As promised, here is my AFC preview. Every season I post my picks and hold myself accountable for them! If I end up being wrong (which has happened many times) I will be the first to admit it!

Note: teams with an asterisk in parenthesis beside them are Wild Card teams

Note: These predictions are being made as of 8/20. If any major injuries occur BEFORE the start of the season I will be updating these.

AFC North

1.Pittsburgh

2. Cleveland

3. Cincinnati

4. Baltimore

Pittsburgh will mourn the loss of Faneca, but blocking has never really been a problem in the Steel city. The defense will be strong again and Mendenhall and Sweed will emerge as real weapons in Tomlin's offense. They have one of the toughest schedules in the league, but their smash mouth style of play will keep them on top. Cleveland surprised a lot of teams last year, but I don't expect them to do it again. Anderson was an interception machine in college and the preseason has smacked some key players (including Anderson) with injuries. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brady Quinn starting before the end of the season. The Bengals will continue the downward spiral that started after the playoff loss to Pittsburgh. Johnson's constant distractions and the injuries to him and Houshmanzadeh will hurt the team. The Chris Henry debacle won't help either, and the defense has made NO improvements this off season. They will, however, be able to outperform the Ravens whose rebuilding project will begin to break ground this season. Flacco will be in by the end of the season to give him some much needed experience and McGahee will keep them in a lot of games, but a tough schedule, a bunch of young QBs and an aging defense won't be enough to get them out of last place in the division.

 AFC East

 1.New England

 2. NY Jets (*)

 3. Buffalo

 4. Miami

 The Patriots are again the class of the division and will enjoy the league's easiest schedule. The loss of Asante Samuels will hurt but they got younger at LB and CB thanks to the draft. Watch out for Maroney to have a good season as most teams will be concentrating on how to stop Brady, Moss and Welker.  While I wanted to give the two AFC Wild Card spots to the AFC South again, the acquisition of Favre and a favorable schedule will allow the Jets to squeak into the playoffs. They made some key upgrades on both sides of the ball and would have competed for a playoff spot without Favre. With Favre, however, they are a lock to make the post season. Buffalo is one of the youngest teams in the league and continues to improve. They have a great young running back in Lynch and great special teams play, but their defense needs to improve and their QBs are young and inexperienced. They will need another season or two before they can compete with the Patriots. Miami is, well, Miami! Pennington coming in will help, as will a healthy Ricky Williams, but they have just begun a long and painful rebuilding process that will take a few seasons to begin paying dividends.

 AFC South

 1. Indianapolis

 2. Jacksonville (*)

 3. Tennessee

 4.  Houston

Indianapolis will again run away with this division. They managed to retain all their key contributors and should be able to rely on Harrison being back to 100% this season. Manning will be attempting to recover from minor off season surgery, but he practically invented that offense, so his absence from the preseason should have little to no effect. The defense is as solid as ever and Bob Sanders looks to have another huge year. The Jaguars continue their upward trend. Garrard's solid play combined with their two pronged running attack will keep them any game. The upgrades made to the defensive line through the draft should allow them to get a more consistent pass rush as well. The Titans continue to ignore the fact that Vince Young needs some weapons on offense. With the only real upgrade being the signing of aging Alge Crumpler I would expect most teams to be able to put together a game plan that will contain Vince Young. The defense is solid, as always, but last year's disappointing end to the season was due to a lack of offense and they have done little to address that.  Houston, while a team on the rise, is going to get beat up by their division rivals and a tough road schedule. They made some nice off season moves, but this offense does not have enough firepower to get out of the AFC South's cellar. The defense is slowly becoming one of the best in the league, however, and it is only a matter of time before the Texans begin to climb the ranks of their division.

 AFC West

 1. San Diego

 2. Oakland

 3. Denver

 4. Kansas City

 Now here is where I will be criticized for being biased! Nobody will argue the fact that this division is San Diego's to lose. Barring any major injuries they should run away with the West. Gates and Merriman's injuries are cause for concern, but the team performed so well last season with injured key players that there is no reason to believe they can't do it again. I won't bother going on and on about either Oakland or Denver. I have two blog entries dedicated to previewing these teams already, so if you are really interested just check out my archived posts. I do believe Oakland is a team on the rise and Denver is a team on the decline. I am the first to admit that I am biased, but this will be the first season in 4 years that I have picked Oakland to finish ahead of Denver. The Chiefs are still in the middle of a MASSIVE rebuilding project that is going to take at least another draft and free agent session to right the ship. They made some nice additions through the draft this year, but they also lost some talent via free agency. The Jared Allen trade will go down as either one of the best trades in franchise history OR the absolute worse trade in franchise history. Only time will tell...

Coming soon: NFC and Playoff previews!