Preseason AFC Rankings

AFC Champ: New England (1)
Division Champs:
East: New England
North: Batimore
South: Indy
West: Denver
Wild Cards:
San Diego
Houston (2)
The Rest, In Order:
New York
Cincinatti
KC
Tennessee
Jax
Cleveland (3)
Pittsburgh
Oakland
Buffalo
Miami

1- I have nothing to add to the national praising of New England, except this: they will lose the Super Bowl to New Orleans. The Saints have a better secondary, receiving corps, backield, and superior pass rush from the defensive line (a crucial factor, because the Siants' pass rush functions like a blitz on every play without having to leave single coverage in the secondary). The tow teams are roughly equal at quarterback, and the only area in which the Pats are superior is linebacker.

2- Yes, Houston. I don't honestly know if this will happen. I'm not enamored with MattScaub, nor am I totally soured on David Carr, but this D is damn good. Houston and Denver will both survive on their D, which means they will be more resistent to injuries to their skill players, which is a sure sign of success. The real reason I chose houston is two-fold: their are at least six teams in contention for this spot, each with excellence in some areas and flaws in others. It's the way of the NFL. Since handicpping these teams is a fool's errand anyway, I feel that by choosing Houston of the six, I am more likely to be right about the NFl's biggest surprise than anyone else. Secondly, while the team might not have existed when I lived there, I am still a sucker for the teams from my hometown.

3- I have handicapped Cleveland and Oakland because I don't know how long they'll wait until they put out their rookie QBs. I am hoping they'll wait for the player's sake, but Cleveland is closer to being able to put out Quinn than Oakland is for Russell because of their O-line. Oakland has all of the skill players, but is a draft away on the line.

4- Miami feels like they're throwing the season. Maybe that's why the Trent Green deal hasn't happened. They chose an injured WR in the first round, a pick that I like by the way, they have been purging contracts and are looking to rent a qb. This team is thinking about 08.