‘There will either be a 1-2 football team recently off twin NFC final games, finally victorious, revived after having upset the Buffalo Bills, just a stride behind in its determined march to double-figure victories, back in contention in the NFC East. Or there will be an 0-3 team all but officially doomed to 2003 failure, an injury-stricken, demoralized slice of football yesteryear hopelessly trapped in a cyclone bearing down on NFL parity.’