By Mike Gill
The NFL season is under three weeks away, here is my first look at this years teams.
32 – Atlanta Falcons – Questions at QB, a bad O-Line and questions on D make this the worst team in the NFL.
31 – Miami Dolphins– They will be much better, especially on offense. But their defense is dreadful, could be historically bad.
30 – St. Louis Rams – The Rams are missing their best player in Steven Jackson. The sad part is, even if he signs, they don’t move up.
29 – KC Chiefs– Brodie Croyle is the man under center, just because they figured that out doesn’t mean they will win many games this season – very young team.
28 – Baltimore Ravens – Their offense is going to be as bad as the Dolphins defense will be.
27 – Chicago Bears – See above (Baltimore).
26 – Oakland Raiders– Watching JaMarcus Russell and Darren McFadden should be exciting, but they still need a lot of work.
25 – S.F. 49ers– Frank Gore getting hand-offs from J.T. O’Sullivan, I am sure this isn’t what Niners fans envisioned when they drafted Alex Smith.
24 – Detroit Lions – They are another two years away, but finally moving in the right direction.
23 – Cincinatti Bengals – The can score, but they can’t stop anyone else from scoring and until they do, they will be in the bottom half of the league.
22 – Carolina Panthers – If they think they are a playoff team, they have another thing coming. This team has a lot of work to do still.
21 – Arizona Cardinals – They think they can make the playoffs, I think they are still a year away.
20 – Denver Broncos– They are in search of a running game and Cutler seemed to have taken a step back last season.
19 – Buffalo Bills – The Bills are getting better, Lynch will be a force, but poor QB play will hinder them.
18 – Tennessee Titans – Made the playoffs last season, but I think they take a step back this year.
17 – Houston Texans– They are thinking playoffs, but are at least a year away in a tough division.
16 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Playoff team from last season, will not make it this season.
15 – Washington Redskins – Another playoff team from last season that just didn’t improve enough in the off-season.
14 –Pittsburgh Steelers– Steelers ended last season on a down-slope, i think that carries over to 2008.
13 – Cleveland Browns – A tough schedule could keep them out of the playoffs, but they will score a ton of points.
12 – Seattle Seahawks – Bad division puts them back in the playoffs, but they are close to being caught.
11 – Green Bay Packers-Tougher schedule and unproven QB – they take a step back in ’08.
10 – New Yrok Jets – Isn’t this ironic, don’t ya think…a little too ironic?
9 – New Orleans Saints – After an 8-8 season, the Saints will be an exciting team to watch and are the class of the NFC South.
8 – New York Giants – The Giants might suffer from the Super Bowl hangover early on, will they have enough to make up for that in the second half of the season.
7 – Minnesota Vikings – Plenty of talent, but questions at QB might hold them back.
6 – Philadelphia Eagles– Expect a bounce-back season from Donovan McNabb and a more plays made on D.
5 – Indianapolis Colts – The Colts have a few injuries to over-come, but should be playing deep in the playoffs.
4 – Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jags think this is their year to over-take the Colts, they are right.
3 – Dallas Cowboys– Romo needs to win a playoff game – Bad.
2 – New England Patriots – Did teams begin to figure them out? I think they still have a run left in them.
1 – San Diego Chargers – I think this is their year. If healthy they would have beat NE last season.
Here are my playoff teams :
AFC
1. SD 2. New England 3. Jax 4. Cleveland 5. Indy 6. NYJ
NFC
1. Dallas 2. Minn 3. N.O. 4. Seattle 5. Philly 6. NYG
Philadelphia Sports Blog 
I can somewhat live with most of this list, but Pittsburgh is out and the Jets are in? No way.
Detroit Lions – It’s always safe to say a team is two years away since you can’t be criticized for another two years…at which point your like “c’mon man, that was like two years ago I said that.” Anyhow, I don’t really see how this team is built for the future in any way aside from Calvin Johnson getting a couple more years in the league. They inexplicably have no young quarterback being groomed currently which means either next year or the year after they will have to draft one. Then you’re going to throw this guy right into the fire, which never works out. In all honesty, they were pretty much built for last year, which didn’t work out and while they should be rebuilding…they for some reason dealyed the process.
Pittsburgh Steelers – May fall even farther than this. Losing Faneca might have the same effect on them that losing Kendall had on the Jets last year.
SD Chargers – OK, so you wanted to be bold up top. There’s nothing that tells me they would have won last year if healthy or that they should surpass the Pats.
Overall great rankings. I had been putting my own together and not one team here was more than two spots off where I had them.
Funny, the team that was ranked 24th caught your attention. You know what, i didnt like Detroit last year at all and everyone else did. After talking to someone who cover the Lions, he said they are finally moving in the right direction and have a plan, I guess I took what he said and let it over-ride m opinion of them, which is, they are further away. But other then QB, they are relativly young…he did metion that they have no QB of the future. But did say Calvin Johnson is the “real deal” as you will see in my Lions “2-a-day” with Sean Baligian from WDFN in Detroit coming soon.
As for SD…They had no LT and no Gates and hung in that game the whole way. I think they have the most talent, and of course talking to Kevin Acee, their beat report, he painted a prety good picture that this team is the team to beat.
I have done a NE “2-a-day” story yet, so we’ll see if V2.0 changes at the top.
Regarding Detroit, I didn’t want to make my comment too long winded so I cut a bit out. First off, when I said they were built for last year, I should have added (poorly).
It wasn’t that they were number 24 that got my attention, I think you slotted them perfectly. I did notice that you incorporated the “2 years away” from your interview, which I had been listening to. That’s when I initially had the reaction “what the hell’s going to happen in two years?” But then again, that’s what you’d expect from a beat writer from a bad team, I mean what are they going to report “this team blows…and will continue to blow…forever?”
Love the Chargers at #1. Overall a great list. But Jags ahead of Colts? I’d flip those two as well as Vikings over Giants.
I hate the G-Men, but their QB has a ring, the Vikings is lucky he has a job.
Colts are banged up, Jags are healty, its thier year.