I don't think its a coincidence that one of the worst days of the year (the end of summer) is followed by one of the best (the kickoff to the NFL season). Needless to say, we at Millennium are extremely excited about having the NFL back in our lives and will be sharing our opinions on it with you. For our season preview I decided to send five 'big picture' questions (from the whole league) to Luka and Cabrock and have them offer their takes on them. In addition to the 'big' five, I also posed three questions about our regular season opener between bitter rivals the Dallas Cowboys and the defending Superbowl champions; the New York Giants. We begin our discussion with one of the biggest stories of last year: Tebowmania.
What are your thoughts on Tim Tebow and his new team, the New York Jets? Will Tebow thrive in the specialty role that Rex Ryan plans to use him in (short, goal-line situations)? Will the media circus make this team implode? Is the Sanchize even a good quarterback?
Luka:
First let me just say one thing, FOOTBALL!!!. These last few weeks after The Olympics have been rough but with the season set to kickoff tonight I can hardly wait. However being an Eagles fan I would have probably been more excited with any other two teams (except the Browns and Dolphins) kicking the season off. I can't stand the Giants or the Cowboys so I'm interested to see who I end up rooting for tonight.
I'm a Tebow guy. Ever since I lost money betting against him in his first miracle win of the season last year I've grown to like him and his goofy style of play that leads to Disney-style endings week after week. That being said I don't think there's a worse pairing than Tebow and the Jets. The Jets anemic offense mixed with the New York media combined with the lack of faith Jets fans have in Mark Sanchez can only lead to one of the more distracting, side-show filled professional sports teams of recent memory. Because of this I either see the Jets being bad (more likely even though their defense is still solid) or riding a sports-movie inspired script to the playoffs. Think about it, the tough takes no shit coach, the defense that doubles as the heart of the team, a talented but lacking in confidence starting QB, and a heavily religious back-up QB that carries the team to the promised land on and off the field. I can already hear someone, somewhere writing up the script. In all seriousness though, I hope Jets fans are happy with 6-10 this year.
Daki:
Have to say that I am very disappointed that I forgot the obligatory FOOTBALL!!! in all caps and with exclamation points, not a good start for me. I too am a Tebow guy and I honestly think that he will take over the starting role from Sanchez around week 6. The Jets are too good defensively and play in a division that is too weak (other than the ever present Patriots), for them to be that bad. I can see them being a very respectable 8-8 this year, with lots of trash-talk from Rex Ryan and a lot of team prayer sessions following the game. Gotta say I love the movie pitch, but you forgot to include the rival team (the Giants?) embarrassing our protagonists (leading the tough-takes-no-shit-coach to finally start the religious QB) and then losing to them at the end with guys saying things like: "You guys are alright!"Actually, can this happen in real life?
Cabrock:
Guess who’s back? It feels good to finally be writing about football again :’)
For some reason, today has been one of the more busy days of the summer so I wont be writing an overly long article, but hopefully there’s some insightful tidbits in here. Anyways, lets get to the questions:
We all know I hate Tim Tebow; that’s not even a discussion. However, this is probably the one role I can see him thriving in. In college, Tebow was Superman and shit on most of the NCAA. However, in my opinion, the best Florida team during the Tebow years was the season that Chris Leak was the starter and Tebow contributed as the “change of pace” QB. People give Rex Ryan too much credit. He got his job by excelling as the D-coordinator of the ferocious Ravens defence. When you really think about it, my little sister could have walked in on Sunday and said “everyone stand in front of the guy in front of you” and the Ravens wouldn’t have allowed more than 20 points per game. Rex talks way too much shit and consistently fails to back it up. I wouldn’t say the Sanchize is a franchise QB, but I feel like he could be a solid starter that could run a simple offense if given the opportunity. Basically, I don’t have much hope for the Jets. I think they go 7-9 this season and a lot of people lose their jobs in the offseason.
Sticking to the AFC, a lot of people feel that the Houston Texans would have made the Superbowl last season had it not been for injuries. This notion is heavily supported by the fact that the Texans came close to beating the Ravens with a third-string QB. So guys, are the Texans for real? Or was their success last year smoke and mirrors?
