I hate the pre-season.  We haven’t had an opening kickoff and ESPN, CBS Sportsline and all of the other media outlets have already started to pontificate as to who the best team will be.

Unamimously, it seems, the Patriots are that team.  Just read this puff-piece the clowns at the Worldwide Bleeder wrote about their beloved New England Patriots:

Maybe it’s the acquisition of Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas and others in a surprisingly active offseason. Maybe it’s the proven leadership of Tom Brady. Or maybe it’s just that the Patriots are due, having failed to reach the Super Bowl the past two seasons, an eternity in the Bill Belichick era.

No matter the reason, the Patriots will enter 2007 wearing the label as the NFL’s best team. In the balloting for our preseason power rankings, each of the voters put the Pats atop his respective list, a clear indication that mercurial Moss is expected to toe the line (or at least minimize his distractions) under Belichick.

Aw.  How touching!

I can’t believe I’m about to do this… but shouldn’t the Colts be the #1 team?  I mean, shit, they just came off winning the freakin’ Super Bowl.  Every time I’ve ever seen power rankings before a season starts, it’s the champs on top until someone can knock them off.  As much as it pains me to say it, the Colts should be #1.  The Patriots should be #2.  Once the season starts, if ESPN, CBS Sportsline, Scouts, Fox Sports, et cetera want to crown the Patriots the best team in the known universe, that’s fine.

But at least show a little respect to the champs.

Anyway, I digress.  I just needed to get that off my chest.  Here’s what ESPN had to say about the Ravens:

Besides having younger legs at RB (Willis McGahee), the Ravens have loads of experience. But the flip side of being a veteran team is being an injury-prone one. Which way that pendulum swings might determine their fate.

I can’t really argue with that.  However, it’s worth nothing that the Ravens have so much depth it’s not even funny.  Should injury hit… Next Man Up!