Letters

Panthers Pick

NFL parity at its finest: Dr. Z picks the Panthers to win it all after the team finished 7-9 last season (NFL PREVIEW, Sept. 5). This is the only league in which you can pick a sub-.500 team from the year before to be world champions and it seems to make sense.

A.J. Donatoni Malvern, Pa.

Somebody give Dr. Z a good shake. Super Bowl XL will be a rematch of last year: Patriots-Eagles, Round 2. Except this time it's our turn.

Frank Keel, North Wales, Pa.

Football 101

The caption for the excellent opening photo of your NFL 2005 section mentions the Steelers' Hines Ward as a playmaker, but it omits All-Pro guard Alan Faneca (number 66), who apparently has sprinted downfield ahead of Ward and is making the final block to enable the touchdown. For every touted playmaker there is an unsung lineman doing the dirty work.

Linley Gwennap Mountain View, Calif.

I pass the ball, and you catch it (Going by the Book, Sept. 5). I hand the ball to you, and you run with it. See that guy with the ball? Tackle him. Isn't that pretty much it? These players are highly paid men who, almost without exception, have been playing football for a long time. It seems that no one can surpass the NFL for sheer delusional self-importance. How complicated can this be?

Alan J. Vitello, Arvada, Colo.