2009 Predictions: who makes the playoffs, who does not?

[jmt57]

Twelve teams make the playoffs each year in the NFL.
Cut that number in half; who are the six teams you are most sure will make the 2009 playoffs?

On the other side, twenty teams do not make the playoffs.
Cut that number in half; who are the ten teams you are most sure will miss the 2009 playoffs?

 

[DaBruinz]

Twelve teams make the playoffs each year in the NFL.
Cut that number in half; who are the six teams you are most sure will make the 2009 playoffs?

On the other side, twenty teams do not make the playoffs.
Cut that number in half; who are the ten teams you are most sure will miss the 2009 playoffs?

Don't you think its a bit early to start this since training camps haven't even started?

 

[PatsChamp88]

Don't you think its a bit early to start this since training camps haven't even started?

You could say the same thing about most the other threads on the board, the fact remains we are in the slower/est part of the offseason

 

[Deus Irae]

Twelve teams make the playoffs each year in the NFL.
Cut that number in half; who are the six teams you are most sure will make the 2009 playoffs?

On the other side, twenty teams do not make the playoffs.
Cut that number in half; who are the ten teams you are most sure will miss the 2009 playoffs?

Playoffs:

Patriots
Steelers
Chargers
Eagles
Giants
Vikings


Viewing public:

Lions
Chiefs
Raiders
Broncos
Bills
Browns
Rams
Buccaneers
Dolphins
49ers

Naturally, I reserve the right to make alterations after final cuts.

 

[jmt57]

Don't you think its a bit early to start this since training camps haven't even started?

Yeah, it may be a bit early but I don't know if I want to keep reading about Julius Peppers, or whether or not Brady is better than Manning.

Besides, it's the deadest part of the NFL year, and starting rosters are for the most part set. Is there really going to be something between now and week one (other than a preseason injury) that will drastically alter the odds of any one team's chances of going to the playoffs?

 

[jmt57]

Playoffs:
Chargers - no competition in the AFC West
Steelers - almost no losses from the '08 SB squad, plus they get a healthy OL
Vikings - good running game, solid lines, weak division
Cardinals - even if Seattle regoups, I can't see them not winning the division
Colts - despite the coaching changes, they should at least be a wild card
Pats - no explanation required

I avoided teams from the NFC East and NFC South because I thought there was too much competition; i.e., a favorite might be very good, but was also more likely to be upset by a #3 team.


No Playoffs
Lions
Chiefs
Rams
Broncos
Raiders
Browns
Jaguars
Bengals
Bucs
49ers

This list was tougher than I thought it would be to put together. It's a combination of who is rebuilding and looking at 2010, and who is in a division or conference with little chance to succeed. Bills and Jets could easily fit on this list in place of the 49ers based on the other AFC teams they will be competing against for a playoff spot.

 

[NewYorkJets1993]

Locks:
Patriots
Steelers
Chargers
Eagles
Giants
Vikings

No shot:
Lions
Browns
Bills
Broncos
Chiefs
Raiders
Rams
Seahawks
Jags
Bucs

 

[Wildo7]

locks:
Patriots
steelers
chargers
eagles
giants
vikings

no shot:
Lions
browns
bills
broncos
chiefs
raiders
rams
seahawks
jags
bucs
jets

fyp.

..................

 

[NewYorkJets1993]

fyp.

..................

No.
I'd put the Dolphins there before the Jets.

 

[Wildo7]

No.
I'd put the Dolphins there before the Jets.

You can throw them in too. Go ahead, I don't mind.

 

[eagle eye]

I was trying to do it but there is no way I could predict with any degree of confidence anything other than whats below.
For instance the Steelers and Ravens are really close. The NFC North, South and East are four way and any team could win out in them. In the AFC the Chargers look good but you have Pioli putting a nice looking squad together in Kansas, and we don't know what McDaniels is capable of in Denver. In the South you would expect Indy to be back on top but the loss of Tony Dungy could be huge, the Texans improved last season and they had a good draft and the Titans were incredible in the regular season last year, hell even the Jags are not out of it.
In our own division, I believe we are back on top this year, and the others are all in a heap behind us. They were very closely matched last season with the Bills being the weak team but the addition of TO could improve them enough to make a game of it against the Jets and Dolphins. I don't expect to see any team in our division except us being better than 8-8.
Make it
Patriots
Cardinals



No chance
Bengals
Browns
Raiders
Seahawks
Lions
Bills
Jets
Dolphins

 

[Mike the Brit]

Excellent post. Little to quarrel with.

Playoffs:
Chargers - no competition in the AFC West Agree
Steelers - almost no losses from the '08 SB squad, plus they get a healthy OL Agree
Vikings - good running game, solid lines, weak division All true -- but what about quarterback and coach?
Cardinals - even if Seattle regoups, I can't see them not winning the division If any team looks as though it is going to suffer from the curse of the Superbowl loser, it's the Cardinals.
Colts - despite the coaching changes, they should at least be a wild card Definitely
Pats - no explanation required Indeed

I avoided teams from the NFC East and NFC South because I thought there was too much competition; i.e., a favorite might be very good, but was also more likely to be upset by a #3 team.

Yes, but I'll take the Giants over the Vikings -- I prefer their chances of at least getting a wildcard to the Vikings of seeing off both Green Bay and Chicago, each of which has talent. I'm short of one more lock. It could be Arizona after all (that division is really weak) or it could be the Eagles on the principle that they should have a good enough record for a wildcard, but I think I'm going to make it the Falcons. After all, they were pretty good last year and there is no reason not to believe that they're moving in the right direction.


No Playoffs
Lions
Chiefs
Rams
Broncos
Raiders
Browns
Jaguars
Bengals
Bucs
49ers

This list was tougher than I thought it would be to put together. It's a combination of who is rebuilding and looking at 2010, and who is in a division or conference with little chance to succeed. Bills and Jets could easily fit on this list in place of the 49ers based on the other AFC teams they will be competing against for a playoff spot.

I would put the Bills and Jets there instead of the 49ers and Jags, for just the reasons you give -- I think the Patriots will win the division and I can't see their records being good enough for a wildcard.

Bottom line.

Locks: delete Vikings and Arizona, add Giants and Falcons

Also-rans: delete 49ers and Jags, add Bills and Jets

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Playoff teams

2009 Playoff teams
Pats
Steelers
Titans
Chargers
Texans
Ravens
Colts
Giants
Eagles
Vikings
Bears
Saints
Falcons

Not in- Cowboys, Miami, Zona

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Playoff teams

2009 Playoff teams
Pats
Steelers
Titans
Chargers
Texans
Ravens
Colts
Giants
Eagles
Vikings
Bears
Saints
Falcons

Not in- Cowboys, Miami, Zona

Uh, did the NFL create a play in game for the playoffs? Last I heard only 12 teams make the playoffs.

 

[farn]

Hard to say : no one would've gone Dolphins in 08. But...

NE (if Brady stays OK, spread could be quasi-07)
Arizona
Steelers
NYG
Eagles
San D

Don't like 09 chances of :

Washington
Dolphins
NYJ
Cinci
Jacksonville
Denver
KC
STL
Oak
Cleveland

 

[StraightCashHomey81]

Defintley in the Playoffs:
1. Patriots
2. Steelers
3. Giants
4. Eagles
5. Colts
6. Chargers: only because I don't think the division is any good.

Defintley not in the Playoffs
1. Raiders
2. Lions
3. Rams
4. Browns
5. 49ers
6. Redskins: Division is too tough
7. Panthers
8. 49ers
9. Bills: Division is too tough
10. Broncos

 

[jmt57]

Playoff teams

2009 Playoff teams
Pats
Steelers
Titans
Chargers
Texans
Ravens
Colts
Giants
Eagles
Vikings
Bears
Saints
Falcons

Not in- Cowboys, Miami, Zona

Looks like you have one too many from the AFC, and you need to remove one of those NFC teams to make room for somebody from the NFC West.

 

[jmt57]

Bottom line.

Locks: delete Vikings and Arizona, add Giants and Falcons

Also-rans: delete 49ers and Jags, add Bills and Jets

I actually had both the Bills and Jets on my list and just before hitting submit replaced them with the 49ers and Jags. Giants probably deserve a spot somewhere on the list even though the NFC East is very competitive. The Falcons I was hesitant to put on there because the NFC South seems to always have a different division winner every year, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of separation between the Falcons, Panthers and Saints.

 

[Rob0729]

It is way too early for this, but if we are going to play the game:

AFC:
1.)Pats
2.) Steelers
3.) Chargers
4.) Titans

Wild Cards
Texans (yes, that's right I predict that the Texans will finish higher than the Colts)
Ravens

NFC
1.) Eagles
2.) Panthers
3.)Cards
4.) Vikes
Wild Cards
Giants
Falcons

Ok, since I haven't really thought about it enough. This list looks very close to last year's playoffs. I will probably change this as time goes along. A few points:

1.) Yes, I have the Colts missing the playoffs. I thought they were very lucky to 12-4 last year since there were 3-4 games they had no business winning and one or two plays made the difference between winning and losing and they had the easiest schedule for the last last month and a half including the only hard game on the schedule during that time being vs. the Titans who had nothing to play for and pulled most of their starters in the second half. They will have a tough go of it since they have a new head coach and some shake up in the coaching staff and they had problems running the ball and stopping the run last year.
2.) Although the Giants will be a wild card, they will have a better record than 2, maybe three division winners.
3.) The Pats and Steelers could flip since the Pats appear to have a much tougher schedule than the Steelers, but preseason SOS can be deceiving.
4.) The Chargers will have a better record than the Titans only because their division is so weak.
5.) I think this is the year the Texans pulled it together. If it wasn't for Sage Rosenfels making some costly stupid decisions, that team would have been 9-7 or 10-6 last year. Sage is gone.
6.) Miami takes a step back. The Jets go into rebuild mode because of their offense.
7.) Carolina breaks the NFC South trend and wins the division two years in a row. Atlanta takes a slight step back, but strong enough to win a Wild Card bearth.
8.) Dallas falls apart.

 

[Liverpool_Patriot]

Playoffs
Pats - Most stacked roster in NFL
Eagles - I like what they have done on the offseason, mostly because of their OL.
Steelers - SB winners best team in NFL last year and the team is more or less the same.
Chargers - Little competition from the rest of the division
Vikings - Adrian Peterson and a very good defence
Giants - Strong running game and flooded with pass rushers
Bears - Defence should remain very good and Jay Cutler and Matt Forte's progression should only make that offence better.
Panthers - Good defence, good OL and even better running game. I think Jonathan Stewart will have a big year alongside Williams.
Seahawks - Matt Hasselbeck and others return healthy and will win the division.
Tennessee - Defence still good even without Haynesworth. Good RB duo and a smart QB who takes care of the football.
Houston - If Matt Schaub stays healthy, the offence will be very good and the defence is better than last year.

Non-Playoffs
Bills - Terrell Owens will help out offence but I still don't think they're playoff worthy.
Dolphins - Tougher schedule this year. I expect a step back this year.
Jets - Talented team but rookie QB could mean a slow start along with new defensive system. They will be a good team nearer the end of the year but will just miss out.
Baltimore - Will still have a good defence but still need a playmaker at WR.
Bengals - Underrated defence and get Carson Palmer back but they will fall short.
Cleveland - Offence will take a step back without Winslow and defence isn't very good.
Indianapolis - It's hard to count the Colts out while Manning is still under center but defence and coaching in rebuilding mode, and they will just miss out.
Jacksonville - Improved OL by drafting Monroe and Britton but defence still has many holes
Denver - Will take a step back without Cutler and defence rebuilding into a 3-4.
Kansas City - Cassel will make the team better but defence is still young and full of holes. They will also miss Tony Gonzalez.
Raiders - JaMarcus Russell is a bust IMO, the defence will be average at best and I am not a fan of their draft at all.
Cowboys - Losing T.O. will make Tony Romo's life a bit easier but the passing game wont be nearly as explosive. Defence will be very good though.
Redskins - Although they spent the most money in the NFL this off-season, I don't think they match up with the rest of the division.
Lions - It will probably take a good few years before this team plays a match in January again.
Green Bay - Offence will be explosive with Aaron Rodgers but the defence will let them down again, especially as they are converting to a 3-4.
Falcons - I had a tough time leaving them out so this is simply a guess.
Buccaneers - In a rebuilding mode, and if they start Josh Freeman then they will not come clode to the playoffs IMO.
Cardinals - They will come close, the offence will be explosive but I think the Seahawks could return to '07 form and snatch the division.
Rams - Simply not very good and too many holes
49ers - I think they will do better than expected. I think they ended on a winning streak last year and Singletary will have his men ready to play this year.

Remember, these are all just guesses nobody knows how the season will play out