NFL Predictions

It's football time in America, folks. Since I'm always looking for something to write about, I'm going to take a stab at predicting the division winners and Super Bowl participants for this season. I'll revisit this in January and February to see how I did, unless I completely fail. In that case, I'll pretend this post never existed. My interest in the NFL is at an all-time high this season because I've gotten back into fantasy football, I'm picking straight winners and losers versus coworkers, and I'm picking versus the spread in the Sports Guy's challenge on ESPN.com.

So, here it goes:

AFC West:
Denver and Kansas City both appear to be doing some rebuilding with a young QB in Mile High and a shaky QB situation in KC. Oakland will continue to be the most pathetic team in football and Al Davis may be their best option at QB by the end of September. I like the San Diego Chargers to dominate in the AFC with Tomlinson carrying the team on his back in a MVP season.

AFC South:
The Indianapolis Colts will win this division easily with an offense that is nearly unstoppable. Jacksonville will continue to goof around at QB and the Titans and Houston will show improvement.

AFC North:
Pittsburgh will rebound after a down year. Cleveland could easily see one of their best years since rejoining the league if Brady Quinn plays like he has in the pre-season. Baltimore will put together a solid record with a strong defense and 75 year old QB Steve McNair. But that will not be good enough to topple the offensive juggernaut that is the Cincinnati Bengals.

AFC East:
The ever dependable New England Patriots will take care of business in that way that they always do. The Jets and the Bills will continue to dazzle us with lackluster performance. The Miami Dolphins will improve after escaping the clutches of the incredibly overrated Nick Saban and likely emerge as a playoff team come January.

AFC Wild Card Teams:
Baltimore Ravens
Miami Dolphins

Team to Watch Out For:
Tennessee Titans (I still believe in VY.)

AFC Champion:
New England Patriots - I think this is their year to return to the big game. Brady has at least one more in him.

NFC West:
This just might be the strongest division in football. Arizona and San Francisco are both on the upswing with promising QBs and stable backs. St. Louis is quite capable of putting up monster offensive numbers, but not enough to outlast the Seattle Seahawks, a team massacred by injuries in 2006 that still managed to win the division.

NFC South:
And this just might the worst division in football. Tampa Bay, eh. Carolina might surprise me but they have messed around at QB for way too long. Atlanta will likely be the dogs of the league this year (ha, ha, ha, get it?) since no team will ever win anything more than a coin toss with Joey Harrington at the helm. The New Orleans Saints are phenomenal, but they will win the division because they might be the only team with a winning record.

NFC North:
This division probably isn't a whole lot better. Green Bay will flounder once again with a 60 year old QB who refuses to retire. Minnesota will continue to recover from the destruction left behind by the Mike Tice era. Detroit could be the surprise team of the league this year. None of their offensive starters will wow anyone, but with the strong offensive mind of Mike Martz, the Lions could hang around for play in January. The Chicago Bears will somehow manage to overcome the mediocre play of Rex Grossman to come out on top of the division.

NFC East:
The division near and dear to my heart because of the Cowboys. Washington will likely be one of the league cellar dwellers and the Giants will continue to struggle behind a QB still struggling for success. Donovan McNabb will overcome his injury demons and carry the Philadelphia Eagles on his back to win the division. Which gets me around to the Cowboys: Romo will
continue to be more than adequate and they will capitalize on a strong backfield and their stellar wide receiver threat to score a ton of points. But none of that will overcome an injury riddled defense that did little little to improve in the offseason. In the end, I think this next few years will be a complete waste under the direction of Wade Phillips, who will show us again why he's never achieved anything as a head coach. I predict that by the end of this season he'll be eating hot dogs on the sidelines and begging Jerry to send him back to alley to drink beer with Boomhauer and Dale Gribble.

NFC Wild Card Teams:
Detroit Lions
St. Louis Rams

Team to Watch Out For:
Arizona Cardinals

NFC Champion:
New Orleans Saints - They should have gone last year.

Super Bowl Winner:
New England Patriots - Back to the top.

What better way to end this post than with a little prognosticating from Kige Ramsey: