1. The NFL's new rules cracking down on physical cornerbacks will be a thing of the past by midseason. Its a great effort, especially after the Patriots manhandled the Colts receivers in the playoffs, but do we really believe that the officials will enforce it strongly enough that it makes a huge difference?

2. Jamal Lewis and LaDanian Tomlinson will account for more than half of the league's 200 yard rushing games this year, if not all of them. There just isn't another back in the league close to the big game capabilities of Lewis and LT.

3. Ray Lewis will break the Madden jinx. Its hard to really judge a season for a linebacker to begin with, so as long as he stays healthy the jinx will be broken. Its just too hard to imagine Lewis's skills slipping enough this year that Madden gets blamed.

4. Kellen Winslow Jr. will get into at least 1 fight. He already logged his first fight in his first preseason game, but we're starting count once he makes his official debut. He could lead the league in this category.

5. The hype around Eli Manning will die down as soon as he gets named the starter and the Giants lose his first 3 or 4 games and he throws twice as many interceptions as touchdowns. He's simply not ready to start in the NFL. Even his brother led the league in interceptions his rookie season.

6. Dave Wannstedt will lose his job by the end of the season, all thanks to Ricky Williams.

7. Keyshawn Johnson will mouth off to Bill Parcells and start a midseason controversy that gets completely blown out of proportion by the media. Jerry Jones will step in and say everything is fine with his coach and player and the media will overreact to this as well. All is fine though, Dallas continues to win, making a run at the playoffs and Keyshawn takes some advice from Terry Glenn and just shuts up plays for the Tuna

8. The Detroit Lions win their first road game since George W. Bush was elected president.

9. Joe Gibbs's return is deemed a success by everyone except Redskin fans. They want a playoff spot, if not a Super Bowl win and it won't happen. If they've got any insight at all they'll realize that no matter when happens this year they're closer to winning than they were with Spurrier.

10. Dick Vermeil will cry. (hey, we had to make sure we at least get 1 out of 10 right.)

(just one of the many emotions we can expect for Vermeil in '04)