September 4, 2006
Are You Ready for Some Football?
September 4, 2006, 9:00 PM | 11 Comments
Note: Predictions for week 1 of the 2008 NFL season can be found here: Are you ready for some football?.
Finally, the 2006-2007 NFL season is upon us. It has definitely been a long off-season and with the pre-season completed and final roster cuts submitted, it’s time for kickoff!
Thursday night (September 7th) is the official beginning of the regular season with a big match up on NBC. The re-built Dolphins are going to take on the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Sunday contains a full slate of games concluding with “The Manning Bowl” on Sunday Night Football on NBC. Monday night features a double pack Monday Night Football double header on ESPN, all of which should make for an exciting kickoff weekend.
If you’ve been a regular reader of my site since last year, you’ll remember my weekly NFL predictions. If not, welcome! Last year I posted my picks each and every week, and didn’t do too badly, finishing off with a 170-97 record. What’s better though is that I correctly predicted both the Super Bowl winner and the Super Bowl MVP.
This year’s format will be slightly different and hopefully a little easier to read. I’ll still be summarizing each game, but I probably won’t go into as much detail for every game as I did last year. I will again be measuring my success against the ‘expert’ picks over at ESPN, and hopefully this year I’ll do better than last.
As I mentioned in my season kickoff post last year, I am a HUGE Packers fan, so you can expect that my picks for their games will be fairly biased, but unlike last year I promise I will be a little more honest with myself about the Packers chances… starting with week 2. (I want to see how they fare against the Bears this week before I make any assumptions about this season). Again, I will make no apologies for my Packers bias… so you’ll just have to deal with it.
Expect my picks to be out every Tuesday evening. Some weeks it may have to wait until Wednesday depending on how busy the week is, but Tuesday should be a fairly attainable goal for me. Also, every few weeks I’ll have a poll about NFL related things, starting with this week’s “Early Prediction” poll. Place your votes on who you think will be the Super Bowl XLI Champion!
Anyways, without further ado, let’s get to my picks for week one:
| Away | Home | Comments | Pick | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dolphins(0-1) |  Steelers(1-0) | The Dolphins have a real shot this year at winning their division, the only question is, did they get the Daunte Culpepper of 2004, or the sans Randy Moss version of Dante Culpepper from last year? How will the Steelers do without the Bus and Antwaan Randle El? | | |
 Falcons(1-0) |  Panthers(0-1) | Many are predicting another Super Bowl birth for the Panthers, and while I think Atlanta is a tough team, I don’t see them beating the Panthers at home. | | |
 Saints(1-0) |  Browns(0-1) | With the addition of Drew Brees at quarterback and Reggie Bush, look for the Saints to do well this year. | | |
 Seahawks(1-0) |  Lions(0-1) | The Seahawks have a great chance at going back to the Super Bowl this year. The Lions… they may struggle a bit. | | |
 Eagles(1-0) |  Texans(0-1) | Now that Dominick Davis is on I.R., not taking Reggie Bush with their #1 pick is looking like a huge mistake for the Texans. | | |
 Bengals(1-0) |  Chiefs(0-1) | If Carson Palmer can stay healthy, look for the Bengals to repeat as division champs this year. | | |
 Bills(0-1) |  Patriots(1-0) | The Bills are still a mess, and J.P. Losman doesn’t deserve the starting QB spot that they’ve given him. The Patriots, once again, are the team to beat in the AFC East. | | |
 Broncos(0-1) |  Rams(1-0) | The Broncos picked up Javon Walker, who will add a major deep threat to their offense and look to be the team to beat in the AFC West this year. | | |
 Ravens(1-0) |  Buccaneers(0-1) | The Ravens getting Steve McNair will be a huge help to their offense, but I don’t see him as the only missing piece. | | |
 Jets(1-0) |  Titans(0-1) | The Titans need Vince Young to play the way he played for Texas if they are going to be successful this year. Is this the year that Chad Pennington finally becomes what the Jets expected? | | |
 49ers(0-1) |  Cardinals(1-0) | With the addition of Edgerrin James to their already explosive offense, the Cardinals could make a serious push for the NFC West division title… if they can protect their quarterback. | | |
 Bears(1-0) |  Packers(0-1) | Green Bay looks like they’re poised to have another losing season, but if this young team is as talented as Brett Favre says they are and they can come together, they could surprise a lot of people. The big question for the Bears this year is whether or not their offense can compliment their strong defense. | | |
 Cowboys(0-1) |  Jaguars(1-0) | Terrell Owens’ antics aside, the Cowboys look like they’ve got all the pieces this year to be a force in the NFC. | | |
 Colts(1-0) |  Giants(0-1) | Manning vs. Manning. Sunday Night Football. This should be one exciting game. | | |
 Vikings(1-0) |  Redskins(0-1) | The Vikings could have a good year, but I think it’ll take them a couple of weeks to hit their stride. | | |
 Chargers(1-0) |  Raiders(0-1) | The Raiders just aren’t very good. They could be competing for the # 1 pick in next year’s draft. Philip Rivers has looked good in pre-season for the Chargers, and LT and Antonio Gates are always good bets to have big years. | | |
So, there you have it! Check back after the games for updates. Also, here’s this week’s ESPN Expert Picks.
Now it’s time for me to go on record. My pick for Super Bowl Champion this year: Indianapolis Colts. My reasons for picking the Colts are that they quite simply are running out of time in my opinion. Marvin Harrison and the rest of the Colts offense aren’t getting any younger and in this salary cap/free agency era of the NFL, it’s really difficult to keep great teams together for long periods of time. All you need to do is look at the Patriots team from last year for a great example.
Peyton Manning has yet to make the big show, and I think that this year may be his last chance to get there (at least with the Colts) for quite some time. In my opinion, Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the NFL, but there’s only so much he can do on his own. The Colts lost Edgerrin James but also made a huge off-season acquisition in getting place kicker Adam Vinatieri from the Patriots. He’s injured now, but should be fine by week 3 or 4 and there’s no telling what kind of addition he’ll be to the Colts offense. (What’s interesting to note is that Mike Vanderjagt, the Colts kicker from last season who missed wide right in the playoffs against the Steelers also missed 2 easy 30-some yard kicks in overtime that would’ve won the game for Dallas in last week’s preseason game). Anyways, I just believe that it’s more or less a now or never year for Manning and the Colts.
In the NFC, I think it’s kind of a toss up as to who will be a Super Bowl contender this year. The Seahawks are capable of making another appearance, but it will be interesting to see what happens after their Super Bowl loss from last year. In recent history the teams that have lost in the Super Bowl have typically not done too well the following season. The Carolina Panthers may have one of the best teams in the NFC, and if the Chicago Bears can play up to their potential, they’ll be a major threat down the stretch as well.
Update: In the spirit of predictions and the start of another NFL season, Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com offers up 100 things to expect this season. My personal favourite is number 23: ‘My John “The Million-Dollar Man” Anthony Week 1 upset special is… Green Bay over Chicago.’
Update 2: Well, 9-7 for week one isn’t too bad, but it’s definitely not what I was aiming for. For me there were a lot of surprises in this week including big wins by Baltimore, the New York Jets, and St. Louis and 3 shutout wins (Chicago, Baltimore and San Diego). All in all though, it was an exciting opening weekend for the new NFL season. Check back soon for next week’s predictions.
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