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What Will Really Happen in the 2007 NFL Season

Well, it’s time. The countdown to the kick-off of the 2007 NFL season is now just a few hours away. So what’s going to happen this year, I hear you asking?

The answer to the big question should come as no surprise, I’m going with the Indianapolis Colts to win Super Bowl XLII. I’m sure as much as I try to withhold any bias I may have it’s still a prominent factor in my thinking, but it’s much more than that. When you look at this team, when you watch Peyton Manning, and when you think about how poorly the Colts played last year and still wound up World Champions, the Colts, in my opinion, clearly hold the advantage against any team they happen to line up against and should, therefore, and quite obviously, end up World Champions again. The defense can only play better than it did last year and the offense is going to produce like it always does. As far as I’m concerned, the Colts were and should have been the favorite to win it all for the last three years and should remain the favorite for seasons to come, until another team proves to be as consistently dominant and so long as the core of this team is maintained.

Now that we’ve got that settled, it’s still awfully early to be talking about February, wouldn’t you say? Here, then, is what else you can expect from the 2007 season:

1. The Patriots will prove they were overrated.
They’re a good team, don’t get me wrong, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, people. The Patriots have the third toughest schedule in the league. They went out this off-season and spent a bunch of money securing, of all the positions to secure, big name wide receivers for Tom Brady to throw to, and if there’s anything about the Patriots last season taught us, it’s that what makes Brady so great is that he doesn’t need a big name receiver to throw to. He is a master of distributing the ball. Let’s take this a step further: last season taught us the Patriots themselves are masters of flying under the radar. Without Tom Brady, there wasn’t a single truly big name star on the entire Patriots team last year, expectations placed on them were never too high, and they still came within four points of another Super Bowl appearance. Why would you want to go and bring in an ego named Randy Moss to throw into this mix? Brady sure doesn’t need him and now they’ve got a bullseye that will follow them all season long.

2. The AFC North will establish itself as the toughest division in football.
Last year I would’ve gone with the AFC West or the NFC East, but expectations are already quite high for Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh, and the Browns aren’t nearly as bad as everyone says. Given the success of young quarterbacks in recent years, given his solid pre-season performance, whether it was against the Lions or not, and given the experience he received while breaking every Notre Dame passing record under the guidance of Charlie Weis, Brady Quinn could become this year’s Tony Romo or even Ben Roethlisberger. And even if he’s not, coupled with the still-only-27-year-old Jamal Lewis, the Browns are no joke, and if their record doesn’t reflect that come December, it will only be because they are indeed stuck in the toughest division out there.

3. Brett Favre will make a girly pass and pout about it in a post-game interview.
I, for one, couldn’t be happier that Brett Favre is back for another year. Not because he’ll have the opportunity to break several all-time passing records this season, but because he gives the absolute funniest post-game interviews of anyone around when he’s disappointed about his performance. Not to mention the panic-driven, girly throws he’s begun to produce on a fairly regular basis since 2005. Hopefully by the end of this year he’ll have enough to complete a whole Youtube compilation video, hopefully set to the tune of “Freefalling.” Lighten up, Packer fans. I know Favre is one of the best to ever play but if you can’t appreciate his less spectacular moments too, then I feel sorry for you. After all, one of those all-time records he’s certainly on pace to break is the interception record (he’s only four away). Okay, I’ll stop.

4. At least 20 players will look like idiots picking up dead balls after the play is obviously finished and pretend it was fumbled, then proceed to run it back for a touchdown despite the constant blowing of officials’ whistles.
You can count on that every year, folks.

5. Finally, Peyton Manning will win his third MVP award.
He doesn’t need the impressive numbers and winning record he’s almost sure to have to be considered MVP every year, but he will. What makes Manning the most valuable player in the league is the way he controls a game. It’s like having an offensive coordinator out there taking the snaps. He could have won it in ‘05 or ‘06 but both years were overshadowed by record-breaking seasons by two of the top running backs in the league. Assuming LT doesn’t find the endzone another 30 times in ‘07, this year the award goes back to Peyton.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 9:47 am and is filed under Colts Chat, Colts, Super Bowl. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.