Early Football Predictions

I paid almost no attention to football in the off-season and, as such, felt I had no right to offer any opinion on how the season would evolve. With two weeks in the books though, I thought I would give my early predictions on who makes the playoffs.

AFC

1. Denver Broncos - The NFL should just pass a rule that states that any team quarterbacked by a healthy Peyton Manning should immediately collect a 14-2 record and the #1 seed and just advance to the playoffs. That's when things get interesting.

2. Houston Texans - From an early point of view, Houston is about the only team in the AFC that appears to have a prayer of challenging Denver for the AFC crown. That's more of a reflection on the hideousness of the AFC this year. Shades of Buffalo in the early 90's.

3. New England Patriots - New England will probably get better once they get people back from injury, but they are also aided by the fact that the East isn't that hot, despite surprisingly decent performances from Buffalo and Miami. I still think the holes are large enough though that a first round bye will elude them.

4. Cincinnati Bengals - I see the Bengals doing well when they play the AFC. But things will be a bit bleak at first with a 1-2 start (assuming they do lose to Green Bay as I think they will). It very well may be a case that the last game of the season against Baltimore will actually matter to who wins the division.

5. Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs may one of the biggest surprises this year. I wouldn't put it past them to come crashing down, but they seem a little more stable under Andy Ried. He has a good reputation for building good teams, it's just winning the playoffs that he has trouble with.

6. Miami Dolphins - This is an open spot that could be filled by San Diego or Tennessee if the winds swing just right. I'm leaning towards the fish at the moment just because I think San Diego will have trouble between Denver and KC in their own division and there are still just a few too many unknowns with Tennessee. Even in down years, Miami has hung tough with divisional opponents and I think they could get a surprising win or two that would vault them over the others for the last playoff spot.

NFC

1. San Francisco 49ers - Yes, I know they got the crap kicked out of them by Seattle. But I still don't trust Seattle's offense enough to give them the division. San Francisco now has their game at Seattle done with and should end up edging the Seahawks by a game or so.

2. New Orleans Saints - Deep down, I think a team from the NFC North deserves to be here, but I see them beating each other up enough that New Orleans will squeek ahead with a better record. In theory, Atlanta and Tampa Bay are good enough to challenge New Orleans, but Atlanta is hurt and Tampa can't seem to get it's act together to finish games. So New Orleans will pull ahead for a bit and then hang on as the rest of the division tried to catch up.

3. Green Bay Packers - I could be convinced that the Chicago Bears will prevail here. But I'm thinking that Green Bay's offense still has too many weapons and will outscore enough teams to get past the Bears. That's not a great place to be in, but it should carry them through enough of the regular season and a division title.

4. Dallas Cowboys - The East is the NFC's version of the AFC North. Someone has to win and go to the playoffs. Everyone else looks bad but the Cowboys look the least amount of bad so far. They have a good defense and their offense has moments where they are very good. They hung with Kansas City until the end so they seem to have the inside track for ending up on top of a bad division.

5. Seattle Seahawks - The defense is good and the home field advantage they have is insane. But I need to see more offense than just Marshawn Lynch to say that they are going to beat SF for the NFC West crown at the end of the season.

6. Chicago Bears - A set of random changes could easily see Chicago and Green Bay swapping positions, but the Bears defense is still not what it used to be and I don't think that Chicago's offense is as good as Green Bay's offense. Green Bay will probably win a couple of games just by outscoring people. Chicago will probably also try that but I see them falling short just enough to let Green Bay take the division.

Early Super Bowl prediction: Denver vs. Seattle