reality of football
 

injuries.......they make or break the season....though they are hard to except, we can't stop em.....i remember watching duece touch the ball for the first time, ( believe it was against atlanta) and 40 or 50 yds later, he was in the endzone. i remember staring at the screen going, whoa! fu#king whoa!!!!!! what do we have here? i wanna see more of this, much more......and he did not let me down......what i see in duece is a larger e. smith. the elusiveness, speed, and power to score everytime he touches the ball......
smith in my opinion, was one of the better, if not the best runner, to play through injuries and still have the respect of defenses....
i see some of this in duece.........in fact, i see a lot of it on the offensive side of the ball....
i believe we now have enough good players on the offensive side to continue to score and stay in a game despite injuries.....
we may not be the defensive unit we'd like to be, but what i like is the youth movement that has begun. in most cases, you can always bounce back from injuries more so when you're young than when you're older. many will argue it won't matter if you tear ligaments, and i agree, but general nagging injuries are usuallly overcome quicker when you're younger, (my opinion)....this is a plus defensively to me because with the addition of a few more players i feel we may have enough to keep us in the game defensively as well as offensively....though we may lack experience in some areas, i am very optimistic about our chances going into the season. come on august...smitty

reality of football
 

I\'d like to add in a little luck as well. An NFL season is too deeply involved to pin point all of the factors involved. But if I had to pick one, I\'d agree with injuries being the most important.

I can only read your takes about Duece, we are clearly lacking in the RB department. We can only go up; from being down all of last season, one would hope?

Even still, the excitement you have is felt across every fan of their team the root for.

reality of football
 

I remember the year Rickey was traded Haz said they were \"gonna address the offense and get faster and stronger\". Well in most experts opinions it worked. While YPG was below average, our scoring went through the roof.

Now Haz has said the same thing this offseason. He\'s \"gonna address the defense and get faster and stronger\". If he has as much success on defensive upgades as he did on offense, we should be in great shape.

17 days, 2 hours.

reality of football
 

I tend to agree with everything ssmity said.

Not only from a Saints perspective but from anyone\'s perspective that follows football, we probably have the best special teams in the league and one of the best offenses.

Defense is suspect, I must admit. We brought in a lot of new faces and speed on the defensive side of the ball. I\'m confident that we will be much better on defense though. But what fan doesn\'t feel his team will be improved, while I know there are people in the world that wake up and think the world is plotting against them.

In todays NFL you will not make a living predicting who will end up at the Big Dance, although I hear the Saints have learned a few new dancing steps.

reality of football
 

Do you really feel Arizona fans are thinking, \"this is our year\"?

reality of football
 

ABSOLUTELY.... There\'s some guy(s) with a BIG RED bird mascot on his head, just picked up his new Emmitt jersey and forked over the cash for his DTV subscription or season tickets.....

The NFL is the only sport that come season kickoff, up til about week 4 or 5; that eveyone has a legitimate shot. Unlike that of the others......

reality of football
 

Yeah, I agree Buc. I said the same thing before and everyone freaked out on me.

I think if fans don\'t feel their team has a chance to go to the Superbowl every year those are the same people whos parents didn\'t read them \" The little engine that could\".

[Edited on 9/7/2003 by BillyCarpenter1]

reality of football
 

I think if you polled 1000 Arizona fans (if there are 1000) about 800 would say 8-8 at best.

reality of football
 

Yeah, and I bet you if you polled 1000 Patriots fans at the begining of the year when they won the superbowl, you would have gotten the same results.

Everyone has a realistic chance in the NFL today.

Everyone might not have the same odds but they do have a realistic chance.

I look at football and life in general as an optimistic person.

Would I put money and say that that the Cardinals are going to do it. NO!!

If I were a Cardinals fan, I have a big red bird on the top of my head too.