Henry's 2009 NFL Preview

This is an interview with Hen. Let's talk football!

Q. Were you surprised by the outcome of last year's Super Bowl?

A little. The Patriots were favored heavily to win the game, because it would give them an undefeated season.

Q. Why do you think the Giants won?

Well, a lot of really weird plays involving Eli Manning. And their good amount of pressure on Tom Brady.

Q. Any chance the Patriots could go 19-0 this year?

Probably not. They'll probably do well, maybe even win the Super Bowl, but I doubt they'll go 19-0. Especially in a division that now includes Brett Favre.

Q. Let's talk about the Favre deal. Were you surprised he came back?

Well, a little. Although I think it was the wrong thing to do. The Packers had been training Aaron Rodgers as their starter, and then they got distracted.

Q. What makes a football player who's retired change his mind like that?

They think they can't bear it without football.

Q. Final question on Brett: Do you think he makes the Jets a playoff team?

A wild card team at the most, because the Patriots pretty much have that division sealed.

Q. Let's talk about our favorite teams for a moment. Raiders -- how are they going to do this year?

Well, there's no way to know. Their showing against San Francisco in the preseason opener was pretty good, with undrafted back Louis Rankin and backup quarterback Andrew Walter highlighting the game. The Raiders were also helped by four San Francisco turnovers.

Q. On to... the Dolphins! What are their chances?

Chad Pennington is an improvement, but the division has gotten even harder with the addition of Brett Favre. The Dolphins also play the Jets in the season opener.

Q. And now... Seahawks!

They'll have to rely on Maurice Morris and Julius Jones in the running game, because they cut Shaun Alexander, who's now still a free agent. Not many teams are showing interest in him, though, most likely because of his age. At quarterback, Seneca Wallace put up a good showing in the first preseason game.

Q. Is he Seattle's quarterback of the future?

You can't entirely say that, because he's been a career backup for Matt Hasselbeck. But they also occasionally use him as a wide receiver on trick plays.

Q. Trick plays -- I know you love those. Tell me a few of your favorites.

The frequent halfback passes the Chargers use with LaDainian Tomlinson are the most notable of the NFL's trick plays. Can we talk about San Diego for a little while? And Atlanta?

Q. Sure. Your thoughts on the Chargers?

The most notable preseason battle for the Chargers is Jacob Hester competing with Darren Sproles for the #2 running back job. Michael Turner signed a multimillion-dollar contract to start for the Falcons, and he originally held that role.

Billy Volek has proven himself to be a capable backup at quarterback, helping the Chargers beat the Colts in last year's AFC divisional playoffs.

Q. And the Falcons? There's a mess they're trying to clean up.

They lost Alge Crumpler to the Titans (probably on purpose), signed the aforementioned Michael Turner, drafted Matt Ryan, and are pretty much remaking their entire team. Draft pick Matt Ryan still hasn't gotten the starting job from former insurance salesman Chris Redman, who hadn't really played actively since a few seasons with the Ravens and Titans a couple of years ago.

Q. Tell me your picks for each division winner.

In the AFC East, the Patriots will probably win, but the wild card spot is undetermined, with the Jets, Dolphins and Bills all fighting very hard. Keep in mind that there are also only two AFC wild card spots.

In the AFC North, it's a pretty fierce competition between the Browns and Steelers, with the Bengals and Ravens lagging behind. The Bengals are doing better than the Ravens, but they're still not doing as well as the Steelers or Browns.

The AFC South is a really tough division, with the Jaguars, Texans and Titans trying to beat out the Peyton-Manning-deprived Colts. Peyton Manning's injury isn't too serious, but we don't know how long he'll be out. Jim Sorgi is desperately trying to fill his role.

The AFC West is the most uncertain of divisions. The Chargers are doing the best, but the Raiders, Chiefs and Broncos aren't looking too good.

Q. On to the NFC.

The NFC East is, as usual, the hardest division to figure out. The Super Bowl champion Giants return many of their starters, but the Cowboys and Redskins are close behind. As for the Eagles, they're in a strange state at the moment, with all these Donovan McNabb rumors and only an okay 2007 season.

Q. What McNabb rumors?

In the early offseason, everyone thought Donovan McNabb could be traded, or this, or that. These rumors were most likely fueled by A.J. Feeley's near-unseating of the then-undefeated Patriots.

Q. McNabb -- overrated?

I'm not sure. We haven't seen him in a while, because he's rather injury-prone, and I personally didn't get to see his showing in the preseason game, so I have no idea how good he's looking right now.

Can we do the NFC North?

Q. Go ahead.

This is going to be an interesting division. The Packers will have to rely on Aaron Rodgers, the Lions are relying on aging Jon Kitna, the Vikings are hoping they can win the division with inconsistent Tarvaris Jackson, and the Bears still don't know whether Kyle Orton or Rex Grossman can start. In fact, the best performance in the Bears' preseason loss was by backup Caleb Hanie.

In the NFC South, the Falcons are coming off their thorough rebuilding project. And the Panthers are hoping that Jake Delhomme won't get injured. They had to start him, undrafted rookie Matt Moore, David Carr and even Vinny Testaverde. David Carr is now the Giants' backup and Vinny Testaverde is retired.

By the way, Matt Moore was the quarterback of Oregon State when they upset Matt Leinart's USC Trojans.

As for the Saints, they won their preseason opener and are looking pretty good, but that wasn't even a full showing of their team. Marques Colston, one of their best wide receivers, wasn't playing. Mark Brunell, now serving as the New Orleans backup, looked pretty good.

Q. What about bad citizen Jeremy Shockey?

Oh yes, Jeremy Shockey. Hopefully he'll be able to cool down his attitude now that he's in New Orleans. And he didn't even play in the preseason opener.

Finally, the Buccaneers. If they had managed to get Brett Favre, Jeff Garcia would be the Dolphins' quarterback right now and not Chad Pennington. But they have to move on. Jeff Garcia has been plagued by injuries, forcing Luke McCown, brother of Josh McCown (the Dolphins' backup), to start a couple of games. They also have Brian Griese and Josh Johnson, a rookie.

The NFC West. The Cardinals, 49ers and Rams are all trying to look good. The Cardinals are still trying to negotiate with holdout wide receiver Anquan Boldin, one of their best players. As for the Seahawks, the other member of this division, they're the favorite to win it, but they have to overcome the losses of Shaun Alexander and D.J. Hackett, one of their wide receivers.

Oh yeah, they also lost great kicker Josh Brown to the Rams, who needed a kicker because of the retirement of Jeff Wilkins. Now Olindo Mare and Brandon Coutu are competing for their kicking job.

What's next?

Q. Hen predictions! Talk about three rookies who you think will make a difference to their teams this year.

Probably Darren McFadden for the Raiders, Sedrick Ellis for the Saints, and when he gets to start, Matt Ryan.

Q. Surprise team of the year?

Jaguars, maybe? They still have the great running-back tandem of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, plus an improving David Garrard, whose receiving corps is helped by wideouts Jerry Porter and Troy Williamson.

Q. Bust of the year?

Maybe the Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger is injury-prone, and this time there might not be Charlie Batch to help them. They'll need to sign Byron Leftwich, who is coming in for a workout. However, several scouts have said that Byron Leftwich doesn't fit well into teams' offenses. Also, they're under pressure from the Browns, who will easily be able to snatch the division title if they slip up.

Q. Time for Hen's Super Bowl pick! Who will be the Super Bowl teams?

In the AFC, there are always the same competitors, which leads me to believe that the Patriots will most likely be the Super Bowl team. Even if the Jaguars can unseat the Colts to get the division title, they'll probably lose to the Patriots. I also have a dark-horse candidate for the AFC: The Chargers.

In the NFC, it's hard to tell. There are so many competitive teams: Cowboys, Seahawks, Saints, Buccaneers... Redskins and Giants... So I'm not sure.

Q. OK, but I'm going to make you pick: Who will be playing in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa on February 1, 2009, the day after you turn 11?

I'll have to say the Patriots and the Cowboys. This is by no means a good pick, but it's the only thing I can think of.

Q. And the winner?

If those teams went up against each other, it would probably be the Patriots.

Q. There's your pick, folks: The New England Patriots. You heard it here first. Final thought from Hen?

I don't know.

=end of interview=