Rnk | LY* | Team | Record* | Comments |
1. | 1. | Denver Broncos | 13-3 | Looking for revenge in the opener after horrific playoff loss to the Ravens. |
2. | 6. | Green Bay Packers | 11-5 | Like the Broncos open up against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs. |
3. | 5. | Seattle Seahawks | 11-5 | Would have been even scarier with a healthy Harvin. |
4. | 4. | Atlanta Falcons | 13-3 | Regular season is meaningless for them, need to win some playoff games. |
5. | 3. | San Francisco 49ers | 11-4-1 | Can't afford for Kaepernick to have a sophomore slump. |
6. | 2. | New England Patriots | 12-4 | Will Brady begin to look human as he ages and the talent level around him continues to deteriorate? |
7. | 8. | Houston Texans | 12-4 | Was last season’s late collapse a harbinger of things to come or just a blip on the radar? |
8. | 11. | Cincinnati Bengals | 10-6 | Dalton needs to step up. |
9. | 9. | Baltimore Ravens | 10-6 | Super Bowl champions lost a lot through retirement, free agency and trades. |
10. | 18. | New Orleans Saints | 7-9 | Payton suspension proved how much coaching matters. |
11. | 14. | New York Giants | 9-7 | Seem to make a run every other season, so this should be their year. |
12. | 10. | Washington Redskins | 10-6 | RGIII will start the opener. |
13. | 13. | Chicago Bears | 10-6 | Stagnated under Lovie. Out of the box hire Trestman will try to get them over the hump. |
14. | 7. | Indianapolis Colts | 11-5 | Repeating last year's magical run will not be easy. |
15. | 12. | Minnesota Vikings | 10-6 | Hand the ball to Purple Jesus and get out of the way. |
16. | 15. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 8-8 | Roethlisberger needs to stay on the field for there to be any hope. |
17. | 19. | Dallas Cowboys | 8-8 | Stayed the course with Romo and Garrett. Why would anyone expect a different result? |
18. | 22. | St. Louis Rams | 7-8-1 | Fisher has them pointed in the right direction. |
19. | 20. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 7-9 | Can Freeman take the next step? The rest of the pieces appear to be in place. |
20. | 16. | Carolina Panthers | 7-9 | Newton needs more help, if only he had Tampa's weapons. |
21. | 31. | Kansas City Chiefs | 2-14 | Could surprise. Have talent and Reid knows how to win regular season games. |
22. | 28. | Detriot Lions | 4-12 | Schwartz gets one more opportunity to try to instill some discipline. |
23. | 26. | Arizona Cardinals | 5-11 | Not sure why they are so enamored with former Steelers offensive coordinators. |
24. | 23. | Tennessee Titans | 6-10 | Banking on bounce back season by CJ behind rebuilt interior offensive line. |
25. | 21. | Miami Dolphins | 7-9 | Can Wallace help open up the offense? |
26. | 29. | Philadelphia Eagles | 4-12 | Hard to envision Vick surviving an entire season in Kelly's offense. |
27. | 27. | Cleveland Browns | 5-11 | Starting over again. |
28. | 17. | San Diego Chargers | 7-9 | Recent past suggests Rivers unlikely to overcome lack of weapons and offensive line talent. |
29. | 24. | Buffalo Bills | 6-10 | Return to practice of Manuel should keep undrafted rookie free agent Tuel out of the starting lineup for the opener. |
30. | 32. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 2-14 | Gabbert gets another chance. |
31. | 25. | New York Jets | 6-10 | Forced to sign Brady Quinn after final cuts, enough said. |
32. | 30. | Oakland Raiders | 4-12 | A dumpster fire. |
*Last year's final ranking/record