Miami has two tough games before their bye in week 8 and lost the first one to the Steelers in the opener. Their only other difficult game before the break is against the Patriots on October 8th. If the Dolphins take care of business along the way and beat the Pats they will enter the bye at 6-1 and have a leg up on the defending division champs. The Steelers proved they are not a one man team as Charlie Batch raised his record as a Steeler starter to 3-0 filling in for Big Ben. A vintage Steeler performance with stout defense and a good running game.

Can we predict anything from the pre-season? One fact that stands out is only one team has made it to the Super Bowl after a loosing record in the pre-season. The Redskins made it to the big game after a loosing campaign in the pre-season in 1982. That was a strike shortened season so it deserves to be marked by an asterisk. Using that as a bench mark the Colts(1-3), Buccaneers(1-3), Redskins(0-4) and Steelers(0-4) will not make it to Miami for Super Bowl XLI. Teams to watch are the Bengals, Cowboys, Panthers and Giants. All finished un defeated in the pre-season.

Free agency has created parity in the NFL and we have seen a number of teams move from worst to first in their division. The Eagles are the only team with a legitimate shot to keep the streak alive in the very competitive NFC East. The other teams trying to go worst to first: Jets, Browns, Texans, Raiders, Packers, Saints and 49ers. See my point.

There are a few teams to watch as the season starts. They will not be play-off teams but should take some big strides in 2006. I like what Brad Childress is doing in Minnesota and what Rod Marinelli is doing in Detroit. Is Chicago still a lock in the NFC North? The NFC West should be more competitive and it will not be easy for the Seahawks to run the table in the division as they did in '06. The Rams will be better with Scott Linehan as the head coach and Jim Haslett as the defensive co-ordinator. The Niners will give each team they play all they want after having a good off-season and the addition of Norv Turner as the offensive co-ordinator. Edgerin James brings some much needed balance to the Cardinals. The one team that could make a jump to the play-offs is the Ravens. The addition of Steve McNair should solve the QB dilemna that ahs plagued the ravens since their Super Bowl victory in 2000.