In 2-3 weeks’ time, we’ll take a final look before setting our season predictions in stone (for future gloating and/or ridiculing).

Josh McDaniels has been running a tough camp. It remains to be seen if that’s the right way to motivate the players as in other places, players haven’t responded to it.

Kyle Orton will be wanting to shine, but has already had some boos and catcalls from the watching fans. He’ll be looking to get motivated from that. Brandon Marshall is sitting out with an injury at the moment, and don’t forget he has a court appearance coming up soon too. He could yet see a second suspension. In his absense Brandon Stokley has been stepping up. The veteran goes into what could easily be his final season and is surely looking to make an impact.

Rookies Knowshon Moreno and Roberts Ayers have signed and are in camp. I’ll keep an eye on these guys, Moreno in particular, to see how they shape up.

This is a difficult team to predict, but it would take a brave call to have them moving forward from last season.

Another coach who’s running a tough camp is Todd Haley at Kansas. The players there are getting put thoroughly through their paces an no-one is a guaranteed starter (well, he says that but we all know some players are).

Matt Cassel – assuming he’s the starter of course, not much of a stretch – will have Armani Toomer to add depth at reciever. He and Bobby Engrams being the old men here. Dwayne Bowe will be wanting to build on his 1,000 yard season in 2008. Here’s hoping he can hold onto the ball.

There are a few injuries across the defense, but nothing too alarming at this point. It remains to be seen how they adjust to the 3-4 scheme, something that should become clearer during the pre-season.

Haley apparently isn’t afraid of upsetting anyone, or selecting starters based on previous form. This all makes for Kansas City to be a story worth following this year. But not, I expect, into the post-season.

I was hoping to get all the Second Looks out before the pre-season started, but that’s not happened. Accordingly, some of my harsh words about the Raiders have been tuned down a little bit after they looked sharp against Dallas last night.

Oakland open the season with three back-to-back divisional games. So their season could effectively be over at week 4. But perhaps I’m being unfair. Darrius Heywood-Bey has settled in well after the usual rookie adjustment period. He could really do with having Javon Walker on the field as well, he’s currently injured, as if the Dallas game is any indication he’s being treated as a real threat and covered accordingly.

Chaz Schilens got a lot of looks from JaMarcus Russell and could be worth bearing in mind for those in deep fantasy leagues.

Perennial backup QB Jeff Garcia has been injured, likely pushing Charlie Frye towards the number 2 spot. Garcia can never be counted on to not make an appearance at some point during the season though.

In short though, and despite last night’s showing, I still don’t see much I like here. Certainly nothing to make me think this is a team making huge strides forward.

I don’t really know what to say about the Chargers. To me, they’re so obviously head and shoulders above the rest of the division it’s almost unfair.

On top of that, it seems the biggest news coming from their camp is that Antonio Cromartie doesn’t rate the food. With Quentin Jammer on the other side, if Cromartie is fit (and gets a good meal) this is a corner pairing as good as any across the league.

Darren Sproles and his new contract will be one to watch. With LaDanian Tomlinson now ‘getting on’ (in running back terms) and, it seems, notoriously absent in the post-season, it’ll be interesting to see how the backfield shakes up. One thing’s for sure – most coaches would love to have these two guys to call on.

Summary
I can’t look past San Diego here at all. Second place to be tight between the Chiefs and the Broncos, but neither to make the post-season.

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However, there are odds posted and it’s worth getting our thoughts together at this stage, so let’s check them out!

The Giants have lost Burress – probably Toomer too – but have drafted well, including using their first round pick to take Hakeem Nicks at WR. They also have a new defensive co-ordinator as Spagnola has gone to coach the Rams. But there is no real reason to assume that the D will fall off from last year when they were most impressive. They are certainly one of 3 or 4 teams that are genuine contenders, and I’ll keep an eye out as the off-season progresses.

I can’t buy the Cowboys this year, not for anything more than early post-season disappointment at best. Not only because I’m a Redskins’ fan, but there are too many questions surrounding them. Romo has yet to prove himself in a clinch… in fact, the entire team fell apart in the final game last season. Roy Williams didn’t establish himself at all, and needs to step up with T.O. gone, but like I mentioned… too many questions.
However, since the Cowboys always have strong support and strong optimism a lay bet on NFC Champions is worth it if you can get a price you like.

The Eagles have added a lot of personnel to their offense. They may take time to settle in, but are looking more potent than they did last season, and they were by no means feeble in 2008. What they were though, was inconsistent and careless with the ball. They’ll need to sort both of those issues out before they can be considered serious contenders. I fancy them to be strong in this division, probably 2nd, but I’m not sure about beyond that. However, a good start could see me revise my opinion. I’ll be keeping an eye on them.

Redskins… I’m preparing myself for a similar season to last – a good start, then fading away to a 8-9 or 7-9 record. The NFC East is always tough, but it hurts me to say that the ‘Skins are by far the poor relative in this rich division. But you just don’t know what twists and turns there are going to be!
Orapku was a great pickup with the limited picks they had, and they’ve taken steps to address receiver issues in free agency, but there are still questions about Campbell who, along with the rest of the team, seemed to take a big step backwards the end of last season (Skins were 2-6 in the second half of last year). We could really go either way, but I’d like to see Zorn given this season at least without anything hanging over him… whether that will be the case or not remains to be seen.

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