Official 2009-10 NFL thread

[GeneralHankerchief]

First things first: The Orgahs have a little competition going about who can pick the games best. Last year, the award went to Shinseikhaan for having a better head than the rest of us. If you'd like to get in on the (100% free) action, simply follow these instructions:
Create an account (or login if you remember your old account info) at PoolHost.com and click "Join Private Pool"
Pool name: totalwar
Password: totalwar
See you there!

Now then, onto the good stuff. The 2008-09 season ended in exciting fashion with the Steelers defeating the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. Since then, we've had a very interesting offseason, featuring draft picks, Brett Favre losing what was left of his credibility, and Michael Vick *cringe*. The new season will officially start Thursday when the Steelers play the Titans, with the rest of Week One to follow on Sunday. Here are my divisional predictions, plus comments:

NFC East: This is my home division, and thus I will be a little biased towards its inhabitants. A lot of pundits see this division as a dead heat between my Eagles and the New York Giants, and I agree with them. At the start of the preseason, I had to give the edge to the Eagles because they had the advantage in receivers, but now I'm not so sure. They've had a ton of injuries, more so than the Giants. Add in the fact that Vick will only serve to cause a ton of controversy (including screwing with McNabb's already-fragile ego), and I pick the Giants to win the division. Also, there is the matter of the Redskins, with Jim Zorn and Jason Campbell playing for a job. I think their desperation, plus the fact that this is an odd-numbered year, means that they will slightly beat out the T.O.-less Cowboys for third place.

Giants
Eagles (wild card)
Redskins
Cowboys

NFC North: Last year, I memorably picked the Lions to win the division, and they rewarded my faith by having the first 0-16 year in league history. So what am I going to do this time? Make another surprise pick and go with the Green Bay Packers to win it. My reasons for this are simple: Brett Favre is officially a cancer, and will find a way to singlehandedly lose games for the team, unfortunately for Adrian Peterson. In Chicago, Jay Cutler is in place and better than Kyle Orton, but the fact remains that he still has nobody to throw to. Add in an aging defense and Cutler's immaturity when he realizes that things won't be going his way, and you will have a quickly-fading Bears, leaving Green Bay the winner by process of elimination. In Detriot, Stafford and Calvin Johnson will do enough to win three games.

Packers
Vikings
Bears
Lions

NFC South: The kookiest division in the league, by far. I'm going to take the easy way out of this one and pick the Saints, following the "last place makes a big jump" rule, even though New Orleans has burned me before. Their offense is simply too good to be kept down for long. N.O.'s only real competition is Atlanta, who look to continue their startling progress in Year 2 of the Matt Ryan era. As a matter of fact, Atlanta could win the division, but they could also miss out by one game (or even a tiebreaker) and not even make the playoffs. Farther down the list, the Panthers simply cannot trust Jake Delhomme, and the Bucs are rebuilding.

Saints
Falcons (wild card)
Panthers
Buccaneers

NFC West: There's simply no way that the Seattle Seahawks will have as many injuries as they did last year, and as such, I expect them to make a big rebound in 2009 under new coach Jim Mora. They need a better running back situation, but Matt Hasselbeck is a pro and the defense is still good. I think they'll edge out the Cardinals to win the division, as a combination of a loss of coaching staff, Warner's brittleness, and the Super Bowl loser's curse will make Arizona the last team out of the playoffs. In San Francisco, Mike Singletary is leading the 49ers in the right direction, but they're still a year or two away. St. Louis under Steve Spagnuolo is even farther than that.

Seahawks
Cardinals
49ers
Rams

AFC East: The New England Patriots appear ready for another rebound, and considering they won 11 games without Tom Brady last year, they appear ready to challenge for the Super Bowl once again. The Miami Dolphins under Tony Sparano last year surprised everybody with a ten-win turnaround, but they're still not overly-talented and play a meat grinder of a schedule this year, dropping them back to mediocrity, at least for this year. Mark Sanchez of the Jets is exciting everybody with his play, but needs to be surrounded by more weapons before this team can truly challenge New England for supremacy. The Owens signing in Buffalo will turn out to be a huge mistake and I sense a bottoming-out year for the Bills that will (hopefully) clean house afterwards.

Patriots
Dolphins
Jets
Bills

AFC North: One of the three contenders for "best division in football", and the clear winner for "nastiest", the North produced the two entrants in the AFC title game last year and looks to do so again. I'm going to say that Joe Flacco's improved play will edge Baltimore over Pittsburgh in the battle for the division this year, but the Steelers will still grab a wild-card spot. Both teams will leave the Bengals and Browns in the dust. Cincinnati's window of opportunity from 2006 has almost slammed shut, and the Browns need to sort out a lot of offensive issues before they can regain their 2007 form. I'll nudge the Browns over the Bengals for 3rd place because they appear to be less of a circus at this point in time.

Ravens
Steelers (wild card)
Browns
Bengals

AFC South: Pundits have predicted the doom of the Colts for years now, and appear to be doing so again with the departure of Tony Dungy and forced retirements of some of their other coaches. However, as long as they have Peyton Manning, I don't see it happening. The rest of the division is a madhouse, with the powerful Titans, ready-to-break-through Texans, and dangerous Jaguars all ready to unseat Indy. I'll say Houston comes closest, with Matt Schaub finally putting together a healthy season. Jacksonville will finish third at either 9-7 or 8-8 but miss out on the playoffs. In Tennessee, the Titans will feel the loss of Albert Haynesworth and realize that it's probably not a good idea to trust Kerry Collins for two back-to-back seasons. I predict they will slip back into mediocrity.

Colts
Texans (wild card)
Jaguars
Titans

AFC West: This division is a mess, plain and simple. The Chargers are clearly the team to beat, but Norv Turner is still their coach and they may be without Shawne Merriman again if the bizarre Tila Tequila story is to be believed. In one offseason, Josh McDaniels has alienated the Broncos' two best players, Cutler and Marshall, and has everybody questioning his prowess as a coach before the team took one snap. The Raiders are still the Raiders, with Russell still looking unimpressive and their new head coach, Tom Cable, possibly breaking one of his assistant coaches' jaw. The only real team to avoid bad headlines in the West is the Kansas City Chiefs, who are simply not talented enough to contend.

Chargers
Chiefs
Raiders
Broncos

Final predictions:
NFC: Eagles over Giants
AFC: Patriots over Steelers
Super Bowl: Eagles over Patriots

Let's have a good season, everybody. If you do decide to take part in the Total War pool, Week One predictions are due by the Thursday game.

-edit- Crap, I forgot to do a poll. Can I get an assist from the mods on this one?