Pre-season Premonitions

Rumor is that you can't tell anything from the pre-season, that it's meaningless. That is largely true. Over the past three seasons the Detroit Lions have won significantly more pre-season games than games that mattered. That being said, some things I've noticed watching the third slate of games this past week.

The Carolina Panthers are not just terrible, they're boring. They found the end zone for the first time in the fourth quarter of the third pre-season game... on a kick return. The offense still has no idea what it feels like to cross the goal line. Their troubles stem from the fact that they don't seem to have a quarterback capable of completing a pass to a receiver. Granted, this is a significant improvement over last season when they had a quarterback intent of completing passes to opposing defensive backs. But, for an offense that insists on running every first and second down, inevitably leaving them stuck in third-and-long, failure to complete passes results in a very long afternoon for the defense, and a very lonely single digit up on the scoreboard. Results of the first 12 Carolina drives vs. Tennessee: 9 punts, 3 field goals. If they extend this ineptitude into the season they could easily challenge Tampa for last place in the division.

The Lions could easily finish the season ahead of the Bears. That says more about the Bears than it does about the Lions.

If your quarterbacks' names are Matt Leinart and Derek Anderson, do you even have a quarterback?

Fortunately for the Chargers, Ryan Matthews looks like a younger version of LaDanian Tomlinson.

Fortunately for the Jets, LaDanian Tomlinson looks like a younger version of LaDanian Tomlinson. Unfortunately, Mark Sanchez isn't looking anything like Joe Namath.

If the Green Bay Packers could figure out how to stop opposing teams from putting up 30 points against them every game, they could rival the 2007 Patriots in both victories and points scored. They haven't shown any ability to run the football, but it doesn't seem to matter. Aaron Rodgers can neither be stopped, nor contained. He's getting rid of the ball quicker, and not being crushed by defensive linemen, and the results have been impressive.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, have looked a lot like the Redskins, with Tony Romo doing his best Jason Campbell impression. The Dallas offense has been underwhelming, finishing too many games in the single digits. I suspect this is happening only because Romo captains my fantasy football team this year.

I don't know what to make of the Cincinnati Bengals. In the third pre-season game, Carson Palmer threw for 95 yards and 2 touchdowns. What NFL-caliber quarterback throws for only 95-yards over three quarters? Baltimore is now the class of that division, and both Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are going to have a difficult time keeping pace.

It is incredibly difficult to repeat as champion in the National Football League. But if the pre-season were the playoffs, the Saints would be returning to the Super Bowl. The defense is still porous, but, like last season, the secondary is creating turnovers, and unlike last season, the defensive front is getting to the quarterback. A lesser signal caller than Philip Rivers would have been sacked about a dozen times during that game. Brees is as sharp as ever, and his receivers look bigger, stronger and faster than they were last year. Reggie Bush seems to have discovered that the shortest way to the end zone is running right up the middle, and Pierre Thomas and some dude named Chris Ivory are raising specters of one Deuce McAllister in his prime. Barring significant injury, I think we'll see another NFC title game played in the Big Easy.