Jets: 8-8; (previously 5-11)

Colts: 10-6; (13-3)

Redskins: 10-6; (8-8)

Giants: 9-7; (11-5)

Vikings: 9-7; (7-9)

Saints: 10-6, Division Winners; (9-7)

Buccaneers: 9-7; (10-6, Division Winners)

Playoff Teams (AFC): New England, San Diego, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville(w), Cleveland(w)

Playoff Teams (NFC): Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Green Bay, Washington(w), St. Louis(w)

Super Bowl: New England over New Orleans

NFC NORTH

1. Green Bay Packers (10-6): No Favre, No problem. At least in the regular season.

2. Minnesota Vikings (7-9): I think Peterson gets hurt. Then playoffs are a reach.

3. Chicago Bears (7-9): Orton, Grossman… It doesn’t matter. Not bad, but no superbowl.

4. Detroit Lions (5-11): I say they suck until they can prove me wrong.

NFC South

1. Tampa Bay (10-6): Wish I was going on something more than a hunch.

2. New Orleans (9-7): Shockey, good. Reggie Bush, probably not. Still has Kim though.

3. Carolina Panthers (7-9): Delhomme coming off surgery. I’m keeping expectations low.

4. Atlanta Falcons (3-13): Hopefully the Ryan experiment differs from Carr and Smith ones.

NFC West

1. Seattle Seahawks (11-5): Will be tough to beat with homefield in the playoffs.

2. St. Louis Rams (8-8): Big turnaround. Enough for the playoffs?

3. Arizona Cardinals (6-10): Eventually they will be better than mediocre.  Not now.

4. San Francisco 49ers (4-12): J.T. O’Sullivan? Really? He was replaced in NO by Aaron Brooks.

- The Olympics came and have almost gone. Michael Phelps = big deal. Alhtough his 8 golds is probably the bigger accomplishment that Usain Bolt’s 3, Bolt impresses me more. Probably just because it wasn’t anticipated. And I have seen enough volleyball to cover me for another 4 years and definately enough diving and gymnastic for 8 (in case we need to boycott London 2012 for some reason).

- The Yankees are just about done. They are more games back than when I left on vacation and there is little hope in sight.

- Still waiting on the announcement of the vice-presidential candidates.

- Russia invades Georgia.

- Gas goes way down. Less thean $3.50 a gallon here.

That’s it for now. I will hastily throw up my initial (3 week old) predictions for the NFC North, South, and West along with some revisions since the Jets have added #4 since my AFC East preview.

Every major media outlet, every significant (or insignificant in my case) sports blog, as well as just about anyone else with a rooting interest will probably preview the upcoming NFL season. I am certainly not more qualified than most of these people to give insightful analysis or in-depth reporting on what to expect from a given team this season. I am, however, qualified to give insightful opinion and in-depth predictions. That is what you will get; this is as much my sounding board for my predictions as it is a valuable read on the upcoming season. Its greatest value will be at the end of the season when examinging how wrong we all were about how we thought the season would play out.

Any of these 4 teams can make the playoffs. At least two of them will. The Cowboys again look like the best team in the NFC but need to exorcise their playoff demons. The Giants hope they drank enough water in the last year to avoid a Super Bowl hangover. The Eagles and Redskins have both won playoff games within the last 3 years, something the Cowboys cannot say. Anything less than a playoff berth will be considered a disappointment for their equally crazed fans bases. Every divisional game in this division carries playoff expectations. As dominant as the Cowboys look, don’t expect the second and thrid teams from this division to lag very far behind.

1. Dallas Cowboys (13-3): The toast of the NFC. Tony Romo is an incredible regular season QB. I remember when there was a QB contreversy when he emerged and he came out of seemingly nowhere after competing with Drew Henson. What happened to Drew Henson anyway? Maybe that is another post for another time. Anyway, TO, Marion Barber, Jason Witten, Romo. There is your offense, plus they have another good O-line. Roy Williams will continue to get burned and break people instead of tackling properly, but his will also continue to be married to Kelly Rowland, so he has that going for him. The real questions for the Cowboys come with the 17th game of the season which should come in Texas and after a bye.

2. New York Giants (11-5): Got hot at just the right time last year and raised the Lombardi trophy because of it. The loss of Michael Strahan will be more costly than the loss of Jeremy Shockey but I think Eli has figured out enough to lead them to another playoff berth. Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck are going to pressure the quarterback and the rest of the defense will feast ( I know I said the loss of Strahan will hurt, more for personality reasons than performance). Another Wild Card playoff appearance but can they duplicate the magic last year?

3. Washington Redskins (8-8): They believe in Jason Campbell, but do you? Clinton Portis stayed healthy for the most part last season which means he is due for an injury plagued season. Caoch Zorn should mix it up a little in the nation’s capital and the ‘Skins might win more games than the Nationals but I think they will fall just short of the playoffs.

4. Philadelphia Eagles (7-9): A possible playoff team here and what could be a division favorite in the other NFC divisions. One of the teams in this division will struggle this year and I think its the Eagles. Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb have just about used up their time in Philly. Brian Dawkins is still intimidating in the secondary, but you can’t say the same thing for the rest of the defense. At least Philadelphia won the Arena Bowl Championship.

Every major media outlet, every significant (or insignificant in my case) sports blog, as well as just about anyone else with a rooting interest will probably preview the upcoming NFL season. I am certainly not more qualified than most of these people to give insightful analysis or in-depth reporting on what to expect from a given team this season. I am, however, qualified to give insightful opinion and in-depth predictions. That is what you will get; this is as much my sounding board for my predictions as it is a valuable read on the upcoming season. Its greatest value will be at the end of the season when examinging how wrong we all were about how we thought the season would play out.

The AFC West has already been decided. Just give it to the Chargers. San Diego is already playing for a first round bye so that they can get beyond Wild Card weekend for once. The Broncos are not good. Even if Cutler improves this year, the team still has major weaknesses and Mike Shanahan might be on his way out soon. Oakland was absoluty terrible the last two years. The have more youth and athleticism at QB and RB than anyone and should improve this year. Not enough to challenge the Chargers though. Even my Chiefs homerism is tempered by incredibly low expectations. In 5 years, Oakland and KC might be clawing at each other for division dominance but for now everyone bows to Chargers.

1. San Diego Chargers (11-5): Tomlinson still has another year or two of domination left. Rivers is solid. The D is great – Cromartie and Phillips have stepped up their game as Merriman adjusts to life post-roids. They have to get over their post-season woes but it is pretty much guaranteed that they will get their chance.

2. Oakland Raiders (8-8): The defense is better. Russell and McFadden could develop into a feared duo with athleticism. No math or science, no statistics, just a hunch that they will be significantly improved this year. Playing the Chiefs and Broncos twice helps. No playoffs this year and they won’t challenge the Chargers for supremacy, but down the road look out. Mark it down now: Oakland Raiders Super Bowl in 2011. Good thing no one will remember this then. But if I am right and I do, I will be sure to tell everyone.

3. Denver Broncos (8-8): Other than Jay Cutler being a young quarterback, I see no reason for optimism for this team. Selvin Young is completely unproven at RB. I also don’t see three teams from this division meeting or achieving expectations this year. If Oakland overachieves this season, I expect Denver to fall. The good news – soon they will be able to sign all of Travis Henry’s kids and field a team entirely from one family.

4. Kansas City Chiefs (5-11): I will do my best to be unbiased. The Cheifs will in all likelihood totally suck. Suck in epic proportions. First overall pick bad. Larry Johnson is a shell of his former self. Brodie Croyle has done nothing to show that he will be a competent NFL quarterback. Herm Edwards is great with the media but not so stellar on the sidelines. They traded their best defensive player in the off-season. Still, I think there is a chance that they will be competitive this season. If Croyle can pull it together despite the constant pressure he will face beind a bad offesive line, this team has a lot going for it. Dwayne Bowe is a top notch receiver. They replaced Jared Allen’s presence with Glenn Dorsey and hopefully Tamba Hali can live up to his own first pick status and gather some of Allen’s sacks. This team is poised for future success and if they can find a viable to skilled quarterback, I expect big things in the future. To hell with the Raiders, the Chiefs are going to win the Super Bowl in 2011. So much for toning down the bias.

Q: In ‘Any Given Sunday’ Al Pacino plays a coach whose personal life is in shambles because his near obsession with football and his old school coaching ways. At this point, Parcells is the real-life version of Pacino. So how long until we get a “Life is a game of inches” speech from Parcells? I’ll give it week 6.”

A:“That is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and one of the worst speeches. There was an eyeball on the field. I saw that guy with the giant penis — anyone else know what I’m talking about here? — in New Orleans once and couldn’t quite place where I knew him. Then I realized it. Then I slinked away quietly and ashamed.”

Before getting to LeBatard’s answer, I should probably explain the genesis of Fight for that Inch.  I had comtemplated starting this site for about a month and even had a post or two scoped out, but had no name to go along with it. I was sitting here, at this very desk brainstorming (far from a creative hurricane) and asked my roommate for suggestions. His first response, HerpesBloodStain, was immediately rejected and I ignored all of his future contributions. Then he incidentally flipped on “Any Given Sunday” right at the inches speech and I felt as inspired as Jamie Foxx and Dennis Quaid. Thus, my namesake comes from one moment of inspiration, not a lasting passion for the film, Pacino, Oliver Stone, or the fictional Miami Sharks.

With that in mind, I took a second look at what LeBatard had to say. Like every other response, he failed to answer the question (Bam!) and never defended his disdain for the speech. I have actually only seen the entire film once all the way through and can agree that it is not my favorite football movie, but that speech moves me every time. The motivation that swells goes beyond my former allegiance to Bill Simmons, another inches aficionado. It is as powerful as about any speech in cinema. Disagree? Rewatch the speech from Independence Day and get back to me. I am calling you out LeBatard. Recant, defend your decision to sully Coach D’Amato, or you will be marked as the first official enemy of Fight for that Inch.