Giants, Steelers, Patriots? Who Will Be Next Years Champ?

As we all know by now we have crowed our Super Bowl 43 champion the Pittsburgh Steelers. And last year it was the New York Giants. So we are moving on to the next question. Who will hold the trophy next year?

The early favorites are of course the Steelers right now favored at 7-1 odds. Then it's the Pats at 8-1 and the Giants, Cowboys and Colts at 10-1. These could be any years odds as these teams always seem to be sitting on top. But there are huge questions with each and every one of these teams.

The Steelers obviously coming off the Super Bowl win are a good early favorite but some major questions are there. Willie Parker, Hines Ward and Heath Miller are some of their big time free agents. Willie could probably get re-signed and probably will. If they bring back all three then they will be in good shape and they could stay favorite to win at the start of the season.

The Patriots will be one of the interesting cases. A team that should have made the playoffs but got cheated out by the NFL playoff system they will surely be looking for revenge. They are a great team and don't miss the playoffs often. Tom Brady will be coming off surgery and it is a big question mark if he will be good. But if Brady does have trouble being effective after surgery they always have Matt Cassel to turn to. I think the Pats are in good shape.

The Giants are another interesting team. One year removed from their amazing championship they have some big things to look at in the offseason. They need to see how things unfold with wide receiver Plaxico Burress and if he doesn't get sentenced to jail time I could see them picking him back up and being in good shape again. A big deal if Plax doesn't re-sign is WR Amani Toomer. For sentimental sake I would love to see Amani come back and play another season with us but I am not so sure if that will happen.

Toomer criticized Tom Coughlin and he is getting old. Another smaller thing is the play of Eli Manning. I will be watching the Pro bowl Sunday to see how he looks. He is a good QB but the way he finished the season makes me think that this year could be a disaster and Eli could go back to his former self.

The Cowboys. The soap opera of the NFL are coming off a disappointing season where they where a favorite to win the Super Bowl and still had a chance at the end of the season until getting blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles. There have been rumors about Terrell Owens getting traded by the Cowboys which is very realistic and possible. If this took place it could have the same impact as Randy Moss going to the Patriots. Moss and Owens are both great, dynamic receivers but they both are locker room disturbances. The Boys are in good shape but you never know what will happen in the wild NFC East.

The Colts are coming off and up and down season. They started off shaky along with shaky play by star quarterback Peyton Manning. But the team rebounded, won nine games in a row at the end and Peyton Manning ended up as MVP of the league. After all this and a playoff loss to the Chargers the Colts head coach Tony Dungy retired leaving the job for Jim Caldwell. This season we saw many rookie coaches such as Jim Harbaugh and Mike Smith suceed and make the playoffs which I think is very possible for Caldwell. But Super Bowl? I don't like their chances.

All this being said these Super Bowl odds don't always mean everything. The Giants and Pats were favored to win Super Bowl 43 but obviously that didn't happen. The Steelers weren't to high or low but the Cards odds at winning weren't very good. No one expected them to even make the playoffs.

All of this being said these are my early favorite's and a sleeper to win Super Bowl 44 in Miami.

My favorite: I would love to think that the Giants would be my favorite to win next year but they have way to many questions surrounding the team. That being said my early pick for Super Bowl 44 is the New England Patriots. Why? Because the Pats could have done it this year if they had Tom Brady. Brady is that important to the team. Like I said earlier Brady is coming off surgery and it is a big question mark on his health but I think he will come back and be just fine. Early reports are saying that Brady is throwing fine and he should be able to go just fine for next season. We saw what they could do this year without Brady and what they did last year with Brady. This is a good team without him. With him they are great. Yes, Tom Brady is that good.

My sleeper pick: Now this team may not be a big time sleeper but I don't think they are favored. As much as it pains me to say this my sleeper pick right now is the Philadelphia Eagles. This year at the end of the season the Eagles caught fire and snuck into the playoffs. Next year they will be a different team. Right now they are looking like the favorites to pick up free agent wide receiver TJ Houshmanzadeh which would be a huge pickup. The Eagles always have a strong defense and their QB play is average and after making the NFC championship game I wouldn't be surprised to see them make it that extra step. They are always lacking a good WR and last time they had one was when T.O was there. Now they have DeSean Jackson who was a big part of their game this year and if they brought in Housh they would have a great 1-2 punch. Houshmanzadeh has always played behind Chad Ocho Cinco and now he would get the chance to be the number 1 receiver.