For starters, two of the league's top young gunslingers have been injured in the Jets' Chad Pennington and Atlanta's Michael Vick. Pennington fractured and dislocated (what a combo) his left wrist and is expected to miss 12 weeks. Vick broke a bone in his leg, which is expected to keep him out of the first four weeks of the season. Taking his place will be former Florida Gator Doug Johnson.
Johnson has done an adequate job so far in the preseason, and with receivers Peerless Price and Brian Finneran — as well as tight end Alge Crumpler — he will have weapons at his disposal. That probably won't be enough against the Cowboys in Week One.
The Cowboys and their fans are riding the wave of Bill Parcell's hiring. In the final game of the preseason, Dallas drubbed the defending AFC champion Raiders, 52-13. In that game, Quincy Carter was 11 for 16 with 239 yards and two touchdowns. In what I expect to be a very good and close game, the Cowboys will ride their emotional high to a 1-0 record. But watch Johnson really start to gel with the offense and be 3-1 when Vick returns.
The Jets on the other hand are trying to figure out how to stay afloat until Pennington comes back around Week 12. The former Marshall standout has already said he thinks he can make it back by Week 10 for the Jets' showdown with the Raiders, but time will tell on that.
On Thursday the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets travel south to battle the Redskins in league's first regular season game. The New Yorkers will try and hammer the ball down Washington's throat with running back Curtis Martin, but if that plan fails they will take to the air with Pennington's sub Vinny Testaverde. Last year Testaverde went 1-3 before turning the offense over to Pennington who went 8-4 from there on out.
The Redskins, on the other hand, will be turning loose an entirely new offense featuring running back Trung Canidate and receiver Laveranues Coles. They join holdovers quarterback Patrick Ramsey and receiver Rod Gardener to form one of the more high-octane offenses in the league. That should be enough to drop the reeling Jets.
Another team greatly affected by an injury is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pro Bowl linebacker Jerry Porter was shot outside a Denver sports bar Saturday and is out indefinitely. Doctors say the injury to his buttocks and thigh is serious but not career-threatening. His absense will be a major hit to what was the best defense in the league last year, but they have enough talent to rank in the top ten of the league. The offense, led by receivers Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward, is still potent. That's a lot more than their first opponent the Baltimore Ravens can say. For that reason, I expect the Steelers to rally along their fallen comrade and defeat their division rival.