The 2013 NFL season is heading towards its big kickoff with the Baltimore Ravens leading the league into action this Thursday night/Friday morning Irish time and Channel 4's NFL anchor Mike Carlson joined Ger earlier this evening to look ahead to the big kick off.
Carlson began the interview by pointing out that he it should a close season this year: “It looks like a really good season. I seem to say every year that it’s a difficult season to pick but this one seems worse than usual.”
Last year's champions don't look quite as good this time around following their huge victory in the Superbowl last February and Carlson attributes that to the loss of one key player, Ray Lewis.
“I think watching the Ravens last year, Ray Lewis made that team better simply by being there. He certainly helped in getting people in the right places. The Ravens peaked at the right time, they go the big plays when they needed them and won a couple of tight games, including the Superbowl. I think they will be hard pressed to repeat that kind of perfect storm of good luck. I also think the loss of Ray Lewis will be felt, certainly in the beginning, because it will be really hard simply to replace that presence in the defence. He was the kind of player who made other players better simply by the force of his personality.”
The NFL is such a well-run, competitive league that the loss of one player can make that big of a difference. That closeness within the league and the ability of teams to improve year on year and catch up on any single side that might look like getting too good is one of the cornerstones of the NFL and keeps fans coming back every year.
“Consistency, in terms of winning 11 or more games or winning your division year in or year out is something a few teams have been able to achieve over a decade at a time. One of my favourite things in the game is watching how those teams do it but every year new teams come along. Other teams will get old or will just stop functioning," says Carlson.
Attempting to pick who will be in the Superbowl this season is alot more difficult than it would be in soccer or gaelic as so many teams are evenly matched this season.
Carlson says he "would probably pick the Niners to get there again. Although I think the San Francisco-Seattle games are going to be among the best ones of the season. I’m not sure Green Bay will even get out of their division for various reasons . The AFC is a real mess and Denver are probably justifiably the favourites. The Ravens I don’t think will get the luck needed to get through and the Steelers don’t look as strong.”
Even for the experts it is nearly impossible to pick one side as a stand out potential champion. For what it's worth I am going with the Seattle Seahawks but such is the joy of an NFL debate that five different people would have an argument for five different teams.
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