Newsgroup: it.sport.americani
Titolo: Pronostici NFL da Sporting News

Posto l'articolo di TJ Simers perchè secondo me è molto ben fatto.
Potrà non piacere a molti tifosi (me compreso), però...
To pick a champ, cull out the losers
T.J. Simers
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES -- To pick the Super Bowl champion, first you must
eliminate the losers. 
That takes care of the Raiders. 
They open the season at Green Bay, which has the NFC's second-best
home record the last decade (60-20) and one defeat in Lambeau Field
the last three years. 
That's one Raiders loss. 
The second week, the Raiders travel to Minnesota, which has the NFC's
third-best home record the last decade (55-25), and won eight straight
last season. 
That's two. 
They return home to silence, where they haven't sold out a
regular-season game since the 1997 opener, to romp over the Bears. 
They won't win again until November. 
"That's what people tell me," Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. "Here's
the thing: Last year everybody said, 'It's gonna be tough on you,
Jonny, you're just a kid with a tough schedule, opening at Kansas
City, at Dallas, then the Denver Broncos and the Giants,' and they
were defending NFC East champs. 
"Our No. (2) draft choice (Leon Bender) tragically passed away, we
lose our No. 1 quarterback (Jeff George) with a groin injury for 12
games along with our free safety (Eric Turner) for 12 games." 
Thanks for the memories. 
"But we managed to fight hard and stay together," said Gruden, whose
team lost five of the last six and finished 8-8 -- home for the
holidays. 
The Raiders might be better, but their record may not reflect it. They
have the toughest schedule in the league, their opponents having
posted a .570 winning percentage a year ago. The Jets and Buccaneers
have the next-toughest schedules. Their opponents were at .539, but
that's a considerable gap between them and the Raiders' foes. 
"This isn't a coincidence," Raiders senior assistant Bruce Allen said.
"They can't tell me a computer did it because we're right by Silicon
Valley and we know all about computers and somebody has to put the
information in." 
Bravo, NFL, if the league is responsible for putting a stop to the
nauseating "team of the decades" announcement at every Raiders game:
"The only team to have been in Super Bowls in the '60s, '70s and
'80s." 
It's not going to happen in the '90s. The Raiders -- 74-70 since 1990
-- have to hope they win at least seven games just to make sure they
finish better than .500 this decade. 
"Maybe the schedule has something to do with the fact we might be the
only team with a $1 billion lawsuit against the league," Allen said. 
They will probably lose that, too. 
After the home game against Chicago, they go to Seattle for a Sunday
night game against Mike Holmgren's Seahawks before a national TV
audience. Holmgren, an NFL-best 49-7 in home games while in charge in
Green Bay, will undoubtedly have the Kingdome rocking. 
The schedule gets even nastier if the A's get a wild-card berth in the
American League baseball playoffs. Instead of playing the Broncos in
the Coliseum on October 10, the game will be switched to Denver, which
has the AFC's best home record since 1989, 63-17, 24 consecutive
victories and former Raiders coach Mike Shanahan, who has a 34-8 mark
at Mile High Stadium. 
The schedule calls for another road game, in Buffalo, the following
week -- putting five of the team's first six games on the road if the
A's advance -- against four of the top six teams at home since 1989.
Buffalo has the AFC's third-best home mark the last decade, 60-20. 
Oakland returns home to confront the Jets and Dolphins, who are
expected to vie for the AFC East Division title. 
If all goes well, the Raiders should be going into their bye weekend
with a 1-7 record. 
After eliminating the Raiders from Super Bowl contention, you can give
up on the Lions, as Barry Sanders did. 
You can also cross off the teams that have chosen to play this season
without a quarterback, New Orleans and the New York Giants, or with
quarterbacks not ready to win, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Then you can forget the teams with quarterbacks who will never be
ready to win, Baltimore and Carolina. 
You can dismiss any team commanded by a Munchkin at quarterback:
Chicago and Buffalo. 
You have to disregard the Chargers because Ryan Leaf is injured and
unable to play. 
Brad Johnson isn't injured yet, but he will be, so there goes
Washington. Steve McNair has a bad back in Tennessee, which leaves
Neil O'Donnell fumbling the load. New England is still trying to
account for the loss of Bill Parcells and Curtis Martin. 
Jake Plummer rolled the dice and came up a winner in seven of eight
games decided by three or fewer points last season. Odds say things
have to even out for the Cardinals this year, keeping Arizona out of
the Super Bowl. 
Dallas is too old, St. Louis too young. Atlanta had its fling, Tampa
Bay still has Trent Dilfer. Indianapolis needs some defense to go
along with Peyton Manning; Seattle needs a quarterback to go with its
defense. 
Even the hicks from Kansas City aren't counting on a big performance
from Elvis. Dan Marino's no John Elway, and neither is Bubby Brister.
So much for Miami and Denver. 
The 49ers are no longer the 49ers of old when San Francisco ruled the
NFC West. 
Could you pick a team to win it all, knowing Vinny Testaverde was the
starting quarterback? That grounds the Jets. 
Green Bay is right there, but doesn't get the frozen tundra advantage
in the playoffs, keeping the Packers out of the Super Bowl. 
Minnesota plays in Super Bowl 34 on January 30, 2000, in Atlanta, and
opens a 10-point favorite. 
Then gets beat by Jacksonville. 
Commenti?
Charlie Brown ;-)
G O   D O L P H I N S ! ! !
mail to: 
chNOS...@excite.com
better remove NOSPAM when replying....

Beh, il ragazzo è drastico...soprattutto contro i miei Raiders...
Secondo me non ha tutti i torti nel prevedere che potremmo anche essere 1-7
al bye, purtroppo gli incontri che avremo sono su campi difficili e contro
squadre decisamente attrezzate.
Fare previsioni è sempre un cinema, ma le argomentazioni portate da Simers
sono oggettive.
Comunque ciò non toglie che il campo deve confermare tutto ciò ed io sono
sicuro che i Raiders, con la difesa super di quest'anno, daranno filo da
torcere a tutti...il problema sarà segnare i punti :-))))
Per quanto riguarda il SB il pronostico Minnesota-Jacksonville è plausibile,
c'è sempre il punto interrogativo Cunningham ed il fatto che Moss non è più
una sorpresa.
Approfitto per augurare a tutti i tifosi del saloon un buon campionato !!!
-4 days
Saluti
Marco
The Silver & Black WILL be back

 Charlie Brown ;-)
Essendo fan di Jacksonville sono onorato, ma allo stesso tempo comincio a
toccarmi... Obbiettivamente, penso che la difesa dei Jaguars migliorerà
sotto Dom Capers ma non abbastanza per frenare Terrell Davis o Minnesota e
portare la squadra al Superbowl. Per quanto riguarda l'attacco, mi pare
che Kyle Brady sia un po' sopra valutato come TE.
Francesco
(Go Jaguars!)





Sicuramente domenica verrete spazzati via al Lambeau Field dai miei
magici packers!!! ;-))))
Buon campionato anche a te!!
Ciao 
Matango

Matango
cosa hai detto?????
Domenica credo proprio che dovremo impacchettare un po' di teste di
formaggio :-))))))
Buon campionato, magari a partire da domenica 19 ;-)
Ciao
Giorgio
GO RAIDERS



Ah! Ah! Ah! Illusi, non avrete scampo :-)
Favre è dato dimagrito e in forma smagliante.
Ciao
Fabrizio
GO PAAAAACKEEEEERS!!!!!!!!!!!