AFC West

1. Oakland Raiders — Father Time might be nipping at their ankle braces, but the Raiders still have enough gas in the tank for one more ride. Look for Doug Jolley to make big contributions to Oakland this year. Last season Jolley was under the radar, but made some big catches for the team. Considering that the Raiders have four receivers they can go to in Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Jerry Porter and top-notch tight end Jolley, they will be a nightmare for defensive coordinators. The defense will be average as long as Bill Romanowski takes his frustration out on the opposition, not his own teammates.

2. San Diego Chargers — The Chargers enter the season with a big three on offense in Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson and David Boston, which will help them rise to one of the top spots in the West. What San Diego needs is for coach Marty Schottenheimer to open up all pages of the playbook and let his offense take control.

3. Denver Broncos — Head coach Mike Shanahan finally has his "guy" in Jake Plummer. No more excuses should be taken from Shanahan because in years past Brian Griese has been handed the blame for the team's record. Even if Plummer hits the skids, Clinton Portis is stellar enough to do most of the work on offense.

4. Kansas City Chiefs — The Chiefs' offense will be able to put up copious amounts of points, but the problem is stopping the other teams from putting up points. Unfortunately, if your team's biggest defensive off-season move is signing defensive end Vonnie Holliday, things have not gotten much better. The real question will be whether or not Priest Holmes comes back in his old form. One thing is for sure: If the defense can make an occasional stop and force a turnover here or there, the Chiefs will have a good amount of notches in the win column.

AFC North

1. Pittsburgh Steelers — The Steelers are always among the NFL's elite, but they never seem to be able to take the next step. The passing offense is capable of taking Pittsburgh deep into the playoffs, but in order to make a deep run Bill Cowher needs to make Amos Zereoue the No. 1 running back and park Jerome "The Bus" Bettis in someone else's garage.

2. Baltimore Ravens — As long as Ray Lewis can stay healthy for the entire season, he has the ability to will his defense to be one of the best in the league. Drafting defensive end Terrell Suggs might turn out to be one of the biggest moves of the draft. He always seems to be around the quarterback. On the other side of the ball, Todd Heap and Jamal Lewis have the ability to bring life to the offense, but this team is still a few breaks away from a healthy season.

3. Cleveland Browns — Coach Butch Davis ended his quarterback controversy early in training camp by handing the reigns over to Kelly Holcomb. He made the right move because Davis ended all the speculation early and has made it clear that Holcomb is his man. This team does not look all that impressive on either offense or defense, but the players are adequate enough on both sides of the ball to win a decent amount of games.

4. Cincinnati Bengals — Cincinnati is slowly starting to regain consciousness after being in a football coma for the past 13 years. Hiring Marvin Lewis as head coach will improve their defense in a snap, and Carson Palmer will develop into a fine quarterback, but the Bengals will still have an early appointment at next year's NFL Draft.

AFC East

1. New England Patriots — The Patriots went to work on retooling their defense this off-season, which will prove to earn them the top spot in the division. Bringing in veterans such as Rosevelt Colvin, Rodney Harrison and Ted Washington will improve the defense so immensely it will now be the strong suit of the team. Tom Brady is more than able to handle the offense, but the Patriots have no running game at all. That will be their downfall this year.

2. Buffalo Bills — The Bills have added some new faces on defense, which will help them out. In addition, the dynamic duo of Drew Bledsoe and Travis Henry will continue to put up big numbers. Buffalo has improved a great deal this off-season, and it would not be a surprise to see them at the top of the AFC East.

3. Miami Dolphins — The Dolphins come out of the gate every year like a bolt of lightning, but toward the end of the season they always find a way to fall down the stretch. Ricky Williams will continue to be the running back New Orleans hoped he would be — and then some.

4. New York Jets — The J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets have now become the S-K-I-N-S Skins, Skins, Skins as former Jets Laveranues Coles, Chad Morton and John Hall have all moved on to the nation's capital. Curtis Martin is nearing the end of his career, but he still has a decent year left in his system. The injury of Chad Pennington will hurt the Jets a great deal, as the quarterbacking duties are now handed over to Vinny Testaverde, who actually played wingback on Moses' flag football team.

AFC South

1. Tennessee Titans — The Titans will continue to prosper in the AFC South as they are blessed with four games against the Texans and Jaguars. Steve McNair is — no question — the toughest player in the entire league. It seems that as long as he's breathing, McNair wants to be the one out on the field guiding his team to victory. The rest of the team nicely falls into place, and the Titans should be considered serious contenders to meet the NFC's best late in the season.

2. Indianapolis Colts — While this article was being written, quarterback Peyton Manning actually changed his first play of the season approximately 268 times. Manning has to stop thinking about the defense so much, work with what play is called and trust the coaches. The key to the Colts this year will be Edgerrin James. If he returns to the form he had before knee surgery the Colts will be tough to stop.

3. Jacksonville Jaguars — Hiring head coach Jack Del Rio will bring additional toughness to a team, which at times last year looked as if its players were just going through the motions. Mark Brunell was shopped to other teams so much, he should have been put up on eBay. Even though he was on the market, Del Rio is going with Brunell as his man, just starting the countdown until Byron Leftwich takes over as the starting quarterback.

4. Houston Texans — After taking heavy amounts of physical punishment from other teams last season, it should be considered miraculous that David Carr lasted the entire year. Andre Johnson will be a good wide receiver in the league, but right now he is already a step below his fellow rookie, Detroit's Charles Rogers. Though Carr will continue to progress, it is difficult to see the Texans winning more games this year than they did last year.