roger goodellBefore I delve into the five NFL plots worth pondering over the NFL’s interminable seven month (seven months?) offseason, I’ll offer up my quick Super Bowl thoughts, since I’m sure you’re wondering how I took it. Actually, I’ll put them at the end so as not to clog up TBL’s front page (or put my wounded pride on full display).

1. Lockout? Really, a lockout?: Look, to me the possibility of a lockout is like a fuzzy upper lip on a supermodel. That nagging flaw on an otherwise perfect specimen. But this thing might really happen. I’m not an economics guru, so a lot of this is Klingon to me. I just want to see huge doods crashing into other huge doods making things go bump in the day (or night, whenever applicable). Basically, the league is swimming in money, but the owners aren’t. The players don’t feel as if they are beholden to filling the owners’ depleted coffers. To the number-crunching layman like myself, it seems to boil down to these two grafs featuring players union czar DeMaurice Smith and Lord Goodell, found in Sunday’s New York Times:

“I keep coming back to an economic model in America that is unparalleled,” Smith said. “And that makes it incredibly difficult to then come to players and say, on average, each of you needs to take a $340,000 pay cut to save the National Football League. Tough sell.”

A day after Smith had his say, Goodell talked about the owners’ liability. Since 2006, he said, the N.F.L. has generated $3.6 billion in incremental revenue and additional revenue. Of that, he said, $2.6 billion has gone to players, causing the owners to be $200 million worse off than they were in 2006.

It’s so awesome how the Times still puts the periods between the letters in N-F-L. Professionalism > Profit. Anyway, I hate to quote P Diddy (especialy in 2010 – yeesh), but it really is all about the Benjamins. Unless one side decides to give some up, we really could be facing a 2011 without football. Ugh.

donovan mcnabb looks sad2. The QB Carousel Continues to Spin: The Arizona Cardinals will open the season with a new starting QB. The 49ers might. The Washington Redskins, with newly hired QB guru Mike Shanahan in tow, may begin the season with Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen under center. The Rams are all but locked into A Man Named Suh with the first pick, but with the aging, brittle Marc Bulger as their starter, could they pass up the surefire star for a passer? Will the Bills shove aside the fiscally friendly and media deterrent Trent Edwards for the concrete-footed Mike Vick? And I haven’t even gotten to the Raiders yet. Can they really go into another season with JaMarcus Russell hovering over their franchise like a 400-pound ominous cloud? I just asked a bunch of questions and gave no answers, but there really aren’t any at this point. If I had to guess, I’d say Matt Leinart leads the Cards to another 9-7, NFC West-winning season, the 49ers go .500 with Alex Smith (again), the Skins take Bradford, the Rams make the smart pick (!) in Suh, the Bills trade for Kevin Kolb in a semi-shocker and the Raiders cut Russell prior to training camp.

brett favre's wife3. Favre … is He Really Done?: You’ve probably seen the pictures of Favre’s battered body following the Vikings’ NFC Championship loss. The guy’s 40 years old. He has a history of painkiller addiction. He’s thrown back-breaking interceptions in title games in two of his past three seasons. Sooner or later, he’s going to have to stop chasing this white elephant known as a second Super Bowl title. His place as one of the league’s all-time top 10 QB’s is secure. He’s the QB version of Emmitt Smith. The question is, as always, can he live with that? Check back in August. Or September.

tom brady and gisele4. Can the Pats and Steelers Bounce Back?: The Flying Elvii and the Sixburghers won five titles in the Aughts, and with the Colts’ loss Sunday cemented their claims as the two greatest teams of the just-completed decade. Yet, both would probably like to forget 2009. The Patriots opened the season as the Vegas favorites to win Super Bowl XLII and were blown out by the Ravens in the opening round of the playoffs. The Steelers missed the playoffs altogether. Since the close of the 2008 season, the Patriots signed a flurry of free agents (Shawn Springs, Fred Taylor, etc.) who didn’t work out, lost Wes Welker to a knee injury that may jeopardize his 2010 season status and saw the Jets rise up as a legitimate AFC East title threat. They have a slew of early-round selections in the upcoming draft with which to replenish their overhauled defense. Will they? Based on Belichick’s recent draft record…maybe. Saying maybe is cheating, of course, but for every Sebastian Vollmer there’s a Bradon Meriweather. The Steelers, meanwhile, still have Big Ben, still have a granite-strong organization, should have a healthy Troy Polamalu and their AFC North rivals have some glaring question marks (Ed Reed’s retirement? Carson Palmer’s…everything?). They’ll be back, don’t wory. I know a guy. Pssst … rings.

5. Who Dat Gonna Beat Dem Saints?: Obviously, the Saints will go into the 2010 season as the favorites. With Brees and his group of YAC-collecting receivers back (minus maybe Reggie Bush), Favre again wafflng on a return, the Cowboys still coached by Wade Phillips and the Packers trying to get younger while getting older at key spots, the NFC appears to be theirs. In the AFC, it’s the same old story. Colts. Patriots. Steelers. Chargers. One of them will be in the Super Bowl. Chances are, they’ll be playing the Saints. I pity the team that draws them.

Okay, the Colts loss: I’m okay with it. They didn’t deserve it. They got up early, their defense made a couple stops and then the Colts played Martyball. The Saints are too good to be employing Martyball. The Colts had the ball just eight times, including a throwaway series of runs near the end of the first half. On six of those possessions they ran at least eight plays, yet scored only 17 points. They settled for a field goal once, attempted an unmakeable field goal once, turned it over via an interception once and then again on downs. Sean Payton essentially stole two Colt possessions with his fourth down call at the goaline late in the second quarter and again with the onside kick call to start the second half. Great coaching. Jim Caldwell? Let’s just say geriatric kickers shouldn’t be attempting 51-yard field goals. For rational football fans, this loss does nothing to Manning’s legacy. For sports talk radio hosts and bastions of the RINGS!!! argument, this is a day to celebrate. Oh well, for now I’ll just have to put my football faith in East Dillon.