Are You Ready For Some Football????

Well, with the Packers and Saints opening the season last night, it is time for The Grandstander's cutting edge preview of the upcoming NFL season.

Here you go...

In the AFC, the Steelers, Patriots, Jets, Ravens, and maybe the Chargers are all going to be pretty good. Also, with Peyton Manning out for up to three months, the Texans might finally sneak into the playoffs.

In the NFC, the Packers, Falcons, Eagles, and Saints are all going to be good.

From those ten teams listed above, the two Super Bowl participants will emerge.

There you have it, and that's as far out on a limb as I am gong to go. If you want more than that, read Peter King!

Here are a few more predictions:

The Lions are a dark horse in the NFC, and could sneak in as a wild card.

The Bengals, Browns, Bears and Redskins will all stink.

Phillip Rivers will receive accolades galore but the Chargers will still not make it past the first round of the playoffs.

On a more serious note, I do have high expectations for your Pittsburgh Steelers. I think that they will be an offensive powerhouse. My concern, and I have stated it here before, is that so many key players on defense are well into their thirties. I know that everyone had the same concerns last year, and the defense was the best in the NFL and the team made it to the Super Bowl, so why can't it happen again? Well, I hope that it does, but Father Time can be very cruel to athletes, and great teams can get "old" very quickly, almost overnight. Here's hoping younger guys like Woodley, Timmons, Gay, Hood, and Heyward can mix in with the older guys and make it a seamless transition.

As for that game last night, how awesome did the Packers look? Missing out on mini-camps and off-season OTA's really hurt them, didn't it?