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GRID IRON…just some random notes from the War Room;

AFC EAST…you need to sit down, right now, and go through the New York Jet 2009 schedule. The squad was 7-7 before facing two teams that had packed it in - hardly inspiring data. They’ve put a target on their backs a mile wide and, with Mark Sanchez resembling a deer caught in machine gun fire, rank as a clear under wager…need Darrelle Revis back ASAP…

New England has an offence to die for. Creaky on D, the team should be involved in a number of shootouts. Their games against the Jets loom as classics…

Miami was screwed facing San Diego and Pittsburgh as their two wildcard teams last year. This year they get Tennessee (at home) and Oakland. Hmmm…Mike Nolan makes an immediate impact and this division is a three horse race…

Buffalo will provide comic relief. C J Spiller will wonder where all his teeth have gone by Week 8. By Week 14 he’ll be a missionary in Nigeria. This offensive line gets ugly early…

AFC NORTH. - Baltimore reveled in its matches with the AFC South last year, going 4-0. This year they draw the AFC East and that’s a whole different kettle of kittens. The Ravens savage bad teams but are often a bit unsure of themselves against the top squads. They’ve got a great team but also a grueling schedule. 10-6 will win the division and they should nail it…

Pittsburgh goes 2-2 without Roethlisberger (four week suspension) and then has the prick back for a game against Cleveland. Get my drift? A top five defense if Polamalu remains healthy, don’t sleep on these guys cause you hate the pivot…

Cinci is the team deserving of your long, hard, third and fourth look. They play gritty defense and have the weapons to pull an upset any Sunday. The entire focus is on Carson Palmer and his embarrassing flameout in the season’s second half. The Bengal’s guarantee no one comes out of this division unscathed…

Cleveland won four straight at the end of last year but against at least three terrifically bad teams. Don’t like the move to Delhomme but “wildcard” games, against Jacksonville and K C, are both winnable. Start year in Tampa. Hey, that’s three wins, right? 6-10 is in the cards…

AFC SOUTH…Indy is just bloody football royalty. Manning has the best depth and skill to work with at receiver since his arrival with the Colts. If Bob Sanders and Dwight Feeney can be used intelligently (a question mark - why was Sanders playing in the preseason at all?) then this team, the best in football last year, deserves top ranking. The schedule, though, lands them a quartet with the deadly NFC East, an angry collection of unfed polecats. The salve is a match up with the dreadful AFC West…still, 12-4 or 11-5 is the likely finish this year…

Houston is one of a number of grim teams locked in a seemingly perpetual stream of Tottenham Hotspur-like finishes. Purgatory - not good enough for the top, but not bad enough to fall? The Texans get wildcard games against, gulp, the Jets and the Ravens. Punch in that 8-8 finish…

Tennessee butchered 2009 with their 0-6 start. Can’t happen again? The Titans open against Oakland and every suicide pool player in North America will be cheering for them…can devour the AFC West and break even elsewhere…

Jacksonville draws Buffalo and Cleveland as their “wildcard” matches. Combine that with dates with the AFC South and the Jaggies have the chance to surprise with an over on the Vegas line, but no real hope for the post season or even a future in Florida…

AFC WEST San Diego has a schedule as soft as ice cream. It’s a real pisser because this team chopped off two of its most important components and would be very vulnerable against a collection of good teams. Simply not going to happen. Even without McNeil and Jackson, the team should waltz to 6-0 before facing their first challenge, against the loaded Pats…It’s hard to find even four games where this team could be expected to lose…so beware…and, yes, they’ll fold like a futon in the postseason…

Fade Denver, fade Denver, fade Denver…thanks for the memories Elvis, say goodbye to any Bronco pass rush…Josh McDaniel’s will continue to wreak havoc, only frightfully easy schedule keeps this leaky rabbit warren in business…

K C will benefit noticeably from the superb talents of Charlie Weiss and Romeo Crennel. Franchise is turning it around and rank as one team, particularly with the afore-harped on easy schedule enjoyed by the division, that could be capable of suprising play. Second in the AFC West and in contention for a wildcard…

Oakland is amusing to drunks and convicts…a long established losing tradition doesn’t get turned around by Jason Campbell. Rotten to the core - a junkie quarterback lived here for two frackin’ years??? - take the money of those who are only too willing to bet the “baddies”…yes, Raiders, you are the baddies…

NFC EAST…Dallas, inexplicably, is underrated. This team is ripped like the Meridian on New Years. Stacked with improving talent the only question marks are a ditzy, unfocused pivot and a wishy-washy head coach. Talent stacked on top of talent. This is the team to beat in the NFC and, for that reason, like the Steelers of two years ago, they could roll right through their wicked tough sked. They should be a handy 4-0 before going into Minny. At that point, the Boys could well take over the Conference…

The New York Giants are a team of orcs - big, nasty brutes. They luck out with two easily winnable “wildcard” games, against Carolina and Seattle, and that cushion could be crucial to their playoff hopes…

A fantastic defense in Washington could be even better with Jim Haslett as the new defensive co-coordinator. Donovan McNabb can get the Mike Shanahan era off to a nice start. With “wildcard” games against the ridiculous Rams and Bucs, the Skins are already 2-0, right?…tough out for anyone, the Skins will zoom up to the .500 level…

Philadelphia boasts one of the finest and most consistent organizations in the league. If they say it was time for Kolb, who are we to argue? They received the short end of the scheduling straw but this team is so sound on both sides of the ball that any kind of finish is possible…the NFC East is on the cusp of maybe its finest season. Every game ranks as a possible war, don’t get caught napping…

NFC NORTH…okay, sit down. This division draws, as its two divisional rivals for 2010, the AFC East and the NFC East. The two orniest, nastiest, hungriest divisions in football. Damn, Detroit is going to get passed around like a girl in a gang bang movie…turn down your expectations for this division a notch, they are really in tough…

Green Bay will continue to develop on D with the tutelage of Dom Capers. A very good team, they seem to be everyone’s choice for the Superbowl. Young and improving, they have no margin of error this year and will need to manhandle the Vikes to assure top spot in the division…

Favre inherits the whirlwind this season. The smooth perfection of last year has already disintegrated with key injuries and, interestingly, Favre disseminating the tale of his “injected” ankle, clearly giving his purple butt an excuse when things go south. A much tougher schedule, a weaker offense, a long season. Fade the Vikes, an under play…

Chicago is surely aware that Mike Martz’s last two gigs, in San Fran and Detroit, drew poor reviews. This schedule is going top prove unmanageable for Cutler and his mixed bag crew of receivers. Big time fade for the Bears…

Poor Detroit. Definitely improving but I don’t think a schedule featuring a steady stream of the NFL’s best will assist in their revival. They do get Tampa and St Louis, and Chicago may even be reachable, but other wins are hard to visualize…

NFC SOUTH…New Orleans schedule features many visits to locales where pass rushes are unheard of and winning is only a distant hope…the Saints have never struck me as a  particularly great team but they won’t need to be to handily clip the over and 12 wins this year. At the minimum, they should be 7-2 at the bye, and they return to face Seattle. Over, yes, but no playoff glory this year…

Atlanta is a very trendy pick, likely based on their thudding ground game and the addition of corner back Dunta Robinson. This is another team that did not demonstrate an ability to beat good teams last year, instead feasting on the bottom dwellers. Having said that, I can’t come up with a season of less than nine wins, and that’s just with victories over the usual suspects. Any improvement and they’ll soar to an 11 or 12 win season…

Carolina is dead in the water with Matt Moore proving to be a mediocrity. Likely rebuilding with Jimmy Clausen the preferred leader. Will get wins through a series of games against punching bags, but there’s not much of interest here, especially with Julius Peppers plying his trade in Chicago…

Tampa has a ridiculous coach, a terrible quarterback and bankrupt ownership. And LB Barrett Ruud is hideously overrated. We’re coming off the rails in T Bay, especially when the best two offensive threats, Winslow and Williams, can be counted on to be injured by October…

NFC WEST - San Fran, 8-8 last year, did not beat a single good team (Arizona? Don’t think so). It’s a good sign that they methodically dispatch of bottom feeders but the hype on this team needs to be dialed down a notch…

Arizona, shuddering after the loss of Kurt Warner, have their two “wildcard” games against Minny and Dallas. Last year it was Carolina and Chicago. The NFC West might be won with a 7-9 record…

Seattle’s response to an 0-4 finish, including a loss to Tampa, was to trade for Charlie Whitehurst and to hire Pete Carroll. Wretched squad beat St Louis (twice), Jacksonville, Detroit and San Fran last year. Will they go 0-6 against the AFC West?

St Louis has poor coaching, no depth and only a few pockets of talent…but…but, well, by Week Four Sam Bradford may well rank as the best quarterback in the division…