Here we go, the season is about to begin. Optimism fills the air and hype is at it's peak. Every team starts fresh and everyteam has a chance to bring home the big prize. That means its time for the vaunted preseason predictions.
The Power Houses: The top contenders for the NFL crown havent changed and still reside in the AFC. Indianappolis and New England are still the teams to beat while sandiego and Baltimore are on the outside looking in. But of the big four what has the offseason produced? While,one team has vastly improved, one has taken a step back and two have question marks.
The defending champion Colts are poised to defend. They finally knocked off there arch rivals the pats on route to a superbowl victory and have shown they can control tempo and make big plays on either side of the ball when it matters.The offense remains solid with a few minor adjustments. Most notably i steh retirement of their veteran, stout left tackle leaving a stud draft pick gaurding mannings blind side. If he can hold up, which I think he will, the offence will continue to be the most effective and diverse attack in the game.
The Colts defence however may be in need of some tweaking. They demonstrated great poise and play making ability under Dungy's team defensive scheme. As a unit they can both come up with timely stops and make big plays. However the early trouble clogging the running lanes the colts experienced last season may rear its ugly head once more. Their run plug, anthony mcfarland suffered a seaosn ending inury leaving another rookie attempting to clog up the middle. Using a late round pick to replace an allstar calliber plug may leave the colts needing some fine tuning.
The team making the upgrade, as scary as this may sound is the New england Patriots. And by my estimation, it is a very scary upgrade. They have acquired a receiving core!! The most consistent and successful team since 2001 , playing in a cream puff division, they are always there. Solid defense and ball control, timely offense have been keys to victory. Although the evolution of Tom Brady and rb acquistions has seen the offense begin to grow outside of the troy brown and kevin faulk safety valves to something much more potent. Yet now, for the first time in his career, the best protected QB in football has a top flight receiving core as a target. The savy Troy Brown and safe man faulk remain, with added fire power of the incredibly gifted randy moss who has been freed from exile in oakland. Also joining are speedsters dante stallworth and wes walker. Oh yeah, not to mention the solid jump ball/posession receiver combo of kelly washington. All this adds up to a career year from tom brady coupled with leagues of running room for lawrence mauroney who could make noise with the elite nfl backs come seasons end.
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