The New England Patriots have won the AFC East for each of the last 5 years. This year, they aim to move one step closer to the LA Rams' record of 7 straight division titles, which they accomplished from 1973-1979. There's no reason to believe they'll fall short this year, with arguably the easiest schedule in the NFL, and in arguably the weakest conference in the NFL last year.

4th: Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins went a pitiful 1-15 last year. Although they hired the legendary Bill Parcells as "Executive Vice President of Football Operations", the Dolphins didn't do all that much to improve on the field. One key addition was QB Chad Pennington. While he's not exactly elite, he's certainly an upgrade over what they had last year in Cleo Lemon and John Beck. But they also lost future HOF defensive end Jason Taylor via trade. He was their lone bright spot on defense, and will be sorely missed.

Any success that the Dolphins have this year will hinge on the health of Ronnie Brown, the development of Ted Ginn as a legitimate receiving threat, and the ability of #1 overall draft pick OL Jake Long's ability to improve the protection for the quarterback. If all of those things go well for the Dolphins, they might be able to pick up 6 wins. Maybe. If not, Dolphins fans are in for another VERY long season.
Prediction: 4-12

3rd: Buffalo Bills
The Bills showed some signs of life last year, finishing 7-9, good for 2nd in the division. Marshawn Lynch looks like he's the present AND future of their backfield, but their QB situation is shaky, at best. The Bills will need to heavily rely on their defense to step up if they're going to even match last year's win total.

Fortunately for the Bills (and the rest of the AFC East), they play the NFC West and AFC West this year. Each division is full of bad teams. The 49ers, Cardinals, Rams, Raiders and Chiefs were all terrible last year, and have glaring weaknesses. If the Bills can beat up on those teams, and at least split their division games (2-0 against Miami, 1-1 against the Jets, 0-2 against the Patriots), then they have an outside chance at making the playoffs. But everything would need to go right for them for that to happen, and the chances are slim.
Prediction: 6-10

2nd: New York Jets
The Jets made some huge veteran acquisitions this offseason, picking up Alan Faneca, Kris Jenkins and some QB from Green Bay. Brett Favre is a huge upgrade at QB, which was one of their main problems last year. Chad Pennington was certainly not the answer, and the Jets don't think Kellen Clemens is ready to take over yet. So the trade for Favre made a lot of sense.

With the moves that they've made this season, the Jets appear to be in "win-now" mode. This is puzzling for a team that went 4-12 last year, because it appears as though they are still a few more pieces away from completing the playoff puzzle. But Eric Mangini believes that he can lead this team to the postseason. They probably can't win the division, but they certainly have a shot to make some noise in the AFC, especially if Favre plays at the level that he did last year.
Prediction: 9-7

1st: New England Patriots
The Patriots are ready to seek redemption after last year's disappointing Super Bowl loss. Although they lost Asante Samuel, one of the better cover corners in the league, and Donte Stallworth, a speedy 2nd WR, they have retained most of their 16-0 team from last year, and are ready to once again dominate the NFL.

With the assistance of the easiest schedule in the NFL (they only have 4 games against playoff teams from last year), the Patriots have a very legitimate chance to go 16-0 again. The only games that look to be especially challenging are @Indianapolis and @San Diego. The rest of the schedule is full of very winnable games.

The Patriots' most glaring weakness is in their secondary. Samuel is gone, Rodney Harrison is aging, and barely capable anymore, and the Patriots lack depth at CB. But the rest of the defense is as good as any other team in the league, and rookie Jerod Mayo looks to be a huge asset to their linebacking corps. The offense lost an underrated component in Stallworth, but if Chad Jackson and Lamont Jordan can step up, this year's offense can be more balanced, and possibly even better than last year, even if the statistics aren't quite so ridiculous. The Patriots will probably  lose one of the 2 games against the Colts or Chargers, and a lesser team will sneak up on them at some point as well.
Prediction: 14-2

Get ready for one more year of Patriots domination in this division, as the rest of the AFC East struggles to catch up.

What are your predictions for the AFC East this year?

This was how ASU's recently built $8.4 million practice facility (complete with artificial grass) known as the Dennis Dome looked like less than 24 hours ago.

Just a day left before we kick this off in earnest and three teams left in our countdown of the Top 25 teams as voted on by you.

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What we learned in 2007 Tim Tebow is pretty good, the defense backfield was not. I used the past tense their because I believe it won't be as big an issue this fall.

Urban Meyer's offense was designed for a dual threat quarterback like Tebow and during his sophomore season he thrived, to the tune of 3,286 yards passing, 895 yards rushing and a combined 55 touchdowns. Oh, and that Heisman Trophy deal. Question continue to surround his passing prowess, but in 2007 he proved its good enough to dominate college football. We'll leave his professional prospectus on hold for the time being.

We learned Percy Harvin is a frightening threat as a receiver or running back when healthy, quite possibly the most elusive player in college football.

But we also learned that Meyer desperately needs a true rushing attack, with actual running backs. Tebow and Harvin were one and two on the Gators rushing list last season. That should change, or at the very least, they'll have more company.

When we last saw the Gators, Chad Henne was carving up the Florida secondary for 373 yards and three touchdowns en route to a 41-35 defeat to the Michigan Wolverines. That will need to be corrected if the Gators want to get back to the BCS.

Expectations in '08 I, for one, expect record breaking offensive numbers. Few offenses have as many weapons to choose from. This year Tebow can add two talented running back to the mix: the sex-educated Chris Rainey, and USC transfer Emmanuel Moody, who will join Kestahn Moore.

Percy Harvin's health remains a question mark, but even if it's only 8-9 games he plays, he'll become the difference maker. Expect Florida to improve from its 42.5 point per game a year ago.

With this improved offense, and hopefully more stable defense come the expectation for Gator Nation that the team return to the National Title game. The pieces are place, they were last year and came fairly close. So long as ...

What could hold them back Defense, defense, and a lack of consistent rushing from running backs.

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When Manu Ginobili went down against Team USA in Beijing, I didn't think much of it. He rolled his ankle a bit, he'll probably be fine once he gets some down time, I thought.

Well, I was wrong.

Manu is going to need surgery on his busted ankle (originally injured late last season) and, in horrible news for the Spurs, he will miss the start of the regular season.

The interesting thing about all of this is that the Spurs actually advised Manu not to play in the Olympics in order to rest his ankle. But he said no, wanting to defend the 2004 gold medal he won with Argentina.

Now, this of course brings up the huge question of should players who have a contract with an NBA team play in international competitions? After all, it doesn't seem that absurd for an NBA franchise to almost be allowed to totally run a guy's life that it has invested millions upon millions of guaranteed dollars in.

But there are other views too. Luckily, user dwyermaker on the site has the flip side for me:

I'm not necessarily in total disagreement, but I will say that even if the NBA is the real guilty party in injuring these guys, they're still paying them pretty well to get injured. Owners should have some right to at least advise players on what they'd like to see them do, given the fact that at the end of the day, the relationship between the NBA and its players is a business.

All I know for certain is this. The Spurs certainly can't be pleased with an aging roster that appears to finally be losing its grasp on its dominance. And when something like Ginobili's injury happens, you'll see plenty of excuses start to fly out of the bag in regards to who's responsible.

Surgery for Manu after aggravation [Fanhouse]

I really do like this country of ours for the most part, but if there's one thing I honestly don't understand, it's how we're pretty much the only country out there that seems to go out of our way to reward stupidity.

Take Kenny Campbell, for instance. He was the 10-year-old kid who yesterday fell out of the right field stands while catching a batting practice moon shot. Thankfully, all he got was a few bruises from his fall. Actually, that's not true, he got so much more than just bruises that if I were him, I might think of falling out of the stands again. 

The Phillies front office gave Campbell a bat and a ball, both signed by Ryan Howard, and a pair of tickets "to a future game." He also got to appear on the Today Show this morning, because, you know, there's absolutely nothing going on today. I mean, it's not like there was a huge nomination last night or a vice-presidential selection today to be concerned about.

Perhaps the funniest thing about all of this is that it came out that Campbell isn't actually a Phillies fan, but a Yankees fan. Which means two things. One, his fall pretty much mirrors the Yankees season perfectly. And two, he better not attend that Phillies game he got tickets to, because if I know my Phillies fans correctly (and I do), they'll throw Campbell out of the stands this time around.

Young baseball fan falls from stands [MSNBC]