I think the Steelers get the #1 Ranking because they didn't lose a lot of free agents. They lost 2, McFadden and Washington. Washington is not a huge loss, McFadden could be. But other than that, they have the 20 of 22 starters back, they have the entire coaching staff back, they have some guys coming off injury that can make them better, and did pick up a couple free agents for depth and experience on the roster. They did lose Leftwich as a very capable Back up QB, but Batch is back, and unless Ben face plants a car again, Batch is good enough to win a game or two along the way.
Also, the schedule is not as "bad" as last years. We draw the Titans and Dolphins instead of the standard Colts and Pats because you guys thought it would be fun to let someone else win it all this year I guess.
Neither of you held up your "win the division" part of the bargain to get the Steelers vs Colts vs Pats regular season round robin that most of us have become accustomed to.
Alot of the posters have the Giants highly ranked, and I tend to agree. They could be very good even with the loss of Plax because they get guys back off injury and drafted for depth at WR. Not sure if it'll be good enough, but then again the NFC East isn't that great with Washington still without a QB and with Philly a Jeckle and Hyde team that is one McNabb injury away from a 4 win season. I question them being so high.
I'm most interested in seeing how the Pats Defense performs this year with the loss of Vrabel. He was a real leader on that D so its going to be interesting to see how the Pats do on that side of the ball. On your offense, if Cassell can score points with that O, we alll know darn well that Brady will score points. That shouldn't be an issue and the Taylor pick up is very interesting too. That guy still has gas in the tank and I'm of the opinion that the Jags made a huge mistake getting rid of him and going with Jones-Drew as their go to guy.
Anyway, power rankings are what they are, fun at this time of year.
Mine would be as follows:
Steelers
Patriots
Giants
Panthers
Chargers
Colts
Titans
Ravens
Cowboys
Vikings
Quick Edit, We lost Foote too but he wanted out anyway because he wasn't going to be the starter with the progress Timmons has made at the Linebacker position. I didn't count him. My mistake.