Gryphon
Merge Ahead
- Messages
- 3,407
- Reaction score
- 31
By GENE FRENETTE, The Times-Union
Bruce Lipsky / Florida Times-Union
My Super Bowl pick has been one of those on-the-cusp AFC teams, teasing their fan base with an incremental rise until the New England Patriots knock them back to postseason reality.
The franchise, which plays in a coastal city, frequently has been mentioned as a possible relocation candidate to Los Angeles. However, its on-field future looks bright because this team has a solid quarterback and one of the NFL's best running games.
Sounds like the Jaguars might be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, right? Well, maybe next season.
For now, the best team to me looks like the one whose only claim to superiority has been their slick uniform and helmet - the San Diego Chargers.
Cornerback Drayton Florence left San Diego for the Jaguars as a big-money free agent. But the main jewel - a Super Bowl ring - will be fitted on his old teammates.
Why? Because in a year where nobody - even the one-minute-from-perfection Patriots - is a clear favorite to win it all, the Chargers have that right blend of young, hungry veterans who are primed to ascend to greatness. It's time for the true third wheel in the AFC hierarchy to hurdle both New England and the Indianapolis Colts.
I'm not discounting the Jaguars' chances to be a player in this race. No matter what the national pundits say, Jack Del Rio's team should be considered the co-favorite with the Colts in the AFC South, and my stance isn't changing based on preseason injury concerns for both sides.
New England, Indianapolis, San Diego and Jacksonville are the most playoff-ready AFC teams, along with maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers. Completing the six-pack is a real wild card, and it's not inconceivable that Brett Favre's arrival could lift the New York Jets to that level.
In the NFC, the only postseason certainties appear to be the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks, followed by the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints. There are simply too many quarterback question marks everywhere else to lock anybody into the playoff mix. I'll take the Favre-less Green Bay Packers to win the NFC North, while the Philadelphia Eagles make it two NFC East wild cards for the third consecutive year.
Dallas clearly has the best personnel to make the Super Bowl, but can you trust a quarterback (Tony Romo) who has never won a playoff game to shine when that spotlight comes on? A team filled with big names doesn't necessarily make it the best team. I think Dallas finds a way to lose the NFC, maybe even to Seattle as the Seahawks' parting gift for coach Mike Holmgren.
Two of the past three years (Giants, 2007, and Pittsburgh, 2005), a wild-card team has risen up and won the Super Bowl the hard way. San Diego is too good to have to go that route.
The Chargers play in one of the NFL's weakest divisions (the AFC West), a formula that has cleared a nice path for New England. But more than anything, Norv Turner's team has playmakers at the critical positions.
Nobody has affected the quarterback more consistently the last three years than San Diego, which has accumulated 149 sacks since 2005, thanks in large part to linebacker beast Shawne Merriman, who says he'll forego surgery on two torn knee ligaments and try to play this season. As the Giants aptly demonstrated in the Super Bowl, even the NFL's best quarterback can look average when he's on the ground or repeatedly being hit. Even with an impaired Merriman, the Chargers have enough overall balance on defense to go the distance.
Offensively, San Diego came up short against New England in last year's AFC championship game, but that was with running back LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers' top weapon, sidelined by a knee injury and quarterback Philip Rivers playing on a torn anterior cruciate ligament. With a healthy Rivers is in his second year under Turner's system and wide receiver Chris Chambers and tight end Antonio Gates (41 touchdowns since 2004) as targets, look for that offense to improve significantly over last season's 25.7 points-per-game average.
Between the Jamaican sprinter that electrified the Olympic track and the one NFL team still in Southern California, it's looking like the Year of the Bolts.
Bruce Lipsky / Florida Times-Union
My Super Bowl pick has been one of those on-the-cusp AFC teams, teasing their fan base with an incremental rise until the New England Patriots knock them back to postseason reality.
The franchise, which plays in a coastal city, frequently has been mentioned as a possible relocation candidate to Los Angeles. However, its on-field future looks bright because this team has a solid quarterback and one of the NFL's best running games.
Sounds like the Jaguars might be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, right? Well, maybe next season.
For now, the best team to me looks like the one whose only claim to superiority has been their slick uniform and helmet - the San Diego Chargers.
Cornerback Drayton Florence left San Diego for the Jaguars as a big-money free agent. But the main jewel - a Super Bowl ring - will be fitted on his old teammates.
Why? Because in a year where nobody - even the one-minute-from-perfection Patriots - is a clear favorite to win it all, the Chargers have that right blend of young, hungry veterans who are primed to ascend to greatness. It's time for the true third wheel in the AFC hierarchy to hurdle both New England and the Indianapolis Colts.
I'm not discounting the Jaguars' chances to be a player in this race. No matter what the national pundits say, Jack Del Rio's team should be considered the co-favorite with the Colts in the AFC South, and my stance isn't changing based on preseason injury concerns for both sides.
New England, Indianapolis, San Diego and Jacksonville are the most playoff-ready AFC teams, along with maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers. Completing the six-pack is a real wild card, and it's not inconceivable that Brett Favre's arrival could lift the New York Jets to that level.
In the NFC, the only postseason certainties appear to be the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks, followed by the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints. There are simply too many quarterback question marks everywhere else to lock anybody into the playoff mix. I'll take the Favre-less Green Bay Packers to win the NFC North, while the Philadelphia Eagles make it two NFC East wild cards for the third consecutive year.
Dallas clearly has the best personnel to make the Super Bowl, but can you trust a quarterback (Tony Romo) who has never won a playoff game to shine when that spotlight comes on? A team filled with big names doesn't necessarily make it the best team. I think Dallas finds a way to lose the NFC, maybe even to Seattle as the Seahawks' parting gift for coach Mike Holmgren.
Two of the past three years (Giants, 2007, and Pittsburgh, 2005), a wild-card team has risen up and won the Super Bowl the hard way. San Diego is too good to have to go that route.
The Chargers play in one of the NFL's weakest divisions (the AFC West), a formula that has cleared a nice path for New England. But more than anything, Norv Turner's team has playmakers at the critical positions.
Nobody has affected the quarterback more consistently the last three years than San Diego, which has accumulated 149 sacks since 2005, thanks in large part to linebacker beast Shawne Merriman, who says he'll forego surgery on two torn knee ligaments and try to play this season. As the Giants aptly demonstrated in the Super Bowl, even the NFL's best quarterback can look average when he's on the ground or repeatedly being hit. Even with an impaired Merriman, the Chargers have enough overall balance on defense to go the distance.
Offensively, San Diego came up short against New England in last year's AFC championship game, but that was with running back LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers' top weapon, sidelined by a knee injury and quarterback Philip Rivers playing on a torn anterior cruciate ligament. With a healthy Rivers is in his second year under Turner's system and wide receiver Chris Chambers and tight end Antonio Gates (41 touchdowns since 2004) as targets, look for that offense to improve significantly over last season's 25.7 points-per-game average.
Between the Jamaican sprinter that electrified the Olympic track and the one NFL team still in Southern California, it's looking like the Year of the Bolts.
