Frankly Football: Three non-playoff teams that will make the leap in '08

Way back in 1985, in my first season as a glorified errand boy for the San Francisco 49ers, I could barely contain my excitement in the draft room, reacting to each pick like it was life or death. Sensing my misplaced enthusiasm, Bill Walsh calmly walked over to me and said, "Michael, relax, it's no big deal. We are only competing against eight teams."

What the 49ers legendary coach was referring to was the popular theory that there are only a handful of teams each season completely committed to making a run at the Super Bowl. Some teams may make an appearance in the playoffs at times, but in Walsh's mind, there were only eight constant teams striving for excellence. Every since that day, I have only judged teams as being one of the eight, or not. At times I worked for teams that were, and at times I worked for teams that were not. Trust me, it's easy to tell.

So, here in 2008, we know the Patriots, Colts, Chargers, Cowboys, Giants, Packers and Seahawks are all ready for another visit to the playoffs. The tricky part is finding the teams that might be ready to make the leap. Last year, of the 12 teams that made the playoffs, six were not in the postseason the year prior. Will we see a 50 percent turnover again? That remains to be seen. But with that in mind, here are three teams that missed the playoffs in 2007 that are ready to make the leap in 2008.

(It's very important for me when judging teams to take into account two factors, their quarterback and their schedule. Those are the most important reasons we see a flux in playoff teams. The schedule changes from year to year, all based on how you finished the prior season, so it gets a little tougher and the marginal playoff teams cannot duplicate their prior success. And any injury to a starting quarterback forces a team to struggle.)

Buffalo Bills

The Bills are a team I love. They have a talented core of young players. They have a very good defensive line with DE Aaron Schobel and offseason acquisition Marcus Stroud at DT. They have a bright young quarterback in Trent Edwards, who is surrounded by some of the best skills players in the NFL with wide receivers Roscoe Parrish and Lee Evans and running back Marshawn Lynch. This is a potentially dynamic offense -- as they learn how to play the game, they will improve and become very tough to slow down. They should score points in bunches.

Their special team units, covering and returning kicks, are in the top five in the NFL. Very few teams can match their talent in the kicking game and they can control field position with these units. Parrish is dynamic with the ball in his hands on punt returns and Terrence McGee as the kickoff returner assures the Bills great field position every time he touches the ball.

They do have a favorable schedule, playing the AFC West and the NFC West this year. Last year, the Bills were 7-6 heading into the final three weeks of the season, but could not close out with any wins. They also had two home games clearly within reach that they let slip away -- the opener against the Broncos and then against the Cowboys. Add those two wins and they would have been 9-4 with three weeks to play. So, with a few breaks -- or maybe a few less breaks than a year ago (the Bills led the league in IR players last year) -- expect the Bills to be a very tough team this season.

Philadelphia Eagles

I live near the City of Brotherly Love, and all everyone wants to talk about are the Eagles. The fans ramble on how quarterback Donovan McNabb may get replaced with Kevin Kolb by midseason, that McNabb has a bad shoulder, that his career is in ruins. They also ramble about how this might be the final year for coach Andy Reid if the Eagles don't get things turned around. Well, from where I sit, the Eagles will be a playoff team this season and they will make a long run once they are in the playoffs. A few factors to consider: