sleeper teams for the year

every year i amaze myself how great i do at picking the sleepers
in 1999 i said the titans---went on to go to the sb
in 2000 i said the ravens---went on to win the sb
2001 i said pats, 49ers, bears----all went to the playoffs, pats won sb

last yr my three sleeper teams were the bengals, jags, and bucs

so, this year i'm giving you two teams as well as one that will be decent and on their way
two team: cleveland browns, detroit lions
other team on their way: new orleans saints

BROWNS:
take a look at their results last year
their wins: at green bay, vs chicago!!, vs tennessee, vs miami (shutout!, and miamis last loss), at oakland, vs baltimore
not bad, not great either
but take a look at their losses
vs cincy by 14
at indy by only 7
at baltimore by 13
vs detroit by only 3
at houston by only 3
at pitt by 13
at minny by 12
vs jax by only 6
at cincy by only 3!!!
vs pitt by 41, lol

they def hafta get better vs pitt, but look at those close road games vs the great offenses/turnover defenses of cincy and indy
they also played pretty well against some hard nosed d minded teams by beating the bears coming close against the jags, beating the ravens

as you know i love willie, but this isnt the only reason i love this team this year
the biggest question mark in my mind is what will charlie frye do this year, if he jus does decent this team will be a playoff team
they have a very good defense and some big-time playmakers on offense
biggest question marks other than what frye will do are at cornerback and oline
but, i love rueben droughns, and i love braylon edwards

LIONS:
honestly with detroit im not even lookin at last yrs results, cuz this is just a classic example of me having a gut feeling about them
i dont think they'll make the playoffs but 8 or 9 wins is what im feeling, and i think lions fans wouldnt mind that at all
i love what theyre doin with the coaching staff
roy williams is in his third year and you know what happens with third yr wideouts, AND he has mike martz as his offensive coordinator
their defense forced a lot of turnovers last year and they added the terrorizing ernie sims on the weakside, AND they are in an awful division

SAINTS:
i LOVE drew brees, always have
when he was drafted i said hed be a better pro than michael vick
i liked donte stallworth, and am not crazy they shipped him off, but they knew they werent gonna sign him after the year and he wasnt gettin the new playbook all that well
i love the duo of mcallister and bush (if used correctly)
the defense just plain stinks though
but they are starting to add pieces (aka danny clark)
this team wont win a whole lot of games this year but they will be a tough team to beat with that offense and they are well on their way

Eagles, Rams, Browns.

desi-patsfan said:

Eagles, Rams, Browns.

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i was actually gonna say eagles
but i felt like since they had those injuries etc that they wouldnt really constitute

but i love the eagles this year
their d is gonna be much better
and if mcnabb is healthy u know theyll have a solid offense
i love the addition of stallworth, to go with reggie brown, hank baskett, greg lewis, some good wrs there

I like the Texans and Wali Lundy to be 8-8...much better than expeected.

I think the Rams will make the playoffs.

I don't really think the Eagles can be classified as a sleeper at this point. The Rams though, they could be very good but they have a five game stretch in the middle of the year of:

Seattle
@San Diego
Kansas City
@Carolina
@Seattle

However if they beat the Broncos week one they could easily go into that stretch 5-0 considering their 4 games after Denver are San Fran, Arizona, Detroit, and Green Bay. If they can go 2-3 during that 5 game stretch they have 9-10 wins easy, plus I need Jackson to have a big year for my fantasy team.

Philly Eagles are the big sleeper team.

I'll go with the Raiders

Chewy said:

I'll go with the Raiders

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that was another team i was actually thinkin of

very nice pick
i dont really like that division this year
and if aaron brooks can have a decent year this team could be good
i love michael huff and i like what their doin with the defense, other than lettin daniel clark go
i also like art shell and think this team is def heading in the right direction

AFC--Ravens; They have plenty of veterans who want to show they have something left. Injuries and other situations (J. Lewis) aside, this team had plenty of talent last year and just didn't put it together. Behind the Bengals and Steelers, they are easily forgotten in their division.

NFC--Detroit; I agree with many people here. They have plenty of fire power and Kitna can sling it if called on. The new offensive coordinator, Martz, could make K. Jones into a stud back. Their defense can cause turnovers and they do play in a crappy division. If they can win their four home games in the division, and be .500 on the road, they should have at least 8 wins as games a the Jets and vs the 9ers are likely wins. Games vs Buffalo and Atlanta could give them 10 and a playoff push.

My three sleepers are

Baltimore Ravens
Arizona Cardinals
Houston Texans

If this happens I'm going to Vegas very soon.

San Diego
Philadelphia
Dallas
Denver

Washington

In the AFC I am going with the Cleveland Browns and YES,Charley Fry at QB - given 1 season in Cleveland I think our old coach gets the job done with a 6th seed in the playoffs In the NFC I have no doubt that the Arizona Cardinals finally grab a low playoff seed...They seem to me like the next cincy bengals...once a joke and now a power

FilPats said:

San Diego
Philadelphia
Dallas
Denver

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dude
do u know what sleeper means, haha

patsfan55 said:

dude
do u know what sleeper means, haha

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm going to pick the Seabags and the Steelers.

Seriously, how about
NFC: Lions
AFC: Ravens (except BJ Ward blows, but they made good OL pick ups) and the Bills. The Bills are projected to do so badly that 6 wins would make them a sleeper.

I have to disagree with you on the Saints and Browns. Have you seen that New Orleans defense? Man it is terrible. As for the Lions, they could sneak up on some people in that pathetic NFC North.

My picks:

AFC- If you count them as sleepers, Miami. If not, Houston
NFC- Eagles, Cardinals

by sleeper you mean - if they do really well it'll surprise most people...

I say watch for the Vikings.


I think the teams that have pretty good expectations already can't really be called a sleeper.

Cardinals....no worse then 10-6

I'm going to go with the Vikings and the Ravens this year!

I dont consider the Ravens a sleeper pick. I think they're considered by many to be the favorite with the addition of McNair.

I think the Chargers have a chance to open some eyes. With Rivers at QB the expectations are a little lower, but I think he'll surprise a lot of people. I'll go as far as to say they win the AFC.

In the NFC I think the Falcons will make some noise, but ultimately I have the Seahawks dominating that conference & winning the SB.