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NFL previews

NFL Team Previews: New Orleans Saints

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The New Orleans Saints rolled into last year’s playoffs as an offensive juggernaut and had they not inexplicably led San Francisco’s Alex Smith beat them on late drives not once but twice in divisional round it’s very fair to think New Orleans would have beaten the Giants at home for the NFC Championship and then beaten New England in the Super Bowl. Instead, the defense fell apart. Then it all came apart in the offseason, as the fallout from Bountygate came down hard. Head coach Sean Payton has been suspended for the season, and interim coach Joe Vitti is suspended for the first six games. Key defensive players in end Wil Smith and linebacker Jonathan Vilma will miss a good chunk of the season. TheSportsNotebook previews the Saints as they try and pick up the pieces…

NFL Team Previews: San Francisco 49ers

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The San Francisco 49ers had their first winning season since 2002 a year ago and did it in a big way. Rookie head coach Jim Harbaugh led a renaissance by the Bay, as the team jumped from six wins to thirteen wins in a single season, won an epic playoff game against New Orleans and then lost an equally epic NFC Championship Game to the New York Giants in overtime. Was it a sign of things to come, a one-year wonder or somewhere in between? TheSportsNotebook previews the 49ers and their chances in 2012…

NFL Team Previews: San Diego Chargers

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The San Diego Chargers haven’t had a sub-.500 season since 2003. In the eight seasons since they’ve had six winning campaigns and of the two 8-8 seasons one of them still picked up a cheap AFC West title (2008). But the one thing the 2004-11 run has not included is a Super Bowl appearance. The franchise has never won the biggest game of them all, and has only made one appearance, back in 1994. TheSportsNotebook breaks down their chances of doing it in 2012…

NFL Team Previews: Kansas City Chiefs

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The Kansas City Chiefs endured a rough year in 2011, getting hit by injuries right out of the gate, as three key players missed all or most of the season with torn ACLs. Then quarterback Matt Cassell struggled and got hurt. Then head coach Todd Haley was fired midstream. It added up to a year where the franchise regressed from its AFC West title in 2010 to a 7-9 record in 2011. Romeo Crennel is getting his second chance at a head coaching job now, and both he and his team are looking to make the most of a fresh opportunity.

NFC Preview: Five Storylines To Watch

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The New York Giants won their second Super Bowl in the Eli Manning era last year, and dismantled a seemingly unbeatable Packers team along the way. Green Bay was clearly the better team for most of the season, as they rolled to a 15-1 record, becoming just the sixth team in history to win at least 15 regular season games. Meanwhile, the Giants had an up-and-down regular season at 9-7, sneaked into the playoffs, and peaked at the perfect time. So which team will be better in 2012?

NFL Team Previews: Washington Redskins

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The Washington Redskins bet the ranch on rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III. The ‘Skins gave up three first-round picks to get the Heisman Trophy winner, and with head coach Mike Shanahan already in his third season, there’s not a lot of room for patience. This is an organization with a lot of angry and desperate fans—which, in the interest of full disclosure include yours truly. TheSportsNotebook therefore, makes a futile attempt at unbiased analysis of the Redskins’ 2012 chances measured against their Over/Under win projections in Las Vegas…

NFL Offseason Report: Grading The AFC

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Teams are listed by expected divisional finish (last year’s finish in parentheses), and include notable additions and subtractions from trades, free agency, and the draft. “+” denotes a team looks to be improved, whereas “=” shows a team didn’t sufficiently address significant weakness(es). Since this is the time of endless optimism, we’ll hold off on “-“ signs for now. Please also see the earlier NFL offseason report for the NFC.