Footballs Here!!!

I've been holding off on any real football stuff lately. Mostly because at this time of year, there is rarely enough interesting stuff to make for consistently good stuff, so I end up getting excited and then nothing happens for 2 weeks and I fall into a deep depression and all the bloody marys and PBR's in the world aren't enough to make Sunday mornings without football feel normal. It's almost enough to make a guy take up a religion. Almost.

But this Sunday marks the beginning of the preseason with the Hall of Fame game that will pit New Orleans against the Pittsburgh Steelers(which thanks to those fuckers at Comcast I will likely have to go to a bar to see). We will get our first look at whether we will get Big Ben circa 2005 back behind center, or if last years concussed, appendicitised, and generally sub par Ben will make show up again. We also get to see how the team handles with both a new head coach(Mike Tomlin) and a new offensive coordinator(Bruce Arians). With Arians, who was promoted from wide receivers coach, calling the plays, Roethlisberger will likely get more freedom in throwing the ball. We'll see soon enough if that is a good thing.

Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is still around, but defensive captain Joey Porter was released in salary cap move. Mike Tomlin will also add more 4-3 schemes to the defense as they begin the transition away from the Steelers usual 3-4.

It's time to start getting excited. After we see how a couple preseason games go, I'll predict every one of the Steelers regular season games, as well as my picks for the division winners, playoff teams, and eventual Super Bowl Champion. After you have those picks, you can take your life savings, head to Vegas, and bet the exact opposite. You should have enough to retire by next February.