The 2017 season has arrived. It is a time honored tradition that I post that I halfheartedly try to make a futile projection for the final results of the entire season. Here's how it turned out:
AFC North:
Pit 12-4
Cin 9-7
Bal 7-9
Cle 5-11
Who will be
the kings of the north!? Part of me
wants to predict Pittsburgh to have a rough season, but that’s probably just
out of spite and all jinx/reverse-jinx rules require me to predict a sterling
12-4 record. Biases aside, their defense
is a mix of solid veterans and young players coming into their own. They might be ready to make a leap. Offensively, they could be the class of the
league as everyone’s dream of witnessing all of their firepower on the field at
the same time might finally come true.
But for how long?
The
BENG-GALLLLS: The preseason was a mixed
bag for the Orange Asian Tigers. I think
they’ll be streaky on both sides of the ball and they’ll hover right around
.500 plus or minus a game. As expected,
the offensive line is going to take its lumps.
They cut Eric Winston which means either he hit a wall skill-level-wise
or they have confidence in the young talent.
Regardless, the depth at OT looks a little scary. They’ve cycled new talent in at linebacker
and I think it is going to take some time to gel. Burfict remains Burfict: a talented player
that can’t control himself and is going to get legislated out of the
league. In the end, they lose the tiebreaker to Tennessee and miss out on the playoffs.
Don’t panic though Mr. Brown. Just
give Marvin Lewis one more year to see this through. I don’t know if he can do it, but I think 2018 will be the peak potential for this core roster construction and Lewis's continuity probably stands a better chance of making a run than a new coaching regime.
Baltimore
has endured one downer headline after another this offseason. I don’t expect it to totally weigh them
down. It never does, but looking at their offensive talent I just can't figure out how it adds up to a playoff team.
Cleveland
decided to take an alternative approach to their front office two years back
and it appears to be working. As
Roethlisberger becomes increasingly disinterested in football and Joe Flacco
begins to deal with a bulky back, this division might be primed to be flipped
on its head sometime soon. But not yet.
AFC South:
Hou 10-6
Ten 9-7
Jac 7-9
Ind 2-14
Much like
Pittsburgh’s offense, the tantalizing vision of a Clowney/Watt-studded
defensive unit might actually come to fruition this season. But for how long? I say the defense propels the team to wins as
the offense does just enough to retain the AFC South crown.
AFC East:
NE 13-3
Mia 7-9
Buf 6-10
NYJ 4-12
New
England’s reign continues. Salty Jay
Cutler keeps Miami at least playoff relevant only to fall short down the stretch.
Buffalo is rebuilding but not quite as far along in dismantling their team
as New York. Josh McCown spitefully
stays healthy long enough to nudge the Jets up the 2018 draft board a few
slots.
AFC West:
KC 11-5
Oak 10-6
Den 8-8
LAC 7-9
KC surprises
a little bit here. Alex Smith does just
enough to muffle jeers urging his replacement. We’ll get a look at Maholmes next year. Oakland’s defense isn’t quite good enough to
earn them a playoff bye, but hopefully they at least get a shot at taking their
QB into the postseason this year. Denver’s run defense should bounce back a
little, but the offense still won’t quite be good enough. The Chargers have an interesting roster, but
they once again appear snake-bitten.
NFC North:
GB 12-4
Min 10-6
Det 7-9
Chi 4-12
Remember the
narrative at this time last year about Aaron Rodgers maybe not being a good
quarterback anymore? It’s hard to pick
anyone other than Green Bay here. If
Minnesota’s defense stays healthy, they should hang around enough to at least
force the Packers to play out the season.
Detroit’s defense appears to be light on star talent and most of their
better players are banged up heading into the season. Chicago was scrappy last year, but it didn’t
show up in their win total. Their
quarterbacks will struggle enough to prevent seeing much of an improvement this
year.
NFC South:
Atl 9-7
TB 8-8
Car 8-8
No 7-9
This is one
of the few divisions where you could make a case for just about any finishing
order from top to bottom. Atlanta’s
roster probably warrants an 11 or 12-win season, but I docked them a few wins
for the Super Bowl hangover effect.
Tampa Bay feels like the trendy "their free agent signings make so much sense, they are going to take the next step" team that annually never quite pans out. I think it will be one
more year before they turn the corner.
Carolina’s defense should be good and everyone loves the idea of
Christian McCaffrey in their offense.
I’m skeptical they’re going to get enough out of Cam Newton this year to
break .500. He’ll rebound next year, but he’ll struggle with consistency as he attempts to finish his recovery
from shoulder surgery while playing the first half of the season. With Jeff Fisher out of the league, Sean Peyton
is the new 7-9 bull $%!^ coach. Is this
the last year for the Brees/Peyton era in N.O.?
Is this the sunset of Adrian Peterson’s career? There might be intrigue in New Orleans even
if they don’t have a good year.
NFC East
N.Y. 9-7
Phi 9-7
Dal 9-7
Was 7-9
Another toss
up division. New York has the best
defense, Dallas has the best offense, and Philadelphia is somewhere in
between. Kirk Cousins isn’t the real
deal, but he’s good enough to sniff 8-8.
NFC West
Sea 12-4
Ari 9-7
LAR 6-10
S.F. 4-12
Seattle did
just enough to fix their O-line to run away with this division. Their defense could be the best in the
league. Something feels off with Arizona
this year. They had too much turnover on
defense and their offense seems stale. A
resurgent Tyrann Mathieu and one last hurrah for Carson Palmer and Larry
Fitzgerald propel them to 9 wins, but they fall short of the playoffs. The Rams improve on their 2016 record with added talent on offense and Wade Phillips taking over their defense. Kyle Shanahan takes over in San Francisco and manages to double their win total.
The
Playoffs:
Green Bay
and Seattle play in week 1 of the season and they appear on a collision course
for the NFC title game. Minnesota ousts
N.Y. while Atlanta fends off the upstart Eagles.
The 1 and 2 seeds take care of business in round 3, and the Seahawks
defense proves to be too much for the Packers to make a return trip to the Super Bowl (not in real life. Just in my world of make-believe predictions).
Tennessee
makes it to the dance but exits early at the hands of Kansas City. Oakland gets a rematch in Houston. With Derek Car at the helm, the Raiders come
out on top this time around. Oakland continues
it’s revenge tour, avenging the tuck rule game in New England. Kansas City upsets Pittsburgh to set up an AFC
West showdown in the AFC championship. Wait a minute, I
picked K.C. to go to the Super Bowl last year too.
It turns out I was one year early.
Might as well run back my entire 2016 take: Seattle
bludgeons Kansas City in the Super Bowl 42-27.
Mark it all
down in ink. That’s all for now. Enjoy week 1!
No comments:
Post a Comment