actually healthy this year. Never the strongest of teams, but among the most solid.
Tampa Bay vs. New York
Tampa Bay is the same team as last year. New York can get this far if their offense plays to the par of the team’s final 7 weeks of 2002.
Super Bowl will come down to Tampa Bay and Tennessee, with either a Tampa Bay stomp repeat or a McNair miracle since he’ll have to evade Rice and Sapp all day. No winner pick from me.
I will chance public ridicule by putting my picks on record this year.
In the AFC I would pick Bills vs. Steelers.
I continue to believe that Bledsoe is an underappreciated player and has the weapons to showcase his talent. Travis Henry will only get better and Moulds is a superior reciever. I (ahem) have no basis in fact for assuming their defense will be greatly improved, but believe I do.
The Steelers are solid across the board and have a favorable schedule. Maddox is for real and should be solid and unspectacular, which is a compliment.
In the NFC Seahawks vs. Rams. The Rams should have won every year. This can be viewed both as a positive and a negative. They clearly have superior offensive talent. Warner appears to be back in form though and they will be tough to stop.
The Seahawks are underappreciated. They have a great coach, recievers, running back and a very good quarterback. I worry because they aren’t particularly deep, but I think Hasselback can carry the burden. I like the chances of a team that can sneak its way towards the end of the season before anyone takes them seriously.
Super Bowl Bills vs. Rams. I would choose any number of NFC teams over the AFC this year and I would expect the Rams to cruise.
If I had to pick some teams to dissapoint I would choose the Redskins and Dolphins. Spurrier is not a magician and Fiedler will never be a real quarterback.
AFC Championship: Chiefs at Steelers
I think the Chiefs are underrated. If Priest Holmes comes back to 100%, the offense is unstoppable. If anything on the offense has changed, it’s that Mark Boehrichter (sp?) got much better than Johnnie Morton and Eddie Kennison. The defense should also be better with the addition of Vonnie Holiday and the young secondary having a year’s more experience.
Pittsburgh has the best Wide Receivers and Linebackers in the NFL. I like the choice of Amos Zereoue over Bettis at RB, Zereoue was better last year and Cowher refused to commit to him. Better choice this year, Bill. The defense is still the best. Their 4 linebackers (Bell, Farrior, Gildon and Porter) may be the best group of LBs in a very long time.
NFC Championship Eagles at Rams
Yeah, the Eagles are just as good as they were last year. And that’s damn good.
The Rams '02-'03 season was an aberration. They should’ve done much better but Warner shit the bed. He’ll do better this year and the defense will come to play. I love Archuleta at safety and Leonard Little on the line. If the O-line gets Pace back and he plays up to his potential, Faulk will rush for 1,700 yards.
You might very well ask why I didn’t put the Bucs back in the NFC Championship game. They don’t have a running game. At all. You sort of need that. I also think that Brad Johnson, Keyshawn Johnson and Keenan McCardell are all overrated. It’s only a shame that the Bucs defense (which is better than that Ravens D of a few years ago) is attached to such a bad offense. The defense would have to put up 14 points a game to get the Bucs back to the championship.
Super Bowl Steelers vs. Rams
I got the Steelers winning a close one, maybe 13-10 or 17-14. The old cliche “irresistable force meets immovable object” applies.