Official 2011-12 NFL thread
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Username: totalwar
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Okay, I'm cutting this one a little close but we're still in time for the usual Thursday kick-off game, which means after a really long and boring summer and a (thankfully) averted lockout, pro football is once again upon us! Just in time, too - I don't know what I would have done with myself this fall otherwise. Here's my usual predictions, etc.:
NFC East: The "Eagles as Miami Heat" talk is kind of annoying, since I think most (sane) Philly fans such as myself realize that our team is still flawed. Vick, while spectacular when healthy, is injury-prone and our offensive line, to put it mildly, stinks. Instead, and it absolutely pains me to do this, I like Dallas to win this division. They turned around last year after Jason Garrett took over as head coach, and keep in mind this was with Tony Romo injured. Now that they have a legitimate coach and QB, all of those weapons scare me. Fear not though, for the Eagles will grab the top wild-card and demolish whatever crappy team comes out of the NFC West in the first round of the playoffs. As for the other teams in the division, I think the Giants took a step back with all of their personnel losses from last year. They'll be treading water. Lastly are the Redskins, which are apparently a team.
Cowboys
Eagles (wild card)
Giants
Redskins
NFC North: The Packers convincingly won the Super Bowl last season and they're going to be a very tough team to knock out, as pretty much everybody is back for another go-round. Rodgers is a beast, fantasy and otherwise, and the only real regression I could see is if Charles Woodson and the rest of the secondary finally starts remembering their age. The Bears, a year after losing in the NFC Championship game, are going to regress, because I'm still not sure how they were able to get to the playoffs last year. Instead, that vacuum will be filled by the Detroit Lions, who continue to make progress with some excellent players on both sides of the ball but are a year away from contending. The Vikings had their fun a couple of years back but right now I think are in the bottoming-out process.
Packers
Lions
Bears
Vikings
NFC South: This division is ridiculous and is going to be a dogfight between the Falcons and Saints. Since conventional wisdom has it that no team ever repeats in this division, I'm going to say that the Saints take it with the Falcons grabbing the Wild Card. Both teams are simply too loaded to fail right now. The Bucs surprised everybody last year with a 10-6 record and Josh Freeman is a legitimately awesome QB, but right now I just think that they simply don't have enough to contend with the other two teams in this division yet. Lastly, we have the Panthers, who will be better than 2-14, but will still easily lose this division.
Saints
Falcons (wild card)
Buccaneers
Panthers
NFC West: This division sucks.
Rams
Cardinals
Seahawks
49ers
AFC East: The Patriots went 14-2 in a "rebuilding year" in 2010. Yikes! They won't win as many games this year, but they will go farther in the playoffs. The Jets, I think, lost some talent over the offseason, which will come back to bite them when everybody realizes that Mark Sanchez isn't going to get much better than he already is. New York misses out on the wild card, finally causing Rex Ryan to shut up. The Bills will either continue climbing and get near the .500 mark or go 1-15 and get the first overall pick in the draft next year, something tells me it's going to be the former. The Dolphins will realize that they have no real talent on either side of the ball and everybody will be fired at the end of the season.
Patriots
Jets
Bills
Dolphins
AFC North: Steelers-Ravens XXVII continues as both teams are stacked and once again ready to beat the tar out of each other. My roommate, a die-hard Ravens fan and Steelers hater, insists that the Steelers have some kind of hex over his team, so I'm going to go with the professional opinion and say Pittsburgh has the edge, although the Ravens will still make the playoffs, because that's what they do. Moving onto Ohio, what the Browns do will depend on whether Colt McCoy is the real deal or not. The Browns *were* scrappy last year, with a ridiculous schedule yet still beating some good teams. Cincinnati has a rookie quarterback who's not very highly-touted and basically no offensive weapons with a nondescript defense. They will get the #1 overall pick in the draft next year.
Steelers
Ravens (wild card)
Browns
Bengals
AFC South: I had stopped believing that Houston would ever make the playoffs after seemingly four years in a row of them being bridesmaids, but then Peyton Manning had to go and have his neck complications, making his status questionable at best for the first part of the season and murdering my fantasy team in the process. Since that team is pretty much built around the fact that Peyton is godly at QB, I guess I have to give the division to Houston by default. The Colts, however, will still challenge for a wild card. Tennessee is clearly on a lower tier than the other two teams in this division, but they still have talent and Matt Hasselbeck knows enough to be able to pull a win or two out of his butt. Jacksonville just cut their starting QB and their best player is a runner with creaky knees.
Texans
Colts
Titans
Jaguars
AFC West: I have a soft spot in my heart for the Chiefs for a variety of reasons (most of them having to do with Jamaal Charles) but if San Diego actually realizes that September/October isn't the preseason and don't roll over and die on special teams, then this is going to be a very good year for them. They have a ridiculous QB in Rivers, a #1 receiver who isn't doing a stupid holdout anymore in Jackson, and then a nice pair of RBs in Mathews and Tolbert the Tank. Keep in mind that their D was also rated #1 overall last year. SD is going places. The Raiders went 8-8 last year and won all six games in their division, something which will not be repeated since they lost a lot of talent over the offseason. The Broncos will stabilize after a year and a half under McDaniels, but are still a ways away from contending.
Chargers
Chiefs (wild card)
Broncos
Raiders
Final predictions:
NFC: Saints over Eagles
AFC: Chargers over Patriots
Super Bowl: Chargers over Saints
Good luck to all and let's have a great season!
Originally Posted by TosaInu
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