Coincidentally, the West Coast Offense has now moved into this new East, with the Bills & Jets having adapted the offense to fit their needs.  They must continue to cope with  the Dolphins' always-tough D and with Bill Belichick's defensive creativity in NE. Coming into the '01 season it looked like the Pats would be the weakest link here, but as world champs this division instead remains one of the league's toughest.

This plan does a fine job of keeping the old rivalries together.  While new rivalries had grown involving the JAX & TEN franchises, it's clear that CLE & BAL make for a great new tradition, CLE & PIT will never cease to smell like grimy football, and even the lowly Ohio squads rouse their fans and heat the blood when facing one another on the grid of battle.

But pity the poor Houstonians.  They are in for a nasty ride, facing three of the league's top squads year to year.  Meanwhile Indy didn't exactly go from the frying pan into the fire, but they're not cooling on the countertop either.  This looks like a very entertaining division, although fantasy-wise not a gold mine outside of the usual suspects (George, Taylor, Manning, Edge, etc.).

On the other hand, Houston has a solid core to begin its new team, and will surprise some teams this season. As this is written, just days after the expansion draft, however, the Texans have zero talent at the "skill positions," and will be relying on rookies, deep sleepers, and possibly a couple of free agent signees. Not the recipe for fantasy football success.

With major changes well underway both in KC and SD, this division is unpredictable for 2002.  If the Raiders are able to reinforce QB Rich Gannon with a talented youngster, as the Chargers have done in their Flutie/Brees rotation, this should continue to be one of the strongest divisions in football even without Jon Gruden.  And in spite of defensive strength division-wide, there'll be lots of offensive firepower all around to keep FFers focused on this foursome for quite awhile, especially if Dick Vermeil can get some quality receivers into Chiefs uniforms.

But ah, how they will miss the Arizona Cardinals.  Ironically, it looks like the Cowboys are about to become the doormat.  They will have a hard time rebuilding against these franchises on the rise, as they wave a slow goodbye to the great Emmitt Smith and continue to search for a QB to take them deep into the new millennium.  Look for continued tough defense and ground-oriented offenses to rule this division for the most part, although Donovan McNabb and the Redskins' hire of Steve Spurrier will keep it lively enough.

That by itself improves the fantasy outlook for players from all of these squads.  With the Vikings' outlook for '02 somewhat tentative without Cris Carter and Denny Green, and possibly without whatever is left of punk Randy Moss's brain, Detroit must begin to get it together under 4M (Matt Millen & Marty Mornhinweg) in order to compete with the reemerging Packers and the surprise New Monsters Of the Midway.  Having originally predicted that the Lions would dominate this division for awhile under the 4M boys, and predicting Da Bearssss would continue to stink, we are again reminded that while most teams are predictable, the door swings both ways.

This is perfect.  Remove those southern teams and get Tampa away from the Midwest.  Voila!  Now Michael Vick is the one who'll have to stare Warren Sapp in the face twice a year.  Welcome to the NFL, Michael.  Those Saints ain't what they used to be, either, assuming Jim Haslett can prove their late-season slide wasn't a case of a coach completely losing control.  This foursome is exactly what NO needed to keep up its turnaround, give the Bucs an easier track to the next level of success, and and keep the Falcons & Panthers kicking the dirt (or turf) on the sidelines for at least another year or two.

The fun part fantasy-wise is that this group should produce tons of offense.  While the 49ers are doing a fine job of rebuilding on the other side of the ball, and the Rams & Seahawks are making strides too, there's no doubt that each of those three teams can slice each other's D to bits.  Look for some lovely 42-24 scores coming out of this division in 2002 and probably beyond.