Tagged As: football, NFL, Sports, Super Bowl, Tickets, Giants, Cowboys, Cardinals

The NFL training camps are underway, so everyone whose baseball team has sunk to the bottom of the division or everyone whose baseball team is obviously on its last leg has a chance to obsess about a new team and dream up scenarios where they might actually put together a Super Bowl season (hey, the Cardinals did it last season so why can’t a club like the Raiders, right?).

Well, not so fast there St. Louis Ram’s diehard and Mr. Kansas City Chief. I do not care what you read about Marc Bulger returning to form or if Tom Cassel still has the scent of the New England Patriots. Read on and see which teams have a shot and which teams should pay more attention to their fantasy football teams, beginning with the NFC in this edition.

NFC East

There is a serious deficiency at wide receiver in this division, so the team with best running game with a big play quarterback probably has the best shot at winning the division as long as they have a good defense.

First Place: New York Giants

The Giants managed to win after Plaxico shot himself in the leg and they still have at least two running backs two dominate games and a pretty good defense. They will not dominate like last season, but they should win amidst the chaos in Dallas and the perpetual plague of doubts in Philadelphia.

Second Place: Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys may not have a great defense and their may be a lot of work to do to repair the relationship between the receivers and the Tony Romo, but there is no more Jessica Simpson in the picture and Terrell Owens took his show to Buffalo. Essentially, there are fewer distractions and Romo has to have a great season to make for last year’s melt down.

Third Place: Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles are relying on Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown to give the secondary fits and force the safety to stay out of the box. Yeah. That’s not the best plan. Brian Westbrook is about to turn 30 and he is the most used outlet on passing plays and is the main running back. His injury, or Donovan McNabb’s, will be the crux for the team, whether or not they have a better defense than the Cowboys, where they already have on unhappy customer in starting cornerback Sheldon Brown.

Fourth Place: Washington Redskins

The starting quarterback is Jason Campbell and the back up, Todd Collins, is 37 years old. Santana Moss or not, the second best receiver is Antwaan Randle-El. Clinton Portis can have another great year and it would still not make a difference.

NFC North

The North is the frozen tundra, which is really just a freaking cold desert. Similarly, the football teams here are a fruitless group that will not go far after fighting amongst themselves.

First Place: Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings defense will suffer the first four games without Pat and Kevin Williams at defensive tackle, but they will be part of a much improved defense that proves last season was a mirage. On offense the team still has Tavaris Jackson penciled in as the starter, but Sage Rosenfels could overtake him. The receivers are far from great, but running back Adrian Peterson is superb and that is good enough in the North.

Second Place: Green Bay Packers

The Packers had a bad year without Brett Favre and took a step back with the young defense faltering while Aaron Rodgers had a mixed season (lots of yards and touchdowns, too many picks and held on to the ball too long). Still he will have Greg Jennings and a veteran in Donald Driver to throw to while Ryan Grant should help if he is able to play like he did in the second half of last season.

Third Place: Chicago Bears

The defense began to show its age so instead of actually getting new guys that could help that brought in scrubs (safety Josh Bullocks) and coach Lovie Smith said he will revamp that side of the ball personally. Way to try and sweep the problem under the rug. The offense should be better with new quarterback Jay Cutler, Matt Forte entering his second year, and a better offensive line. However, who is going to spread the defense out, no-hands Devin Hester or the guy that could not even beat Brandon Lloyd out for a job last season (Rashied Davis).

Fourth Place: Detroit Lions

You do not get to move up a spot after a 0-16 season and when your projected starting quarterback is a washed up Daunte Culpepper. No way, even if you have Calvin Johnson as the number one option at wide receiver.

NFC South

This division surprised every one when it yielded four teams with a record of 8-8 or better. This division demands that its winner have a balanced team to win.

First Place: Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons only got better when they added tight end Tony Gonzalez to the receiver tandem of Roddy White and Michael Jenkins. Matt Ryan will have his choice of targets and running back Michael Turner will keep opposing defenses off balance.

Second Place: Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers have everything back, the dual running backs (DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart), a defense that allowed 329 points returning 10 starters, and a quarterback the coach loves (Jake Delhoume). There is no other real reason that can be backed with stats or personnel changes, I just think it is time for Atlanta to put together a string of good seasons..

Third Place: New Orleans Saints

The defense will have some issues without defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant for the first four games, but the early season is crazy and teams can pull out victories they cannot later in the season, especially with Drew Brees as the quarterback. I am pretty sure Brees could score 20 points a game in the NFL with a bunch of high school players, only he has wide receiver Marquis Colston and running back Reggie Bush to work with.

Fourth Place: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Bucs lost their identity when they did not return Derrick Brooks, Joey Galloway, Jeff Garcia, and Warrick Dunn. It is going to take half the season just to figure out who this team is. Then they will have to wonder why Byron Leftwich is under center.

NFC West

The NFC North is happy that the NFC West exists because they make their teams look like Super Bowl contenders. The one exception was the Arizona Cardinals, and they remain the only exception.

First Place: Arizona Cardinals

Sure the Super Bowl loser typically dive bombs the next season, but if Kurt Warner gets to keep throwing to Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston they can postpone that nose dive until the playoffs. Keep in mind that the Cards had to know they did not belong in the Super Bowl and they still put up an amazing fourth quarter with a much improved postseason defense.

Second Place: Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks are getting Matt Hasselback back and surrounding him with decent receivers like T.J. Houshmandzadh, Nate Burleson, Deion Branch, Deion Butler, and John Carlson. Hasselback should be able to put up pretty good numbers with this crew. The defense is supposed to bounce back with Patrick Kerney. I doubt his return will make the team a Top 10 defensive club, but they will be better than the Rams and 49ers.

Third Place: St. Louis Rams

The offensive line continues to improve piece by piece, which will give running back Stephen Jackson some holes to run through and quarterback Marc Bulger time to complete a three step drop and hit somebody (though the somebody is, is not clear yet).

Fourth Place: San Francisco 49ers

Mike Singletary is changing the defense from a 4-3 to a 3-4 and there is a quarterback battle in camp… the bell tolls for thee.

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