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February 10^th, 2018 -  After a one week postponement, the 2018 Super Bowl was finally played, (on a Saturday night, no less because a Tractor Pull scheduled for Sunday refused to be moved) and it was the MVP Runner Up Jameis Winston who outdueled NFL MVP Derek Carr.  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a rare Super Bowl rematch over the Oakland Raiders 45 – 41.  Tampa Bay, already having missed 3 field goals on the day, passed on a game tying field goal that actually would have been shorter than an old extra point and Doug Martin pounded it in from the one to gain the victory with one second on the clock.

Minnesotans who had successfully delayed the game with their “Minnesotans Matter” marches and boycotts in protest of their portrayal on the TV show “Fargo” finally reached a truce to allow the game to be played.  It was the FX channel’s agreement to produce a rebuttal show called “Juicy Lucy” showing the positive aspects of Minnesotans that broke the ice (and there was plenty of it around the stadium as the sudden advent of “global cooling” had temperatures under zero outside.) 

After the game, Roger Goodell, who had been the last person on the planet to realize the Super Bowl should be played on Saturday night, admitted that it was all "cool."

The highest scoring game in Super Bowl history was a complete surprise after a low scoring NFL regular season.  It set records that will probably never be broken for offense, including the amazing absence of a single punt.  The explosion came as the NFL seems to be leaning toward banning the football helmet completely next year, in an effort to cut down on concussions.

So that’s how this season will end, and once again nobody will remember my astute prognostication.  Most play it safe and say just put New England in there.  Not me.  I say Tampa upsets Green in the NFC Championship, and Oakland knocks off Tennessee in the AFC.  Noticed how I just saved some “bays.”

What about the Saints?  They’re more unpredictable than a hurricane trajectory.  The Saints fans have high hopes because the defense seems to be improving.  We’ll know for sure by Monday night at midnight, but my guess is that Dennis Allen has the defense moving up to a middle tier defense.  Even more encouraging is the apparent commitment to the running game with the addition of Adrian Peterson.  He got the Saints to one Super Bowl, and maybe he can do it again.  The rookie Alvin Kamara, who pronounces his name differently from the way his mother does, and appears to be risking a significant nose injury with that piercing he sports, looks like a great third wheel, and I boldly predict that the Saints coaches will see what the fans saw, and Adam Bighill will be the starting middle linebacker by game 8.  If the running game can keep the defense off the field, Drew Brees is still Drew Brees, and they don’t dig themselves the early season hole they have in the last few years maybe they can leapfrog the Haunted/Hated Falcons and finish second in the division.  I think the Buccaneers are going to be the surprise team in the NFL this year, despite the “Hard Knocks” curse, and take the division, but I also have no luck at predicting hurricane paths.

I’m thinking 9-7.  What are you thinking?