Long May You Run

Football season started today, which makes me happy. Here's my $0.02...

Predictions:

AFC East
01. New England
02. Buffalo
03. New York
04. Miami
I say New England, while they won't be as good as last year, have another year of dominance left in them. Most of the team is still in their prime and there's no reason to believe they won't be stellar again. New York should be good this year but won't be, and Buffalo will be better than expected. Miami has another year of rebuilding left.

AFC South
01. Indianapolis
02. Houston
03. Jacksonville
04. Tennessee
The Colts are a lock for this division, none of the other three teams are anything to write home about, and they'll all have mediocre to poor seasons.

AFC North
01. Pittsburgh
02. Cincinatti
03. Baltimore
04. Cleveland
Despite losing some key players, Pittsburgh will dominate in an otherwise mediocre division. Cincinatti will have their first good season in a good long while, and may make the playoffs. Baltimore should come somewhere near the .500 mark, allowing a lot of points with their inexperienced, sloppy defense. Cleveland will be terrible as they always are, as to not upset the natural order of things.

AFC West
01. Kansas City
02. San Diego
03. Oakland
04. Denver
Kansas City has a better team than people are giving them credit for this year. Oakland has some work to do before they're the team they were two years ago. San Diego will clinch a wild card spot.

NFC East
01. Philadelphia
02. New York
03. Dallas
04. Washington
Philadelphia doesn't have the team they had last season. They got close to the Super Bowl three seasons in a row, finally got to it, and lost narrowly. So they will be hungry. They'll win the division rather easily, but look for a surprisingly strong showing from the Giants. The Giants have too weak an offensive line and too inexperienced a quarterback in Eli Manning to get them all the way this year (though I can see a Wild Card playoff spot happeninng) but they'll be better than you think. Dallas will also have a pretty good team and will break .500. Washington is bad.

NFC South
01. Atlanta
02. Tampa Bay
03. New Orleans
04. Carolina
I don't really like any of the teams in this division. Atlanta will be good, but won't go too far because all their strength is in their quarterback. The other three teams won't go far.

NFC North
01. Minnesotta
02. Green Bay
03. Detroit
04. Chicago
A potential tough division. Minnesotta has lost some important players but remain an overall strong and experienced team. Green Bay has been on the brink of good for a few seasons and will remain that way. Cleveland, like Chicago, will be bad as always.

NFC West
01. Seattle
02. San Francisco
03. Arizona
04. St. Louis
This is kind of my "go out on a limb" division. San Francisco was terrible last year, worst in the league. But they never stay bad long, so I expect them to make a big leap this year. Arizona is getting some buzz but they'll disappoint as they always have. Seattle will win the division and be a bigger threat in the Playoffs than you think.


So there we go. If I'm really wrong, I'll just erase this entry and then it will cease to have ever existed.