What's up! My name is Ernie. You may know me from the comments here on Faster Than the World as 'mrbandw' and I'll be posting here once a week about things going on in the NFL. Before we dive into the 2006 - 07 season, let's just get a few things out of the way and established here:

1. I am a hard core fan of The New England Patriots. Hard. Fucking. Core. I'll be writing about the NFL in general, but I wear my love of The Patriots on my sleeve, amongst other places, and that's not going to change, so you might as well know that right from the start. In case you're wondering, I've been a Pats fan since 1976, so I've been
through the shit with this team. I know what it's like to follow a perennial loser and I know what it's like to finally reach that pinnacle of success, winning the Superbowl.

Regardless of who I'll be rooting for every week (The Pats, duh), I hope this will be a place that fans of teams from all over the league will participate in. Part of the fun in football is the rivalry between fans, so leave me some comments and let's have some fun with this.

2. I am a big football fan. Ok, I'm a huge football fan, but that does not mean that I watch every single game or know everything there is to know about every team and every player in the league. I'm not going to try and pretend to be some super know-it-all, football expert, because I'm not. I will say that I follow the Patriots very closely and through osmosis I usually have a pretty good idea of what's going on with the other teams around the league. If you think the stuff that I am writing is completely out of whack, let me know in the comments! That's what they're there for. I've got a tough skin. I can handle whatever you've got to tell me.

3. If you know absolutely nothing about football and have questions, don't be afraid to ask! New football fans who want to learn about the game will be embraced, possibly by a large, hairy man with a 16 ounce can of Bud in each hand, but it will be an embrace none-the-less.

This will be a place to share thoughts and ideas about the day's games and other stuff going on in the NFL. I'd like to maybe get into some talk about favorite stuff to do when tailgating, things you like to do on game day, insane rituals and superstitions, all kinds of stuff. Maybe we'll even talk a little bit about college ball. Who knows? It could go anywhere and that's cool. It's going to be a work in progress and I hope you guys will help contribute to the fun, because that's what the point of all this is after all, FUN!

Now that we've got all that out of the way, let's check out a few games.

It's always kind of hard to gauge what the good match-ups are going to be in week one of the schedule. That's because in the NFL, teams can go from losers to winners over the course of one season, or vice-versa. Just because your team sucked last year, that does not mean they are going to suck this year. Just because your team kicked everybody's ass in the league last year, that does not mean they are going to do it all over again this year.

Every year it is different and some teams rise while others fall. That is one of the things that makes the NFL cool. That being said, there are quite a few interesting games this weekend.

Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers - These are two teams that are expected to be playoff caliber teams and they will be matching up against each other right off the bat. They both feature explosive offenses that can move the ball so this could be a high-scoring game. Atlanta QB Michael Vick is always fun to watch. Plus, this is a divisional game, so that means there are already playoff implications to this outcome game.

That's another thing that makes the NFL cool. There are only 16 games to a season and there is not a lot of room for error. One slip and your team can go from playoff contender to playoff pretender.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots - Another divisional game that features two long time rivals. Many people have already chalked a 'W' in the win column for New England in this game, but The Pats and Bills always play each other tough. Don't be surprised if this game comes down to a field goal, because with these two teams, more often than not, that is usually the case.

New York Jets at Tennessee Titans - This should be an interesting game. These are two teams that have had some down years the past few years and are trying to climb back into the playoffs. Former Titans QB Steve McNair is gone from Tennessee and it's still up in the air who's going to step onto the field at the position come Sunday.

The Jets will have a lot of eyes on them because they have all kinds of questions.. They have a new Head Coach, Eric Mangini, who after only one year of experience as defensive coordinator at New England, has jumped into the Head Coach role in New York. How he will fare will be watched closely.

Plus, you've got all kinds of questions about the health of Jets QB Chad Pennington as well as running back Curtis Martin. How will those guys perform? There's lots of stuff to watch in this game.

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers- Too bad these teams are meeting in September. It would be much more fun to see Chicago play Green Bay on the frozen tundra. Either way, this long time rivalry should be fun to watch. This could be Brett Far-vre's last season in the NFL, so soak it up Packer fans.

To close things out we've got The Indianapolis Colts at the New York Giants in the Sunday Night game. This game features Colts QB Peyton Manning vs. Giants QB Eli Manning. I am hoping to see a lot of what we in New England refer to as, 'The Peyton Manning Face,' in this game. That is the look of frustration and disgust that Peyton is famous for after he has blown a big game by throwing an interception.

This game is being hyped to the max in the national media as 'Manning vs. Manning'. Personally, other than the novelty of the fact that it's brother vs brother at the quarterback position for each team, I don't have a huge amount of interest in this game as far as the match-up goes.

I may as well get this out of the way and let you know this right now: I think Peyton Manning is OVER-RATED, but that is a discussion for another day, or maybe not. That is up to you!

Enjoy the games today everybody!

Ernie writes daily at Mr. Black and White.