Pittsburgh Steelers
Predicted Record: 9-7, AFC North Champions.
Strengths:Big Ben is a really coming into his own and easily one of the top 5 QBs in the league (I'd go top 3, but I'm a Steeler's fan). The team looks to be well stocked at WR and RB. Defense should be solid.
Weaknesses: Offensive Line. The O-Line didn't show much last year. Now Faneca is gone and nobody new has really been added. So we're counting on the same people who played poor-fair last year to play well this year. That could happen, but could very well not. Steeler's biggest problem last year was that they couldn't grind it out for a yard when they needed one in short yardage and goal line situations. They must be able to do so this year to go any farther than the 1st round of the playoffs. My biggest question on defense is Polomalu staying on the field and playing at a high level. Injuries held him back much of last season and when he did play it wasn't at the same level we've become accustomed to seeing. A healthy Polomalu is critical to the defense being top tier. The punter is out for the season already with an injury. We'll see how the guy they brought in looks in preseason. Special teams weren't great (to put it kindly) last year, so we'll see if they can improve.
The division:
Baltimore is going to suck.
The Bengals are disfunctional.
The Browns are everyone's darling right now, but I don't buy the hype. Yes, they're better than they have been (wouldn't take much) but I don't see them taking the division from the Steelers.
Bottom Line: Pittsburgh has excellent skill position players on offense, solid defense, but a super big question mark in the offensive line. Combine all that with a killer schedule and I see them going 9-7 and taking the AFC North in a down year for the division.