HAPPY 90th, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE - The National Football League kicks off its 90th season Sept. 10, when the Tennessee Titans challenge the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in the new traditional Thursday night opener for defending Super Bowl champions. The Sports USA Radio Network proudly kicks off our eighth season of NFL coverage on Sept. 13 with the first of 17 doubleheaders. And who better to do the kickoff honors than a kicker? Hall of Fame-bound kicker Adam Vinatieri will inaugurate our first NFL Sunday Warmup show to set the stage for an interesting season of transition for the Indianapolis Colts when they host their old AFC South friends, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Offensive coordinator Tom Moore and offensive line coach Howard Mudd, twin pillars of support since Peyton Manning arrived in Indianapolis from the University of Tennessee in 1998, are now retired. So is head coach Tony Dungy, who only led the Men of the Horseshoe to seven playoff appearances, five AFC South titles and a Super Bowl in his seven seasons in charge. Jim Caldwell takes over as head coach, one of six coaching staff changes. Receivers coach Clyde Christensen succeeds Moore as offensive coordinator, and former NFL tight end Pete Metzelaars is the new offensive line coach. Larry Coyer, the assistant head coach in Tampa Bay last year, is the Colts' new defensive coordinator, succeeding Ron Meeks. Coyer already has Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney excited, because he plans a more aggressive blitzing style to put more D in Indy. Caldwell has been Manning's quarterbacks coach for the past seven years, so the transition should be smooth. This will also be the first year Manning lines up without wide receiver Marvin Harrison, with whom he collaborated on more than 100 touchdown passes. The transition Jacksonville wants to make is back to the 11-5 team of 2007 that punched out the Steelers in the playoffs in Pittsburgh and had the unbeaten New England Patriots sweating it out in the forurth quarter a week later in the AFC divisional playoffs in Foxborough. Jacksonville slipped to 5-11 a year ago. The shooting that paralyzed tackle Richard Collier late in the preseason opened an emotional wound that never healed. Gene Smith is the new general manager in Jacksonville. He promises a return to the smashmouth style that powered the Jags to 32 victories from 2005-07. Expect coach Jack Del Rio to deliver the goods. Our doubleheader game on opening day is an NFC West matchup of new head coaches, Steve Spagnuolo with the St. Louis Rams and Jim Mora, Jr. with the Seattle Seahawks. Mora formerly coached the Atlanta Falcons. The consensus of the preseason magazines projects a New England Patriots-Pittsburgh Steelers AFC Championship Game matchup. If so, our Week 2 offers an early progress report. Tom Brady leads the Patriots into the Meadowlands to meet the New York Jets on Sept, 20. Remember two years ago? This game triggered the Patriots' SpyGate scandal. This time, it could top draftee Mark Sanchez's Broadway debut as the Jets quarterback, although veteran Kellen Clemens has other plans. Our doubleheader game Sept. 20 includes seven Super Bowl trophies. The defending champion Steelers in 2009 seek to become the only NFL team to win consecutive Super Bowls three different times. Pittsburgh will raise the Steel Curtain on the quarterback Jay Cutler Era at Soldier Field when they meet the Chicago Bears. We'll also hear from the Patriots Oct. 4, when they host the Baltimore Ravens in a likely slugfest at Gillette Stadium. Week three on Sept. 27 takes us to the Metrodome in Minneapolis, where the San Francisco 49ers meet the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. Or will it be Sage Rosenfelz? John David Booty? Or maybe, juuuuuuuuust maybe, Brett Favre? The Vikings run the same offense Favre engineered to four NFC Championship Games and two Super Bowls at Green Bay. If he really wanted to stay retired, would he have had shoulder surgery to repair the right biceps problem that plagued him amid the New York Jets' collapse in the final two months of the 2008 season? San Francisco head coach Mike Singletary went 5-4 with a team that was 7-9 overall last season. He's already installed the tough defensive mindset that made him a College and Pro Football Hall of Famer. The man broke eight helmets in his four years at Baylor and the Niners would seem to have the hardware for new offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye to grind it out on the ground. It says here 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis will take the next step from tackling machine to NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2009. The Niners have a couple of interesting rookies. Ball State quarterback Nate Davis was on many Heisman Trophy ballots well into November, while Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop led the nation in tackles each of the past two seasons. Our doubleheader game on Sept. 27 is an intriguing matchup of teams who have a lot to prove in 2009. The Miami Dolphins, last season's biggest surprise as 11-5 AFC East champions, visit the San Diego Chargers. The Dolphins' reward for their renaissance season under NFL Coach of the Year Tony Sparano is the league's toughest schedule in 2009. Quarterback Chad Pennington has been the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year twice in four years. The comeback Dolphin fans want now is to Super Bowl XLIV, to be played in their home stadium next February. In San Diego, the Chargers are now unquestionably Philip Rivers' team. The courage the quarterback showed playing on one leg in the 2007 AFC title game in New England blossomed into an NFL-best 105.5 passer rating, 34 touchdown passes and the first 4,000-yard passing season in the history of a franchise that cherishes Sports USA Radio Network analyst Dan Fouts as a Hall of Famer. Shawne Merriman returns at linebacker after missing virtually all of 2008 with a knee injury. By all accounts, he fully healed and determined to make someone pay for last year. The player on the spot in San Diego is LaDainian Tomlinson, believe it or not. Knee and toe injuries limited L-T to 11 rushing touchdowns and an average of 3.8 yards per carry. Those were his lowest totals since his rookie year of 2001. Tomlinson went through an embarrassing offseason exchange with the front office about restructuring his contract. There was even talk of releasing him. With Darren Sproles' emergence as a capable backup and home run threat, L-T, who turned 30 in June, has something to prove in 2009. The jury is also out on the New Orleans Saints. They went from an NFC championship runnerup to 8-8 last season. Drew Brees produced just the second 5,000-yard passing season in NFL history in 2008. Since arriving in New Orleans via free agency from San Diego in 2006, the quarterback has thrown for more than 10,000 yards and 88 touchdowns. The Saints' troubles have been on defense. Gregg Williams, who built a Super Bowl defense in Tennessee and solid units in Buffalo and Washington, is the new defensive coordinator. Newcomers at defensive end in Paul Spicer and safety in Darren Sharper figure to take some of the pressure off playmaking linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who'll meet his former Jets teammates for the first time in our doubleheader game on Oct. 4.

POSITION PAPER - If the 2008 season did anything, it confirmed the emergence of the strong safety as football's newest playmaker. Pittsburgh's Troy Polamalu, Baltimore's Ed Reed and Arizona's Adrian Wilson were all the perfect synthesis of size and speed. They were equally comfortable stopping the run, covering receivers or blitzing the quarterback. Throw in former Eagles strong safety Brian Dawkins, and it's no wonder those four teams competed for trips to Super Bowl XLIII. Bob Sanders of the Indianapolis Colts is another strong safety who has been NFL Defensive Player of the Year, like Reed. Darren Sharper takes the top interception total in the NFL since the turn of the century to New Orleans this season. Who's next to join the NFL's new glamour position? Washington's Chris Horton was a seventh round draft choice who was thrust immediately into the Redskins' starting lineup last fall, and responded with three interceptions. Under the tutelage of free safety LaRon Landry, Horton's coverage skills steadily improved as the season wore on. He's already the biggest hitter in the Washington secondary. The NFL loves to copy winning formulas. After Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin, 36, became the youngest coach ever to win a Super Bowl, it opened doors for Raheem Morris, 32, in Tampa Bay and Josh McDaniels, 33, in Denver. Tomlin and Morris were both former Buccaneers defensive backfield coaches. "Find me the next Mike Tomlin!" is one thing for an NFL owner to demand. Finding the next Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu or Bob Sanders would have that quest much easier.