By Derek Lofland. With the NFL draft in the archives and most of the free agency signings in the books, it's now time to preview the 2008 NFL divisions. While there are still a couple months until training camps, most of the rosters are complete. There could be a few minor changes after some June 1st cuts. You could have a Ricky Williams-style retirement on the eve of camp. Brett Favre could decide to un-retire. However, with what we have in place as of today and unless there is a major injury here is what I see taking place in 2008.
Some people will say it is way too early to start making predictions. My response to that would be that it is always too early to make predictions. How many people are going to hop off the Patriots bandwagon if they go 0-4 in preseason, barring a Tom Brady season ending injury? How many people are going to jump on the Dolphins bandwagon if they go 4-0?
My plan is to focus on one division every week until the 8 divisions in the NFL are completed. In my first installment I am starting with the AFC East which was by far the most lopsided division in 2007.
Here is how I see the 2008 season playing out in the AFC East.
New York Jets:
Strengths: Eric Mangini had a hard fall from grace in 2007. After being considered one of the hottest coaching prospects last season, it is back to the drawing board in 2008. It is hard to look back to 2007, because the NY Jets have been so active in free agency. They were not awful on defense, especially when it came to stopping the pass.
Weaknesses: The NY Jets had weaknesses all over the board. They only won 4 games, and 2 of those were against the 1-15 Dolphins. They were run over by opposing running backs the whole season, giving up the 29th most rushing yards in the NFL. They struggled to control the line of scrimmage
Prediction: It’s hard for me to believe that the Jets aren’t going to improve on their record from 2007 given their strength of schedule and all the free agents they signed and high draft picks they made...
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