Consensus pick: Dallas

The consensus falls on the side of Dallas, however. The Cowboys narrowly missed out on the playoffs last year with an un-Parcellsian 2-3 performance in December and January. They won a shootout with Kansas City and walked into Carolina on Christmas Eve and beat the Panthers.

NFC South
Consensus pick: Carolina
The Cold, Hard Football Facts have a certain fondness for things from Carolina, like that chick Shana (pictured here in all her swimsuit beauty), pulled pork and the Panthers. It’s easy to see why: Shana's hot, pulled pork is tasty and the Panthers play tough, efficient, fundamental football, as evidenced by the fact that few teams last year fared so well in so many Quality Stats.

The Panthers ranked No. 2 in defensive passer rating, No. 6 on the Cold, Hard Football Facts Bendability Index and – despite scoring a solid but unspectacular 391 points – No. 1 in the league in the Scoreability Index. No team, in other words, scored more efficiently than Carolina did last year. When it came to point differential vs. quality opponents, Carolina ended the season behind only Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh and 14-2 powerhouse Indy. Toss in a ball-hawking defense, a proven big-game QB in Jake Delhomme (No. 3 all-time in postseason passer rating at 95.0, behind only Joe Montana and Bart Starr), a big-game coach in John Fox and a spectacular wideout in Steve Smith … and all the numbers led to a spot in the NFC title game last year. The Cold, Hard Football Facts also make Carolina a prohibitive favorite to win the NFC South and represent the conference in Super Bowl XLI.

The defensive-minded Bucs have a chance to make history this season. Since the merger, only the Cowboys have finished in the Top 10 in total defense 10 straight seasons (1970-79). Tampa has a chance to join that elite list with a Top 10 performance this season.

Watch out for New Orleans, according to three of the trolls. The Saints this year have a QB in Drew Brees who has proven he can put up big numbers, a potential game-breaking superstar in running back Reggie Bush and, we hope, no need to deal with a devastating hurricane that turned 2005 into an on- and off-field disaster. Coupled with a generally weak conference, it gives the Saints a puncher’s chance at a wild-card berth.

It simply goes to show that when you put your faith in Cold, Hard Football Facts, and not in trends, hype and storylines, you're going to be right more often than not. So, we're not afraid to put our ample asses on the line – much to the detriment of the line's health and well-being.

As always, we put a premium on Quality Stats and on those arguments for which there is factual evidence supporting the cause. We don't fall for hype when making our predictions. Instead, we fawn over the stunning beauty of Planet Pigskin's own Miss Universe, the Cold, Hard Football Facts.

So, here goes nothing. The CHFF trolls pridelessly present our 2006 fearless and perhaps quite useless predictions:

Barra Byrne F.C. Carlson Cocco Comey Doherty Dudley Troup Whalen
AFC East NE NE NE MIA NE MIA NE NE NE NE
AFC North PIT PIT CIN PIT PIT PIT CIN PIT PIT PIT
AFC South IND JAX IND IND IND IND IND IND IND IND
AFC West DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN SD DEN SD
AFC WC1 MIA IND PIT NE SD NE PIT DEN MIA DEN
AFC WC2 JAX MIA MIA CIN CIN BAL MIA MIA SD CIN
NFC East PHI WAS DAL DAL NYG PHI NYG DAL DAL NYG
NFC North CHI CHI CHI MIN CHI MIN CHI CHI CHI MIN
NFC South CAR CAR TB CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR
NFC West SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA
NFC WC1 NYG NO CAR TB TB WAS ARI ATL PHI TB
NFC WC2 NO PHI NYG NYG DAL NO ATL PHI WAS DAL
AFC Champ IND
(PIT) DEN
(NE) NE
(CIN) NE
(DEN) NE
(PIT) IND
(NE) NE
(CIN) NE
(IND) IND
(DEN) NE
(IND)
NFC Champ CAR
(SEA) CHI
(CAR) DAL
(CAR) CAR
(SEA) CAR
(NYG) CAR
(SEA) CAR
(SEA) SEA
(DAL) SEA
(CHI) DAL
(CAR)
SB Champ IND
(CAR) DEN
(CHI) NE
(DAL) NE
(CAR) CAR
(NE) CAR
(IND) NE
(CAR) NE
(SEA) IND
(SEA) NE
(DAL)

The ineffective, aging Bledsoe, blessed with the mobility of a beached whale and the decision-making skills of George Costanza, was benched in humiliating fashion in front of millions of fans for unproven backup Tony Romo.

It's Romo who will start for the Cowboys when they visit Carolina for another nationally televised game, this one Sunday night on NBC. But the Romo-Bledsoe debate is likely to continue for at least 10 more weeks. The 3-3 Cowboys remain very much alive in the weak and wide-open NFC East. Bledsoe may be past his prime – which was never too prime to begin with – but Romo hardly seems like the answer. Heading into the loss to the Giants, he had attempted just two passes in four NFL seasons.