Cutting Through the Hype and the Hate

My Pal TK wrote out an NFL preview that I wanted to post today in honor of kickoff tonite. The article is below and here is a song that TK suggested I post in order for everyone to get ready. Make sure you check out his blog on Myspace for even more. Sam Spade - Round Up I present to you "Cutting Through the Hype and the Hate" by TK As the NFL Regular season approaches, it's become an annual right of passage for sports writers, talk show hosts, and rubes alike to make their predictions on how the season will unfold. Along with all the consensus picks come plenty of picks that are completely fumbled. Every year completely overhyped teams drop the ball, while a couple of teams that everyone is hatin' on pick it up and run into the endzone. If you are looking to take some predictions to the bank or just lock up bragging rights for the next year, this column will help you discern which teams can't possibly be as good and as bad as the critics think. Overhyped: Miami Dolphins That defense features guys who will be walking with canes to the game and spinning yarns about the days of when they were trying to get Dan Marino into the playoffs. In other words: they ain't gettin' any younger. Meanwhile, they're calling Culpepper the missing piece to the puzzle, but don't believe it. Not only will his miraculously healed knee force him to sit in the pocket and read defenses in order to make plays (something he doesn't do so well), but make no mistake: my one-time favorite player not named LaDainian will go down at some point - and he will go down hard. With Joey Harringoton waiting in the wings, someone better get the defense some Depends. Where's the Love? Green Bay Packers People have predicted the downfall of this team pretty much every year since Randy Moss lit 'em up on Monday Night back in '98. Instead, year after year, they simply continued to pretty much dominate the division. Sure, the Vikings had a couple of years, but the Packers have been the class of that division for the past 15 years. Then all hell froze over and the Bears had a decent season - mainly because the rest of the division played so horribly. Don't look for another '05 from team Farve. Last year the receiving corps were decimated by injuries, as was the running game. And yet, the defense quietly had a pretty nice year. Now fully loaded at wideout with emerging star Greg Jennings pushing the garden variety of Robert Ferguson to the bench, and with a fairly formidable one-two running back punch of Green and Gado, Farve and company will bounce back to shock the North. Overhyped: Washington Redskins They spent their free agent money on a guy who is 2nd tier at best and locker room cancer. Both play wide receiver, a position of strength last year for this team. They traded for a career underachieving running back, when they already had a competent back-up for their costumed star. They put their faith in an ancient, injury-prone quarterback coming off of not only his best year in the past six - the only year he's even been competent in the past six. And they've shattered their young back-up QBs confidence and confused the never-was they brought in for emergencies. Welcome to the wacky world of Dan Snyder's Redskins! Sure nothing makes sense, but who cares? No one can see straight with all this money flying around! They can't play football very well either. Joe Gibbs may have proved he's still a helluva coach, but not even a Hall of Famer could save this madhouse. Where's the Love? Philadelphia Eagles Now that last year's shenanigans are behind them, this team can concentrate on what they do best: winning. The idea that Donovan McNabb wasn't an elite quarterback was absurd - a guy who led a team to the NFC championship with the likes of Todd Pinkston and James Thrash? Start carving his Hall of Fame bust immediately. This guy is still in his prime folks. He still has plenty of talent to throw to and a suddenly a stacked backfield to compliment it. Meanwhile, we're talking about defense that was decimated by injuries last year. With everyone healthy they're not merely bringing a knife to a gunfight - they're bringing in the heavy artillery. Look for the Eagles to dominate the most overhyped division in all of football, and circle those Cowboys dates on the calendar for some extra hard hits on a guy who couldn't deserve them more!