Last week, Ryan and I took our respective shots at predicting this year's BCS title game-winner. Making such a prediction, particularly in light of the fact that the 2008 college football season was and is now shaping up to be just as, if not more, volatile than last year's season, seemed to be a near impossible task.
Between the politics of the polls, the complexity and sometimes surprising results of the oft-maligned BCS, the confounding early season upsets and blowouts and the lack of a dominant head-hancho (or two) at the top of the polls, there's just too much uncertainty to dub one squad the team of destiny with any reasonable degree of certainty. Nonetheless, we took our stabs.
Our columns returns this week to open the debate about what NFL team will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in 2009. Picking the Super Bowl winner at an early juncture like this is quite difficult, too -- I don't think I've ever done it -- but it is safe to say that it's a whole lot easier than picking the winner of the BCS.
After thinking it over in the preseason, I decided I was probably a sucker (see: 2008 Super Bowl columns) for the Pats once again. After all, the primary pieces (Belichick, Brady, Moss) were still in place. Belichick is the most adaptable coach in the league -- so one could fairly assume that he spent the entirety of the offseason game-planning to make sure 2009 was not a repeat of 2008. The Pats championship hopes took a face-first knockout fall the moment Brady messed up his knee. There's certainly no current critical consensus (or there shouldn't be, if there is) on who the favorite is.
I billed the Cowboys a Super Bowl team in last year's preseason, and they dried up in just the first round of the playoffs after an impressive regular season once again. Naysayers cite Tony Romo's heretofore playoff woes -- highlighted by the muffed snap that cost the Cowboys a victory vs. the Seahawks -- as a major pockmark on Romo's resum, but I don't see it as something Cowboys fans should worry about yet.
Even the mighty Peyton Manning struggled throughout his early playoff career, and didn't really shed the stigma that came with being a high-profile, young quarterback unable to "win the big game" until he led the Colts to a Super Bowl title two years ago. Romo still has time -- and plenty of it -- to right the ship.
He's been a solid first half QB for the Cowboys in their two playoff wins, but hasn't been able to run the two-minute drill or perform with the effortless rhythm and ease that have characterized his best stretches of football. What should comfort Cowboys fans further is that his task is not too tall -- not the one of say, John Elway early in his career, when No. 7 led the Broncos deep into the postseason all by himself many a time (anyone care to imagine how many more titles Elway wins with a good supporting cast early in his career?).
Romo is surrounded by the upper echelon of talent in the league on offense. T.O. is amazingly still in peak physical form and shows no sign of slowing down as one of the top receivers in the league. Marion the Barbarian is one of the best in the league at what he does. The O-line is great. The defense has added Pacman to the mix, and while he hasn't performed tremendously thus far, he'll come around. As a former Titans fan, I can attest to the fact that Pacman is a player who needs time and experience to get in the zone, which is something he'll have to do for a second time after being absent from the league for a year. He was pretty dismal his rookie year, but when he got going, especially in the latter half of 2007, he was arguably the most valuable defensive player in the league.
The Cowboys made a somewhat controversial decision, at least to some, to draft Felix Jones ahead of Rashard Mendenhall in the first round of last year's draft. The logic behind the pick was obvious. The Cowboys already had a bruising, workhorse back in Marion Barber and needed a complement to perform with some flash and spunk. Felix has flawlessly stepped into that role, having already returned a kick for a TD and been extremely productive in very, very limited opportunities. It's safe to say that no rookie in the league has filled his prescribed role better than Jones, and he could well be the missing piece that the Cowboys ultimately need to take home a Super Bowl.
As Ryan and I have said, making these predictions at this early juncture is ludicrous. But it is fun, and even though I'm not really fond of America's Team, I do think they are the safest bet. They've already lost a game, but they've got all the pieces in place, and they're due. The franchise hasn't won a playoff game in over a decade, which is shocking, but between the acquisition of Felix Jones, the tremendous talent and balance already in place, and the Pacman factor -- which should kick in soon -- I think they're destined for greatness this season.
