NFL Midseason Report
The Packers, who’s the team I picked to win the NFC, looked
absolutely depleted against the Broncos on Sunday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers
looked confused and out of sync. I realize most teams can’t go undefeated and
every team has a slip up game, but Rodgers and the whole team looked gassed the
whole game. Maybe the Denver air got to them. On the other side of the field,
Peyton Manning looked like vintage Manning and the Broncos defense looked their
best. I realize it’s just one game, but other teams should be taking notes and
learning how to contain the Packers’ offense for the rest of the season.
NFC East
Nobody could have predicted the Tony Romo and Dez Bryant injuries,
which has directly correlated with their 2-5 record. I would have to believe
they would be 5-2 or better if Romo would be playing. That said, they are now
last place in the division, but only 2.5 games out of first place. Looking at
their schedule, they play Philly at home next week, which if they can pull out
a win they will have a very good chance at getting back to .500 by the time
Romo can comeback. 2 games are road games against inferior teams (Dolphins and
Bucs). If they win those, they will have some momentum when they face Carolina
at home. If they lose any of these games, I think their playoff chances will be
in serious doubt because even if they go 4-0 over that range, they have to play
the Packers in Green Bay.
The Redskins beating the Bucs 2 weeks ago may have saved their
season and put them in position to compete for the division crown.
Unfortunately, they have probably the toughest next 5 games out of anybody in
the league. 2 of the games are on the road against the undefeated Patriots and
another against the undefeated Panthers. My guess is that they go 0-5 over the
stretch and start looking ahead to the 2016 NFL Draft. Maybe they can spoil one
of the other NFC East’s teams’ playoff hope by taking one on the road in week
16 or 17 when they play the Eagles and then Cowboys.
The Giants lost an absolute shootout of a game against the Saints,
where there were 14 combined touchdowns and Eli Manning threw for 6 TDs. In no
way that is good defense, but at least we know their offense is clicking.
Looking forward, the Giants are in for a tough road to get to the playoffs.
Before the season began, I didn’t think the Giants would be very good and I’m
sticking to that, predicting they will finish 8-8 at best.
The Eagles are still very inconsistent. I thought they finally
figured it out after beating the New Orleans Saints pretty handedly and rolling
the Giants, but then they got handled by the Panthers, so it’s hard to tell
where this team really is. Fortunately for them, their division is wide open
and I actually think they have the best shot of winning the division as does
FiveThirtyEight (FiveThirtyEight Playoff Predictions), an ESPN stats affiliate. They will have
a big test in Dallas this Sunday, even though Dallas is still without Romo. If
they can win that, they will have 3 games in a row against sub .500 teams
leading up to their death sentence in New England. After they lose to New
England, they will have 4 very tough games to make the playoffs, including a
Week 17 match up at the Giants, which will most likely be a winner takes all
game. I predict they will win the division at 9-7.
NFC
South
I was very wrong about this division. Instead of
having a team with a losing record win the division like last year, this year,
3 teams will be battling for the crown, probably resulting in the 2nd
place team being a wild card team. The Panthers keep rolling people with their
#1 rushing offense and their top 5 defense. The Falcons have surprised everyone
and have dominated some teams with their high powered offense and their much
improved defense. The Falcons are looking a little shaky after losing 2 of their
last 3 and only scoring 10 in their win over the horrific Tennessee Titans. I’m
not quite sure what is wrong with them right now, but they better figure it out
before they get passed up by the flaming hot Saints.
The Saints have come out of nowhere. Since getting
thrashed by the Eagles, the Saints have rattled off 3 wins in a row, defeating
3 potential playoff teams and scoring an average of 36.667 points per game over
that span. The Saints can catch up and pass the Falcons with wins in their next
3 games. If they play how they have been as of recent, I think they can win the
next 3 games, resulting in a 6 game win streak coming into their match up with
Carolina at home. 2 of those games are on the road where they are 0-3, but they
play the Redskins and Texans, both inferior teams. The Saints have probably the
easiest schedule remaining in the entire league, facing 6/8 of their last games
against teams under .500. Saints at Falcons, Week 17 will be for the last wild
card spot.
The Bucs pulled off a huge upset in Atlanta, deterring
Atlanta’s playoff hopes. I would have to say the Bucs having 2 divisional wins
against playoff contenders has to be a good sign for their future. Though their
defense is maybe the worst in the whole NFL, and they have had some bad losses,
Jameis’ progression and the teams’ competitiveness has to be a positive for a
franchise in rebuilding mode. I think they will only win 1 maybe 2 more games
this season, but their first half of the season is definitely a moral victory
for the future.
NFC
North
This division has turned into a 2 team race with one
team way ahead of the pack, but the other catching fire. Those teams are the
Packers and Vikings respectively. I already mentioned the Packers’ blunder of a
game on Sunday night, but that is just a small pit stop. No need to worry about
them, the Packers will still win the division and earn a first round playoff
bye. The team catching up, the Vikings, have got everybody’s attention. The
Vikings are 5-2, and have reeled off 3 wins in a row since coming off their bye
week. Their next 2 games are must wins if they want to make the playoffs and
compete with Green Bay for the division title. Both games will be serious
challenges, but certainly winnable games. After those 2 games, we get the first
Vikings-Packers showdown at TFC Bank Stadium. Not saying the Vikings will win,
but I think this will be their best chance since 12/30/2012, when the Vikings
beat the Pack 37-34 in Minneapolis. Can you imagine the Vikings pulling the
upset and stealing the division? No, I can’t either, but it would be pretty
amazing. I do still believe the Vikings will be the 6th a final wild
card team, knocking out the NFC West 2nd place team. The
Vikings-Seahawks game in MN will be a very important game. Vikings finish 10-6.
As for the Packers, they are still in the driver’s
seat of the entire NFC. I don’t think the Panthers will be able to sustain
perfectness, which will allow Green Bay to hang on to the #1 seed for the
playoffs. The Packers do have a relatively easy remaining schedule. I can only
see them losing 2-3 more games at most, so the worst they will finish is 12-4,
but I think they will finish 13-3 and earn the #1 seed.
The bottom feeders of the NFC North are the Chicago
Bears and Detroit Lions. The Bears surprisingly have surpassed my expectations
and have 3 wins already. Though 2 have been against 2 of the worst teams in the
league, they have been competitive and close to winning most games, only losing
by a field goal in their last 2 games. I suspect they will lose their next 4 as
well, leading to lean towards losing more games to get a better draft pick
rather than trying to win for no reason besides team morale. Week 17 against
the Detroit Lions will probably be for the #1 draft pick so I think it might be
a game of who can lose the worst.
Speaking of the Lions, they are looking as bad as they
were when they went 0-16. OK, maybe not that bad, but seriously they suck. Matt
Stafford is playing awful and their defense looks seriously lost without Ndamukong
Suh and Nick Fairley. I hope they can get the #1 pick the draft.
NFC
West
I don’t think anybody could have guessed the Seattle
Seahawks Super Bowl loss hangover would last so long. They must have took notes
from their division rival San Fran on how to not play after you lose a Super
Bowl. The Seahawks have 4 wins against the 4 worst teams in the NFL and that is
the only reason they are still in the division chase. They have lost 4th
quarter leads to two undefeated teams, the Bengals and Panthers. After their
bye, they play the Cardinals at home on Sunday Night Football. This will be a
true test of who the real leader of the division is. If AZ wins in Seattle, I
think we can make them the winner of the division and kiss the playoffs goodbye
for the Seahawks. But if Seattle can win on Sunday and get their season
rolling, I am fairly confident they can roll into AZ in Week 17 for the
division championship. Besides the Cardinals and Vikings, they should win every
game, which would put them at least at 9-7 or better. I can’t say if this will
happen or not but this is what I believe will happen.
The Cardinals are pulling wins out of nowhere when
they played a horrible first half and then have a great comeback win against
the Browns in Cleveland. They’re 6-2 with two huge challenges ahead of them
right in a row. Both AZ and Seattle will be on their bye week before they face
each other in two Sundays. I think the bye will favor the Seahawks, but I won’t
underestimate the talent of the Cardinals. They are the real deal if they beat
Seattle in Seattle. If they lose they will have a tough schedule a head of them
to keep their division lead.
The Rams have been doing exactly how I thought they
would be. They are in the hunt for the division and could be a wild card team,
though I think they will fall short due to their tough schedule. I won’t count
them out yet, but they do have 5 road games that will be tough to pull out
wins.
The 49ers have finally fallen all the way to the
bottom. There was a little light after their surprising opening game victory
over the playoff bound Vikings. Since then, we have seen about zero glimpse of
hope for this team. I thought they might resurge after their competitive battle
with the Giants a few weeks ago, where Kaepernick looked like his once
unstoppable form, but he quickly fell back into a hopeless story. From here,
the 49ers need to look at their needs and look forward to the draft. Their Week
16 match-up will be for drafting rights, so they might want to lose that one.
Their schedule only gets worse from here on out, so I seriously believe they
will finish with 3, maybe 4 wins at best.
AFC
East
The Patriots as predicted, own this division. They are
3-0 within their division and 7-0 overall. Tom Brady is playing his best
football since the 2007 season where the team went 16-0, but lost the Super
Bowl. This year’s team is on the same track. There are only 2-3 games I think
they could lose, but don’t think they will. I see the Pats finishing 15-1 due
to one bad performance, but other than that, I see the Pats making a serious
run at repeating.
The other 3 teams in the division all have had their
own wild seasons. I thought the Bills were going to be better than they have,
especially after their down to final minute finish against New England in Week
2. Since that loss, they are 2-3, the wins against their division foe, the
Miami Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans. They lost to the Jaguars as well. I
think the Bills were over hyped and we are seeing what they really are and that
is average. Luckily they aren’t out of the playoffs yet and they don’t have the
hardest schedule in front of them, but I wouldn’t count on them to make the
playoffs.
The Miami Dolphins have made their season interesting.
After losing 3 of their first 4 games, they fired their coach and won 2 in a
row with new coach Dan Campbell. Now those 2 wins were against 2 of the worst
teams in the league, but still 2 wins to boost the team morale. Until they got
blown out on national TV, I think they realized their last 2 games were a
mirage of their season. Like the Bills, I don’t think the Dolphins are making
the playoffs.
The Jets have exceeded my expectations. I think they
have played pretty well besides their loss to the Raiders last Sunday. That
loss will come back to haunt them when they are trying to make the last wild
card spot. Their defense has been superb in all of their wins and awful in
their losses. If they are serious about making the playoffs, they will have to
be more consistent. They also have a QB situation that is heating up with
Fitzpatrick hurting his hand last week, Geno Smith is going to have to step up
his game. I do like the Jets chances of getting the last wild card spot, due to
their fairly easy schedule and the fact that the 2 wild card spots are very up
for grabs.
AFC
South
This division is so bad that the leader is below .500.
It’s sad to think that the Colts are going to host a playoff game even if they
finish 8-8 and way below what everyone thought they would do this year. The
Colts are going to make the playoffs and then play the Patriots in New England
again, where they will get smashed. I am very disappointed in Andrew Luck’s
performance this season, injured or not. They are so lucky they play in the
worst division in football. I think they will finish 8-8 and win the division.
The Texans, who are atrocious, are tied for first
place in their division, but the Colts own the tie-breaker. The Jaguars have a
chance as well. That is so sad and I think the NFL should re-think their
playoff seeding if this keeps happening. Mediocre teams shouldn’t make the
playoffs.
AFC
North
I couldn’t have been more wrong about the Cincinnati
Bengals. They are proving everybody wrong that doubt them. Andy Dalton is
playing like an MVP candidate and the Bengals are undefeated, including beating
the Steelers and Seahawks with 4th quarter comebacks. They are 2nd
in my book to the Patriots due to them having to comeback, but that doesn’t
take away from them being undefeated. I have to change my original prediction
of them missing the playoffs to the Bengals finally getting out of the first
round.
The Steelers playoff hopes went from good to bad, to
good, to awful. They lose Big Ben, causing them to lose a few games and then
get him back sooner than expected. Just when you think they are going to be
back, they lose Le’veon Bell and the game to the Bengals in Pittsburgh. Before
the season I thought they would win their division, now their playoff chances
are slim. I still think they can be a wild card team, but they have a tough
schedule in front of them. I think they’ll go 8-8 and miss the playoffs.
You look at the Browns and didn’t expect them to be
good and they are not, but I don’t think anybody would have thought the Ravens
would be just as bad. Both are 2-6 and both 3rd and 4th
worst scoring defenses in the AFC. The Ravens have been in every game, all of
their losses have been by 8 points or less. That’s a tough break, but they need
to be able to finish games. The Browns on the other hand, look hopeless,
especially losing to the Cardinals at home with a big lead. Their Johnny
Manziel situation is ugly as well. Apparently Manziel will be starting vs the
Bengals this week, so we are in for a treat on Thursday Night Football.
Probably not the best game to start Manziel.
AFC
West
After 6 weeks of Peyton Manning and their offense
being non-existent, the Broncos picked the right game to get back to the Denver
offense we know. Manning looked like vintage Manning vs the Packers and their
defense, which has been the best in the NFL, played outstanding. They held
Aaron Rodgers, who has been playing like he was going to be the MVP again, to
77 yards. That is not a typo. I think the Broncos are still behind the Patriots
in completeness and consistency, but if they can keep their offense rolling,
they will be in the AFC Championship against the Patriots. The Broncos play the
Patriots in Denver during Week 12. I’m sure everybody will have their TVs on
for this game. The Broncos also host the Bengals in Week 16, which will
probably have home field advantage rights on the line.
The biggest surprise in the division and probably the
entire league has to be the success of the Oakland Raiders. They are 4-3 and
just destroyed the top ranked Jets defense, scoring 34 points. I think if they
can win 5 more games they could make the last playoff spot, but let’s remember
this is the Raiders we are talking about, so I’ll wait for them to prove
themselves before I put them in the playoffs. (5 Reason Why Oakland is Playoff Bound by ESPN)
After suffering a devastating loss, losing Jamal
Charles, it looked like the Chiefs’ season was over. Fortunately they play in
the AFC where the wild card spots are still very up for grabs. Their beat down
of Detroit in London, might be just what this team needed to get their season
back on track to potentially make a run to the playoffs. Both their offense and
defense are fairly average which keeps them in games. Their schedule ahead has
5 divisional games left, which will really prove if they are a playoff team or
in for a long off-season. I think they’ll lose their next 2 on the road against
Denver and San Diego, crushing their playoff hopes. Chiefs finish 6-10.
Statistically the Chargers offense and Phillip Rivers
are doing great, but their defense is horrendous and they have so many injuries.
Their offensive line is extremely hurt resulting in them having one of the
worst run games in the league, though New England and Denver are similar,
respectively Denver and New England have much better defenses. Their schedule
is actually not tough for the remainder of the season, besides their 2 meetings
with Denver. I think they will win a few more games, but no playoffs for Rivers
and his 8 kids.
MVP
Tom Brady
| NFC Playoffs | ||
| My Prediction before the seaon | My Prediction after Week 8 | |
| 1. Seattle Seahawks | 1. Green Bay Packers | |
| 2. Green Bay Packers | 2. Carolina Panthers | |
| 3. Philadelphia Eagles | 3. Arizona Cardinals | |
| 4. Carolina Panthers | 4. Philadelphia Eagles | |
| 5. Dallas Cowboys | 5. Atlanta Falcons | |
| 6. Minnesota Vikings | 6. Minnesota Vikings | |
| Wild Card Playoff | Wild Card Playoff | |
| Philadelphia Eagles vs Minnesota Vikings | Philadelphia Eagles vs Atlanta Falcons | |
| Carolina Panthers vs Dallas Cowboys | Arizona Cardianls vs Minnesota Vikings | |
| Divisional Round | Divisional Round | |
| #1. Seattle Seahawks vs #5. Dallas Cowboys | #2. Carolina Panthers vs #3 Arizona Cardinals | |
| #2. Green Bay Packers vs #3. Philadelphia Eagles | #1. Green Bay Packers vs #4. Philadelphia Eagles | |
| NFC Championship | NFC Championship | |
| Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers | Arizona Cardinals vs Green Bay Packers | |
| NFC Champion | NFC Champion | |
| Green Bay Packers | Green Bay Packers | |
| AFC Playoffs | ||
| My Prediction before the seaon | My Prediction after Week 8 | |
| 1. Indianapolis Colts | 1. New England Patriots | |
| 2. Denver Broncos | 2. Denver Broncos | |
| 3. New England Patriots | 3. Cincinnati Bengals | |
| 4. Pittsburgh Steelers | 4. Indianapolis Colts | |
| 5. Baltimore Ravens | 5. New York Jets | |
| 6. Kansas City Chiefs | 6. Oakland Raiders | |
| Wild Card Playoff | Wild Card Playoff | |
| Philadelphia Eagles vs Minnesota Vikings | Cincinnati Bengals vs Oakland Raiders | |
| Carolina Panthers vs Dallas Cowboys | Indianapolis Colts vs New York Jets | |
| Divisional Round | Divisional Round | |
#1. Indianapolis Colts vs
#5. Baltimore Ravens
| #1. New England Patriots vs #4. Indianapolis Colts | |
#2. Denver Broncos vs
#3. New England Patriots
| #2. Denver Broncos vs #3. Cincinnati Bengals | |
| AFC Championship | AFC Championship | |
| New England Patriots vs Indianapolis Colts | New England Patriots vs Denver Broncos | |
| AFC Champion | AFC Champion | |
| Indianapolis Colts | New England Patriots | |
SUPER BOWL
New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers
SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
| ||
Follow me on twitter @basketballguy61 and
@jpsweets
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