Here's to Next year, it's Pats & 'Boys
On day after, NFL sets sights on XLI
After taking this year's big game off, Bill Belichick will win his fourth Super Bowl next season — over Bill Parcells (below).
DETROIT - The NFL becomes a 32-team league again this morning. T.O.'s ego and Brett Favre's future and Chad Pennington's shoulder and the most star-driven draft in two decades with headliners Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Vince Young shove Joey Porter's mouth all the way back to Pittsburgh.
The maneuvering for the Super Bowl in Miami next Feb. 4 begins right now, and the Daily News takes its annual day-after-the-Super Bowl journey into the future. So, here are a few predictions on the way to South Beach:
It will be the Patriots vs. the Cowboys in Super Bowl XLI, Bill Belichick versus Bill Parcells, Tom Brady versus Drew Bledsoe. Parcells and Belichick matching up in the Super Bowl would give the definitive answer to the ultimate question: Who is the better coach? Parcells made it to three Super Bowls, winning two, all with Belichick on his staff, but has never made it without him. Belichick is 3-0 in Super Bowls without Parcells. It would be a dream matchup. They're even talking to each other again after the nasty divorce with the Jets.
I've picked the Colts in the AFC the last two years. That window has closed. The Chargers and Bengals would have been serious considerations, but Drew Brees is coming off a torn labrum in the final game of the season and Carson Palmer tore up his knee in the playoffs. Edgerrin James doesn't think the Colts want him back. He would be the perfect signing for the Patriots.
Parcells developed a pattern in his first two jobs. He won the Super Bowl in his fourth year with the Giants and again four years later. In his fourth year with the Patriots, he went to the Super Bowl. Sadly for the Jets, he quit before his fourth year with them.
But now he's entering Year 4 in Dallas and the 'Boys are ready for a serious Super Bowl run. If Parcells can prevent Drew Bledsoe, entering his 14th year, from making rookie mistakes, he will be the first coach to take three teams to the Super Bowl. The Eagles are not bouncing back so fast, especially with Donovan McNabb still so consumed by all the T.O. issues. Joe Gibbs has put together the most expensive staff in NFL history, but should have spent the money on a quarterback. The Bears don't score enough, the Bucs and Panthers are incomplete teams and the Seahawks may even have to face a division winner in the playoffs next year.
Final Score: Pats 30, 'Boys 20
* THE PLAYOFF TEAMS
2006 Division Winners
NFC East: Cowboys; NFC North: Vikings; NFC South: Panthers; NFC West: Seahawks; AFC East: Patriots; AFC North: Steelers; AFC South: Colts; AFC West: Chargers
2006 Wild-Cards
NFC: Giants, Falcons. AFC: Dolphins, Chiefs
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