2005 NFL Season

Will Be Full of Surprises

Joe Gonzales, sports editor

 

It’s finally here. You know what I am talking about. It’s that time of the year. It’s the time that some girlfriends despise, most wives hate and us guys just absolutely love. It’s time for football. I am talking about NFL football.

This season promises to be a classic. With so many questions and story lines, I don’t know where to begin. Can New England three-peat? Eight others teams have tried, and they all have failed. Can Peyton Manning finally take his team to the Super Bowl? Can Michael Vick take his team to the Promised Land? Will Terrell Owens and Donavan McNabb ever be friends again? Can Bill Parcells take his Cowboys to the playoffs?

So many questions to be answered, and who has all the answers? I will tell you who has all the answers, I do! Nah, really I do. So you don’t believe me? Well, all my fellow sports aficionados get ready to be amazed.

First, the New England Patriots will not win their third Super Bowl. All the great teams have tried it and all have failed. The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys fell to the 49’ers. The 1998-1999 Denver Broncos failed to even post a wining season during their three-peat try. And why will the Patriots fail? The loss of key players will greatly affect the team toward the end of the season. Teddy Bruschi, gone. Ty Law, gone. Ted Johnson retired. The loss of offensive and defensive coordinators Charlie Weiss and Romeo Crenel are huge.  The Patriots will go 11-5 this year, but all the losses are going to be too much. Look for New England to finally fall to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game.

Peyton will finally lead his team to the Super Bowl and win it. Last season, the guy was absolutely amazing to watch. His records-breaking 49 touchdown passes were remarkable. Want to know something else? He will throw 51 this season. When the Colts finally get home field advantage in the playoffs, the Patriots will not stand a chance at Peyton’s place in January.

Will Vick ever take his team to the Super Bowl? Yes. This season? No. Without a doubt Vick proved me wrong last season when I called him an overrated player. The guy is unconscious. He does some things that are jaw dropping. This season, he alone will be responsible for about five of his team’s 10 wins, which is just amazing. The Falcons will go 10-6 but come in second to the Carolina Panthers, who will finish 11-5.

One of the surprise teams of the 2005-2006 NFL season is going to be the Panthers, who are just two years removed from almost beating New England in the Super Bowl. Carolina will once again field a tough defense with Julius Peppers leading the way. With Steve Smith back at wide receiver, Panthers quarterback Jake Delohme will have one of his main weapons. Last season, the Panthers struggled because of injuries to many key players. Injuries to running back Stephen Davis, and wide receiver Steve Smith were the two that doomed the team from the beginning. Look for the Panthers to make some noise early in the season. The other surprise in the NFC this season will be the fall of the Eagles.

I am officially off the T.O. bandwagon. Last season, when he got hurt and played in the Super Bowl when everyone had counted him out, I took back all the bad things I had ever said about him. Then what does he do this off-season? The same thing he did in San Francisco that got him traded. He let his nasty ego take over again.

Owens will prove to be too much of a distraction for the Eagles to overcome. There are other factors that will also doom the Eagles. Number one, no depth at wide receiver. The loss of Todd Pinkston will hurt the team. Number two, running back Brian Westbrook has been unhappy with his contract and number three, the defense will not be as solid as it was last season.

When the Eagles let go of Corey Simon a week before the season after removing the franchise tag and let the Colts picked him up, no one made much of a deal about the move. The move will come back to haunt Philadelphia in the middle of the season when the injury bug bites. Oh yeah, did anyone notice who was on the cover of Madden 2006 this season? Donavan McNabb. The curse will live on this season. So what will the fall of the Eagles signify? The re-emergence of the Dallas Cowboys, who will go on to win the NFC East and make some noise in the playoffs.

Can Bill Parcells turn this team around? After his first season in 2003, when the team went 10-6 and lost to the Panthers in the playoffs, things looked good. Heading into the 2004 season, the Cowboys were nervous. Too many questions remained unanswered. No quarterback, no running back, no cornerback opposite Terrace Newman, no one on the d-line to put pressure on the quarterback, and the offensive line had too many holes.

So why should the Cowboys be confident about heading into the season? They have $32 million worth of reasons and a great draft class be confident about. First, there was the signing of quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Many think that he is finished and can no longer play at an elite level. I am one of several who believe that if you give this player protection and allow him to throw the ball good things will happen. The Cowboys have a good receiving corps for him to make plays, including Keyshawn Johnson. Say what you want about this guy but all he does is catch passes. Terry Glenn, before he was injured in Green Bay last season, was on pace for a 1,000-yard season. Having him healthy will be a weapon Bledsoe will take advantage of. Patrick Crayton, the second-year receiver from NW Oklahoma State, is a quarterback-turned-receiver who beat out Quincy Morgan in training camp for the third receiver spot. Coaches say he has the best hands on the team. Peerless Price, a receiver who was released from the Falcons and picked up by the Cowboys, will only be another weapon for Bledsoe. Price, whose best season was in Buffalo when Bledsoe was quarterback is ready for a fresh start to let the Falcons know they made a mistake by releasing him.

The Cowboys will also have tight end Jason Witten, who is coming off a Pro Bowl season. They also hope to finally have found a running back who might turn out to be as great as Emmitt Smith. Jones was hurt for the first eight weeks last season but came back with a vengeance. In the last seven games of the season, Jones rushed for 819 yards on 197 carries.

Dallas also drafted Demarcus Ware out of Troy and Marcus Spears from LSU to finally get some pressure on the quarterback. They also signed Anthony Henry, a cornerback from the Cleveland Browns, to set on the other side of Newman. Also signed were guard Marco Rivera from the Green Bay Packers to help protect Bledsoe and nose tackle Jason Ferguson from the Jets to help along the d-line.

There will be growing pains in the beginning for the Cowboys, but by mid-season they should be one of the better teams in the NFC. The Cowboys will finish 11-5 and make it to the playoffs. 

So football fans, hold on and get ready for some surprises and a wild season. This will be a season that will be nothing short of a classic. So, until next time, enjoy the NFL season. Good luck to your team.