Pre-season predictions are rather silly, aren’t they? I mean really, we haven’t seen any of these teams play and yet we’re all ready to predict who will appear in the Super Bowl. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous, I say.

But damn it they’re fun. You can’t deny that. If we as fans don’t partake in a little pre-season shenanigans then I ask you, what are we doing with our lives?

My regular season and Super Bowl predictions won’t be released until next week, but here’s a little something to whet your appetite in the meantime.

Ten Predictions for the 2011 NFL Season:

1. The Eagles won’t win the Super Bowl.
I’m not a big believer in Michael Vick. I used to be. I used to believe that he could walk on water and was going to lead the Falcons to not one, but about 16 Super Bowls when he was in Atlanta. Then I realized the guy was completely fine with not putting in the work to raise his game to the next level. I realize he was complacent and was fine with being an extraordinary athlete but not a championship-caliber quarterback. I don’t know Michael Vick personally so maybe I have him all wrong. And maybe he really has grown as a player and a person in Philadelphia. Hey, Andy Reid is 10-times the coach Jim Mora was, so maybe all Vick needed was better guidance. That said, I don’t think Vick will win a Super Bowl this season with the Eagles. He’s never done well when the expectations were high and if you want proof of that, look at his 2005 and 2006 seasons in Atlanta. (Pundits were more than willing to hitch their wagon to Vick back then, just as they are now.) There were no expectations for him at the start of last season because it was Kevin Kolb’s team. But now it’s his team and I don’t think he’ll see the Eagles through to the end. This prediction may look foolish for most of the regular season, but let’s see what happens come January and February.

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Every morning I have a routine when I log onto the computer for the day. I read as much NFL content from beat writers, columnists and bloggers that I can, and then I outline story ideas that I want to develop for my own articles.

For a couple of weeks I’ve thought about tackling the Detroit Lions and the possibility that they could contend in 2011. But every time I look down at the Lions on my list of ideas, I bypass them because I believe they’re still a year or two away from competing.

But today, for whatever reason, I felt compelled to write about them. Maybe it was because of their impressive performance against the Patriots on Saturday night or the fact that I’m sick of reading about Peyton Manning’s neck, but today was the day I chose the Lions as a topic. And after getting a shocking phone call from an old friend in Detroit, I’m glad I did.

After graduating from Central Michigan University in 2004, I moved to Detroit and lived there for about four years. During that time, I got a job on the promotions team and as a nights and weekends producer for WDFN Sports Radio AM1130. Passing out free swag to people in bars wasn’t the ideal job for a college graduate, but I felt very fortunate to even have a foot in the door at a sports radio station and was more than happy to do the work.

One of my favorite promotional events that I looked forward to every week during the football season was a Monday evening Lions recap show with WDFN host and MLive.com beat writer Tom “Killer” Kowalski. While driving out to the bar and setting up the show together, on-site engineer Albert Dale and I used to talk about our fantasy teams or football games from the previous weekend. When Killer arrived, he and Albert would often trade friendly barbs and I would try to get both of them to bet me on the Monday Night Football game. (I don’t remember Tom ever partaking in my sharking, but Albert and I always had something insignificant on the line.)

Killer was a smart ass but he was funny and extremely likable. He was also kind and generous, and most importantly he cared about people whether his exterior expression showed it or not. He was also a little quirky and it never ceased to amaze me how the big guy always wore shorts, even during the coldest of Detroit winters. Lion fans didn’t always agree with him, but he had a big following because he often told it like it was and yet, he had a way of providing optimism even in the darkest of times (which have come all too often for Detroit fans). He was also a damn fine reporter and always provided quality content, which isn’t the case for every beat writer around the country.

In the middle of writing today’s column, I listened to a voicemail that Albert left for me on my cell phone and I could tell by his tone that something was wrong. Apparently Tom passed away this morning after his fiancé found him unresponsive in his home. The long-time Lions beat writer was only 51-years-old.

When I called Albert back, we both expressed our shock over the news but eventually started talking about all of the nights spent with Tom putting on his show. When I eventually got off the phone, I looked back at my computer screen and saw the half-finished Lions column that I had started.

Yeah, today is a good day to talk Lions football. This one is for you Killer, may you rest in peace.

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In a radio interview earlier this week, Lions’ linebacker Zack Follett referred to Matthew Stafford as a “china doll” due to the amount of injuries that the quarterback has suffered throughout his brief career.

Quickly after word spread about his comments, Follett issued an apology to Stafford and said that his comments were taken out of context. But instead of leaving it at that, he made a video blaming Satan for the fallout that he’s received.

You can watch his sermon below. (Hat tip to Raw Sports for the video.)

Zack Follett – Response to my comments made from zack follett on Vimeo.

I think it’s great that Follett follows his religious beliefs but he seems to be making a bigger deal out of this situation than he needs to. He apologized to Stafford and explained to him that what he said was taken out of context. That should have been the end of it. But now he goes on this rant about how Satan created this backlash, when it was Follett who started all of this by opening his mouth. Was what Follett said about Stafford the work of Satan, too? I’m confused.

I think Follett needs to see the bigger picture here. He says he was taken out of context and that he spent the majority of the radio interview praising Stafford for being a “baller.” But just because you say 10 positive things about someone doesn’t mean the one negative gets erased. He referred to Stafford as a “china doll” (i.e. fragile, easy to break, etc.), which was a mistake on his part. He’s a seventh round pick who hasn’t done anything thus far in his career. He hasn’t earned the right to say anything negative about one of his teammate (and the comment was negative, I don’t care if he does believe he was taken out of context), nevertheless the face of the franchise.

Next time Zack, just keep your comments positive and move on. That way you don’t have to break out your Jesus armor.

After he was carted off the field strapped to a stretcher following an injury in a game against the Giants earlier this season, one would think that Lions’ linebacker Zack Follett would be sensitive when it came to talking about player injuries. One would think…

When asked what he thinks of Matthew Stafford in a recently interview with ESPN Radio 1430 AM, Follett called his quarterback a “china doll.”

From the Detroit Free Press:

“Stafford, good guy,” Follett said. “He’s a china doll right now. Anytime he gets hit, he goes down. But the kid is — hopefully, it’s just patiently waiting for him, because the kid is an awesome talent. He has a tremendous arm. The throws that he makes during practice when no one can touch him, he looks like an All-American quarterback, but put him in a game, and you hit his shoulder. So hopefully, say a couple prayers, keep him healthy next year, and the Lions can do some damage in the NFC.”

As usual when it comes to controversial comments, I wonder if we’re getting the full context of the interview. If we are, then I wonder why a player (a former seventh round draft pick who hasn’t done squat in the league, no less) who ended the season on IR would throw his quarterback under the bus like that. Did Follett compliment Stafford? Yeah, he basically said that Stafford is an amazing talent and can make all the throws in practice when nobody is trying to defend him. That’s like saying a student is a great test taker when he’s at home and can look up the answers in the back of the book.

That said, it’s not like Follett didn’t speak the truth. Some fans are always saying how they’d wish athletes were more honest and say what’s really on their minds, and that’s what Follett did. Stafford has missed more games (19) than he’s played (13) in his first two NFL seasons, so it’s not a stretch to call him call him injury prone.

But again, if you’re a seventh round draft pick that wasn’t playing very well before you suffered a horrific season-ending injury, then just keep your mouth shut. What has Follett done to earn the right to call Stafford a “china doll?”

This has become a practice in futility.

But let’s get nasty anyway.

Check out Week 9’s Power Rankings

1. New York Giants
Previous Week: 3
Why? Why not? They’re the hottest team in the NFL right now, their quarterback has already proven he can win a Super Bowl, they’re ranked in the top 10 in all major statistical categories outside of turnover margin and Perry Fewell (the best hire of any team this offseason) has the defense playing near the top of its game. I’m not entirely convinced that this is the best team in the league but I like the G-Men a scoch better than I do the Steelers.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers
Previous Week: 2
Had the Steelers put their foot on the Bengals’ neck on Monday night, I would have been more inclined to rank them No. 1. But after they allowed a bad (and they are bad, I don’t care what anyone says) Cincinnati team to get within 10 yards of the potential game-winning score after being up 27-7 early in the fourth, I think I’ll leave the Steelers where they are.

3. Indianapolis Colts
Previous Week: 1
Make no mistake: the Eagles dominated the Colts on Sunday. Peyton Manning made it close at the end but Indy’s defense had its hands full with Michael Vick the entire game. The only reason the Colts scored late in the fourth was because of a ticky-tack hands-to-the-head call on Manning that kept their scoring drive alive. By the letter of the law, it was the right call. But the ref could have easily let the play go.

4. Baltimore Ravens
Previous Week: 6
That was a pretty impressive win on Sunday against a Miami team that was undefeated on the road. The Ravens’ defense looks like it’s starting to figure things out again and it was great to see that Ray Rice was a bigger part of the game plan. What a great matchup we have between the Ravens and Falcons on Thursday night.

5. New York Jets
Previous Week: 5
That was a great come-from-behind win for Rex Ryan’s squad last Sunday in Detroit but this team has looked awfully shaky the past two weeks. A victory this weekend against a surging Browns team would go a long way to settle some doubts.

6. Green Bay Packers
Previous Week: 7
I think the Packers just scored again.

7. Philadelphia Eagles
Previous Week: 8
Michael Vick looks great. He’s poised, confident and is reading defenses better than at any point in his career. He’s the real deal again and this is the best we’ve ever seen him play.

8. Atlanta Falcons
Previous Week: 9
Even though the final score says otherwise, the Falcons were in control of that game last Sunday against the Bucs. That said, they need to figure out a way to limit the big plays or else they’re going to be in trouble in the second half of the season. They have a huge test coming up Thursday night against Baltimore. Beat the Ravens and then we can start talking about this team being elite.

9. New England Patriots
Previous Week: 4
I have to drop them down regardless, but that loss to Cleveland wasn’t completely shocking. The Patriots play the Steelers and Colts over the next two weeks so it appears as though they got caught looking ahead. But give the Browns credit – they put together a great game plan and they executed.

10. New Orleans Saints
Previous Week: 10
What a joke of a second half schedule this team has. After their bye, the Saints host the Seahawks, are at the Cowboys, at the Bengals, and host the Rams. Granted, they end the season at Baltimore and at Atlanta before hosting Tampa Bay in Week 17, but by that time they could be 10-3.

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