By Kim J. Harmon

I have been waiting a bunch of years to write this – “The Giants are the best team in the National Football League.”

Yes, you read that correctly. With a quarterback who is as good as anyone in the league right now (come on, is there a star QB out there anymore?), a running back who may be the best of the second tier RBs (Priest Holmes, Rickey Williams, and LaDanian Tomlinson are on their own tier), the best tight end in football (who also happens to have a big mouth) and good receivers, the Giants have enough stuff to win a Super Bowl championship.

Oh, yeah.

Of course, all of that is mere speculation now. Kerry Collins can break a leg or Jeremy Shockey could get punched in the mouth. Anything weird happens and you can throw all this preseason supposition out the window (the same goes for the divisional predictions made below).

Let’s take a look at the first week –

New York Jets (+3) at Washington: The Jets will only be slightly worse off with Vinny Testaverde at quarterback. And the Redskins will discover that grabbing a top-flight receiver from the Jets won’t matter if Patrick Ramsey can’t get the ball to him. (NJ)

St. Louis (pick) at New York Giants: The win over the Rams last year was a stunner. It won’t be so stunning this year … just a matter of routine. (NYG)

New England (+1) at Buffalo: A lot of people like Buffalo this year. Not me. (NE)

Baltimore (+5) at Pittsburgh: If the Ravens weren’t so anemic on offense, I’d pick ‘em here. But they are, so I won’t. (PITT)

Jacksonville (+4) at Carolina: Mark Brunell may be starting, but it’s only to auditon for a job somewhere else. (CAR)

Houston (+13.5) at Miami: Ricky Williams may be the top offensive threat in football right now. If only Dan Marino had an RB like him. (MIA)

Indianapolis (+1.5) at Cleveland: Let’s see how good Kelly Holcomb is now that he is a starter instead of a reliever. (IND)

Denver (-8) at Cincinnati: A superb running back should carry the Broncos through this one. (DEN)

Arizona (+4.5) at Detroit: Even the Lions should be able to win this one. (DET)

Minnesota (+5.5) at Green Bay: Brett Favre is still a good quarterback, but who is he going to throw the ball to? (MINN)

San Diego (+5.5) at Kansas City: If Priest Holmes is not holding out, this could be one of those classic games. (SD)

Atlanta (+1.5) at Dallas: Even with the Big Tuna on the sidelines, the Cowboys have no talent. (ATL)

New Orleans (+3) at Seattle: Aaron Brooks is a quality QB down in New Orleans, but Matt Hasselbeck is good, too, and this week he is at home. (SEA)

Chicago (+7) at San Francisco: The Bears will soon find out that Kordell Stewart is not the answer. (SF)

Oakland (+3) at Tennessee: A great Week 1 matchup, the Raiders are still looking to get the taste of that Super Bowl out of their mouths. (OAK)

Tampa Bay (+3) at Philadelphia: Donovan McNabb is overrated and Duce Staley is not the running back he once was. (TB)

NOTE: If anyone would like to pick against me any particular week, call 426-3141 on Tuesday mornings.