I know what everyone is thinking. Now that the Birds have TO and “The Freak,”they are going to walk away with the Super Bowl. Birds fans Think Again. Yes, they will make the playoffs and go to the NFC championship, but you think they can win it. I don?t.Lets first talk about their schedule. The Birds sure as hell lucked out getting the schedule they did. Getting the AFC North (which may be the worst division in football), the NFC North (which is weak this year) and the St. Louis- Rams (who as of this writing have a record of 1-2) is a joke.
I understand that they have to play each team in their own division twice, but lets be honest, those teams aren?t going anywhere fast.
Onto the offense. Yes, McNabb finally got the receiver that he has desperately looked for in Owens. But with all of the off-the-field problems that Owens caused while in San Francisco, do you think Andy Reid is going to want to put up with him in the locker room? Reid is not going to have the patience to dealwith TO. I also believe that they should have signed a better backup running back once Correll Buckhalter went down for the season. Honestly, I don?tbelieve that Dorsey Levens is going to scare any defensive coordinator this season.
We all saw what happened to Westbrook last season. He broke down. If Westbrook keeps up his current pace of carries per game, he will carry the ball 264 times this season. Last season, Westbrook rushed 117 times. He is on pace to double last season?s total. He is most certainly going to wear down around week 13.
The Birds love going with two tight ends a lot and now with Jon Ritchie being out for the year, they will be able to.
My idea is that theyshould line up Chad Lewis as the starting fullback and have LJ Smith as the starting tight end. This way, they will be able to use both of them at the same time.
I believe that the defense is going to do well this season. My only question is about the secondary. Dawkins is one of the best safeties in the league, so there are no problems with him. But I believe that the cornerback?s are a little shaky.
It is going to be interesting to see how Sheppard and Brown play against teams that air the ball out a lot, like Dallas and St Louis.
As for a final prediction on this team, I see them going 6-0 and losing a close game to Baltimore in week 8. I also see them losing one game to a division rival and for that I will choose losing at Dallas on November 15. Lastly, I see them going to in a shoot-out with St Louis on December 27. Therefore, this team will go 13-3 and receive the number one seed in the playoffs.
I see them going to the NFC Championship yet again. Unfortunately, I also see them losing once again, this time to the Seattle Seahawks. So, as many peoplehave said this year, the 2004 season will be a disappointing one because they will not be going to the Super Bowl.