Ego Number One

So I’m sure you’d have heard about this, but on the off-chance… Terrell Owens has agreed terms with the Cincinnati Bengals and has joined up with them for training. He’s signed a one-year deal and Antonio Bryant has handed him his favoured #81 shirt (in exchange for a donation to one of little leagues) so the Chad and Terrell (and Antonio!) era begins. The CO/TO show.

Owens is 36 now, and not the number 1 option that he was, but he won’t be asked to be. He’ll need to contribute when called on, and be a good team member. You can’t really use last year’s stats as an indicator of his performance as the Bills were pretty bad. What you can look at is that he was a good soldier – the model of a quiet (for him) professional who just got on with it. If he can bring that attitude in, then he should do fine. And it’s difficult to imagine him taking verbal pops at Carson Palmer and have the team stand for it – their QB has proved himself again and again and is a popular leader there.
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Being my first ‘Division’ prediction, ever, I figured I might as well do one for the division I know most about! The AFC North is usually an entertaining and exciting division. The matches are played well, and are usually close. Rivalry is fierce and the bouts are relentless. It’s always difficult predicting without seeing the four pre-season matches, but I’m going to give it a go.

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M&T Stadium, Baltimore

Well, the draft is over and the mini-camps are getting underway. Figured I’d wait until this point to give my opinion on the last few months, well, as a Raven anyway.

The Anquan Boldin Trade:
This really did take me by surprise. I could see us trading for a solid wide receiver, but to be honest I never really expected it to be Boldin. A pleasant surprise by all means though. Boldin really is a quality player. He may have had a few injuries lately but his effort and his production is nothing to be dismissed. I really can’t wait to see him in the Purple of Baltimore. He came at a pretty reasonable price too. A 3^rd and 4^th round draft pick? Bargain, especially since we recouped those by trading down in the draft.
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This year’s Free Agency period has started, and players are on the move big time already. Here are some of the moves that have caught our eye so far…

Nate Burleson to the Lions. This is either a stroke of genius or a real stretch, but Stafford needs receiving options. They’ve also added Kyle Vanden Bosch to their defensive line.

Karlos Dansby is now a Dolphin. Miami have made several changes already on the defensive side but Dansby would be a good addition in any case. They’ve also signed Chad Pennington for another year who is a good option as a backup.

In New York, the Jets and Giants have both improved their secondaries with Antrel Rolle joining the Giants and Antonio Cromartie heading to the Jets. Rolle becomes the highest paid safety in NFL history in the process.
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Since it’s too painful for Andrew to continue with his Redskin’s Review articles anymore, let us continue with our Favourite Four series, we are currently looking at Linebackers. It’s been a while, and many pages are now without images as we checked licensing on all content a while ago, but if you want to remind yourself. Check the Favourite Four category, where we’ve previously looked at defensive linemen, defensive backs, running backs and now linebackers.

We reiterate that these are some of our favourite players. We can’t vouch that these will be the best players in absolute terms, have the biggest fantasy football upside or even be any good (though they might be)… but they’re players that we like to watch.

Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens is the next on our list.

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So it all kicks off in a matter of hours! Week 1 is here, so this is our last chance to get our picks for the season published.

These are based on what we’ve been watching, what we’ve been following, some blind faith and our guts. These are are our predictions for the 12 post-season teams of the 2009 season.

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It’s opening day!  The first NFL week 1 game sees the Titans visit the Steelers tonight.  You can catch our views and NFL Week 1 Predictions here

Minnisota Vikings
Sorry, more Brett Favre news.  Get used to it though it looks set to continue for the season, and probably for the next phase of his retirement.

Favre Said - “I may not finish the year. If you would have asked me my first year if I would finish I’d have said, ‘I may not,”’ Favre said. “No one thought I’d play 18 straight years without missing a game, me included. I have no idea what’s going to happen. ”

Not really big news, he ‘might’ get injured; he ‘might’ have a week off?  It made the headlines though, so I am just passing it on.

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It looks like it is quarterback news day today…

Detroit Lions
This is the news I was itching to see – Matthew Stafford is the Lions starting quarterback. It’s not that I have anything against Daunte Culpepper, it’s just that on a personal level I want to see what Stafford can do and how he progresses through the season.

From the Lions point of view I think it is the right choice. It is a symbol of a fresh start, and that is something the whole of Detroit need right now. 2008 saw the team and the citys biggest industry on its knees.

I am very tempted to pick a Lions win in this weeks predictions, but I think that is coming more from the heart than the head.
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In our First Look at the AFC North, it came down to two coinflips to seperate the four teams.

Has anything changed?
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Gah! Time is getting on and I’ve still not finished these… I’d better buck my ideas up.

So… It’s easy to think of the AFC North as Pittsburgh’s division, but the Ravens and the Bengals have won it within the last five years, and the Browns… well, the Browns haven’t been so good but have made the playoffs this decade.

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