It’s the early odds on team’s chances to make the Super Bowl. What are your team’s chances? Just look below. My team, the Falcons, well, they’re pretty much as long a shot as there is, and at 100-1, I think that’s kind of unfair (this one should be somewhere in the thousands or millions). Pats at 7-2? Chargers at 7-1? I like that action. . .

Arizona Cardinals 50 - 1
Atlanta Falcons 100 - 1
Baltimore Ravens 75 - 1
Buffalo Bills 50 - 1
Carolina Panthers 40 - 1
Chicago Bears 35 - 1
Cincinnati Bengals 60 - 1
Cleveland Browns 25 - 1
Dallas Cowboys 6 - 1
Denver Broncos 50 - 1
Detroit Lions 80 - 1
Green Bay Packers 25 - 1
Houston Texans 60 - 1
Indianapolis Colts 7 - 1
Jacksonville Jaguars 12 - 1
Kansas City Chiefs 100 - 1
Miami Dolphins 100 - 1
Minnesota Vikings 18 - 1
New England Patriots 7 - 2
New Orleans Saints 25 - 1
New York Giants 15 - 1
New York Jets 35 - 1
Oakland Raiders 50 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles 20 - 1
Pittsburgh Steelers 15 - 1
Saint Louis Rams 75 - 1
San Diego Chargers 7 - 1
San Francisco 49ers 80 - 1
Seattle Seahawks 25 - 1
Tampa Bay Buccanneers 40 - 1
Tennessee Titans 40 - 1
Washington Redskins 50 - 1

There’s never enough Madden 09 previews, and with that said, I present you with yet another. As long as these things keep popping out, I’m going ot keep showing them.

I posted the original trailer, but this one seems to be the actual gameplay, which is so much more revealing than the closeups that come out at first. Enjoy.

Here’s a look at Madden 09, which features Brett Favre on the cover, which is probably bad for Brett. Before, Madden only ruined a person’s statistics. Now, it’s gonna mess up sonmeone’s fishing trip on a nice Saturday.

The day after the draft, and it’s time to see who the winners and losers are. I’m not one who believes you can pick winners and losers the day later — I think it takes two years, not three, like most of the experts say to see who really won — but with that said, I will say this: Tennessee, m’friends, you were losers. They drafted Chris Johnson in the first round, a halfback who’s fast, and that’s about it. In the fourth round, they drafted William Hayes, who wasn’t a player expected to be picked in the full seven rounds.

Aw, such is life; we’ll know more of who won and who lost when the season starts, but for now I cling to the hope that Matt Ryan’s a combination of Michael Vick (without the animal abuse, of course), Brett Favre (without the interceptions, of course), Tom Brady (without being a dick, of course), Dan Marino (without the anger, of course), and Peyton Manning (without being a, you know, a Manning, of course).

The draft is pretty much over, at least anything important, but I guess I should at least make some sort of comments on the first ten picks. They were as follows:

1. Miami, Jake Long: We knew this pick a week ago, and it’ll probably be the safest of this draft. You need a tackle to anchor the line, and getting one that’s 6′7″ and 317 pounds is a solid way to start.

2. St. Louis, Chris Long: Son of Howie; long, athletic guy. The Rams needed help on defense, and he’ll be plugged in there immediately. I was a little surprised, though, that they passed on Dorsey.

3. Atlanta, Matt Ryan: Questionable pick. Dorsey was on the board. Good quarterbacks can definitely be gotten in the later rounds. That said, there’s no great QB’s coming out in next year’s draft, so this may have been their only option.

4. Oakland, Darren McFadden: Surprised? Not if you know Al Davis, who loves speed, doesn’t care about character, and wants a big name playing for his organization.

5. Kansas City, Glenn Dorsey: He’s a steal at the fifth pick. The Chiefs have depth at DT, and it wasn’t their biggest need, but you can’t pass up on what’s probably the best player in the draft when he slips to No. 5.

6. New York Jets, Vernon Gholston: I’m used to hearing Jets fans boo when they announce their selection, but this name brought only cheers. He’s a freak of a talent, but he’s going to have to apply it to the field; if you look at his stats in college, they’re not all that remarkable, but he should fit in well in a 3-4 defensive scheme.

7. New Orleans, Sedrick Ellis: He was the best defensive tackle after Dorsey, and some think he’ll be a better pro. At any rate, New Orleans needed help on their line, and they got it.

8. Jacksonville, Derrick Harvey: They traded up, gave up a lot, and at the eight spot maybe made the biggest reach in this draft. Derrick Harvey played one great game against Ohio State two years ago, but has been a sub-par defensive end otherwise.

9. Cincinnati, Keith Rivers: They need to start going after guys that can affect a locker-room in a positive way, and they did that with this pick. Rivers may not be an athletic freak, but he’s a smart player on and off the field.

10. New England, Jerod Mayo: Good pick. He’s smart, and he’ll fit right in with New England, who loves players with high football intelligence. He’s got a ton of up-side, and though a little small, he’s very explosive.

It’s hard waiting for the football season, given that it’s baseball and that’s it for quite a while, but the NFL does do whatever the NFL can do to try and pass time. They have a combine, they have a draft and, as little as it may seem, they’ve got the releasing of the NFL schedules (not to mention fantasy drafts, which are always nice). The schedules were released today, and while I won’t go through each game, I will go through some games that are sure to be some fun to watch this year.

Sept. 4
Washington Redskins @ New York Giants
-Super Bowl Champs have a history of sliding off the year after. We’ll get a good idea in week one how New York will handle the pressure of being a Champ.

Sept. 7
Kansas City @ New England
-Wonder what the spread will be for week 1? Remeber: Last year, for the first eight weeks, the Pats covered every Sunday. Vegas finally adjusted and they wore down. Like I said last year, I’ll say it for this year: Pound that ATM until they fail you. Pound it.

Sept. 14
San Diego @ Denver
-Remember Philip Rivers, Jay?

Sept. 21
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis
-The Colts will win, they always do against the Jags, but these matchups are always close.

Sept. 28
Cleveland @ Cincinnati
-Let’s see if one of these defenses can hold the other to under 40 points.

Sept. 29
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
-It’s a fun rivalry, and based on the other MNF games leading up, it’ll be the best of the first five.

Oct. 5
Pittsburgh @ Jacksonville
-Last year, Pittsburgh was thought to be one of the best in the AFC, and then Jacksonville steamrolled them at home, then did it again in the playoffs. The Steelers should have a sour taste in their mouths, and will hopefully have some kind of plan to stop that Jaguars running game.

Oct. 12
New England @ San Diego
-Let’s hope a Super Bowl berth isn’t on the line and LT doesn’t have a stubbed toe. Let’s also hope Tom Brady throws to Wes Welker more than he does Antonio Cromartie, who terrorized him in the AFC Championship.

Oct. 19
Tennessee @ Kansas City
-Around this time, you’ll hear fans saying V-Young should be benched. Mark my words.

Oct. 26
Cleveland @ Jacksonville
-A strong defense and strong running game vs. no defense but one ridiculous passing game. Makes for a fun matchup.

Nov. 2
New England @ Indianapolis
-May want to mark this one on the calendar. ESPN is licking their chops for this Sunday Night game.

Nov. 8
New Orleans @ Atlanta
-Just kidding.

Nov. 16
Philadelphia @ Cincinnati
-Two good offenses, though one has to wonder just how good the Bengals offense will be without Ocho-Cinco. Guy’s a douche, I get that, but he’s a douche that’s really good at catching and then running.

Nov. 23
Indianapolis @ San Diego
-Peyton plays his worst games against the Chargers. Every time I say it’s a fluke. I’m starting to just think they know what they’re doing against the guy. He won’t have six interceptions in this one, but I don’t see him winning.

Nov. 30
Indianapolis @ Cleveland
-Two good offenses. Who doesn’t want to watch that?

Dec. 8
Carolina @ Tampa Bay
-It’s one of the few MNF games that I think will have playoff implications. I said it last year, and I was wrong, but I think the Panthers do win the NFC South, and NFC overall, this year.

Dec. 15
Cleveland @ Philadelphia
-If you haven’t noticed, I’m looking forward to seeing Cleveland this year. They’re young, they’re fast, and they don’t play defense. It’s everything I love in watching a game in which I bet the over.

Dec. 22
Green Bay @ Chicago
-Eh, it’s a rivalry. But I don’t see either team being over .500 at this point.

Dec. 28
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh
-Let’s hope the Browns are good, or else half the games I’ve said to watch will be no fun to watch.

There were a lot of people wondering about Matt Ryan, his arm strength, his accuracy, etc., given that he hadn’t thrown, but any doubters may soon become believers. Ryan threw in front of pro scouts today at Boston College, and he did nothing to hurt his draft stock.

Ryan worked out at BC’s biggest Pro Day ever, throwing to former teammates for a mini-combine of 42 scouts and other personnel evaluators from 22 NFL teams. He completed 48 of 52 passes — three drops, one overthrown — from three-, five- and seven step drops, from the pocket and on the run, throwing to both sides of the field.

“I made every throw you need to make in the NFL,” said Ryan, who skipped the Senior Bowl and ran but didn’t throw at last month’s NFL combine in Indianapolis. “I thought it went well. It was the first opportunity I’ve had to throw in front of the scouts live.”

It’s hard to say where Ryan will fall. The Dolphins need him, but the Dolphins are good at not drafting players they need (they took Ted Ginn last year, which was about the last thing they needed). Up next is St. Louis, who’s not taking him, and it’s not certain the Falcons would draft him if he’s available. The Raiders took JaMarcus Russell, and the Chiefs actually seem content having a bad quarterback run things.

The Chiefs are cutting some fat – and salary space — and it starts with former Pro Bowl CB Ty Law and former Pro Bowl LB Kendrell Bell.

Also cut in the move were TE Jason Dunn and DT James Reed.

Kendrell never lived up to the hype he started in Pittsburgh, and Law was often burnt in deep coverages. There’s rumors that Law and the Pats are already talking, so they can once again pull another dying career out of the grave.

With the draft coming up, I’m going to try and mock this thing as best I can; and, based on Mel Kiper’s past predictions, I can probably do better. You’ll see his mock drafts all over the web the next few months, but be advised: One, the guy’s a terrible judge in talent and, two, he’s seldom right. We’ll see how I do, but I can’t imagine doing much worse.

For past picks and predictions, click here.

-Today’s Selection: #10, New Orleans Saints

The Saints appear to be the front runners for Asante Samuel, though the Jets are suddenly creeping into the picture. If the Saints don’t get Asante, look for them to draft a corner — a cover corner, a good corner, any corner — whose name isn’t Jason David. David was smoked on a regular basis, proving that a corner who’s decent in a Cover 2 Indy scheme probably isn’t setup for success in a man system. But if they do get Samuel, I highly doubt they’ll spend a top 10 pick on another one.

That said, look for them to help the offensive line and bolster the run attack of Reggie Bush and The Deuce by drafting the big Left Tackle from Vandy, Chris Williams. Williams is a solid pass blocker, someone who can certainly protect the blind side of Drew Brees, and is also very stable in run support.