Inside a month to the start of the most popular sport in the United States – the NFL. Maybe the sport’s incredible popularity is due to Fantasy Football, or perhaps even gambling, but either way, the NFL rules the sporting roost. Although we’re annoyed with the league for enacting some draconian measures on how media outlets can cover teams, we’ll give Roger a pass on this until at least the first preseason game is played.

But we’d like to target the media we want this post: who is going to win the competitive battle for NFL scoops? With the season so short and the drama always magnified, there’s always going to be news to break. After consulting a few media members, here’s how we break down the fierce struggle for online NFL supremacy:

ESPN.com: Len P, John Clayton, Chris Mortensen:

Len has his head to far up the ass of Vick’s agent that he may not see a game this season. Clayton does all the heavy lifting and Mort will slug it out with Peter King for anything Brett Favre-related. Mort will get it from Favre’s agent; King will need to break it via Favre himself. Regardless of what you think of these guys, they still remain atop the leaderboard simply based on exposure (TV, magazine, web). But the gap is shrinking. Quickly.

Yahoo Sports: Jason Cole, Charles Robinson, Mike Silver:

Had a solid combo with Cole and Robinson, and with the recent addition of SI’s Silver, Yahoo may be ready to challenge for the top NFL team. We know this trio can write; but can they consistently break news, which is what the web craves?

Sports Illustrated: Peter King and Don Banks:

King has to perform double duty over at NBC, and you wonder if he’ll break news there or at SI. If he lands a scoop Sunday afternoon, will it hold for his Monday column, or will he go with it on air – to a large audience – Sunday night? Banks will be shouldering a heavy burden until SI can find someone to replace Silver and Jeff Chadiha (ESPN.com).

Sportsline: Pete Prisco:

Seems like more of an analysis guy than a newsbreaker. If he gets help from columnists Gregg Doyel and Mike Freeman, Sportsline could have something cooking. Is it a little strange that Sportsline hasn’t added an NFL body, considering CBS televises the Super Bowl, right?

Fox Sports: Jay Glazer and Alex Marvez:

Unanimously, Glazer was mentioned as the hardest working journo in the football writing biz, the type of guy who is a machine when it comes to going down his list of sources and working them on a daily basis. He’s tireless. And the TV angle helps, too.

Pro Football Talk: Mike Florio:

Yet another reason to love the internet – the one man gang known as PFT. Supposedly, PFT is the first stop each morning for many NFL front-office types. We’re still surprised there isn’t a Pro Basketball Talk or Pro Baseball Talk.