a lot to look forward to

The AFC is going to be a great race this season. The playoffs include four division winners and two Wild Card teams. The Chargers probably won't be as great as they've been the last few years, but they are still way ahead of the Chiefs, Broncos, and Raiders so count on them. And Peyton Manning's Colts are the surest bet for 12 wins a season that we've ever seen.

That leaves four spots up for grabs. As I am preparing for the season and going through the teams and schedules to make my predictions, I am amazed at the strength of the league. Injuries are unfortunately bound to frustrate some team's hopes. But the Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers, Titans, and Texans are all very legitimate playoff candidates. How exciting for football fans!

The others: Jaguars and Broncos don't have great teams but were playoff bound until the final week a year ago. Chiefs and Raiders have made lots of changes and are ready to display big improvement. You can probably put those four teams in the mix too at this point.

You can forget about the Browns and Bills, who are struggling and are way behind the rest of the conference. Compare that to the NFC with the Rams, Lions, Bucs, Seahawks, Cardinals, and Redskins (two bad teams versus six bad teams).