The long summer sports abyss is over, the new pro football season has arrived after long months of free agency, the draft, minicamp, training camp, and four grueling preseason games that either gave fans hope or something to worry about in terms of their team's performance this upcoming season.

The storylines entering this season are many, as usual. Can the New England Patriots repeat as champions after an offseason in which they arguably got better with the additions of Brandin Cooks and Stephon Gilmore? How does Atlanta perform in a new stadium the season after suffering the most painful of losses after choking away a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl? What will happen to Ezekiel Elliott? How is Jay Cutler going to perform in Miami? And many, many more questions that will be asked and answered as the season progresses forward.

Getting to the question about Atlanta, I think they do just fine. Fine as in the Atlanta Falcons are going to define the Super Bowl hangover and return to the big game, and this time finish the deal in cold and snowy Minneapolis. Unlike the Carolina Panthers, who suffered a Super Bowl hangover the year before, the Atlanta Falcons have two things different from these Panthers, an improved roster, and a better attitude.

Starting with the roster, Carolina after the Super Bowl last year didn’t improve the offensive line, you could argue it got worse and lost one of the league's best corners in Josh Norman to free agency. Norman's loss significantly showed on the field, as the secondary did greatly worse than it did during its run to the Super Bowl in 2015, and the offensive line at most times played like they couldn’t get the memories of Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware sacking Newton out of their heads. While Carolina got worse, I would argue this year Atlanta got better. They added one of the league's best 3-4 nose tackles in Dontari Poe to help improve their defense in the run game, they have a more mature Deonta Jones at linebacker, and they get a rising player in Desmond Trufant back at corner after being injured for the last part of last season. The offensive line is also now fully healthy as center Alex Mack has overcome his leg fracture injury that plagued him in the Super Bowl, and besides that get all of their line and skill players back on an offense that was tops in the league last year, and should continue to be that way even with coordinator Kyle Shanahan gone to San Francisco.

The Falcons I also don’t think suffer the Super Bowl hangover because they have a far different attitude than last year's Panthers. Carolina last year after their loss curled up into a ball and cried, as evidenced by Cam Newton's press conference right after the game. The Panthers never seemed to have that us against the world attitude, and it showed in their disappointing play a season ago. Right after the game, Atlanta came out and admitted it was them who screwed it up and have seemed hungrier ever since to get back out on the field at their new stadium this fall and prove to the league that they can win it all. In their conference Atlanta is still the most complete team, a high powered offense combined with a pass rushing, turnover forcing defense. Green Bay has the offense, but that defense has a lot of holes in it, and from what we saw in last years conference championship, they are miles behind Atlanta. The Seahawks offense is too inconsistent, and the Giants don’t have the offensive line to withstand Vic Beasley, Adrian Clayborn and that Falcon pass rush, and I think that Falcon secondary can stay with Odell Beckham and the Giants great corp of wide receivers relatively well.

Their Super Bowl opponent is going to be the Oakland Raiders, who I also feel the vibe of a revenge season coming on as Derek Carr returns from injury and the team tries to win one more for the city of Oakland. I pick them to barely beat New England because they have the Patriots kryptonite, a great group of pass rushers. A great pass rush is why New England lost two Super Bowls to New York, it’s why they lost to Denver in the playoffs two years ago, it’s why they lost to Seattle last regular season, and it’s why they were down 28-3 in the Super Bowl to Atlanta before Brady pulled a fourth quarter miracle for the ages. Oakland has this type of pass rush, led by the best defensive player in football, Khalil Mack.

Mack is a force off the edge, with a ton of speed, power, and great finesse moves in the pass rush, and is great at knocking the ball loose. You have to double team him or he is going to get 3 to 4 sacks a game. If you double team him though, you put only one guy on another top pass rusher in Bruce Irvin and only one on another good interior pass rusher in Mario Edwards Jr. The Raiders secondary, if Sean Smith remains on the team, is good enough to stay with the Patriots receivers if the line can collapse the pocket, and that will be helped out by the fact that Julian Edelman is now out for the year with a torn ACL. Oakland's dynamic offense led by Carr, Amari Cooper, and the return of Marshawn Lynch, who has looked good so far and will run behind one of the league's best offensive lines, they should beat New England in a thriller.

The Super Bowl will be too much, Atlanta’s offensive line can handle the pass rush better, the receivers are going to burn the secondary deep, something that won’t happen vs New England’s quick pass west coast offense, and the passing game will open up more by Atlanta having a much better run game with Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman then New England’s running game. The Falcons win 35-24, and Atlanta proves everyone wrong and the memories of 28-3 are thrown right out the window in the capital of the peach state.

NFC:

North:

1. Green Bay Packers 12-4

2. Minnesota Vikings 10-6

3. Detroit Lions 7-9

4. Chicago Bears 2-14

East:

1. New York Giants 11-5

2. Dallas Cowboys 9-7

3. Philadelphia Eagles 8-8

4. Washington Redskins 6-10

South:

1. Atlanta Falcons 13-3

2. Tampa Bay Buccaners 11-5

3. Carolina Panthers 8-8

4. New Orleans Saints 5-11

West:

1. Seattle Seahawks 11-5
2. Arizona Cardinals 7-9
3. Los Angeles Rams 5-11
4. San Francisco 49ers 3-13

AFC:

East:

1. New England Patriots 15-1

2. Miami Dolphins 8-8

3. Buffalo Bills 5-11

4. New York Jets 1-15

North:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers 12-4

2. Baltimore Ravens 9-7

3. Cincinnati Bengals 6-10

4. Cleveland Browns 4-12

South:

1. Tennessee Titans 10-6

2. Houston Texans 8-8

3. Indianapolis Colts 7-9

4. Jacksonville Jaguars 5-11

West:

1. Oakland Raiders 13-3

2. Kansas City Chiefs 11-5

3. Denver Broncos 8-8

4. Los Angeles Chargers 6-10

Regular Season Awards:

MVP: Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

Offensive Player: David Johnson, RB, Arizona Cardinals

Defensive Player: Von Miller, OLB, Denver Broncos

Offensive Rookie: Christian McCaffrey, RB, Carolina Panthers

Defensive Rookie: Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland Browns

Coach: Dirk Koetter, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Comeback: J.J Watt, DE, Houston Texans

Playoffs (by round):

Wild Card:

AFC: Pittsburgh 28, Baltimore 14 Tennessee 27, Kansas City 23

NFC: New York Giants 24, Minnesota Vikings 20 Seattle 31, Tampa Bay 21

Divisional:

AFC: New England 38, Tennessee 21 Oakland 35, Pittsburgh 21

NFC: New York 28, Green Bay 27 Atlanta 27, Seattle 10

Conference Championship:

AFC: Oakland 35, New England 31

NFC: Atlanta 34, New York 27

Super Bowl 52:

Atlanta Falcons 35, Oakland Raiders 24