If you don't follow the league closely, you might think the NFC East is the only division in football. It seems that one of these four teams plays a primetime game every week. Throngs of reporters drool over each Michael Vick or Jerry Jones press conference. Each team has a devoted, nation-wide fan base. They share intense rivalries that stretch throughout league history. Prognosticators suggest annually that two and maybe even three teams from the division will qualify for the playoffs.

Also, none of these teams are very good.

Nothing spoils the sports fan like sustained success. Consistent winning is the ultimate goal of any franchise—a chance at the playoffs, upgraded venues and streams of devoted followers. Many football cities—think Green Bay or Pittsburgh—cling to their football team no matter what, but those two examples happen to be two of the winningest teams in league history. In cities with less established teams or fewer winning seasons, new fans jump on the bandwagon at the hint of positive momentum. Buffalo already owns some of the league's diehards, but after their 2-0 start this year, Orchard Park's Sunday traffic will be that much more jammed. The undefeated Lions (yes, the undefeated Lions) finally look to have earned their Thanksgiving Day timeslot, and can legitimately consider a playoff berth.

Chicago Bears

The Bears have a long-standing tradition of defensive excellence. Their landmark defensive formation, the 46, carried them to their lone Super Bowl, and their defense powered them to the league final in 2006. Last year's unit allowed the fourth-fewest points per game. Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and recent addition Julius Peppers power a fearsome front seven. (We'll look past the recently cut Vernon Gholston, who is doing his best to confirm everyone's belief that he can't play professionally.) Meanwhile, their offense has become as notorious, but only for its utter lack of notoriety. The Bears have cycled through quarterbacks and offensive coordinators in search of a higher-scoring attack than the power rushing game no longer suitable for post-season success. Their wins in 2005 often came in spite of then-quarterback Rex Grossman, a player of maddening inconsistency interspersed with moments of very-goodness. Current coordinator Mike Martz, proponent of the downfield pass and pariah of running backs and tight ends everywhere, has been charged with drawing sweet touchdown music out of tortured soul Jay Cutler.

The NFL narrowly avoided a work stoppage, but for some fans of the AFC West will be left thinking, “Wait I thought we were going to play football this season.  Why are those clowns out on the field?”  I am talking to you, Broncos fans. 

So, without further adieu, a look into the teams that will be playing ball this season, and a look at the rest of the conference.  I am talking to you, Broncos fans.

Quick hits:

Cam Newton will be the most exciting rookie in the league.

The Panthers will NOT be drafting Andrew Luck next year (they won't be the worst team in the league).

The Bucs, who finished the season strong, take a step back and finish with a .500 record.

LeGarrette Blount will emerge as a stud and accumulate the third-most fantasy points amongst RBs.

Lance Moore will finish the season as the Saints' top receiver.

The Saints defense will carry the team, led by their defensive line, while their offense struggles.

Julius Jones will prove his worth (and bounty of draft picks given up) for the Falcons, more so for being a decoy and blocking than catches and yards.

The Falcons will be cheering the re-signing of Jason Snelling after Michael Turner goes down with an injury.

When you think of the AFC East in 2011, you likely think of two teams.  However, if those two teams are the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins, you need to get your mind out of the gutter.

The New England Patriots and the New York Jets figure to battle not only for the AFC East crown, but also for a chance to go to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

Each of the past two seasons, the Patriots have gotten the better of the Jets in the regular season, winning the AFC East crown in 2009 and 2010, with the Jets advancing further in the playoffs before eventually being eliminated in the AFC Championship both years.

The Jets win with one of the best defenses in the league—which is run by defensive whiz and trash-talking extraordinaire Rex Ryan—and a solid offense, brimming with potential. 

The Patriots do it with a dynamic offense, loaded with playmakers at every position, and a serviceable defense, held afloat by cerebral mastermind Bill Belichick.  Both prove that it doesn’t necessarily matter how you win the games, but that you win the games.

Both the Patriots and Jets seem likely to win a bunch of those games this season, and appear near-locks for playoff berths. 

Meanwhile, the Bills and Dolphins appear destined to miss the playoffs again, and can only dream of how good Stanford QB Andrew Luck would look in their respective uniforms.

Without further ado, I present the Good, the Bad and the Bills.

When looking through the division, there is no clear separation between any of the teams. As of right now, picking the winner of this division is about as easy as naming all seven of the offensive coordinators the 49ers have had in the past seven years.

Each team faces their own quarterback questions: Can Kevin Kolb be the guy the Cardinals believe he can be to get Arizona back to the playoffs?

Can Sam Bradford avoid a sophomore slump under a new QB coach and offensive coordinator?

Can Jim Harbaugh resurrect Alex Smith and how short will his leash be with rookie Colin Kaepernick breathing down his neck?

And how will Seattle look without Matt Hasselbeck under center for the first time since 2001?

All of these questions and many more will be answered as the season plays out. As if the NFC West isn’t already the laughing stock of the NFL, the schedule-makers also seemed to take their shot at the division as well.

Each team in the NFC West has to go through the AFC North and NFC East this upcoming season. This includes the always powerful Steelers and Ravens, the Eagles, Giants, with the up-and-coming Browns and Cowboys as well.

Let’s start with who I believe will be the cellar-dweller of the division this season, last year’s divisional champs, the Seattle Seahawks.

The NFC East: arguably the toughest division in professional football. Any given season, this division has three contenders for the division’s championship and one real-life fantasy team.

The contenders are the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. The real-life fantasy team—which you could have guessed by their owner’s previous years’ free agency signings and fans that wear dresses and pig snouts—is the Washington Redskins.

This offseason, while it has been very crammed and condensed into a short period of time due to the lockout, has really shown who desperately wants a title (Eagles), who believes they have a decent squad already (Cowboys and Giants) and who is coming back to reality with sensible team-building (Redskins).

In this article, I will break down each team’s moves thus far in the 2011 season and how it will make or break (or do nothing) for their upcoming season. Let’s begin with the Dallas Cowboys, shall we?

By Brad Vipperman

You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. That sentiment has been echoed in song lyrics and sentiments across the world because of its absolute validity. As human beings, it is often difficult to appreciate the things that we have, especially if they were just given to us.

Once we lose one of these inherited luxuries, we immediately become cognizant of its absence and of the value and worth that it had. All we can do in life is to try to appreciate the present and live like the things that we have are gone, and thus, appreciate them more.

As an NFL fan, this is what has happened to me. I have been spoiled my whole life by my favorite sport. It has marched onwards around the calendar since before I could walk.

When the MLB strike happened in 1994, I remember being aware there was no baseball being played, but not really caring. I was eight years old and didn’t have a fantasy team so my life remained unchanged.

When the NBA lockout happened back in 1999, I remember being confused as to why the two sides couldn’t agree on a deal. At that time I was 13 and still saw sports as a collection of heroes who existed to provide me with excitement and joy. Combine the lockout with Michael Jordan’s second retirement and, outside of buying that year’s NBA Live video game, I didn’t really mind the absence of pro basketball.

The overriding factor in both of these situations was my love for the NFL. I’ve loved pro football since my memory begins. In fact, some of the random snapshots of my childhood that I have involve the NFL—and me crying. Allow me to explain:

On Jan. 3, 1993, I was a seven-year-old kid watching playoff football with his dad. The Houston Oilers were playing the Buffalo Bills and they were stomping them. The Oilers had built a 28-3 halftime lead and intercepted an early second-half pass for a touchdown, growing their lead to 35-3. I was living in Maryland at the time and my dad decided enough was enough and to take me to go get some dinner.

We headed out to a local deli that made our favorite sandwich and spent the next couple hours eating and talking. When we got back home and turned on the TV our jaws dropped. Impossibly, the Bills had stormed back in the second half and won the game 41-38 in overtime. This was too much for my developing mind to handle. I realized instantly that this was the greatest comeback in NFL history and I’d missed it to go eat a sandwich.

So I started crying.

I cried again a few months later when I read in the paper that Redskins free agent linebacker Wilbur Marshall had signed with the Houston Oilers. I couldn’t understand why he would want to play for another team. All I knew is that he was a great linebacker on the team I loved and now he was gone.

It was Marshall who laid the groundwork in my mind to attach myself to the Washington Redskins, not necessarily the players who wear the uniform. Sports fans in 2011 know that we need to keep our guards up because even the unthinkable can happen.

If I’d told you in 2001 that in 10 years Brett Favre and Shaquille O’Neal would still be playing their respective sports you would have been surprised.

But if I told you that Favre would be playing for the Vikings and Shaq would be a Celtic, how would you have felt? Anything short of shock and you’re lying.

Professional sports shed, I think, the last remnants of the mysticism in the last decade. The glamour and legend surrounding pro athletes such as Ruth, Unitas, Magic, Bird and Jordan has been lost.

The age of the internet, 24/7 media, blogs and social networking has destroyed our abilities to revere these people in a fantastical light. Even stars that ascend to that status never seem to stay there very long—just as Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. In fact, it seems that some fans have gone the other way. The image of being devoted to faith and living a squeaky clean life that people like Tim Tebow and Jimmer Fredette portray has even drawn unfavorable reactions and criticism by many.

Organizations have been hit with the same problems. Even a team as superbly managed as the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have had three coaches in their history and won two Super Bowls in the last decade, have had numerous blemishes.

Ben Roethlisberger likes to hit on girls in night club bathrooms, Santonio Holmes likes to smoke pot in his car, Rashard Mendenhall thinks that Americans should never celebrate death (even Osama Bin Laden’s) and Hines Ward likes to drink and drive.

Surprising right?

Sports have been finally revealed for what they’ve really always been—a business. The economic troubles that have plagued our country for the last several years have really been the straw that broke the camel's back. Owners who were making gobs of money in the ‘90s are now, suddenly, counting every penny.

The current NBA lockout is going to be a mess for this exact reason. This past NBA playoff season was by far the most exciting and intriguing since Jordan was ruling the world. There are more recognizable, young, rising stars in the NBA than I can ever remember and the game is being played at such a high level that any game on a given night is entertaining.

And yet the NBA lost money. A lot of it.

The NFL though, is the real focus here because it’s the backbone of our sports society. If the NFL lockout gets resolved in the next week or so there are going to be dramatic psychological changes amongst sports fans.

An NFL season means fantastic entertainment from August through January. That means we just bought ourselves six months of not worrying about the state of sports. The NBA lockout will take a backseat to all the football headlines, which is exactly what both sides need.

The NBA schedule really gets going in November, but its absence will be quelled by the NFL. The wild-card hunt is always an exciting time, but with no NBA competition it will gain additional weight.

Conversely, NCAA basketball has a golden opportunity here to suck more NBA fans back into their game. March Madness was incredible this year and with an overflowing stock of young talent choosing to stay in school (Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes, etc.); college basketball should be primed for a monster season.

I love the NBA and getting robbed of arguably the last year of Kobe Bryant’s prime would make me furious, but I’m not concerned about the overall status of sports this fall as long as football is back.

The last time the NFL locked out, in 1987, the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl. If it takes another lockout to re-ignite that magic then I’m all for a shortened season! Superstition aside, like many, I never appreciated what the NFL brought me as a sports fan year round until it was taken away from me.

If we can find a silver lining in the current bleak state of events, it should be that we will no longer take our sports seasons for granted. By now we all understand the business side of sports and how the almighty dollar is what funds our engines of entertainment.

This doesn’t make me like sports less. In fact, I think I like them more because I feel like I have a better grasp on the situation.

Once the NFL returns we will be on our way to recovery. The league’s popularity will be at an all-time high because, like me, millions of fans will be so relieved and grateful the game is back that they will consume as much as they can to fill the void.

I am going to enjoy this upcoming NFL season, as long as the deal actually does get signed, more than any other. I am going to do this because I am going to be viewing it in a new light. Sports are a gift—a luxury if you will—that can be taken away by forces that be. Now that I know this I will savor every kickoff a little bit more.

I encourage you to do the same.

Brad Vipperman, Anthony DiPeppo and Seth Kamens discuss the rise of Cam Newton and the fall of Da'Quan Bowers in BSP's NFL draft preview podcast. To listen Click Here

Michael Vick re-emerged as a monster star in the NFL for the Eagles, while the rest of the NFC East watched as he ran, jumped,and threw his way into NFL folklore. The pressure falls on the Giants, 'Skins and Cowboys to have solid drafts this year to keep up with the Eagles' youth movement.

The NFC North yielded the 2010-11 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. The Bears kept pace and even exceeded the Packers at points through the season, but in the end no one was a match for Aaron Rodgers. The Brett Favre Era ended in Minnesota as he officially announced his retirement (we’ll see how long that lasts). And dare I say the Lions will be good sooner rather than later. Just gotta love the Packers winning the Super Bowl the year Favre calls it quits. Now let’s get to the draft.