Talk about last minute predictions… But, I wanted to see everything I possibly could before throwing out a forecast for the 2006 NFL season.

Before I delve into division winners and playoff teams, here's are some views on individual awards for this year.

I'm going to take a flyer on Wali Lundy of the Houston Texans as Offensive Rookie of the Year. Lundy is the definite starter, with Dom Davis on the shelf. In addition, unlike Reggie Bush, who has Deuce McAllister to worry about around the goal line, Lundy has no back-up accomplished enough to steal that many carries from him.

I'll take a safe pick and go with A.J. Hawk as Defensive Rookie of the Year. With a Green Bay Packers team that will need all the defensive help it can get, Hawk will show his stuff and give the Packer faithful something to look forward to after Brett Favre finally goes home for good.

As for Coach of the Year, I’m going to go with Brian Billick of the Baltimore Ravens. I really like what this team did in the off-season and I think Billick, with his offensive expertise, will utilize Steve McNair's talents and have this offense looking better than their Super Bowl season a few years back.

Finally, the MVP this season will be Ladanian Tomlinson. Larry Johnson and even Steven Jackson have garnered a lot of attention this off-season, and fans are waiting for these two to explode. While they probably will excel, Tomlinson has kind of taken a back seat in NFL and Fantasy Football chats. He has a young quarterback in Philip Rivers to help nurture this year, and Rivers will be looking to use Tomlinson as a safety net when he finds trouble.

Antonio Gates will definitely make an impact for Rivers as well, but Tomlinson will spend more time around the line of scrimmage on passing downs, while Gates will be down field a lot taking advantage of his size when being defended by smaller safeties. So when Gates is running his post patterns, Tomlinson will be close by to bail Rivers out and turn some three-yard receptions into big gains.

Tomlinson has a good shot of eclipsing a 1,000-yards rushing and receiving in 2006. It is because of this, L.T. should gain back the praise he has given up to L.J. this pre-season.

Okay, now to my predictions…

NFC East
1. NY Giants, 2. Dallas, 3. Philly, 4. Washington

NFC North
1. Chicago, 2. Green Bay, 3. Detroit, 4. Minnesota

NFC South
1. Carolina, 2. Tampa, 3. Atlanta, 4. New Orleans

NFC West
1. Seattle, 2. Arizona, 3. St. Louis, 4. San Francisco

AFC East
1. Miami, 2. New England, 3. NY Jets, 4. Buffalo

AFC North
1. Baltimore, 2. Pittsburgh, 3. Cincinnati, 4. Cleveland

AFC South
1. Indianapolis, 2. Jacksonville, 3. Houston, 4. Tennessee

AFC West
1. Kansas City, 2. Denver, 3. San Diego, 4. Oakland

Wild Card Games

NFC
Philadelpia at NY Giants
Dallas at Chicago

AFC
Pittsburgh at Kansas City
Jacksonville at Miami

Divisional Playoffs

NFC    
Dallas at Seattle
NY Giants at Carolina

AFC
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis
Miami at Baltimore

Conference Championships

NFC
Carolina at Seattle

AFC
Baltimore at Indianapolis

Super Bowl
Carolina vs. Indianapolis

Champions -- Carolina Panthers

There you have it, my views on the NFL season. All we have to do now is sit back and watch the games we all love for the next five months. It truly is the most wonderful time of the sport's year.