1. Pittsburgh: I'm abiding by the old number-one-until-somebody-beats-them rule here, against my gut feeling that the Steelers are not the best team in the league right now, even with the fancy ring.
2. New England: There are some questions about their pass defense, but they can out-gun any team in the league with Tom Brady healthy, and with Brandon Meriweather at safety, things can't be all bad.
3. Philadelphia: I feel like I've been brainwashed to believe that the Eagles are this good. Their offense is pretty good when they are on, and even without Jim Johnson the defense is still top 15, right?
4. Baltimore: I like any team that can play as physical as the Ravens. And I like their schedule. (AFC West, NFC North)
5. New York Giants: Like the Steelers, the Giants are high because, as of yet, nobody has de-throned them. I don't particularly like Eli Manning, and without a solid receiver, I think he will struggle more than usual.
6. Tennessee: Like the Ravens, they should be able to pound a lot of their opponents, especially early in the year. I'd like to guess that the Kerry Collins era is about to run its course, but I'm usually wrong about things like that (see numerous posts about Brett Favre retiring).
7. Indianapolis: Conventional wisdom tells us that losing a bunch of coaches, chiefly Tony Dungy, and Marvin Harrison would be enough to sink a team before they start. But conventional wisdom also tells us that any team with Payton Manning has a fighting chance. Plus he gets to throw against the NFC West four times.
8. Carolina: Jake Delhomme could ruin this ranking. He struggled mightily in the playoffs at home against the Cardinals, and if any of that carries over, the Panthers are sunk.
9. Minnesota: With Brett Favre, Tarvaris Jackson, or Sage Rosenfels, this is probably a 10-6 team, but they will start out very fast (maybe 5-0 before hosting Baltimore in Week 6).
10. Atlanta: Matt Ryan has to prove that he can do it again, but it didn't look like beginner's luck. If the defense comes together, the Falcons will rise from 10 pretty fast.
11. Miami: See note above; replace Delhomme with Chad Pennington. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams will rush for a combined 2,000 yards.
12. Arizona: The fact of the matter is that Arizona lost eight games last season including the Super Bowl. They made an excellent run at the right time, but they still have a lot of weaknesses that can and will be exploited. And Kurt Warner is a year older.
13. San Diego: Talent, talent, talent. We'll see if they make a go at it this season, though something about them (Norv Turner) tells me they won't.
14. Green Bay: Everybody is the world loves the Packers after that spirited preseason, but they are going to have to prove it in a real game first. It is very hard to judge a defense that just switched schemes by a few quarters against offenses that are spending more time learning their base plays than they are game-planning for Green Bay.
15. Dallas: It's hard to believe that Tony Romo won't lead the Cowboys to eight or nine wins. It is also hard to believe that Tony Romo will play in a playoff game this season.
16. New Orleans: Like the Packers, the Saints will probably be more fun than good this season.
17. Chicago: Jay Cutler is pretty good at times, but he also will lose the Bears a couple games this season. Throw in an aging and declining defense, and I see 8-8.
18. Houston: If Houston can manage a sweep of either Indianapolis or Tennessee, they will win the division. If.
19. Seattle: A lot of folks like Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks this season. And why not? They play in the worst division in the NFC and have a frightening receiving corps.
20. Washington: Washington finished number four on the defensive side last season, and added Albert Haynesworth to the fold. Yes, that's right. The number four defense in the NFL added arguably the most valuable defensive player in the league. The question remains: Can Jason Campbell do enough to help the defense win games?
21. San Francisco: Mike Singletary adds a lot of fire to the team, but they still don't have the
players.
22. Cincinnati: With Carson Palmer healthy they should at least win three or four more games.
23. Buffalo: Ultimately, the young and inexperienced offensive line will be their undoing.
24. Jacksonville: Nice to see Jack Del Rio clean house a little, casting out receivers Reggie Williams and Matt Jones in favor of veteran Torry Holt. Probably won't translate to many wins this season though.
25. New York Jets: Starting a rookie quarterback as a rookie coach worked for both John Harbaugh and Mike Smith last year. Rex Ryan will not join the club.
26. Kansas City: It's kind of hard to believe that they thought Chan Gailey was a good idea to start with.
27. Tampa Bay: Starting over. We'll forgive them a couple years to rebuild around Josh Freeman.
28. Cleveland: Like the Steelers and Giants, we're waiting for them to prove us wrong. They could start by scoring a touchdown.
29. Oakland: There's not enough space here to fully explain why the Raiders are the 29th best team in the NFL.
30. St. Louis: Maybe Marc Bulger will bring the Rams back to live after two awful seasons. Maybe?
31. Denver: Hard to like any of the moves they made this off season. Except for benching Brandon Marshall in the preseason.
32. Detroit
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