I love football. I almost wept tears of joy when the lockout was ended. (Almost. I am emotionally dead inside, after all.) And I've actually watched a fair bit of preseason football for the first time in my sports fan life.
Here's my predictions for this upcoming season by division.
AFC East:
Miami is still down. They'll be lucky to get 6 wins. I actually think Buffalo is the better team at this point. Poor Miami Tuna fans.
The Pats are predicted to win the division with 12+ wins according to Vegas oddsmakers and ESPN talking heads, but I'm confident the Jets will win the division this year. I dunno why, but something about the Patriots just feels off this year. It's not the dropped balls in pre-season. It's just the signings and trades they've made. It smells somewhat desperate.
AFC North:
I'd like to predict the Steelers are going to win the division. Because they are. It's not just because I'm a fan. The difference between the Steelers and Ravens is the Steelers have a legit wide receiver core and the Ravens have Anquan Boldin. I don't want to take away from Boldin (toughest player in the NFL) but he's all they have. They lost their Mormon at tight end (oddly, to be replaced by another Mormon guy) and Derrick Mason is gone.
Cincinatti is going to be garbage this year. I feel bad for Andy Dalton, who I think could make a solid NFL quarterback. Coming in this season of all seasons and immediately being expected to change the franchise is near impossible, though.
I think people will need to pay attention to the Browns this year. Solid run game, and Colt McCoy is just a winner. Kid is seriously good. I think their sine wave of badness is about to swing back up. I genuinely think it's possible to are a 7-9, possibly 8-8 team this year. No joke.
AFC South:
Indianapolis has had a lock on this division since Peyton Manning got drafted. Thing is, he might miss games or at the very least parts of games due to his recovering neck. They are a 3-11 team with Painter or Collins under center.
That leaves the Titans, Jaguars and Texans. Of those teams, the Texans are the only ones who've demonstrated flashes of brilliance the last few seasons. Titans are running a new scheme too, so they won't be much of a threat. The Jags just lack any sort of cohesiveness. They haven't been a legit team since they made the playoffs a couple years back.
AFC West:
I think this is going to be the most interesting division this year. I don't know what I'm going to get out of any of the teams in it. They are all so wildly inconsistent. The only thing I feel safe with is proclaiming the Broncos to be the turds of that division this year (sorry to all my Denver fans). On paper, the Chargers should dominate. On paper.
I am going out on a limb and saying the Raiders are going to win the AFC West. Crazy, right? They were undefeated inside their own division last year, though. If they make it to .500, I think they've won the division. Sadly.
NFC East:
A lot of people say this is the most competitive division in football year in and year out, and usually I agree. However, the NFC North has taken over that spot by leaps and bounds. The Redskins are possibly the worst team in the league and will be lucky to win 5 games. I'm not sure the Giants have what it takes to reach the .500 mark this year, either. They just seem tired and lifeless.
The Eagles will win the division, if their quarterback gets hurt. That's right; I think Vince Young will help Philly win more games than Michael Vick. Nothing against Vick, because the dude is a baller, but I'm never going to proclaim an injury prone quarterback who tapers off the last half of any given year to be conference champs. I'm going with Colin Cowherd; Dallas is going to win the division.
NFC North:
Top to bottom, this is a scary division. Chicago is the only team I'm not high on right now, with Minnesota being right behind. Everyone says I'm nuts, but I really feel like it's the breakout year for Detroit. That D-Line is straight up frightening. Ndamakong Suh is without a doubt the best player taken in the first round of the draft in 5 years. And if you believe the preseason can equate to regular season, Matthew Stafford is going to kill it. If his shoulder holds up all 16 games, they'll at least playoff bound. I really believe that.
Still, you can't pick against the Super Bowl champs. My only beef with Green Bay is people forget how close a lot of those games were. They were the come-back kids and it was a little on the ridiculous side.
NFC South:
Hey, this division looks pretty competitive too. The Panthers are turd sandwiches, but the other three teams all have legit playoff aspirations. I expect the Saints to have a great year, and I expect the Falcons to make wild-card. Tampa Bay has the chance to make something of themselves, but I think that's next year. Having such a young team (youngest in the NFL by average age, I believe) is going to hurt them more than most not having OTAs and pre-pre-season workouts.
NFC West:
Does it really matter who wins this division? They are awful, top to bottom. Trying to predict who wins it is like picking between which type of dog poop you're going to stick in a flaming bag to leave on the gym teacher's front porch.
I think Seattle will repeat as the winners of the division, simply because I feel they have the best coach. That's really all it comes down to for me here.
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Hope you guys enjoyed reading my picks. Feel free to comment with yours!
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