NFC East

NY Giants (5-2) Contender. The Giants are in first place and currently tied for best record in the conference. The Giants NFC record is 4-0 and with how well their defense and young receiver group is playing the only concern on their mind is the special teams which they are addressing.

Philadelphia (4-3) Contender. Now that Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb are both healthy it will be interesting to see who starts and gets more playing time. Either way they have a dynamic offensive scheme and have enough to get a wild card birth.

Washington (4-4) Pretenders. The acquisition of McNabb looked great in the beginning, but now with injuries and losses piling up things are looking to take a turn for the worse then the better. Look for a sub .500 ending when the season is over.

Dallas (1-6) Pretenders. Dallas had so much potential and pressure at the beginning of the season with the Super Bowl being held in Big D this year, but that lead to countless mistakes. Game after game they continued to shoot themselves in the foot with penalties and then against the Giants at home they blew a lead and the Giants defense knocked Romo out for the year effectively ending the Cowboys season as well.

NFC North

Green Bay (5-3) Contenders. Despite losing Ryan Grant in week one and other various injuries around the team the Packers are in first place. They have no real threat to over take them as Minnesota and Detroit are 2-5 and Chicago even at 4-3 is as consistent as the winds. Look for Rogers to prove how much of an MVP candidate he is this year by leading the Packers into the postseason.

Chicago (4-3) Contenders. As bad as Chicago has looked in their losses they have looked pretty good in their wins. It is just a matter of which Jay Cutler shows up and weather he throws TDs or INTs. They will have a fighting shot a wild card but no guarantees by far.

Minnesota (2-5) Pretenders. The Favre experiment went one year too long and the addition Randy Moss which looked like a steal turned into a bust with him now in Tennessee. Favre should have hung it up after last years great year even with the bad ending and the bad gunslinger has shown up too often this year.

Detroit (2-5) Pretenders. Both of their wins have come at home where they are 2-1 so they are improving and at least putting on a show for the home faithful, but you won’t move up in the division if you can’t win on the road where they are 0-4. Look for the Lions to keep fighting each week and not make it easy for any team especially in their building as they continue to build toward next year.

NFC South

Atlanta (5-2) Contenders. Atlanta on the arm of Matty Ice and hands of Ronny White are tied with a 5-2 record for top spot in their division and the NFC with a real shot at number 1 seed. They have a great home field advantage inside the dome where they are 4-0 so their only bugaboo is the road where they are 1-2. If they can go 8-0 or 7-1 at home and split on the road they are lining up for a 12-4 or 11-5 season.

Tampa Bay (5-2) Contender. This was a big surprise that Tampa Bay has 5 wins and tied for first place. They are playing well and winning the tight games down the stretch. The division may be a bit of stretch with Atlanta in first and New Orleans close by, but a possible wild card birth is not out of the question if they continue to play well.

New Orleans (5-3) Contender. The Super Bowl hang over was in full effect early on as they lost some games they shouldn’t have and were also held down by the loss of Reggie Bush for this extended period of time. Look for a better second half out of New Orleans who still have their bye week to rest and are poised for a big run.

Carolina (1-6) Pretenders. With having a couple of rookies basically as quarterback options this was going to make for an interesting year, but when you keep rotating them it spells disaster. The old saying if you have two quarterbacks you have no quarterbacks is no more true then for Carolina who is in a rebuilding phase and in grave need for a stud quarterback.

NFC West

Seattle (4-3) Contenders. Seattle isn’t playing that well, but they are above .500 and 3-0 at home this year. If they can work on doing better on the road (1-3) they could have a shot of taking this division and having a 9-7 record.

St. Louis (4-4) Contender. St. Louis has been a real surprise winning four games and they are merely a contender for the division only as the NFC West is the weakest in all of the NFL. Bradford has his boys in shape and this will be a fight for the division to the end.

Arizona (3-4) Contenders. In this division only a game back with some divisional games still to play and the weapons they have on offense. The Cardinals have a shot if they can settle on one quarterback to throw the ball to the team in red. This will certainly be a three team race.

San Francisco (2-6) Pretenders. It is tough to call someone a pretender in this division, but with only 2 wins and how bad they have played in those 6 losses they would need to win out or go 7-1 and I don’t see that happening. The division was there’s for the taking at the beginning of the year, but they couldn’t win early on and the losses piled up, they are done.

AFC East

New England (6-1) Contenders. New England is the top team in the NFL as they are the only team with one loss. They opted for the addition by subtraction when they traded away Moss they played better, but also got back a “Patriot player” in Deion Branch. Branch slid right back into the offense and they haven’t looked back. New England is once again dominating at home with a 4-0 record and even picking it up on the road where they are 2-1.

NY Jets (5-2) Contenders. The Jets had an off first game of the year only managing to muster three field goals in a tough 10-9 loss to Baltimore, but then went on a 5 game winning streak where they looked great until last week. At home once again this time to Green Bay on a windy day neither team scored a TD, but the Jets didn’t get on the scoreboard at all. Look for the Jets to limit these clunkers of a game and make a run for the division title at worse getting a wild card birth.

Miami (4-3) Contenders. Miami I put into the contender spot even as third in their division because they are 4-0 on the road and 0-3 at home. One has to figure they will turn things around and start winning at home and continue to play well on the road. They don’t really have a shot at the division having lost to New England and NY Jets already in their building, but do have an outside shot at the 6th seed.

Buffalo (0-7) Pretenders. Buffalo is the only winless team in the league. Any time they seem to be poised for a win it is snatched away from them at the last seconds including in the last two weeks losing late on FGs. Buffalo needs a quarterback as they haven’t had a decent one since Jim Kelly. Look for them to finally turn this around once they get a stud QB.

AFC North

Baltimore (5-2) Contender. Baltimore is in first place and will be jockeying back and forth with Pittsburgh for top spot in the division. So far this year they are undefeated at home at 3-0 and .500 on the road at 2-2. If they continue those they will end 12-4 and surely make the playoffs. Expect the strong play to continue as the defense leads the way.

Pittsburgh (5-2) Contenders. They are tied with Baltimore for first place in the AFC North, but are a half game back in reality as one of their losses is to Baltimore. They survived the first four games of the season going 3-1 and once Ben has returned they are 2-1 and continue to get strong play out of their defense which eased Ben back into the swing of things.

Cleveland (2-5) Pretenders. It is surprising they have two wins at all as the addition of Jake Delhomme hasn’t really flourished. Cleveland has had leads heading into the fourth quarter in many of their games, but the better teams have won as they simply aren’t that good and need a handful of players to turn things around. Look for another scrappy second half as they try their darnedest to play spoiler.

Cincinnati (2-5) Pretenders. Started well with the addition of TO and went 2-1 in their first three games, but it was all down hill after that with four straight losses and just a lack luster offense. Go figure it wouldn’t be anything with TO to blame they simply aren’t as good as last year.

AFC South

Indianapolis (5-2) Contenders. Had an interesting start to the year at 2-2 with two wins at home, but two road losses at divisional opponents. Even with all the injuries, similar to Green Bay, Peyton Manning has Indianapolis winning as they have won three in a row. With this winning they are in first place and it shows it’s not how you start but how you finish and I expect a strong finish from the Colts and a division crown.

Tennessee (5-3) Contenders. Tennessee will probably end up contending for just a wild card spot, but with the addition of Randy Moss if Jeff Fisher can control his energy to on the field and not press conferences look out. The road has been kinder at 3-1 then at home 2-2, but look for the homefield advantage to come around in the second half of the season with the weather and crowd being in their favor.

Houston (4-3) Pretender. Would have liked to have said long shot contender, but at third place in their division in a very tough AFC they just haven’t played well enough to earn that. The season started with a bang as Arian Foster ran wild over the Colts as the Texans beat them at home on opening weekend, but since it hasn’t been as good as they are 3-3 and getting inconsistent play out of Shaub.

Jacksonville (4-4) Pretenders. Jacksonville is similar to Houston having beat Indy at home and haven’t done much else as they have a strong running game, but not so much through the air. They are a very scrappy team just simply too many teams to jump over to get into the playoffs. Maybe next year with a stud receiver.

AFC West

Kansas City (5-2) Contender. Kansas City is playing great and it is in large part to their defense who has allowed the third fewest points in the league. The big reason for their five wins is they are once again using the home field advantage of Arrowhead Stadium with four wins in four home games. If they pick it up on the road, 1-2, they can cruise to a division crown and return to the playoffs.

Oakland (4-4) Pretenders. Being two games back in the loss column and a revolving door at quarterback they don’t have any real leadership to fall back on down the stretch. Their defense and running game has gotten them the four wins and the second most points scored which is due to a couple of high scoring games. This is a passing league and the lack of a solid quarterback will lead them to fall short in the end, but have a good year around .500.

San Diego (3-5) Pretender. I know last year they were 2-3 and reeled off 11 in a row to once again bust past a poor start, but this year is different they are in a much better division and in third place. No easy games in this division and Kansas City is simply playing too good to see them falter. Still expect a strong run as they always do but it will be too little too late in the end.

Denver (2-6) Pretenders. The only thing going for them this year is they are consistent at 1-3 at home and on the road. Trading away of Brandon Marshall meant they no longer had any weapons as the complimentary receivers needed to step up and they simply aren’t number 1’s. The lack of offense put too much pressure on the defense to be perfect which was the case and point in the Jets game.

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