OK – we have the first 4 weeks in the books, so let’s see where everyone stands.

If you agree or disagree with your team’s grade, please feel free to chime in.

Remember — this is a report card, not a power ranking.  For instance, the Titans have the best grade…they are the most “ready” team right now.  But, I feel, and I assume to be proven correct, that they are at the absolute zenith of their potential as a football team.  If they can keep this level going, or duplicate it in January, then they may just have enough.  Not likely with the “skill” players they have, but a possibility.

On the other hand, the Dallas Cowboys, despite playing with the heart of a field mouse over the first 4 games, should not be considered any less of a favorite than they were a week ago.  They are flat out bigger and better than every other team in the league.  So, while all of the pundits putting the Titans, or the Giants, or the Bills, or any other team that does not call Texas Stadium its home, at the top of their new power rankings might think they are somehow doing the right thing…they are obviously high.  A severe coaching lapse against the Skins should not cost Dallas the top ranking…but it sure as hell can earn them a C- from me.  Make no mistake…if the Cowboys played every team in the league 100 times, they would compile a win percentage of 90% or more…perhaps as high as 95%…but they have shown time and time again that they are susceptible to losing to an inferior team.

Don’t worry, chumps…I will keep your Dallas bandwagon seats warm…because you will be back.

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My buddy JJ (a dyed-in-the-wool Skins fan) and myself (a die-hard Cowboys fan) were having a little e-mail thread throughout the day today about the way the Skins beat the Cowboys in decisive fashion on Sunday.

As usual, the analysis was spot on, and the quips were something less.

Click through to read the thread, appropriately titled “T.O. Torpedoes Tony”.

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Since all good stories start out this way………….SO THERE I WAS…

walking out of a national toy store chain with a cart full of junk and a larger item under the cart. Well, the carts at this place are about the same as the carts everywhere else – they somehow act as if there is a windstorm taking place 3 inches off the ground*. Couple this with the fact that whomever laid out the parking lot configuration at this place was on acid and the guy who did the paving was at least suffering from delirium tremens, if not actively drunk at the time of paving.

Anyway, the large item underneath the cart fell off onto the pavement, grinding the entire procession (me pushing the cart with Seamus in the biohazard seat** and Marley walking alongside reluctantly holding my hand and trying to escape my grip with everything her little 3-year-old body could muster) to a halt. The corner of the box scraped on the asphalt, and the cart miraculously started to defy gravity and go straight for a second (that’s how I knew something was up) and then just kind of stopped as it almost ran over the box and Marley all at once.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

OK — it doesn’t really take a genius to pick the division winners this year.  There are lots of people that are saying that confusion is the order of the day, with the injuries to Manning and Brady looming large.  Well, I think the Colts are about done, regardless of who they have under center.  Their defense is fundamentally worse than the team that got torched for over 300 yards rushing twice in the 2006 season.  And the Pats core defensive unit is old…very old.

Anyway, let’s get right to the picks.  We’ll keep it simple.  Just division winners and playoff teams, as well as some early flyers on the playoffs themselves.

* – first round bye

** – #1 seed

AFC

AFC East Champion – New England

AFC South Champion – *Jacksonville

AFC North Champion – Pittsburgh

AFC West Champion – **San Diego

AFC Wild Card Teams – Indianapolis, Cleveland

NFC

NFC East Champion – **Dallas

NFC South Champion – New Orleans

NFC North Champion – *Green Bay

NFC West Champion – Seattle

NFC Wild Card Teams – New York Giants, Minnesota

Playoffs

Wild Card Weekend

• Indy over New England in Foxboro…Colts fans complain that this matchup was 2 weeks early, but their fun is just beginning
• Pittsburgh over Cleveland at home in a sloppy game indicative of the relative “skill” of the skill players involved, where Hines “Cheap-Shot” Ward and his teammates manage to squeak by like they always do in the playoffs
• New York over New Orleans on the road
• Minnesota over Seattle in the rain…this one will be over at halftime

Divisional Weekend

• Jacksonville over Pittsburgh at home
• San Diego over Indy at home…I don’t see either of these AFC games being close…but in a battle of two horrible big game coaches out in San Diego, anything is possible
• Dallas over New York at home
• Green Bay over Minnesota at home

Conference Championship Weekend

• Jacksonville over San Diego on the road
• Dallas over Green Bay at home..too bad the all-time interception leader will not be there to cry on the sideline…maybe he will be crying at home

Super Bowl XLIII

• Dallas over Jacksonville

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