Weekly NFL Column

Hello everyone, and it is good to be back with my weekly Tuesday NFL column. Since this is the first of the 2009 season let’s get right to my predictions. Â

Hello everyone, and it is good to be back with my weekly Tuesday NFL column. Since this is the first of the 2009 season let’s get right to my predictions.

 

AFC East Champ:Â New England Patriots

AFC North Champ:Â Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South Champ:Â Indianapolis Colts

AFC West Champ:Â San Diego Chargers

Wildcard:Â Miami Dolphins

Wildcard:Â Tennessee Titans

 

AFC Champ:Â New England Patriots

 

NFC East Champ:Â New York Giants

NFC North Champ: Chicago Bears (if Favre doesn’t come back)

NFC South Champ:Â Atlanta Falcons

NFC West Champ:Â Arizona Cardinals

Wildcard:Â Philadelphia Eagles

Wildcard: Minnesota Vikings (if Favre doesn’t come back)

 

NFC Champ:Â New York Giants

 

OK let’s get right to some news and notes…

 

• Players around Eden Prairie think that Favre will play this season. They have all the tools except the QB. With a good running game and a superb D, they are only a QB away from an NFC championship game.
• The Chiefs are pleased with the changes happening around the team. 2009 will be a tough year, but Pioli will do great things there and Chiefs fans need to use the season as a chance to evaluate and dream. Remember as the year goes on Chiefs fan, watch New England dream of what is coming down the path for you.
• Raiders’ Coach Tom Cable allegedly punched one of his staff. One NFL player emailed me when I asked him about it, “I wonder if Roger (Goodell) punishes him like he has everyone else?” Good question.
• I think the Titans will have a big season even with the loss of their DC.
• Who will fire their coach first this season, Washington or Dallas? I think both will by the end of the year, but I wonder who will first.
• The Jets are so thrilled that Mangenius is gone. Coach Ryan has really earned the trust and respect of those players and it has been a long time since a coach had the command that Ryan does. One player told me, “I think Coach is contagious and I can’t believe how good he has done. He is tough, but he has the room no doubt.”
• Steve Spagnuolo is going to have an uphill battle fixing the Rams. If they stay out of his way he will do it. One Rams’ vet told me just before camp, “It sure feels like we have a coach now. No one here ever felt in sync with the last group.”
• Rod Marinelli has done a fantastic job in Chicago. Even the non-DL players love what he is doing. He is a good man and I root for him to do well. One player said it best, “He is a great man. You want to follow him. He leads them like the guy from Simon says. He speaks and they follow.”
• Speaking of good men, Jim Schwartz (The Schwartz), head coach of the Lions, is a good man. Even before he took the job and after he took it, everyone I know who knows him personally speaks highly of him. I feel bad for him that he got his first job in the dysfunctional organization known as the Detroit Lions. One prominent NFL person who I know well said that he hoped The Schwartz could do well enough to leverage against the present leadership for more power. My response? As long as someone named or related to a Ford owns the team it doesn’t matter. I will always be a Lions fan (sorry it is a disease when you grow up here) but I am a realist. Until a non-Ford owns it, they are doomed.
• I have a lot of respect and admiration for Tony Dungy. He is a good man. Some things bother me that Mike Vick has done “after” prison and I hope that Tony’s name isn’t being lent to a person who won’t care if a mishap hurts him. I have no doubt that Vick is done with dog fighting; I highly doubt he is done with bad choices.
• Jemele Hill (a Spartan) did a great job interviewing Charles Rogers. I had a long conversation with Charles a few months ago at Benihana and I wish him well. I was bothered that he admitted to drinking. It would seem to me (and I have never been an addict) that to get sober he would need to distance himself from it all.
• Drew Stanton has a place in the NFL. If he stays as the Lions #3 QB then he only gets to play with injury to one of the top two. He will never get a shot in Detroit. Partly because he was picked by Matt, and the powers that be would like nothing better than to blame Millen for everything. Secondly, he simply wasn’t that good until about five days into camp this year. He has a place. It isn’t in the D. I wish him well and hope he can get into a system and team that will use him. I am not sure he is a full time starter (he runs too quick and doesn’t stay in the pocket), but he is a very good football player and has a role.
• I said months ago that I expect to buy my son’s purple #4 Favre Vikings jerseys when the Spartan visit the Gophers in late October. I still plan to.
• I have spoken with plenty of NFL players some here at Spartan Nation with video and many others off the record this summer.  I have yet to encounter any of them that are, “Excited” about a work stoppage or frankly even think it is necessary. The NFLPA needs to assess the mood of their membership if they think they will have any tolerance for a lockout. If this goes to a lockout the owners will win it based upon all the players I have spoken to. The NFLPA is already the weakest of the pro league unions and they don’t appear strong now.
• Speaking of Millen, I was with him recently and he looks and is doing great. Many of you know that I consider him a great friend and I have a lot of admiration for him. He made some choices that I didn’t agree with, but the biggest thing he did is keep his mouth shut. A lot of things happened that Matt took the blame for and simply kept quiet about. Attack him all you want. I admire him as a man of character and integrity and I am proud to be his friend. It is good to have you back Matt. I hope you don’t make Patty change the sign on the Christmas tree. 

 

 See you next Tuesday everyone with more NFL notes.