After 7 long months with no football the 2011 NFL season is upon us.

We had so much uncertainty during the offseason, the lockout, the possibility of having no season and everything that went with it. Basically all the off-field stuff got worked out and we're about 36 hours from kicking off the season with a great matchup featuring the New Orleans Saints visiting the Green Bay Packers. I got the Packers taking this one, but we'll get into that later ---It's only like my favorite bay.

This entry is mainly going to preview the whole season, pick division winners, wild cards, playoff predictions and which players I expect to have monster seasons. The beauty of the NFL is the parity between teams and the fact that any given Sunday any team can pull off a upset and mess my parlay up. Also every week I'll post my picks straight up and picks against the spread, we'll see how that goes.

Let's start out with the NFC East.

This division looks pretty competitive this year. The Eagles spent a ton of money and could very well be the best team in the whole NFL, my bone to pick with them is their QB. Say what you want about Mike Vick, he is a phenomenal athlete but as a quarterback I have never been sold on him although this is a guy I really want to see succeed. The Giants did nothing special during the offseason and have lost some key defensive players during the preseason so this could prove to be a tough season, they won't be a bad team but won't survive this tough division.

The Washinton Redskins well, they are the Redskins and probably won't do a lot this season and for that mater as long as Dan Snyder is the owner. The final team in this division is the Dallas Cowboys who will always have huge expectations which are hard to fulfill; Jason Garrett finally took over the team last season and had some pretty good results (5-1 record) and has a solid core which will be competitive, probably not winning the division but in the wild card contention.

• Philadelphia 11-5 (Division Champion)


• Dallas 10-6 (Wild Card contender)


• New York 8-8


• Washington 5-11

 

NFC North

This a what I consider will be the most evened out division this year, were I think only one team will have a losing record and will still be a strong team. The Chicago Bears have a aging defense but they will be good this year, I expect Urlacher to have a monster season yet Cutler will be nothing more than a average QB with no character (see the 2010 Playoffs), still they won't be able to stay in contention. I consider Detroit to be a sleep this season, Suh will probably the defensive player of the year (if he stays healthy) and Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson will be a really exciting QB-WR combo and they will fight with the Cowboys for the final Wild Card.

The Vikings will be the worst team of this division and I expect them to win no more than 6 or 7 games, if that much. And finally the Green Bay Packers who are coming off a dream season will no doubt be in the middle of the Road to the Superbowl in December. Aaron Rodgers will be a MVP candidate and Clay Matthews will be the leader of one of the best defenses in the League; I have them as the winners of the division.

• Green Bay 12-4 (Division Winner)


• Detroit 9-7 (Wild Card Contender)


• Chicago 9-7


• Vikings 7-9

NFC South

This division is a 2 team race between Saints and the Falcons. New Orleans has a high powered offense led by Drew Brees but has a suspect defense so I'm not entirely sold on them. The Falcons are one of my favorite teams, Matt Ryan along with Roddy White and Michael Turner are a phenomenal 3-headed monster and their defense is pretty solid so I'll give them the edge to win the division with the Saints surely locking the Wild Card. Tampa will be OK but will not compete with the other 2 monsters. Carolina will revolve around Cam Newton who, I believe, is one of the most overrated picks in recent history; everything depends on his mental stability or he is a couple of bad games of becoming JaMarcus Russell.

• Atlanta 13-3 (Division Winner)


• New Orleans 11-5 (Wild Card Winner)


• Tampa Bay 9-


• Carolina 4-12

NFC West

I won't write a lot on this division as this is probably the worst division in football as it was last year (first time a losing record team made the playoffs). Seattle took it home last year and even beat the Saints, but this year I think San Francisco will take it home and we will see the great things Jim Harbaugh will do with this team  (as he did with Stanford).

• San Francisco 9-7 (Division Winner)


• Arizona 8-8


• Seattle 7-9


• St Louis 7-9

Now we are off to the AFC

AFC East