… There’s one last blast of predictions for the season to come. Today’s entry comes from Shannon Sharpe, who forecasts Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer as the league’s offensive MVP; Carolina’s Julius Peppers for the defensive MVP; Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams and Cleveland’s Kamerion Wimbley as rookies of the year, and Denver-Carolina as his Super Bowl pick (although the former Bronco doesn’t predict a winner). His justification for picking the Broncos to go that far? They have “the least amount of questions” among AFC contenders, he reasons …
… You find yourself wondering about minutiae for the coming season — such as how new Comissioner Roger Goodell’s signature will look on the footballs that will go into play tomorrow night. This page provides a glance at the new football, and Goodell could scarcely be more honored to have his signature on the rechristened “The Duke” football, named after the late New York Giants owner Wellingtom Mara: “I thought about that the other day … Someone as important to the NFL like Wellington Mara, and the fact that I was very involved with the whole re-branding of that football from my old position,” Goodell said. “I never dreamed that my name would also be going on at the same time as someone that I have such great respect for, Wellington Mara and his family.
The story with the picture of the new football also yields the answer for the burning question of what the league will do with all of those suddenly out-of-date footballs produced with Paul Tagliabue’s signature? The answer? The NFL nobly chose to patronize what cartoon miscreant Beavis’ homeless friend behind the Maxi-Mart called the best nation in the world — donation — giving them to high schools, particularly ones still recovering from the effects of 2005′s Hurricane Katrina …
… And one of the top stories on NFL.com is about a parade of pickup trucks motoring down Miami’s South Beach.
There’s plenty to talk about regarding the running backs and how Head Coach Mike Shanahan will not reveal the starter until the offense takes the field Sunday at St. Louis; you can read more about it by clicking here or here.
That’s it. Take care, and thanks for reading.
Tags: Injury report, NFL, Roger Goodell, Running backs, Shannon Sharpe, The Duke