Here are a few things this offseason has had me wondering about.

1. Why is Eli Manning automatically assumed to be the “next big thing” at QB? I’ve actually heard people say unequivocally that he will be better than Peyton. Based on? He’s already proven to lack Peyton’s maturity (though he did get a healthy dose of Peyton’s selfish streak).

All this talk of Eli makes me remember things like Trent Dilfer being branded the most prepared QB to ever come out of college, Ryan Leaf being hailed as a sure-fire superstar, Tommy Maddox and then Jeff Lewis being the next John Elway, and Rick Mirer being the next Montana.

The only sure-fire thing there is about any rookie QB is that his chances of failure are a lot higher than his chances of success, regardless of college stats and last names.

2. How is Tim Couch viewed as a near ideal replacement for Brett Favre, yet Brian Griese get’s his chops busted when he’s named as the likely replacement for Brad Johnson?

3. How did Dennis Green get run out of Minnesota for making the playoffs year after year – even with some questionable QB talent – , but Mike Tice’s job is secure with a losing record when he has Dante Culpepper throwing the ball to Randy Moss?

4. After watching tape of the Pats’ mini camp it’s clear that Cori Dildo Dillon runs slow and stiffly. That is to say, he moves like an old man. So why is it that even with him being a known locker room cancer, anyone is speaking of him as the reason the Pats will be back on top in ‘04?

5. Kurt Warner is a proven loser over the past two seasons. In a “what have you done for me lately” league, why do we keep hearing nothing but “yeah, but before that . . . MVP, blah blah blah, SB, blah.”? And why would the NJ Giants want a selfish (continuously allowed his injuries to seriously hurt his team) loser to “tutor” their new young stud “QB of the future”?

6. If the NFLEL is really All That, then why does the NFL refuse to add any American teams (or rather, an American counterpart)? In fact, they intentionally dismantled ALL their American teams when it was still called it the World League.

But they spent this just finished NFLEL season heavily promoting the NFLEL to an American fan base. Why the half measures? Why not just give Americans some homegrown teams and then let our best team go up against Europe’s best team? If it’s all they say it is, they should step up and prove it. If not, then they should shut up, go away, and let this testament to mediocrity and underachieving go the way of the dinosaurs.