You get one shot, pick two teams, take into account any possible injuries. My choice? New England, NYJ, Cincy, Denver, and........ hmmmm.... Washington, Carolina, Seattle, Minnesota, Green Bay... hmmmm People always say I am 'different': I pick the Jets and Carolina. Do I REALLY pick them? No, but I will, because everyone else is going to load up on Denver and Seattle/Carolina. You can make your pick up until kickoff of the first game next week.
In my personal order of probability AFC: 1) New England 2) Kansas City 3) Denver NFC: 1) Green Bay 2) Minnesota 3) Seattle I don't think the Panthers should be counted out either, Cam is in his prime and once they start firing on all cylinders they will be formidable in the playoffs. A rookie QB for Phili and Denver seems unlikely to take either team to the SB. Bradford is not a SB-level QB either, if he makes it a full season but the team is solid. Don't count out Pete Carroll's team, easy division and next to the sweatshirt in Boston he is the best coach in football. Injuries as always will play a key role. Take out one or two players on the offense and the entire competitiveness of some teams change. Rodgers goes out, Packers are done for example. These are my predictions, but aside from Green Bay not really who I want to see win. I think it is the Pats to lose at this point. Would love to see the Texans defense play at their potential and shut down teams and win on defense rather than offense. So often people forget the other side of the ball in the current NFL. If the Packers are not in it, Seahawks (with our hometown kid Britt starting a Center for them) vs Texans would be OK with me.
Not what sure happened to my comment, but I had picked Seattle and Pittsburgh. Maybe I posted it in the NFL thread by mistake.
It is very hard to pick 25% into the season. Min is playing now against NYG but l will watch later. Doubt if Min will make it: Their kicker is totally unreliable and Bradford has yet to play a full season...an injury waiting to happen. KC looked awful this week. I would say Den vs NE for the AFC championship. If Den has homefield...Den. GB vs Sea seems right if Wilson gets healthy. Whoever has homefield will probably win. GB cuz of the cold, Sea cuz of the noisy fans. Sea has an easier division. So Sea vs Den. Den wins. Defense wins championships.
Whatever offensive show you think the Seahawks are putting out now will probably cool off in January. It always has. AFC more unpredictable to me.
It's not because of the offense. It's because of the overall team effort. Their defense is looking real good, and Russell Wilson is a winner. He is dangerous.
All of these teams are good, some better than others right now, others still looking for that 'chemistry', some looking to peak, have not yet: Sea Atl Minn GB NE Den Oak Pitt Several others are 'also rans', they just don't have 'it', not enough of something to push them up a tier, but could easily move up, but it also depends on who else is in their division: Wash Dall Phil Car AZ Cinn Balt And then there are teams that just won't make it, injuries, missing good players at key positions, continuous bonehead coaching moves, or just not a very good team: NYG, Det, Chi, NO, TB, LA, SF, Mia, Buff, NYJ, Clv, Indy, Jax, Tenn, Hou, KC, SD Is there a bigger trainwreck than the AFC South?
Not me. Denver and NE, barring any major injuries, nobody else SHOULD come close to these two, but I'll tell ya - Oakland is sneakin' up on people - IF they had a respectable running game. NFC is more open, but not by much: Minn - (if they can keep foolin' the league with their lack of a running game), Atl - (6-0 last season, then collapse) Dall - when Romo comes back?? Sea - wake up, have some coffee...
Vikes are actually very scary this year. The only thing they have to worry about is protecting Bradford. I'll be pleasantly surprised if he makes it the entire season, being made of glass and all. Can't count the Falcons out either. Dan Quinn used to be our defensive coordinator and has a similar coaching mentality to carroll.
Yeah, I think it's a given that, barring a large nunber of injuries, It's going to be New England. And for the NFC, almost the same thing, but it looked like Minn and Atl, but both have had a couple of major injuries the last couple of weeks, Atlanta mainly in their thin but good secondary. But now it seems Seattle is on the way back up. Who could have predicted the slides that GB, AZ and CAR have had? GB does not surprise me at all, I figured CAR would be 3-2 by now, but not 1-4. Same for Arizona. Lot's of talent, but seems to have a coaching/motivation/play calling issue... Marvin Lewis is a nice guy, but he's outlived himself in Cincy, they need a new coach. Same with Harbaugh in Baltimore. Andy Reid needs to go also, but KC must be happy to be 9-7 or 10-6 every year... or 8-8. A decent 'team' with absolutely zero chance of ever advancing much in the playoffs.
I think NE is a lock for the AFC NFC not as easy, but I still think Seattle. That would be a great Superbowl, and a recent rematch. This time Carroll should run the ball
Ugh, I'm just so sick of Tom Brady and belicheck in the super bowl. Same with the Broncos. The AFC needs to get better because I'm tired of the same two teams going to the super bowl lol.
I'm not so fast on NE - they are the best - TODAY, but who knows in 2 months. Teams are up-and-down, look at Pittsburgh. Maybe NE is peaking now, they might let down, or get a big injury or two, I said all along the MVP of that team is Ninkovich, not Brady or Gronk. If they have Garrapolo and Bennett they are fine, but losing Ninkovich was a larger hole to fill. If the quality of play is good, I don't care who gets in.
New England looking good and getting the suspensions and injuries to key players early on. So, hopefully things start running like a well-oiled machine when it matters. The only challenge I foresee is NE visiting Denver in the playoffs. This will be tested late in November as the Pats are visitors. Hard to look past Dallas. Impressive line, smart, tough qb and running game. Will be interesting to see them paired against Minnesota.
Very good points I'm not sold on Minnesota yet. Not as long as a guy named Bradford is their QB. It's still early in the season, it all starts the last few weeks leading into the playoffs, who get's hot and who doesn't. Division titles and Superbowls are never won in October.
