The 2008 NFL Super Bowl XLIII Contenders. Which Teams Could Be Playing in Tampa?

Daniel Seneriz by Correspondent Written on July 22, 2008
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Year in and Year out, the NFL dominates the American sporting scene.  It is truly an American sport.  With training camps opening up all over the NFL, every team has one goal: Win the Championship.  We take a look at this year's crop of contenders to hoist the Lombardi Trophy come February 2009.

With perennial favorites like New England and Indianapolis, we look at others that may be in the running as well.

So sit back and relax, grab you some T.O. popcorn as we take a look, in no particular order, at some of the 2008 contenders.

 

Indianapolis Colts Let me know when to stop.............Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders..........

New England Patriots Although they have questions with their secondary, having Tom Brady under center, and 6'4" Randy Moss out jumping 5'9" corner backs, you can't go wrong.

New York Giants:

The defending champs earn a free pass just because they are the defending champs.  But with questions surrounding the team such as Michael Strahan, we wonder how this team defends its title with one of its defensive mainstays hitting golf balls instead of Quarterbacks.  Forget Jeremy Shockey being gone.  This team went 5-1 without Shockey, most of them against top talent and on the road, and went 9-5 with him.  This is now Eli's team and we we will all watch in anticipation to see how this team does in defending its title.

Dallas Cowboys

Seems to be that since the "Romo" era began, people have jumped on the bandwagon that is the Dallas Cowboys.  Sure they have Romo, Barber, T.O. and a stout defense, but how many playoff games has this current group of "America's Team" won?  Zero.  Winning zero playoff games means zero Superbowl trips.  However there was a time that the great Peyton Manning couldn't win the "Big Game", and by all means Romo is no Manning.  Romo has had a few years of experience under his belt, now its time for him and the 'boys to make that run.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Jack Del Rio made a bold move last year by cutting one time first round pick/bust/out of the league, Byron Leftwich in favor of fourth round selection, David Garrard.  Seems to be that the gamble has paid off in the short term.  Garrard is good, but can we really base their future off of one year? Tommy Maddox anyone?  This off season Jacksonville rewarded Garrard with a long term contract.  With a stout running game, solid defense, Jacksonville has all the tools to make it far into to January.  So long that our top two contenders don't come up on their playoff schedule.

 

New Orleans Saints

Two seasons ago, New Orleans went on a magical run en-route to an NFC Championship date with the Chicago Bears.  Last year injuries riddled this team to a 7-9 record and third place finish in the NFC South.  So why would we put them as one of the Superbowl 43 favorites?  All you have to do is look at the Superbowl 42 winner to determine your answer.  New Orleans has made some great off season pickups with players like Jeremy Shockey and Jonathan Vilma.  They, along with some other acquisitions, should help the team make a strong push toward Tampa in a wide open NFC.  With a solid offense, the question remains in New Orleans comes back to defense.  Last year their secondary consistently got burned by opposing offenses.  But with the NFC lacking some of the offensive firepower the AFC holds, New Orleans could still be playing come February.

San Diego Chargers:

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written on July 22, 2008 Preview/Prediction

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