09-06-2018, 11:35 AM
'The other day I got an email from one of our editors, the wonderful Bette Marston, reminding me that I needed to make my 2018 NFL season predictions. As I scrambled to pick this year’s playoff teams, I realized picking a Super Bowl LIII champion wasn’t going to be so easy.
Eagles? Patriots? Saints? Vikings? Rams? Jaguars? Steelers?
Going into the season most years, there’s a feeling that a select handful of teams can win it all. On Thursday, ahead of the 2018 NFL season opener between the Eagles and the Falcons, there certainly seems to be more teams than that. To simplify it, I asked myself, which team looked loaded this summer? And after visiting 22 camps and with 24 teams during the preseason, I didn’t have much trouble answering that one: the Vikings.
Minnesota is stacked, and the franchise knows it. When I texted Pro Bowl tight end Kyle Rudolph that I’d picked his team to win it all, he didn’t exactly shrink to the expectation.
“First off, thanks,” Rudolph responded. “Second, I’d say given that we got so close last year, we got a taste of success in January, and this team knows what it’s going to take to get back to that point, and further! Which all starts this week at home against a very talented 49ers team.”
Pressure?
“I don’t think outside pressure or expectations,” Rudolph answered, “will ever be greater than what we put on and have for ourselves.”
So there you have it, folks. Your Super Bowl LIII champions will be the Minnesota Vikings, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers to do it. And so you know, my prediction didn’t elicit the same reaction as Rudolph’s from everyone. One Vikings staffer’s response: “Sh-- LOL.
Side nugget from same article:
Minnesota Vikings: If there are problems here, it’s with depth on the offensive and defensive lines—and two rookies could be a part of the solution. Second-round pick Brian O’Neil (a tackle from Pitt) and fourth-round pick Jalyn Holmes (a defensive lineman from Ohio State) have been given every chance to get in that mix, and both could wind up being important in the fall.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/06/nfl-20...-game-plan
Eagles? Patriots? Saints? Vikings? Rams? Jaguars? Steelers?
Going into the season most years, there’s a feeling that a select handful of teams can win it all. On Thursday, ahead of the 2018 NFL season opener between the Eagles and the Falcons, there certainly seems to be more teams than that. To simplify it, I asked myself, which team looked loaded this summer? And after visiting 22 camps and with 24 teams during the preseason, I didn’t have much trouble answering that one: the Vikings.
Minnesota is stacked, and the franchise knows it. When I texted Pro Bowl tight end Kyle Rudolph that I’d picked his team to win it all, he didn’t exactly shrink to the expectation.
“First off, thanks,” Rudolph responded. “Second, I’d say given that we got so close last year, we got a taste of success in January, and this team knows what it’s going to take to get back to that point, and further! Which all starts this week at home against a very talented 49ers team.”
Pressure?
“I don’t think outside pressure or expectations,” Rudolph answered, “will ever be greater than what we put on and have for ourselves.”
So there you have it, folks. Your Super Bowl LIII champions will be the Minnesota Vikings, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers to do it. And so you know, my prediction didn’t elicit the same reaction as Rudolph’s from everyone. One Vikings staffer’s response: “Sh-- LOL.
Side nugget from same article:
Minnesota Vikings: If there are problems here, it’s with depth on the offensive and defensive lines—and two rookies could be a part of the solution. Second-round pick Brian O’Neil (a tackle from Pitt) and fourth-round pick Jalyn Holmes (a defensive lineman from Ohio State) have been given every chance to get in that mix, and both could wind up being important in the fall.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/06/nfl-20...-game-plan
