With National Football League training camps opening this week, The Laurinburg Exchange has spent the last four days taking a look at all 32 NFL teams.

We've broken down two divisions, or eight teams, each day, and our preseason preview wraps up today as we examine the AFC East and AFC North divisions.

AFC East

New England Patriots (11-5): Last season, the Patriots overcame the loss of quarterback Tom Brady to a season-ending knee injury in their season opener, rallying behind backup Matt Cassel to win 11 games. New England still missed the playoffs, becoming just the second team in NFL history (1985 Denver Broncos being the other) to miss the postseason after winning that many games.

The Patriots have Brady back, and that makes them my favorite to win Super Bowl XLIV. It all depends on Brady's health, however. If his surgically-repaired left knee does not hold up, Cassel — traded to Kansas City in the off-season — will not be there to save the day.

The Patriots' offensive line must do a better job of pass protecting. Brady was hit too much late in the 2007 season, and the Giants' sacked him five times and harassed him all day in their upset win over the 18-0 Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday. After Brady went down in ’08, Cassel was sacked 47 times. This is a huge issue, especially as Brady returns from the first major injury of his football career.

The Patriots went out and signed two offensive veterans in the off-season, getting speedy wideout Joey Galloway from Tampa Bay, and elusive running back Fred Taylor from Jacksonville. New England's offense will be impossible to defend at times this season; Bill Belichick can use a spread formation with Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Galloway and Greg Lewis (another free-agent pick-up from Philadelphia) at receiver. Ben Watson is a 280-pound tight end with 4.4 speed, and Taylor will eat up huge chunks of yardage when the Pats run draws and delayed handoffs from the spread. Brady threw 50 touchdown passes in 2007, and the weapons surrounding him in 2009 are even better now.

A quick example of why New England is smarter than everyone else: Last season in Washington, cornerback Shawn Springs gave Dallas receiver Terrell Owens fits, guarding him close to the line of scrimmage and using his strength to re-direct Owens and keep him from getting into his routes.

So when Buffalo, a division rival, went out and signed Owens, what did New England do? They inked Springs the following day. Watch for Owens' impact to be minimal in the Bills' two games versus the Patriots this season.

New England might have gotten the steal of the second round in this year's draft with Connecticut cornerback Darius Butler, who dropped to the Patriots at No. 41. Butler is just 5-foot-10 but has extremely long arms, runs a 4.3 in the 40 and has a 43-inch vertical leap. The biggest knock on him coming out of college was inconsistency, but Belichick will coach that right out of him. Look for Butler to play some nickel this season, start next year and be known as one of the top 10 or 15 corners in football by his third year in the league.

Buffalo Bills (7-9): The 25th ranked offense in football adds mercurial receiver Terrell Owens... Good luck to them, and good luck especially to quarterback Trent Edwards.

Edwards seems unconcerned about Owens and his broken relationships with every quarterback he has ever played an extended amount of time with. The thing that should really concern Edwards and the Bills is that the names of the other QBs who Owens has played with are (in chronological order): Steve Young, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Drew Bledsoe and Tony Romo.

All five were Pro Bowlers, and Young is in the Hall of Fame. Owens never had a falling out (publicly) with Young, but Young had retired before he had a chance to. If none of these great quarterbacks were suited to play with Owens (in his mind), how will Edwards fare?

Buffalo is also likely to be a mediocre team, and T.O. is at his worst when the chips are down... Good luck Buffalo, and good luck especially to Trent Edwards.

Miami Dolphins (11-5): Bill Parcells, the NFL's greatest one-year turnaround artist, did it again in 2008. This time it wasn't as a coach, but rather as VP of football operations with the Dolphins.

Miami went from 1-15 in 2007 to 11-5 and AFC East champions in 2008. Parcells went out and got his guys — like he always had as a coach — bringing in Tony Sparano, his old quality control coach in Dallas, to be his head coach in Miami. He then brought in several of his former players, veteran guys who he trusts and knows what he's getting with.

Parcells had a strong draft, based more on size than speed (as he always does), and he signed free agent quarterback Chad Pennington after the Jets dumped Pennington to make room for Brett Favre.

It was a twist brought by quarterbacks coach David Lee, not Parcells or Sparano, that was a big part of Miami's turnaround last season. The Dolphins began using the old single-wing, labeling their version the "Wildcat" offense. In the Wildcat, running back Ronnie Brown plays quarterback, and Pennington and running back Ricky Williams both line up wide. Left tackle Jake Long lines up on the right side to give the Dolphins an unbalanced line, and Williams comes in motion as the ball is snapped, giving Brown the option of handing off to Williams, running himself or throwing the ball.

In the second round of this year's draft, Miami took West Virginia quarterback Pat White. White, a superb athlete who was good enough in baseball to be selected in the fourth round of the 2004 MLB Draft by the Anaheim Angels as an outfielder, gives the Dolphins infinite possibilities with their Wildcat offense this season.

Another thing to watch in Miami this season will be how linebacker Cameron Wake transitions from the Canadian Football League to the NFL. Wake, a 27-year-old rookie from Penn State, was drafted by the New York Giants in 2005 but cut before training camp opened.

Wake signed with the CFL's BC Lions in 2007, and he led the CFL with 17 sacks while becoming the first player in league history to be named Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Last season, Wake recorded 23 sacks and was named Defensive Player of the Year again.

New York Jets (9-7): The Jets imploded down the stretch last season, losing four of their last five to miss the playoffs after leading the AFC East with five games remaining. Much of the blame for the collapse goes to Brett Favre, who threw nine interceptions in New York's last five games.

New York traded up in the draft and took Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez with the fourth overall pick. Sanchez could be in line to start this season, and the Jets have a strong offensive line, last year's NFL rushing yardage leader Thomas Jones and a defense that should be improved — all things that will help take pressure off of Sanchez.

Sanchez catapulted up many teams' draft boards with strong pre-draft workouts. He only started 16 games for the Trojans and left after his junior year, against the advice of USC head coach Pete Carroll, who thought Sanchez made a mistake by not staying for his senior season.

If Sanchez starts from Week 1, the Jets are likely to use him much the same way Baltimore used rookie Joe Flacco last season, by easing him in and not asking him to do too much. The Jets lost receiver Laveranues Coles to Cincinnati, leaving Jerricho Cotchery as the team's only experienced wideout; this gives New York even more reason to use a conservative game plan with Sanchez.

New head coach Rex Ryan should quickly improve the Jets' defense. Ryan brought stud linebacker Bart Scott with him from Baltimore, and the team also acquired cornerback Lito Sheppard from the Eagles. Second-year linebacker Vernon Gholston — the No. 6 overall pick in 2008 — must improve on the 15-tackle, zero-sack campaign he had as a rookie.

AFC North

Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4): Don't expect the rape allegations made against Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to be a distraction to the team. This franchise is too professional, and the case is a civil suit, not a criminal suit, so Roethlisberger faces losing money, but not his freedom. Rape is a serious subject at all times, but this is still different than cases like that of Kobe Bryant, as Bryant faced prison time if convicted of sexual assault in Boulder, Colorado a few years back.

Pittsburgh returns 20 of 22 starters, and the NFL's No. 1 defense has back 10 starters and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. Barring injuries, it should be very difficult for any of the AFC North's other three teams to even think about unseating the Steelers as divison champs.

The offense would love to cut down on the 46 sacks opponents had of Roethlisberger last year, and improved contributions from second-year running back Rashad Mendenhall and receiver Limas Sweed are expected. Mendenhall broke his shoulder and missed the last 12 games of the regular season and the playoffs last year, and the Steelers need the former Illinois star to provide a change of pace from starting back Willie Parker. Sweed is needed to step into the shoes of Nate Washington, who signed with Tennessee as a free agent.

Baltimore Ravens (11-5): The Ravens had the league's No. 2 ranked defense (261.1 ypg) in 2008, and Baltimore was 11-0 when scoring 21 or more points. The bad news for Baltimore fans is that there is a good chance the Ravens are weaker on both sides of the ball heading into 2009.

The Ravens lost defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, as Ryan took the Jets' head coaching position. Ryan also took linebacker Bart Scott — perhaps the Ravens' best front-seven player — with him as a free-agent signing. Baltimore also cut cornerback Chris McAlister, who covered the opponent's top receiver on a weekly basis for years.

The remarkable success of rookie quarterback Joe Flacco could be difficult to duplicate in 2009. Thirteen-year veteran receiver Derrick Mason surprised the team by announcing his retirement earlier this month, giving the Ravens no chance of bringing in a suitable replacement. Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams are the team's projected starters at this point, and neither player should be a starter in the NFL.

Cleveland Browns (4-12): No matter which quarterback — Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson — new head coach Eric Mangini decides to start in 2009, the Browns are likely to have problems on the offensive side of the ball. Cleveland ranked 30th in points (14.5) and 31st in yards (249.9) per game last season, and the team lost two explosive weapons with the indefinite suspension of receiver Donte Stallworth and the trade of tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. to Tampa Bay.

Either quarterback will need Braylon Edwards to wake up. Edwards was one of the NFL's best receivers in 2007 with 80 catches for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns, but he led the league in dropped balls while catching 55 passes for 873 yards and three TDs last season. Edwards failed a team physical on Wednesday, so he is off to a rough start already.

Look for aging running back Jamal Lewis to be pushed for playing time by fourth-year back James Harrison and rookie James Davis this season. Harrison had just 246 yards and one touchdown last season, but he averaged 7.2 yards per carry. Davis had to share time in the backfield with C.J. Spiller at Clemson, and the Browns got great value when they took the Tigers' tailback with the 195th overall pick this spring.

Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1): The Bengals finished dead last in yards (254.0) and points (12.8) per game in 2008, but that should change with the return of quarterback Carson Palmer, who is back under center after missing the final 12 games of last season due to elbow surgery.

Palmer lost his top receiver, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, to the Seahawks, but Cincinnati signed Laveranues Coles to take his place. If Chad Ochocinco (he legally changed his last name from Johnson) can stay focused and Chris Henry can avoid prison, Palmer has himself three quality receivers to throw to.

Ochocinco —whose production has dipped significantly, although you would never know it from listening to him talk — is already talking about Twittering during games, and he is likely to continue being more of a problem than solution in Cincinnati. The other problem for Palmer is the offensive line, which lost three starters in the off-season, and has three replacements that are probably all downgrades from last year.

Palmer threw for 3,836 yards, 32 touchdowns and just 12 picks while leading Cincinnati to the AFC North title in 2005. I wish Palmer could be traded so that he might have the chance to play for a real NFL franchise before his career is over. He is too good to waste away in Cincinnati, and that is exactly what is happening.

Cincinnati got a great deal when USC linebacker Ray Maualuga fell to them with the 38th overall pick in the second round of this year's draft. Maualuga went after fellow Trojan linebackers Brian Cushing (15th to Houston) and Clay Matthews (26th to Green Bay), but watch any USC game from last season and it's clear who the best player on the best defense in the nation was — it was Maualuga.

Michael Gilliland is sports editor of The Laurinburg Exchange. Write to him at mgilliland@laurinburgexchange.com.