Last-Minute NFL Predictions

Another National Football League season is upon us. We've all endured an off-season like no other, wondering if the players and owners would be able to come to a new collective bargaining agreement, or if a player strike/owner lockout would cancel the season and eradicate pro football's bedrock of fan loyalty. In the end, a deal was struck and a new CBA agreed to. Still, the effect of the lockout was pervasive, with players out of shape because of the cancellation of organized team workouts, and with a shortened free agency period that was a real free-for-all. Changes abound on the field and on the sidelines, but someone has to win the NFL's eight divisions. Here are my choices, with teams listed in predicted order of finish:

AFC EAST The New England Patriots should be the choice to win the division, until someone actually beats them. Some of the parts seem interchangeable, but the team still has head coach Bill Belichick devising the game plans and driving the troops. QB Tom Brady can win any football game, anywhere at any time, and he still has devastating weapons like WRs Wes Welker and Chad Ochocinco. The defense has been reloaded and is rapidly improving. I think they'll win every division game and cruise to another division title. The New York Jets beat the Patriots in the playoffs and made it to the AFC title game last year, in head coach Rex Ryan's breakthrough season. QB Mark Sanchez will be a year wiser and will also have elite targets in WRs Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress. RB LaDainian Tomlinson is back for a final year of inspiration, and Ryan always runs a great defense, with Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie forming one of the league's top cornerback tandems. The Jets will sneak up on no one this year, however, and least of all the Pats. The Miami Dolphins have improved under head coach Tony Sparano, but are nowhere near the level of the division's leaders. Nor is QB Chad Henne even approaching the level of play that Brady and Sanchez have achieved. The Buffalo Bills have been stuck in a rut in this division since its inception, with no end in sight. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is slowly improving, but having the worst quarterback play in the division is no way to escape this abyss. The Bills have nowhere to go, and that includes, "up"!

AFC North This will be another war between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. Both teams play grind-it-out, smash-it-up, old-school football. Ben Roethlisberger versus Joe Flacco will again be the top intra-division quarterback matchup. But it's the defenses, led by linebackers James Harrison and Ray Lewis, that really drive this rivalry. The Steelers usually win this division because they always have such a big home-field advantage, but both teams should make the playoffs. The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals will again fight it out for third place. I have to give the Browns the edge, because Cincinnati is going to have to get used to life without both QB Carson Palmer and WR Chad Ochocinco.

AFC South With the Indianapolis Colts playing without Peyton Manning, the Tennessee Titans starting over without head coach Jeff Fisher and QB Vince Young, and the Jacksonville Jaguars having just released starting QB David Garrard in favor of Luke McCown, I can only pick the Houston Texans to win their first division title. Houston is loaded on offense, with QB Matt Schaub, WR Andre Johnson, and RB Arian Foster (if he's healthy). Indy brought in previously retired QB Kerry Collins to fill in for Manning, but there is something very unequal about that tradeoff! Jacksonville will be playing for head coach Jack Del Rio's job. They should be hungry enough to grab third place. Tennessee will have stud RB Chris Johnson back, but who is the quarterback?

AFC West Even with suffering through the worst special teams play in the history of the NFL last season, the San Diego Chargers still would have won this division if they'd beaten the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1. (They crushed the Chiefs 31-0 in the Week 14 rematch.) QB Philip Rivers led the NFL in passing yards, despite needing a scorecard to tell who his receivers were. This year, TE Antonio Gates looks good after being injured and WR Vincent Jackson looked great in pre-season after holding out in 2010. SS Bob Sanders, newly signed from the Colts, brings attitude after missing time in recent years with injuries. Watch out! The Chiefs have a rapidly improving young defense and should be good enough to hang on for second place. The Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos will both have new head coaches in Hue Jackson and John Fox, respectively. Jackson inherits a team that went 6-0 in the division last year and still missed the playoffs! The Raiders are improving and could pass the Chiefs. Sacrificing a 3rd-round draft choice to pick up QB Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft could be the best move this team has made in years. After the Josh McDaniel debacle, Denver needed an experienced hand at head coach. However, I wonder if Fox can still relate to today's NFL players?

NFC East Locking up QB Michael Vick with a long-term contract, trading former starting QB Kevin Kolb to Arizona for CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and more, and signing the top free agent available in CB Nnamdi Asomugha, shows that the Philadelphia Eagles are serious about staying on top, today and tomorrow. Nnamdi and Dominique form a scary, sick cornerback combo, and another great corner, Asante Samuel is still on the roster! The Eagles will be the Beast of the East. I give the Dallas Cowboys the edge over the New York Giants for second place. Jason Garrett is a good, young head coach who will lead his players to a better overall performance and a playoff spot in 2011. On the other hand, New York's head coach, Tom Coughlin, can be so abrasive that he may lose the locker room, if things start to go badly. As for the Washington Redskins, they keep trying to make the right moves. They simply do not match up with the other teams in this tough division, making last place their destiny.

NFC North The Green Bay Packers were lucky to even make the playoffs last year, but they peaked at just the right time and won the Super Bowl. Led by QB Aaron Rodgers, the Pack will have that winning swagger. This year, they will take the division. The Detroit Lions have done all the right things since their infamous 0-16 season. The offense, led by QB Matthew Stafford, is fast improving and the defense, spearheaded by DT Ndamukong Suh, is a lurking monster that will soon be one of the best in the NFL - maybe even this year. Detroit's long-suffering fans deserve a winner, but the competition for the final playoff spot in the NFC will be stiff and the Lions will miss out, for now. The Minnesota Vikings have one of the game's top running backs in Adrian Peterson, but new starting QB Donovan McNabb has shown his age in recent years. He'll be an improvement over the poor showing Brett Favre put up in his final season, but the Vikes will do well to finish 8-8. As for the Chicago Bears, I believe they are going to sink with error-prone Jay Cutler at quarterback, all the way to last place. If this does happen, it will probably cost head coach Lovie Smith his job.

NFC South This is the toughest division to win in the NFL. Since its inception in 2002, the NFC South has seen no team repeat as its division champion. That's not good news for last year's winners, the Atlanta Falcons. With an offense spearheaded by QB Matt Ryan, RB Michael Turner, and WR Roddy White, and with an improving defense, the Falcons will likely break that trend, this year. I see the New Orleans Saints, led by QB Drew Brees, repeating as an NFC wild card team, despite the questions brought on by their poor defensive showing in last year's playoffs loss to Seattle. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be an improved team overall, but I call for them to plateau this year, as QB Josh Freeman hits a bit of a wall against opposing defenses. Like the Lions, the Bucs are a likely breakthrough team in 2012. The Carolina Panthers have hired the right man in new head coach Ron Rivera. Rivera was the defensive coordinator of the NFL's top-ranked defense last year in San Diego. He will bring intensity and toughness to the Panthers, but this is a hard division in which to try and make progress. Even with QB Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy winner, taking over the offense, Carolina has a long way to go to make it back to the top.

NFC West I had been thinking that the Arizona Cardinals were doomed for another last-place finish due to quarterback woes, but shortly after the lockout ended, they traded for Philadelphia's erstwhile starter, Kevin Kolb. Kolb looked good in the Cards' pre-season games. He and All-World WR Larry Fitzgerald already seem to have a healthy chemistry between them, and both are locked up with multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts. RB Beanie Wells looks ready to shine, now that he will no longer share the football with the traded Tim Hightower. And, let's face it, the competition is weak in the worst division in pro football. Arizona gets my vote for first place. The St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks will both be improved, but both may wind up with worse records than they had in 2011. The defending division champion Seahawks will have improved morale after the upset playoff win, but it remains to be seen if QB Tarvaris Jackson can step in and be the team's on-field leader. I think the Rams, led by QB Sam Bradford and RB Steven Jackson will slip by the Hawks for second place. Bringing up the rear will be the San Francisco 49ers, who have a top-notch running back in Frank Gore, but who are again going to start Alex Smith at quarterback. The Niners are said to be considering adding QB David Garrard, recently released by the Jaguars and who'd probably be an upgrade over Smith.

My wild card teams are the Cowboys and Saints in the NFC and the Jets and Ravens in the AFC. In the NFC playoffs, I see the Eagles and Packers meeting in the championship game, with Michael Vick leading the Eagles to a surprising win on the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field. In the AFC, I think finishing out of the playoffs in 2010 will be good for San Diego. I see the Chargers bowling over the Patriots in the AFC title game in San Diego, and finally hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for the first time with a convincing Super Bowl win over the Eagles in Indianapolis, a place where they always seem to play well!