I think they will, but that schedule is brutal. Pittsburgh is like the Baltimore Ravens of a year ago. The Ravens were coming off a 13-3 season, but people were very concerned about a Week 12-14 stretch where they played San Diego, New England, and Indy.

Pittsburgh, this season, draws an even tougher slate. They play Indy, San Diego, New England, and Dallas in four out of five weeks from Week 10-14. Most people have those four teams somewhere in their top five or six rankings in the NFL.

I think the Steelers have a lot of things going for them that the Ravens didn’t in 2007.  Big Ben gives the Steelers the play at quarterback that a team needs to survive a stretch like that. McNair and Boller didn’t do that for the Ravens.

I think the Steelers have more players on offense that can score points. I think the defense is in good shape. It also helps to have Cincinnati in the middle of that stretch.

That is a team that the Steelers can regain offensive confidence against, should they struggle to start that stretch.

The bottom line is that the Steelers still have a good team, and I think people are getting a little too caught up in the schedule and in Cleveland’s offseason additions. This is still the Steelers’ division.

That said, it is imperative that Pittsburgh stay healthy and they don’t get off to a poor start and lose games early in the season that they should take care of. They need to beat the Ravens twice, the Bengals twice, and the Texans. They need to play well at home.

They aren’t going to go 16-0 against that schedule, but they should be able to finish around 10-6 or 11-5. However, if things don’t go their way, the schedule will do them no favors and could knock them on the ground fast. The Steelers have little-to-no margin for error.

5) Can the New York Giants repeat as Super Bowl champions?

They could, but I think it is very unlikely. Critics of the NY Giants are going to start with an Eli Manning bashing. I’m just going to look at it by the numbers. The New York Giants beat the Buccaneers soundly, 24-14. Then they beat the Cowboys by three points, intercepting Romo in the end zone to close the game.

They intercepted Favre in overtime to beat the Packers by three points. They won the Super Bowl by three points against New England.

This is not a team that ran away with the playoffs. It is a team that got hot at the end of the season, played at a very high level, both physically and mentally, and caught a lot of good breaks. To expect a team to win that many close games a second year in a row is not realistic.

The New York Giants had a lot of losses this offseason. Strahan is a Hall of Famer and the leader of this team. He is no longer there. Wilson, Mitchell, and Torbar left via free agency. Shockey was traded to the Saints. That is a lot of talent to lose. They drafted well, but those players will need time to develop.

Then there is Eli Manning. When all the dust settles, he still has a 54.7 career completion percentage, has never thrown for more than 3,800 yards, has never thrown for more than 25 touchdowns, and he has never thrown for less than 15 interceptions in a season in which he started 16 games.

He has a career 73.4 quarterback rating. I expect him to play his best season this year. I think the playoffs were no fluke, and I think he turned the corner. 3,500 to 3,800 yards, 25 touchdowns, 15 picks, and a rating in the mid to high 80s is realistic. The NY Giants should make the playoffs as a wild card.

Once there, anything is possible. But I don’t see them having another run to the Super Bowl. It is very hard to repeat in the NFL, and the Giants didn’t show me enough in the playoffs last year, or the offseason, to make me think we are in the midst of an emerging dynasty.

I think it is a very talented team that peaked at the right time and made the most of a tremendous opportunity. They deserve credit for their accomplishment, but also deserve to be viewed based on their talent going into this season, not their play to end last season.

4) Will Dallas win its first playoff game since 1996?

If Dallas doesn’t win the NFC this season, it isn’t ever going to happen. In 2006, Tony Romo

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