By Austin White

Welcome back to the madness that is the NFL season.

However, the madness really never stopped. This was one of the craziest off seasons in history. The fans saw eight teams change their head coaches, numerous players leave the teams they became famous with and a draft that was dominated by linemen. Linemen! Basically, the regular season is set up to be one of high interest and many storylines.

The stories that fans are going to see a lot this year are about reunions. The first week of the season the Baltimore Ravens are traveling to Colorado to play the Denver Broncos. Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil played six seasons with the Broncos but departed this offseason for the Ravens after being four minutes late on faxing in his signed contract to the Broncos. Also in week one, cornerback Darelle Revis (a.k.a. Revis Island) returned to the Meadow Lands to play his former team the New York Jets as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A reunion that has been in the making for over a year now is the return of future hall of fame quarterback Peyton Manning to Indianapolis. Manning played 13 seasons with the Colts and led them to a Super Bowl Championship in 2007. The Broncos play the Colts week seven and just over a month later they play another reunion game against the New England Patriots. Star wide receiver Wes Welker came from the Patriots this offseason to join the Broncos and has helped create high expectations.

A few other notable reunions are Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid squaring off against the Philadelphia Eagles (the team he coached for 13 years) in week three, Minnesota Vikings break out wide receiver Greg Jennings gets to play his former team, the Green Bay Packers twice, and two time Pro-Bowl free safety Dashon Goldson’s Buccaneers get to host his former team, the San Francisco 49ers in week 15.

Now for the good part: discussing which teams are beasts and which teams are busts. Let’s start off with a few busted teams. The New York Jets are facing quarterback issues after hearing Mark Sanchez will be out at least three weeks and rookie QB Geno Smith being highly inconsistent during the preseason. The injuries to Buffalo Bills’ QBs Kevin Kolb (a concussion) and EJ Manuel (a minor knee surgery) leave the Bills having to answer many questions as well. With the QB position in flux, these two teams may be doomed from the start. It also looks like yet another abysmal season for the Jacksonville Jaguars with their QB Blaine Gabbert showing little improvement and their start running back Maurice Jones-Drew coming off of his foot injury from last season.

As for the beasts of the league, there are quite a few. The Seattle Seahawks out of the NFC (National Football Conference) went 11-5 last season and won all of their home games. Century Link Field is known to be the loudest stadium in the NFL which it makes it almost impossible for opposing offenses to communicate. The Seahawks have also kept most of their players from last year, so look for them to improve that 11-5 record and make a Super Bowl run. One other favorite of the NFC is the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers went to the Super Bowl last year and have kept their team mostly intact. Break out star QB Colin Kaepernick looks to lead his team back to the championship and his new weapon of choice is WR Anquan Boldin who was acquired in a trade with the Super Bowl winning team last year, the Baltimore Ravens. Fans should look forward to a heated battle between the 49ers and Seahawks for the NFC crown.

The favorite out of the AFC (American Football Conference) this year is almost unanimously the Denver Broncos. With the Broncos adding five time pro-bowl WR Wes Welker and QB Manning coming off one of his best seasons of his career, expectations are high. A solid defense that ranked third in passing and rushing yards allowed last year boosts this teams title chances. However, star OLB Von Miller will be suspended the first six games for violating the NFL’s drug policy. Ifthe Broncos can hold up those games without Miller, the sky is the limit.

One last stat to take a note of is that since 2000, 18 teams have gone from finishing last in their division to first the next season. Basically, at least one team does this every year, so fans should be on the lookout for underdogs. The NFC South could be that division because of the new acquisitions made by the Buccaneers. The Bucs had the best rushing defense last year but also had the worst passing defense. Adding star CB Darelle Revis and FS Dashon Goldson should help improve that passing defense to high quality. A strong offense with WR Vincent Jackson and RB Doug Martin should help propel this team to the top the NFC South.

Another team on track to make a huge comeback is the Detroit Lions. Last season, WR Calvin Johnson set the single season record for most receiving yards, a record held by the greatest receiver ever Jerry Rice. However, last season the Lions had many off the field distractions that took their focus away from playing. This year, the focus has gone back to football and the Lions are ready to roar again.

Many NFL fans are excited for the upcoming season because so many teams truly have a chance to live up to their beastly potential and go all the way to the Super Bowl. Like most things in life, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.