How about a Super Bowl rematch?

Tomorrow night (Sept. 7 if you are reading this on Wednesday), I plan to be around my television at approximately 8:30 p.m. as the 2017 NFL season opens with Kansas City at New England.

This Sunday, I hope to be watching the Tennessee Titans at home against the Oakland Raiders at 1 p.m. and following games throughout the day, culminating in the New York Giants game at Dallas later that evening.

Then on Monday, I’ll settle in with the Monday Night Football doubleheader, starting with New Orleans and Minnesota and concluding with the Los Angeles Chargers at the Denver Broncos sometime around 2 a.m.

If Opening Day of the National Football League season isn’t a national holiday, it sure ought to be.

For me, it’s the real signal that football season has arrived. It’s the final piece of the puzzle. Yes, high school, college and even pro teams have been in camps since back in June and the high school and college schedules are already going full bore, but when the NFL season starts, I know that we are absolutely in full football mode and that we’ll have games at least once a week through the start of February.

So it’s at this time each year I cast out a line and try to reel in successful predictions for the upcoming season.

Looking back, I hit on 50 percent with last year’s column, which honestly isn’t bad at all. I correctly picked all four division champions in the AFC and got one of the wild card teams right, while the second wild card team I picked was only one game out of earning the spot.

The NFC? Not so hot. I got Green Bay right and I give myself partial credit for picking Seattle to make the postseason, although they actual won their division and didn’t have to get in as a wild card, as I thought they would.

So now it’s time to try and do better this time around.

Statistics say about half the NFL playoff teams don’t get in the following season, but I’m going to buck the trend a little and say nine of the 12 teams that played playoff games

last season will do so again this time around.

So without further ado, here we go, starting in the AFC.

New England could forfeit six games and still win this division by at least three games. That’s how weak the rest of the East is. The Patriots are by far headand-shoulders above the rest of the division. I think, it’s not too farfetched that the win totals for Miami, Buffalo and the New York Jets COMBINED might not equal New England’s this season.

Yes, I’m a fan. But even if I weren’t, I’m picking Tennessee to win the South. It’s their time. They have the best (healthiest) quarterback in the division, a top running game and a solid defense. Houston could make things interesting, but Indianapolis still doesn’t have a healthy

Andrew Luck and Jacksonville, for all its defensive upgrades, still lacks the signal caller it desperately needs.

Assuming they are healthy. And assuming they aren’t holding out. And assuming they aren’t suspended for violations of the league’s drug policy, Pittsburgh should win the North with one of the deepest offenses in the league (again, if everyone is available). Cincinnati will get back to the playoffs and I say Cleveland finishes above Baltimore in the standings.

The best division, top to bottom, at least in the AFC, is the West where a healthy Derek Carr will lead Oakland to the title, although Kansas City will push them until the final week of the season. Denver isn’t bad, although not as good as they were a couple of years ago and the Los Angeles Chargers would have won the division a year ago had they not been forced to play a fourth

quarter each game.

AFC Division Champions: New England, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Oakland

AFC Wild Cards: Cincinnati, Kansas City

Ezekiel Elliott will miss a few games to start the season. The defense can be a bit shaky at times and will Dak Prescott hit a sophomore slump? Those are three reasons why I say the New York Giants win the tough NFC East, although Dallas will certainly be in the mix. Philadelphia could be sneaky good and Washington could be the best last-place team in the league this season.

Can Atlanta shake off the blown 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl and get back to the top of the conference? That remains to be seen, but on paper, they still should be the best team in the South. If Tampa Bay can play defense, look out, because the Bucs have offense to spare. The ageless Drew Brees will lead an

improved New Orleans team, while Carolina will make this the best division in the NFC.

Quarterback play. It’s the main reason I like Green Bay to win the North instead of Minnesota, who will have all the motivation in the world to try and make the Super Bowl on its own home field. I think Dalvin Cook gives the Vikings the edge in the running game over Detroit, while we could see Mitch Trubisky under center in Chicago faster than anyone thought.

No one is really talking up Seattle and you haven’t heard much out of Seahawks’ camp, which leads me to believe Pete Carroll’s boys might just be back among the league’s elite. Arizona will be good, but still not great, and I have another sneaky suspicion that San Francisco will surprise a lot of folks. At least, they’ll finish ahead of the Los Angeles Rams, who I’m still not sold on.

NFC Division Champions: New York Giants, Atlanta, Green Bay, Seattle

NFC Wild Cards: Arizona, Dallas

In the AFC Championship Game, I think New England will be too much at home against a great young Oakland team, while I think Seattle beats Green Bay in a chilly NFC Championship Game, no matter which stadium hosts the game.

That brings us to a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX with New England battling Seattle in Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. Three seasons ago, it took a interception on the goal line in the final seconds to seal a Patriot win. But the Pats won’t need a Malcolm Butler miracle this time around. New England wins it all

in what will turn out to be Tom Brady’s final year in the league.

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