Fantastic Super Bowl ushers in 'offseason'

    Coming off of a week's vacation, I've still got visions of that amazing Super Bowl dancing in my head. Eli's fourth-quarter escape from overwhelming pressure and completion to David Tyree has to be the single greatest play in Super Bowl history, given time and circumstance.

    The game is up there as well. Even when the Panthers played in the big one, after John Kasay's kickoff went out of bounds late, there was a sense of inevitabilty; you knew the Patriots would at least get into field goal range, and you knew they'd make the kick. There was some of that feeling after New England's last scoring drive, but the Giants wiped it all out, with that third-and-five play the most unbelievable aspect of the whole thing.

     So if you thought the Patriots cheated in the past, you're happy. If you wanted football's Yankees to lose, you're happy. And if you just wanted the Super Bowl to be a great game, you're delighted.

     And think about that brother thing; Peyton the game's MVP last year, followed by little bro Eli. Think that'll ever happen again? Only if those two do it. There's a third brother, Cooper, who was a wide receiver but saw his career end early because of back problems. Watch him pop up in commercials now; the bro without the ring.

     Now it's on to 2008. Yeah, they'll play the Pro Bowl next week but the Panthers won't be there and who cares anyway? It's kind of like a preseason game at the wrong end of the year.

     Up next? The Panthers--and our Charles Chandler--will descend on Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine, where the top 300 or so college prospects will be poked and prodded for a few days as the whole league watches.

     The trading period begins Feb. 29, as does the free agent signing period. That's when it should get interesting.

--Stan Olson