Kelly Holcomb was 3-4 as the Buffalo starting quarterback, including wins against Cincinnati and Miami and a close loss at New England, where Buffalo had fared terribly since winning at old Foxboro Stadium in 2000 with Doug Flutie at quarterback. Holcomb set the franchise record for completion percentage in a single season, and has a 400+ yard playoff game to his credit.
Takeo Spikes' return should help the Bills improve their defense. In two games with Spikes the unit was one of the highest ranked in the league, despite allowing Tampa Bay's Carnell Williams 150+ yards in a week two loss.
Although the Dolphins are a trendy pick to make the playoffs and did perform well at the end of last season, with wins at San Diego and New England, they did not fill holes in their secondary and lost Ricky Williams, who performed well in Ronnie Brown's absence last season during their end of season winning streak.
Chad Pennington has proven to be a winning quarterback, when healthy, and the Jets could surprise naysayers this season. While they are far from a division title contender, they could exceed the expectations of most prognosticators.
Antwan Randle-El reminds me a lot of Az Hakim - a small, quick third receiver on a team with a tandem of strong starting wideouts who received a huge contract from a team which feels that it is a division title contender. Hakim played behind Isaac Bruce and a young Torry Holt, while Randle-El spent most of his career watching Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress start. Both are solid punt return men but have proven little at the receiver position. Hakim signed with the Lions, coming off a 9-7 season, only to see the team's record plummet to the worst in the league during his first season with the organization.
Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger may forever be linked due to the quarterback controversy in St. Louis several years ago, but both are primed for excellent seasons. Warner and Bulger have excellent receivers and strong halfbacks to balance the attack, and both routinely surpassed the 300 yard mark in games last season. Health is a concern, but the Cardinals and Rams could make noise in the NFC West.
I'm convinced that Shaun Alexander and the Seattle Seahawks will suffer from the combination of the Madden Curse and the Team That Lost the Super Bowl Curse. Beginning with Madden 2000, which depicted Barry Sanders who abruptly retired before the game hit shelves, the "cover" players on the popular video game have suffered. Eddie George (2001) had a tremendous regular season and ran well against Baltimore in the divisional playoff loss; however, the pass that went in and out of his hands and into the gloves of Ray Lewis, who returned the interception for a touchdown, essentially ended Tennessee's hopes for consecutive Super Bowl Appearances. Daunte Culpepper (2002) opened eyes with a marvelous first season as Minnesota's starting quarterback, reaching the NFC Championship Game with Robert Smith, Cris Carter, and Randy Moss in support. However, Smith retired following the season in which he led the conference in rushing, and Culpepper and the Vikings suffered through a losing season in which he forced more interceptions than touchdowns. Marshall Faulk (2003) was coming off his fourth consecutive All Pro campaign and a second Super Bowl appearance. However, he failed to crack 1,000 yards rushing. Michael Vick (2004) was hailed as the next great quarterback, a player who would inevitably revolutionize the position. He broke his ankle in a pre-season game and has received a great deal of criticism for his play in recent years, despite reaching a conference championship game. Ray Lewis (2005) did not suffer through any serious injuries, though the Ravens regressed and missed the playoffs. Donovan McNabb (2006), coming off an MVP-like year, and the Eagles suffered through a miserable season which included an 0-6 division record and the Terrell Owens fiasco. McNabb lost Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter to injury, the defense fell apart, and McNabb labored through a sports hernia until he was more seriously injured while making arguably the worst decision of his career in a Monday Night loss to Dallas. As far as the Super Bowl loser curse, which extends to the Atlanta Falcons, who were blown out by Denver in John Elways final game. The next season, NFC rushing champ Jamal Anderson blew out his knee in week two, Chris Chandler returned to his brittle form, and Chris Calloway could not replace departed WR Tony Martin's production. The Tennessee Titans improved their record during the season following their heartbreaking loss to the Rams, but were bounced in their first playoff game, at home, by the Ravens, who handed them their first loss at Adelphia Coliseum earlier in the season. The New York Giants were labled as the world conference champion in recent memory by many analysts and performed poorly in their Super Bowl embarassment, with Kerry Collins as the primary culprit. The following season, Collins and co. were not able to replicate their magical run and fell to 7-9, despite a late-season push that came to an end on a miraculous hook-and-ladder by Ron Dixon that almost resulted in a game-tying touchdown in Philadelphia. The St. Louis Rams had reached teh playoffs for three consecutive seasons and had the most vaunted offense since at least the 1996 Packers. The last three league MVPs. NFL record holders. Even Marc Bulger, who emerged to lead the team on a 5 game winning streak during the year, could not save this bunch, which endured a terrible season. The Oakland Raiders were thrashed by Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl, but returned a cast of veterans including league MVP Rich Gannon, future hall of famers Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, and Rod Woodson, as well as All Pros Charlie Garner, Sam Adams, and Charles Woodson. Injuries and age dropped the team to 4-12. The Panthers came from nowhere under first year starter Jake Delhomme to reach the Super Bowl and almost upset the heavily favored Patriots. With a young team and a tenacious defense, what could prevent them from returning to avenge the loss against New England, which repeated as champ? Well, Steve Smith broke his ankle in week one and was lost for the season. Stephen Davis, holder of the franchise single season rushing record, was lost early in the season as well. Kris Jenkins, arguably the best interior lineman in the league, gone early. DeShaun Foster - out. The team made a late run with Nick Goings and Muhsin Muhammad and a hot Delhomme, but ultimately fell short of .500. The Eagles qualified for the postseason during each season this decade, and were primed to return facing a weak NFC. That was before injuries to Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook, combined with the Terrell Owens suspension and the complete deterioration of the defense from formidable to almost laughable. The team suffered through the humiliation of a 42-0 loss on Monday Night and a pair of disasters against the Cowboys, along with 7 other defeats.