It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

One. That would be the number of days we are away from the opening kickoff of the regular football season. The defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants will take on Tony Romo and the "we still have a chance of making it to the Super Bowl because it isn't january yet" Dallas Cowboys. With all of this excitement I have taken it upon myself to do a little predicting at to how this game will end up. Giants take home their first win of the year on the shoulders of Eli Manning but it isn't going to be easy. It is a division rivalry game so added tensions are going to be in the air other than just the opening day jitters that will be happening. Expect to see a lot of undisciplined play as tempers will flare on both sides of the ball. Giants take this game home 24 to 21 as Eli drives the G-Men down the field showing off his skills for the 2 minute drill.

Why stop there with predictions though? Let's take a look into the rest of the games this week and who I feel is going to win.

First let's start with the hometown Indianapolis Colts taking on Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears. The Andrew Luck Era starts off in Indy with a loss unfortunately as I just see too much talent on the Bears side of the ball. Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall are reunited which could be disastrous for the rest of the league seeing as though Marshall is the player who got Jay Cutler overrated in the first place. Bears take this one home 31 to 17.

Next off let's take a look at my personal favorite team the Philadelphia Eagles who travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns and the 28 year old rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden. This is a pretty easy choice for me as the Browns franchise is just in shambles right now. Weeden has looked disastrous this preseason as has the rest of the team. Even though Vick played two preseason games and got hurt in both expect Vick to finish out this game as the talented "Dream Team" (last time you hear me say that) wins this one in blowout fashion 38-3.

Next on to the Detroit Lions led by Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson who will be facing off against the St. Louis Rams. Easy pick in my book once again as the Rams have struggled in the past few seasons and did little to improve this offseason. Stafford continues where he left off last season on route to a 41-14 victory.

Fifth Game of opening weekend takes us to the Miami Dolphins facing off against Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans. Look for the Texans to get the W this week as they just have too much talent on both sides of the ball to lose. The Texans D will shut down the Dolphins as we see our first shut out of the year 27-0.

Looking on to a game that surprisingly should be a close game, Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs had a sub-par year last year after winning the AFC West the year before. Much of that can be attributed to Running Back Jamaal Charles tearing his ACL in week 1. Don't look for that to happen again as the Chiefs stun the Falcons 21-20.

Moving on to the game not to watch of the week we have the Minnesota Vikings taking on the Maurice Jones-Drew-less Jacksonville Jaguars in a game that won't be pretty. While Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert has looked much improved this preseason don't expect too much from either QB in this game. Ultimately in the end I have enough faith in the Jaguars with Adrian Peterson still feeling ill effects from his torn ACL from last season. Jags take this one 14-10.

Now on to a game many fans will want to see, the start of Robert Griffin the 3rd's career as he and the Redskins take on Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Washington had awful quarterback play last season but that's what you should expect with Rex Grossman starting. The Saints were one of the best teams in football last season as we saw Drew Brees break Dan Marino's long standing passing record. However offseason issues saw some key players suspended along with Head Coach Sean Payton for the year. I still see New Orleans spoiling RGIII's rookie debut however in shootout fashion 34-31.

Next up we have an AFC East matchup pitting the New York Jets against the Buffalo Bills. The way the Jets picked up quarterback Tim Tebow this offseason created quite the stir at ESPN, however I don't see a Tebow miracle happening because when it's all said and done somehow Mark Sanchez still has a job. The Bills defeat the Jets 27-9.

On to the Super Bowl losers from last season the New England Patriots as they take on the Kenny Britt-less Tennessee Titans. Losing Britt for this game really hurts the chances for the Titans as he really could've done some damage to the league's worst pass defense team from last season. However, Tom Brady is still Tom Brady at the end of the day and he leads the Patriots onto victory 38-17.

Looking ahead to an interesting game for reasons other than the teams, we have the Seattle Seahawks going up against the Arizona Cardinals. The reason this game is so interesting is because Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson will be starting over Matt Flynn. Also, the Cardinals projected starting quarterback Kevin Kolb will not be starting either as he lost his job to John Skelton. I see a lot of running in this game as both teams have talented running backs in Marshawn Lynch for the Seahawks and Beanie Wells for the Cardinals. 17-14 final score the Cardinals eke out a win over the rookie.

Staying in the sunday afternoon games we have the Green Bay Packers led by "discount double check" Aaron Rodgers against the stout defensive play of the San Francisco 49ers. This will be a game to watch to see if Rodgers and company can put up the big numbers he's accustomed to against the leagues top defense from last year. Packers will start the year off right in a close game 31-27.

On to the last Sunday afternoon game the Carolina Panthers taking on one of the most active teams in free agency this year the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs had a disappointing season last year after quarterback Josh Freeman failed to play to expectations he built from the year before whereas Cam Newton electrified the league with his style of play. Expect this game to be much closer than you would expect from looking at these two teams but I'm feeling the Panthers pull this one out 28-24.

Finally we have reached the final two games of opening weekend the two Monday Night Football games to end off the best weekend in sports. First we have the Cincinatti Bengals taking on the aging Baltimore Ravens. Quite the difference if you look on the ages of players on both teams here as the Bengals are led by second year pro Andy Dalton who will be throwing to another second year pro A.J. Green. They proved last season they are going to be a force to be reckoned with for quite some time now. They will matchup against the Ed Reed and Ray Lewis led defense of the Baltimore Ravens. Ray Lewis is one of the best stories in the league as he is coming back for his 16th professional football season. The way he has been able to play at such a high level for such a long time is astounding. Look for the young guns to win this game though as the Bengals defeat the Ravens 17-6.

After that game concludes on Monday Night Football keep watching as the San Diego Chargers will be taking on the Oakland Raiders. San Diego lost one of their key receivers this offseason in Vincent Jackson while the Raiders are one of the up and coming teams in the National Football League. I like the Raiders chances in this one as they just have too much speed on both sides of the ball. Raiders win 27-17.

In the words of the great Hank Williams Jr., are you ready for some football?