Both ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated have the Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins predicted to finish last in their respective divisions. Atlanta also sits comfortably at the bottom off ESPN.com’s Power Rankings — 32nd out of 32 teams — two spots below Miami and eight spots behind Chicago.
But that didn’t stop NBC NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth from sticking up for all three teams in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
“I think the Atlanta Falcons, they’re not going to be an embarrassment,” said Collinsworth. “They’re a professional-looking bunch, and [rookie quarterback Matt] Ryan I think is going to be able to play.”
Collinsworth also congratulated the Dolphins for daring to stay away from using amateur players.
“Chad Pennington is a manager of the game, and he’s a professional quarterback,” Collinsworth asserted. “They have not had a professional quarterback play down there for the past two, three, four, years at least.”
And nevermind the Super Bowl favorite Minnesota Vikings — Collinsworth likes the Monsters of the Midway.
“I could be dead wrong,” he said. “But I think [quarterback Kyle] Orton’s going to give the Bears an up tick.”
He said it. Not us.
