Lineup

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL 2007
PREVIEW

62 The King500

How do you assignvalue to players and rank them from 1 to 500? Not without losing sleep By PETERKING

• THE KING 500GATEFOLD

74 PeytonManning

The Colt'sebullient leader and master tactician is the NFL's premier passer--and bestplayer By PETER KING

78 Bart Scott

A loud,controversial Ravens inside linebacker--you know who we mean, right? Wrong ByTIM LAYDEN

84 DevinHester

The Bears' returnman seemed to score at will in '06, so now they'll give him the damn ball ByANDREW LAWRENCE

91 BigMatchups

• BEST vs. BESTGATEFOLD

From Week 1(Carson Palmer vs. Ed Reed) through Week 17 (Reggie Bush vs. Brian Urlacher) ByADAM DUERSON AND DAVID EPSTEIN

100 ScoutingReports

The skinny on all32 NFL teams, plus Dr. Z's season, playoffs and Super Bowl XLII predictions

Departments

12 LeadingOff

22 Letters

25 Players

• Don't write offMichael Vick

• Ryan Braun'ssmashing debut

• Geezer playscollege football

• Derek Jeter ononly grand slam

• Kevin Millar onbitting knucklers

44 Faces in theCrowd

188 Life ofReilly

A schoolgirlsoccer goalie's tragic death gave a stranger new lungs--and a new life by RickReilly

Inside...

50 OlympicSports

• Tyson Gay isnew 100-meter king

54 Golf

• FedEx Cupopener is... not bad

58 NASCAR

• Kurt Buschcharges toward Cup

60 Baseball

• Dave Duncan'sslugging sons

Cover

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBTRINGALI/SPORTSCHROME

COVER FLAPS:Peter Read Miller (Bush, Brady); David Bergman (McNabb); John Biever (Young);Robert Beck (Tomlinson); Simon Bruty (Hester)

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FEATUREDCOLUMNS

PETER KING

»Next for theCommish...

Roger Goodell'snot blind. He sees what a joke preseason games are. Reigning MVP LaDainianTomlinson hasn't played in one of them In two years.

»Read more ofthis column at SI.com/king.

TIM LAYDEN

»Bring onBeijing

Tyson Gay, whowon the 100-meter final at the world track and field championships, is now thefavorite to win Olympic gold next summer.

»Read more ofthis column at SI.com/layden.

TRAFFICREPORT

MOST VIEWED

1. The best bodyparts in the world of sports

2. Photos:Athletes who went to jail

• 3. Lee Evansand the fastest NFL wideouts

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BOB ROSATO

84 CATCH 23? RARELY Chicago's Devin Hester was so elusive on special teams as a rookie that the Bears have moved him to wideout this season.

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TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (HENIN)

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MEL LEVINE (KING)

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BOB ROSATO (BREES)

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