TEN faces PIT in NFL kickoff game on Sep 10th.

Looks like the Ravens got their wish and ducked out of the kickoff game after all. The Thursday night matchup on NBC will showcase the AFC’s best as the Titans, owner of the best record in 2008, meet the Super Bowl Champion Steelers at Heinz Field.

Later that week NBC presents the oldest rivalry in football as the Bears take on the Packers at Lambeau Field in a Sunday night battle.

The Monday night double header features BUF and Terrell Owens at NE with a hopefully healthy Tom Brady and in the night cap the San Diego Chargers travel to Oakland (oh joy!).

The Raiders also get some prime time on Thanksgiving as they fly to Dallas for the middle Turkey day game. After some discussion, Detroit holds onto their traditional Thanksgiving game, they host Green Bay. The NY Giants are at Denver for the last of three televised Thanksgiving games.

In other notes, 2011 may the year the NFL unveils a 17 or 18 game schedule. Hint: the collective bargaining agreement with the players ends in 2010. Rumors are that the preseason will lose 1 or 2 games which will simply be added to expand the regular season.

Visit www.FFGuidebook.com/ for more fantasy football and NFL news.

Other books by Sam Hendricks

Fantasy Football Almanac 2009 (releases 1 May 2009)

Top 20 RBs for fantasy football 2009

Top 20 Fantasy Football Running Backs for 2009-Updated 16 Feb 2009

Marshawn Lynch is back in the news for some "bad boy" trouble. I have taken the liberty of dropping him in my rankings. Fred Jackson gets a bump up though.

1 Matt Forte CHI-Da Bears only weapon=lots of touches
2 Adrian Peterson MIN-Third year is the charm, no injuries (fingers crossed)
3 Brian Westbrook PHI-In a PPR league he is money in the bank
4 Michael Turner ATL-"burner" is the future of ATL, schedule may be tougher
5 Marion Barber DAL-16 games in 2009 make him Top 5
6 Steven Jackson STL-New coach, new SJAX
7 M. Jones-Drew JAX-Drops some due to worry full time roll may have
8 L Tomlinson SD-Older.......with SD in 2009??? Sproles looks pretty good
9 De Williams CAR-RBBC with Jonathan Stewart has me lowering expectations
10 Clinton Portis WAS-#1 RB for most of 2008. Top 10 despite coach/RB issues
11 Frank Gore SF-If SF was not so far behind most of the 2nd half each game
12 Steve Slaton Hou-A little sophmore slump
13 Chris Johnson TEN-RBBC means out of Top 10
14 Thomas Jones NYJ-Another QB to deal w means fall in standings for my Wahoo
15 Brandon Jacobs NYG-Durability issues, but with D Ward leaving....
16 Pierre Thomas NO-Can a sleeper technically have done so well the yr prior?
17 Reggie Bush NO-Points per reception (PPR) baby!
18 Ronne Brown MIA-MIA will not surprise anyone this year. Good run game
19 Joseph Addai IND-Not a Top 5 RB but a Top 20 for sure. Injury issues
20 Darren McFadden-Only problem will be OAK playing from behind too much

Dropped from RB15 to out is Marshawn Lynch BUF-for off the field issues recently. Move Fred Jackson up big time. He could be the BUF starter in Sep as this is Lynch's second brush with the law in a year.

Visit www.FFGuidebook.com for more rankings and projections

11 New NFL Head Coaches start 2009

2009 Coaching Changes

Eleven new Head Coaches (HC) start 2009.

Head Coach (HC)
Detroit Lions-Jim Schwartz (former TEN DC)
Denver Broncos-Josh McDaniels (former NE OC)
Cleveland Browns-Eric Mangini (former NYJ HC)
St Louis Rams-Steve Spagnuolo, (former NYG DC)
New York Jets-Rex Ryan (former BAL DC)
Oakland Raiders-Tom Cable (named interim in 2008 then hired as HC)
Seattle Seahawks-Jim Mora Jr. (replaced retiring Mike Holmgren)
Indianapolis Colts-Jim Caldwell (IND assistant replaced retiring tony Dungy)
Tampa Bay Bucanneers-Raheem Morris (former TB DC)
Kansas City Chiefs-Todd Haley (former AZ OC)
San Francisco 49ers-Mike Singletary-named interim HC in 2008 and allowed to continue

It is a little too early to tell who will do well and who will fail but my preliminary guess before free agency and the 2009 draft is this:

Bets to do well: DEN, SEA, TB, SF, NYJ
Bets to fail: OAK, STL, KC, CLEV, DET, OAK

Visit www.FFGuidebook.com for more commentary and 2009 player rankings