The Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks will seek to provide some Super Bowl continuity as the National Football League launches the post-Paul Tagliabue era.
Pittsburgh, who defeated Seattle 21-10 in February to end a 26-year title drought, will try to put aside off-season distractions and prove themselves the best of a talented American Conference.
"Not too many teams can come out and repeat, but that's our next goal," said Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl 40. "Why not let us be part of that history? It was truly a magical season. Why not go out and try to do it again?"
At least the Steelers have a model to follow in the New England Patriots, who won three titles in four years and again promise to be a force in the AFC East, along with the Miami Dolphins and their newly arrived quarterback Duante Culpepper.
In bidding for a second straight National Conference crown, the Seahawks will try to fly in the face of recent history since no team has even made the playoffs the season after a Super Bowl defeat since Tennessee in 2000.
Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu said he and his teammates are determined to buck that trend.
"We know how we got there, and it was through hard work," he said. "We can't afford not to. We're a targeted team now."
So are the Steelers, despite weathering off-season uncertainty over the future of coach Bill Cowher and the frightening motorcycle accident of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback to guide a Super Bowl winning team, suffered serious facial injuries in the crash in June, in which he wasn't wearing a helmet.
He was ready for training camp, however, and played in the pre-season before his vow to be on the field for the season opener was thwarted when he required an emergency appendectomy five days before tomorrow night's clash with Miami.
Cowher insisted that the Steelers would rally around journeyman Charlie Batch.
"Adversity is not what knocks you down," Cowher said.
"It is how you handle it and how you respond to it. This football team with its veterans has been down this road before, facing challenges and adversity," he said.
For the Indianapolis Colts, adversity lately seems to be synonymous with the postseason.
The Colts, led by quarterback Peyton Manning, started 13-0 last season but were stunned by the Steelers in the playoffs.
This season Manning will attempt to fill in the Super Bowl blank on his impressive resume without departed running back Edgerrin James.
But the Colts team who saw their chance against the Steelers fizzle when Mike Vanderjagt missed a last-second kick, now have the best clutch kicker in NFL history in former Patriot Adam Vinatieri.
While the Seahawks appear to have the pieces in place to make another NFC title run, they'll have plenty of competition.
The Carolina Panthers have shored up their formidable core of players since their loss to Seattle in last year's conference championship game.
In the receiver ranks, veteran Keyshawn Johnson joins Steve Smith, who had a career season with 103 receptions for 1,563 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Running back DeShaun Foster was re-signed and running back DeAngelo Williams added in the NFL draft.
The Panthers face stiff competition in the NFC South, won last season by Tampa Bay and also featuring the Atlanta Falcons.
Elsewhere in the NFC, personalities promise to offer plenty of drama.
Temperamental wide receiver Terrell Owens, banished from Philadelphia, will try to form a working relationship with quarterback Drew Bledsoe and no-nonsense coach Bill Parcells in Dallas.
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, 37, returns for a 16th season in Green Bay after toying with the idea of retirement, while in a New Orleans still hurting a year after Hurricane Katrina, this year's draftee Reggie Bush is already being hailed as a hero on and off the field.
Despite the headlines Owens, Favre and Bush are sure to generate, Washington, the New York Giants, Chicago and Detroit are the NFC teams more likely to dominate.
Overseeing it all will be Roger Goodell, who succeeded Tagliabue as NFL commissioner in August.
Goodell, who rose through the ranks of NFL management to become the third commissioner in the league's history, takes over a nearly six billion-dollar a year business.
He knows he has a hard act to follow in Tagliabue, under whose reign the league introduced a salary cap, expanded by four teams, built 17 new stadiums and enjoyed skyrocketing revenues.
Since Tagliabue took office, the NFL has been the only major US professional sports league without a work stoppage.
"I'm thrilled by this challenge," Goodell says of his task to keep US sport's juggernaut moving forward. "I can't think of a greater job."
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