It's that most glorious time of the year as tonight we mark the return of the National Football League with the Washington Redskins paying a visit to the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. When we last left off we were witness to the greatest play in Super Bowl history (above) and maybe the best play of all time.
Be aware this is a 7 pm eastern start as the game was scheduled early in order to avoid John McCain's acceptance speech this evening. As a friendly reminder for those who may be unfamiliar with my pigskin picks, since NBC is carrying the game, there the possibility that bedwetting douchebag Keith Olbermann may appear on the pregame and halftime, so feel free to change the channel at those time.
Since there's only one game today, we'll make our season prognostications and take a look at the rest of Week 1 later this week.
GIANTS -4 Redskins: The Giants are getting little respect coming off their remarkable Super Bowl run and from all accounts they like being viewed that way. They took a hit when Michael Strahan retired and another huge blow when Pro Bowl DE went down with a season-ending injury. Still, Justin Tuck has emerged and Mathias Kiwanuka was moved back to DE from linebacker, so there shouldn't be a major dropoff. And it's not as if their interior guys Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield are slouches. There are questions though at linebacker and it remains to be seen whether CB Corey Webster is the real deal after a huge postseason. Keep an eye out for hard-hitting rookie safety Kenny Phillips. Many teams will rue the day they passed on this Ed Reed clone.
Offensively, the Giants return all 11 starters from Super Bowl XLII and also have rising star Steve Smith and rookie Mario Manningham at wideout, along with a power backfield in Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw and Derrick Ward, who missed the latter part of 2007 with a broken leg. Offensively, they should operate efficiently and they have enough talent still on defense to be a contender.
Washington begins the Jim Zorn era with Jason Campbell back at QB after missing last year's playoff run; TE Chris Cooley and WR Santana Moss always give the Giants fits. The Skins embarrassed the Giants at the Meadowlands last December and the Giants need to show they can win at home after a dismal 3-5 slate last year. There's no way they're going 10-1 on the road again.
A pumped up crowd seeing the Super Bowl champions take the field for the first time and the desire for a quick start should be enough to propel the Giants, who have an easy early schedule and should be 3-0 when they have their bye week. Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning has a big game on a sultry late summer night. Giants 30-17
No comments:
Post a Comment