NFL Preview and Predictions AFC East Buffalo made a big splash this offseason in signing the always interesting Terrell Owens to bolster the offense to compete in the AFC East. The main question facing them is: Is TO enough of an addition to improve on the 7-9 season from last year and avoid another 1-4 stretch to end the season? TO is not enough as they will hit a few game losing streak or he won’t get the ball as much as he wants and will turn into the TO that got booted out of San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Dallas. TO is a great talent when he plays hard and catches the ball and will complement Evans, Parrish and Reed, but with a lack of running game and a tough schedule look for another sub .500 year. Prediction 5-11 Miami had a surprising year in 2008 after a 1-15 2007 as they won the division with an 11-5 record as Chad Pennington lead the way along with Ronnie Brown in the wildcat formation. With teams having an entire year of tape and offseason to dissect the wildcat and game plan to stop the short game to Ginn and Fasano, the question hitting the Dolphins is: Can the smoke and mirror offense of the wildcat formation hold up to the tougher schedule? The answer is no as the entire division has gotten better and they play a much tougher AFC and NFC division look for the Dolphins to fall down in the standings from last year. Prediction 5-11 New England got dealt a bad blow last year when Tom Brady went down early into the first game of the year with a knee injury, but Matt Cassel stepped in nicely and New England went 11-5. However, that tied them with Miami for tops in the AFC East and Baltimore for a wild card spot, but lost out in tie breakers. Now that the Patriots have a healthily Tom Brady back is it the old Tom Brady or just an old Tom Brady? It is the old Tom Brady who had an entire year off from hits and is poised to lock up with Randy Moss and Wes Welker and will need to shoulder the load. The only thing to worry about is the defense with the trade of Richard Seymour and retirement of Tedy Bruschi. Prediction 14-2 New York Jets traded up to get Mark Sanchez after the Favre experiment was good in the first half, but was a bust in the second half as they finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs. Along with bringing in a new quarterback the Jets hired a new head coach in Rex Ryan to bring some attitude and defensive prowess to the Jets sideline. Can the new additions of Sanchez and Ryan be enough to get the Jets to be playing deep into January? The answer to that is yes, but not this year as they will do well and battle for a wild card spot falling short, however building up for years to come. Prediction 10-6 AFC North Baltimore got all the way to the AFC Championship game with a rookie, Joe Flacco, at quarterback finishing with an 11-5 record. Alas the one hurdle they couldn’t overcome was beating the Steelers as they lost for the third time, but the season was a success. With the defense getting older can they continue to play with the intensity as they have without defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and can Flacco avoid the sophomore slump? The defense will be there as they have shown that in preseason and Flacco will be given more to responsibility and start throwing down field to really open the offense. Expect another solid year from Baltimore as the fight for the division, but fall short and earn another wildcard birth. Prediction 11-5 Cincinnati had a big offseason of moves and non moves. TJ Houshmandzadeh was traded to Seattle, Chad Ochocinco stayed, and Carson Palmer is back healthy. They did bring in Coles to go with Henry to fill TJ’s shoes. But what does it all mean and can the Bengals compete with Baltimore and Pittsburgh? The best they can do is battle to do better than 4-11-1 like they did last year, but they still don’t have the pieces to get back to a few years ago when they won the division as the defense is not as solid as the offense. Prediction 6-10 Cleveland got a new head coach as they try another Belichick disciple after Crennel didn’t do the job in Cleveland. Enter Eric Mangini who had a decent couple of years in New York before a couple bad ones the last couple of years and that lead to his exit after Favre didn’t get the job done. With a new coach and Brady Quinn winning the QB battle can the Browns finally turn things around and have a few winning years starting with the 2009 season? No, you can make all the changes you want, but they have to be the right ones and Mangini isn’t one of them and it will show it in their 2009 record. Prediction 3-13 Pittsburgh is the defending champs once again as Big Ben lead the way once again first to the division crown at 12-4 then to the championship for the second time in his career. With most of the team returning and that vaunted defense are the Steelers still the team to beat and can Big Ben stay healthy through the entire season to make another run at a ring? Pittsburgh once again is the team to beat in the AFC and looked like a sure battle in the AFC Championship with Indy or New England. Prediction 14-2 AFC South Houston finally showed that taking Mario Williams was the right number one pick as he has 30 sacks over his first three seasons and 26 of those are in the past two years. Houston finished at 8-8 last year and was 6-2 at home. So I ask can they finally get over that .500 mark and win on the road which has been their bugaboo? Yes they will do better on the road, but finish once again at the 8-8 mark as the defense and offense has improved, however with a tougher schedule then years past they won’t get over the hump. Prediction 8-8 Jacksonville was hit hard by injuries and finished just 5-11 as they put all the wait on Maurice Jones-Drew who led the league in carries. Can Garrard come back at full strength to take some pressure off the running game that lost Fred Taylor to free agency and can Jones-Drew stay healthy all year after recovering from the preseason injury? Garrard will be fine, but he wasn’t that good to begin with and history has shown that the league leader in carries from the previous year tends to have a drop off the next year if not get injured. Expect another down year from Jacksonville in a tough division. Prediction 5-11 Indianapolis was out of sorts last year as Peyton Manning missed the entire preseason recovering from offseason knee surgery as they finished 12-4 and won their last 9 games. For the first time in his career Peyton Manning is going into a season without Marvin Harrison split out and for the first time in a long time no Tony Dungy at the helm. Can Peyton Manning do well in a new system and will the Colts win the division again? Look for the high scoring Colts to be back as they light up the scoreboard of their second year stadium with Reggie Wayne on one side and Tony Gonzalez on the other of a 100% healthy Peyton Manning. Perdition 15-1 Tennessee had a great year going 13-3 and winning the division from the Colts by one game. Tennessee did it with a solid defense and Kerry Collins managing the game behind a great running game 1-2 punch of Johnson and White. Even with the great running game can the aging Collins continue to play at such a high level and more importantly is the Tennessee’s defense still as good without big Albert Haynesworth clogging the middle? The defense will still be a quality one that will rely more on speed than power this year and Collins will do fine feeding off the play action fake. Prediction 11-5 AFC West Denver gave Cutler what he wanted which was out as the new coach replacing the ledged Shanahan ruffled some feathers shortly into his tenure as coach. Cutler wasn’t the only unhappy Bronco as Brandon Marshall was displeased about his contract and earned himself a couple game suspension in the preseason. Can the new coach, Marshall and the rest of the team get along enough to turn out a winning season? The answer is no too many new variables for the team to work together as one and win. Prediction 6-10 Kansas City finished last year with the worst record in the AFC with a 2-14 record and both wins came within the division which San Diego won at 8-8. Needing some changes the Chiefs brought in Matt Cassel, but traded away Tony Gonzalez in a rebuilding move. Can Larry Johnson return to form of earlier in his career and can Cassel stay healthy enough to play like he did last year in New England? Johnson will play better than years past, but defense will put 8 in the box as they will be geared to stopping the run putting the pressure on Cassel who doesn’t have the weapons he had with the Patriots. Prediction 6-10 Oakland was 5-11 last year and finished the year with two wins as they look to get better and better each year to bring the Raiders back to the glory days. Can the two young studs of JaMarcus Russell and Darren McFadden be enough for the Raiders to compete in the division? Yes that is enough as Kansas City hasn’t really improved and Denver is in turmoil with all the internal fighting, but they still have to deal with San Diego. Look for another sub par rebuilding type of year from the Raiders as the trade for Richard Seymour is doing more harm then good. Prediction 4-12 San Diego was 4-8 through 12 games last year, but caught fire winning each of their last 4 games and Denver lost their last three including the last game of the year to San Diego. With a healthy LaDainian Tomlinson back and ready to tear it up again and Philip Rivers signed for years to come can the Chargers rip through the weak AFC West and compete with New England, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis in the playoffs? The first part of a question is an easy yes there is no competition in the division, but come playoffs they will be a dog fight and should make for interesting January football. Prediction 12-4 Playoff Teams AFC East New England AFC North Pittsburgh AFC South Indianapolis AFC West San Diego Wild Card Baltimore Wild Card Tennessee