The Pittsburgh Steelers are fresh off their second Super Bowl win in four seasons and with little turnover from last year’s roster they look to remain in the mix again come January. The Steelers were able to bring home the Lombardi Trophy despite the fact the offense was mediocre to bad at times and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger taking more hits than a pinata at a kids birthday party last season. If the Steelers are going to repeat as champs they are going to need better play from their offensive line.

The Giants raced out to an 11-1 record last season and looked like the odds-on favorites to repeat as Super Bowl Champions until that ill-fated night when Plaxico Burress shot himself in the thigh resulting in him getting suspended and ultimately released by the team. Once Burress was declared done for the season the wheels fell off the offensive wagon and Eli Manning looked lost out there as the Giants limped to the finish line with a 12-4 record and getting bounced from the playoffs by the Eagles. The success of the Giants for the upcoming season hinges largely on whether or not they will be able to find comparable receivers to replace both Burress and Amani Toomer.

The Patriots were able to go 11-5 last season despite losing Tom Brady the first week of the season. The fact that the Patriots were able to scramble to 11 wins last season is just a testament to how good of an organization New England and how good of a coach Bill Belichick is. Most teams would have folded once they found out that their starting quarterback was about to be a former 7th round draft pick who had not started a game since his senior year in high school.

The Miami Dolphins shocked the football world last year by following up an abysmal 1-15 season with an 11-5 campaign and an AFC East crown in their first season under Bill Parcells’ watch. The Dolphins were able to do it by playing solid defense and protecting the football turning the ball over 13 times while forcing 30 turnovers on defense. Chad Pennington and Ronnie Brown also stayed healthy enough to appear in all 16 games and Ted Ginn, Jr. had a solid if unspectacular breakout season at wide receiver.

The Jaguars went from the penthouse to the outhose in the matter of six months. Going into last summer’s camp the Jaguars were a trendy Super Bowl pick coming off a surprising 11-5 season that saw them win a playoff thriller in Pittsburgh. Quarterback David Garrard was coming off a breakout season that saw him throw just 3 interceptions and complete 64.0% of his passes en route to scoring a new deal.

For the first time in 8 years the Colts come into training camp with a new head coach as Tony Dungy stepped down and assistant coach Jim Caldwell was elevated in his place. The upside is that the coaching staff stays relatively in tact, the downside is Caldwell has no NFL head coaching experience so there could be some growing pains this season. The biggest question facing the Colts is how well will Peyton Manning adjust to not having Dungy and long-time #1 target, Marvin Harrison, around?

In their first year post-Favre the Packers tumbled from a 13-3 record and an appearance in the NFC Championship game to a 6-10 season and missing the playoffs. But, don’t blame the disappointing season on Favre’s successor Aaron Rodgers. The offense barely skipped a beat finishing top ten in the league in scoring and yards which Rogers throwing for over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns.

After a historically disastrous 0-16 season the Lions pretty much have nowhere else to go but up. There is not any one or two real deficiencies to point to in general that can get this team turned around. The team just stunk up the joint in just about every aspect of the game. They could not move the ball, struggled to put the ball in the end zone, turned the ball over, other teams basically moved the ball on them at will, and the Lions defense was unable to tun the ball over as well.

The Dallas Cowboys went into last season with a Super Bowl or bust mantra and unfortunately for their fans it was a big bust as they finished up a 13-3 season with a disappointing 9-7 season and missing the playoffs after a humiliating blow out loss to the rival Philadelphia Eagles. After dropping three of their final four games and missing out on the playoffs one would have expected impetuous owner Jerry Jones to fire head coach Wade Phillips and overhaul the roster as he has been wont to do in previous years when the team failed to deliver.

The Cleveland Browns had big aspirations going into the 2008 season after soaring to an unexpected 10-6 season under Romeo Crennel. Those aspirations came crumbling down around a disappointing 4-12 season that culminated with Crennel being fired and the recently deposed Eric Mangini fresh off of a disappointing season with the Jets.