The Hall of Fame Game took place this past Thursday night in Canton, Ohio (congrats to the inductees) between the Bears and Ravens, meaning one thing and one thing only… Football is officially back!
As a Minnesota Vikings fan it is hard for me to congratulate the Eagles on their surprising Super Bowl run this past February…but as Minnesota nice goes… “We’ll get you this year!”
With that being said, the Vikes have every opportunity to close the deal in 2018. Even though I was a huge advocate of not throwing Kirk Cousins the sink and gassing Case Keenum and Teddy 2 Gloves altogether, Minnesota has a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball.
Is Cousins good? Absolutely. But $80 million guaranteed good? Well, I bloody hope so. Keenum had a historic season in 2017, but will always be criticized for his NFC Championship game performance. But hey… we might as well pay somebody with similar stats and zero playoff wins under his belt, right?
All right, I’ll settle down! Cousins will fit in just fine especially with Thielen, Diggs and Cook set to lead the charge. Word out of camp is that Cook looks rejuvenated, which is a scary thing for the NFC North. Look for the former Florida State back to pick up where he left off before his ACL injury last October.
Enough of the Vikes!
FOOTBALL IS BACK! With so many questions still to be answered, 2018 will definitely live up to the hype. Will Carson Wentz be ready to go in Week 1? Who will start at QB for the Jets? Is David Johnson the same old stud from 2016? Can Gurley repeat his fantasy football production again this fall? Will Le’Veon Bell hold out into the season? Who will take the reigns as the number 1 WR in Dallas with Dez gone? The list goes on and on.
It is no secret the NFC is the deepest it has ever been. Every single team has a franchise QB and a potential shot at the playoffs. There are no easy opponents and every division is up for grabs. Sorry, I can’t say the same about the AFC. Let’s see… Patriots AFC East and Steelers AFC North. West and South will be a battle, but not nearly as much of a competition as in the NFC.
Same face new place. It will be interesting to see how all of the free agent signings and trades pan out in 2018. Cooks, Suh and Peters to LA. Sammy Watkins to KC (huge pay day as well). McCarron to BUF, Keenum to DEN, Ogeltree to NYG. Landry to CLE. Just to name a few. I love trades and I love seeing other team’s turn so called “problems” or “busts” into stars. (see Bill Belichick).
I am also a big fan of the Giants. 2017 is a season to forget, and if you have been reading any of my isportsweb.com articles on the Big blue, you know my stance on the team. 2018 has dark horse written all over it. Loaded offense that upgraded at O-Line, drafted a premier franchise RB with Saquon Barkley and have OBJ at full strenght, along with Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram. Manning still has two solid years left under his belt and the defense has a star player at every key position. Ogletree at LB, Jenkins at CB, Collins at S, BJ Hill and Snacks Harrison on DL. Maybe I’m hyping this team up a tad…but the talent is there. The biggest downside.. how loaded the NFC East is. In my opinion it is the toughest division in 2018 and there has not been a repeat winner since 2003. Good news Giants fans! The Meadowlands will be rocking come January!
I’ll wrap up this early preseason blog post here. I mean…it is just the preseason, nothing more and nothing less.