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No, that’s not a snapcount. It’s a countdown to some key dates in the forthcoming NFL season.

In thirteen days the Bengals face the Cowboys in the Hall of Fame game. It’ll be the first chance to get a look at Dez Bryant, Jermaine Gresham and the other rookies. Antonio Bryant in a Bengals uniform and the always entertaining Chad Ochocinco.

In forty-five days, the mouth-watering matchup of the Minnesota Vikings at the New Orleans Saints. That’s a heck of a way to open the regular season and a game I suspect we’ll be staying up for it.

And in ninety-seven days we’ll be at Wembley (for the forth year running!) as the NFL comes again to the UK. This year the Broncos visit the 49ers. We get to see Alex Smith, Frank Gore and the rest of Mike Singletary’s 49ers as well as the Broncos. We’ll be keeping an eye on both of these teams in the build-up to October 31st.

Coming up in the next few weeks we’ll gear up for our in-season mode, which features predictions on every match as well as in-depth looks at three matches a week. Before then we’ll make our predictions on the post-season and keep our eyes on the big stories and how they’ll affect our predictions.

Keep visiting!

So with our final part of this year’s First Look series, we turn our gaze towards the AFC West. As well as the Chargers, who were part of the great entertainment at Wembley Stadium in 2008, NFL UK fans will also keep an eye on this division for the Broncos who will be visiting these shores at the end of October this year.

This was the division that I most accurately predicted last season, correcting stating that the Chargers would win and that the Broncos in second would not make the play-offs. I’d take some credit but really, who saw it any differently?

Let’s see if it’s as straight-forward this year…

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Two divisions left to go, both in the AFC. The West, but first let’s take a look at the South.  Things didn’t happen in quite the way they were predicted last season. Judging by the number of Colts and Titans shirts we saw at Wembley last year, UK NFL fans would love to see some of these teams in London soon. But they’ll probably just have to hope for serious post-season runs for now…

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Honestly, I don’t like having continual goes at this guy but he really does make it very easy. And images like this one will not help any chance he has of getting his career on track any good at all.

If he has problems, then I hope he gets help. If there was ever a man that needed good advice – JMR is the one. This may be a wake-up call for him and though I’ve been mean in the past, I wouldn’t wish him harm or trouble. And not just because he’s bigger than me. He’s done as a footballer, but hopefully not as a person.

If you hadn’t noticed, we’re taking a short break whilst we enjoy the world cup and the hot weather here in the UK.

We’ve still got our First Look series to finish, and will be taking a second (and final) look at each of the conferences before too long.

Stay tuned!

Being my first ‘Division’ prediction, ever, I figured I might as well do one for the division I know most about! The AFC North is usually an entertaining and exciting division. The matches are played well, and are usually close. Rivalry is fierce and the bouts are relentless. It’s always difficult predicting without seeing the four pre-season matches, but I’m going to give it a go.

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We all know that predicting the divisions before the season has started can be, well, lets say – tricky! However, it is one of the things that we love doing and something that serves as a reference point for the changing fortunes of teams throughout the year. Oh, and more importantly means we can refer back to the awful predictions each other made as the year goes on!.

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With the average NFL career being less than four seasons, when someone’s spent 14 years they deserve a mention.

Muhsin Muhammad retired yesterday. He leaves the game ranked 20th on career receiving yards and having spent the vast majority of his year with one team, the Carolina Panthers. He was selected in the second round of the 1996 draft. This year’s second round pick – Jimmy Clausen – was just 8 back then.

Take care Moose, be well.

14 seasons you say? Isaac Bruce will see your 14 and raise you 2 additional season. Likewise the 20th career placing… Bruce is 3rd on the all time career yards and spent thirteen years with the Rams, helping them to Super Bowl victory for the 1999 season.

After two years a 49er, he retires a Ram. His club will honour him by retiring the number 80 in the game against Carolina later this year.

Again, be well.

Image Credit (Isaac Bruce): Jachdeja
Image Credit (Mushin Muhhamad): pnther60
Video Credit: LilMike1309

The run that the Saints went on took us by surprise. Indeed, from the pre- and off-season Graham and I both fancied the Panthers to be the err, big dogs of the division. As it happened, they were pussycats and the Saints went marching on and it’s now history. But enough of me murdering metaphors…

This NFC South has been particularly well balanced in recent years, with all four teams making the post season and each team has made the championship game and all but the Falcons made the Super Bowl since 2002. That could make things hard, but could make them fun too!

So let’s take a look…

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Fantasy Football sign-ups are live again at Yahoo! Sports. We’re all signed up and raring to go, even though the draft isn’t for 3 months yet. This is a league that I’ve run for several years now and it goes from strength to strength.

We’ll be running a Mac draft later this year, and if you’d like to be involved then let us know and we’ll get invites out when it’s ready. Or you can just laugh at us from a distance… I know I had a terrible season last year!. But whatever you do…

Get Playing!
We use Yahoo! Sports‘ fantasy league and live draft, but there are plenty available. Like at nfl.com.

UK fans should also look at the nfluk.com fantasy competition, which works in a different way but has some good prizes on offer.