BYE WEEK: Predict the playoffs thread

[PATSNUTme]

Now that we have had 6 weeks of NFL football and we can see that some of the teams are meeting/exceeding expectations and others are not, it may be fun to predict the playoffs.

Here are my predictions:

AFC:
East Patriots North: Ravens South: Texans West: Chargers
Wild cards: Raiders Steelers (maybe Bills) Jets miss the playoffs

Wild card Week: Cahrgers over Steelers: Raiders over Texans
Divisional: Patriots over Raiders Chargers over Ravens
AFCCG: Patriots over Chargers

NFC:
East: Giants North;Packers South: New Orleans West 49'ers
Wild card: Lions Tampa
Wild Card Week: Lions over 49ers Buc's over Giants
Divisional: Lions over Saints: Packers over Buc's
NFCCG: UPSET: Lions over Packers

Super Bowl: Patriots over Lions

Ok, let it rip- don't be critical of others until you man/woman up and post your predictions.

 

[patsfaninpa]

East - New England - 1
North - Baltimore - 2
South - Tennessee - 4
West - San Diego - 3
Wild Cards
Pittsburgh - 5
Buffalo - 6

Pitt over Tennessee and SD over Buffalo
NE over Pitt and Balt over SD
Baltimore over NE

East - Dallas - 4
South - New Orleans - 3
North - Green Bay - 1
West - San Fran - 2
Wild Cards
Detroit - 5
TB - 6

Detroit over Dallas and NO over TB
GB over Detroit and NO over SF
GB over NO

Super Bowl

Green Bay over Baltimore

 

[Rob0729]

I'm not buying the Raiders yet with Carson Palmer.

Here are mine:

AFC

East - Pats
North - Ravens
South - Texans
West - Chargers

Wild Card - Bengals
Wild Card - Bills

Wild Card Weekend: Texans over Bengals, Bills over Chargers
Division Round: Pats over Bills, Ravens over Texans
AFC Championships: I say it is a toss up just because I don't like Flacco at all, but their defense is impressive. I will take the homer pick and have the Pats win


Not sold on the Steelers holding up all season and the Bengals seem to be far better on defense. I think the Titans will fall off. I think the Jets will beat the easy teams, but lose to the good teams.

NFC

North -Packers
West - 49ers
South - N'Orleans
East -Cowboys

Wild Card - Lions
Wild Card - Giants

Wild card round: Lions over Saints, Cowboys over Giants
Division Round: Packers over Lions, 49ers over Cowboys
NFC Championships: Packers over 49ers

Super Bowl: Packers over Pats

 

[condon84]

AFC

East: Pats
North: Ravens
South: Titans
West: Chargers

Wildcard: Bengals, Raiders

Not sold on Houston. Specially with Williams out for the year and Johnson nursing his hamstring. I'm more sold on the Bengals defense than I am anything out of Pittsburgh. Jets season could be cooked after Chargers, Bills, Patriots stretch. Not sold on Bills neither. Their defense relies too much on turnovers. At some point, teams are going to be taking care of the ball a bit better against their opportunistic defense and they're not stout enough just to stop offenses and make them punt.

NFC

East: Giants
North: Packers
South: Bucs
West: 49ers

Wildcard: Lions, Saints

Bucs and Saints are gonna battle till the end of the season. I think the Bucs will win out in the end. They're a good young team that have gotten better as the season goes on the past two years. The NFC East teams are all pretty competitive and I think will beat each other up too much and only one team will make it. The Giants DL and rushing attack suits them well against the other division teams. Lions making the playoffs unless Stafford gets injured.

AFC wildcard: Chargers over Bengals, Raiders over Titans
NFL wildcard: Saints over Giants, Lions over Bucs

AFC Divisional: Pats over Titans, Ravens over Chargers
NFL Divisional: Packers over Saints, Lions over 49ers

AFC Championship: Pats over Ravens
NFC Championship: Packers over Lions (Lions in the NFC Championship game )

SB: Pats over Packers

We win the next 3 SBs (4 in a row! ). Brady wins 3 more MVPs. Retires and becomes president of the United States. Elects Belichick to be his Secretary of defense and we conquer the world!

 

[BradyManny]

East - New England - 1
North - Baltimore - 2
South - Tennessee - 4
West - San Diego - 3
Wild Cards
Pittsburgh - 5
Buffalo - 6

Pitt over Tennessee and SD over Buffalo
NE over Pitt and Balt over SD
Baltimore over NE

East - Dallas - 4
South - New Orleans - 3
North - Green Bay - 1
West - San Fran - 2
Wild Cards
Detroit - 5
TB - 6

Detroit over Dallas and NO over TB
GB over Detroit and NO over SF
GB over NO

Super Bowl

Green Bay over Baltimore

I fear this. But our team has changed, and we may have what it takes to beat Baltimore this year (a running game, and more diverse offense).

Granted, even if we made it to the SB, Green Bay is going to be a brutal opponent for any team. Hopefully Clay Matthews has been busted for HGH by that point.

I called the Jets missing the playoffs before the season, I stand by that.

Buffalo still has a handful of games they could lose, not sure they make it either.

 

[RJB87]

AFC:
1. Patriots
2. Ravens
3. Chargers
4. Titans
5. Bills
6. Bengals

NFC:
1. Packers
2. 49ers
3. Giants
4. Buccaneers
5. Lions
6. Falcons

Chargers over Bengals & Titans over Bills in the Wildcard
Patriots over Titans & Chargers over Ravens in the Divisional
Patriots over Chargers in the AFC Championship

Giants over Falcons & Lions over Buccaneers in the Wildcard
Packers over Lions & 49ers over Giants in the Divisional
49ers over Packers in the NFC Championship

Patriots over 49ers in the Super Bowl. Tom ties childhood hero Joe Montana with a 4th Super Bowl against his team.

Go ahead and call me crazy but in the playoffs stout defenses and good rushing attacks prevail.

Story lines to look out for towards the end of the season:
- Texans collapse as they aren't able to overcome injuries. Andre Johnson's injury continues to nag.
- Titan's Chris Johnson finds legs, defense is stout, and Hasselebeck does enough.
- Bengals and Steelers finish with same record but Bengals with the tie breaker with divisional record.
- Saints collapse amid tough remaining schedule & close divisional losses. Lack of running game and defense are main reasons why.
- 49ers cruise to the 2nd seed in the NFC because of a soft schedule and a combination of good rushing attack and defense.
- Raiders finish 9-7 but 10-6 is needed to grab a Wildcard in the AFC this year.
- NFC South is a 3 way tie of 10-6 teams (maybe one 11-5 team and two 10-6 teams). Saints are on the bad end of that deal either way due to divisional tie breakers.

 

[Metaphors]

AFC
#1 - Ravens
#2 - Patriots
#3 - Chargers
#4 - Texans
#5 - Steelers
#6 - Raiders

Chargers over Raiders
Texans over Steelers
Patriots over Chargers
Texans over Ravens
Patriots over Texans

NFC
#1 - Packers
#2 - Saints
#3 - 49ers
#4 - Giants
#5 - Lions
#6 - Bucs

Bucs over 49ers
Lions over Giants
Packers over Bucs
Saints over Lions
Packers over Saints

Super Bowl
Patriots over Packers

 

[patsinthesnow]

AFC:

#1 Patriots (14-2)
#2 Ravens (13-3)
#3 Chargers (12-4)
#4 Texans (11-5)
#5 Bills (11-5)
#6 Steelers (11-5)

NFC:

#1 Packers (16-0)
#2 49ers (13-3)
#3 Saints (12-4)
#4 Giants (11-5)
#5 Falcons (11-5)
#6 Lions (11-5)

AFC Wildcard:
#3 Chargers over #6 Steelers
#5 Bills over #4 Texans

AFC Divisional:
#1 Patriots over #5 Bills
#2 Ravens over #3 Chargers

AFC Championship:
#1 Patriots over #2 Ravens

NFC Wildcard:
#3 Saints over #6 Lions
#4 Giants over #5 Falcons

NFC Divisional:
#4 Giants over #1 Packers (Giants destroy perfection again)
#3 Saints over #2 49ers

NFC Championship:
#4 Giants over #3 Saints

Superbowl 46:
#1 Patriots over #4 Giants

 

[everlong]

I hate to root for the Raiders even in the short term because of the history between the two teams and the fact that we have their second round pick. However it would be so cool if the Bengals made the playoffs too and blew them out in the Wild Card round.

 

[VJCPatriot]

AFC
East: Pats
North: Ravens
South: Titans
West: Chargers

Wildcard: Steelers, Raiders

Raiders could easily upset the Chargers for the West though. Norv's teams have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot. If so Oakland takes the division and either the Bills or Bengals could sneak in. Imagine the implosion in San Diego if they missed the playoffs!

NFC

East: Cowboys
North: Packers
South: Saints
West: 49ers

Wildcard: Lions, Bucs

I think the Cowboys are very talented and can seize control of the division from the Giants if they play them as tough as they did the Pats. It really depends on how far Romo can take them. The Saints are not going away as long as Brees is in charge. The 49ers are the real deal and should easily win a fairly weak NFC west division. Lions are definitely threatening to make their first playoff appearance in a long time. Bucs are decent but not a shoe in. They could get edged out by the Giants or Redskins for that final wildcard spot. Oh and the NFC East is perhaps the most wide open division in football right now, anyone could win it, although I think the Cowboys have the edge talent-wise.

Superbowl:
Patriots over Packers

These look like the two best teams in the NFL right now. Not coincidentally they also have the 2 best QBs in the league too. The main threat to the Pats in the AFC is the Ravens. In the NFC, right now the Pack is a cut above the rest in that conference. But it's still early, another team could still emerge to challenge them in the NFC.

Dark Horse: Falcons are very quiet now, but have the talent to make noise if they go on a run.

 

[Sivy]

To lazy to post all that Jazz

but Pats win AFC, Cowboys win NFC by knocking out the Packers (thus proving once again it does not matter that you are crowned in the regular season once the post season starts) Pats over cowboys in the superbowl.

 

[QB12]

Now that we have had 6 weeks of NFL football and we can see that some of the teams are meeting/exceeding expectations and others are not, it may be fun to predict the playoffs.

Here are my predictions:

AFC:
East Patriots North: Ravens South: Texans West: Chargers
Wild cards: Raiders Steelers (maybe Bills) Jets miss the playoffs

Wild card Week: Cahrgers over Steelers: Raiders over Texans
Divisional: Patriots over Raiders Chargers over Ravens
AFCCG: Patriots over Chargers

NFC:
East: Giants North;Packers South: New Orleans West 49'ers
Wild card: Lions Tampa
Wild Card Week: Lions over 49ers Buc's over Giants
Divisional: Lions over Saints: Packers over Buc's
NFCCG: UPSET: Lions over Packers

Super Bowl: Patriots over Lions

Ok, let it rip- don't be critical of others until you man/woman up and post your predictions.

Interesting you have Pats over Chargers in the conference championship. I assume it's in Foxboro. I said before the season started, our week 2 game against San Diego might be for HFA in the AFC championship game.

 

[Dutchmaster617]

Now that we have had 6 weeks of NFL football and we can see that some of the teams are meeting/exceeding expectations and others are not, it may be fun to predict the playoffs.

Here are my predictions:

AFC:
East Patriots North: Ravens South: Texans West: Chargers
Wild cards: Raiders Steelers (maybe Bills) Jets miss the playoffs

Wild card Week: Cahrgers over Steelers: Raiders over Texans
Divisional: Patriots over Raiders Chargers over Ravens
AFCCG: Patriots over Chargers

NFC:
East: Giants North;Packers South: New Orleans West 49'ers
Wild card: Lions Tampa
Wild Card Week: Lions over 49ers Buc's over Giants
Divisional: Lions over Saints: Packers over Buc's
NFCCG: UPSET: Lions over Packers

Super Bowl: Patriots over Lions

Ok, let it rip- don't be critical of others until you man/woman up and post your predictions.

I WISH we could get two AFC West teams, but chances are we get two tough defensive teams like Steelers and Ravens.

I won't bother predicting, its impossible to predict the NFC outside of GB having a first round bye.

 

[QB12]

I told a couple of my friends here in deep south Texas that we might have just seen a preview of the Super Bowl.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I told a couple of my friends here in deep south Texas that we might have just seen a preview of the Super Bowl.

Well if that's the case, the Cowboys have already played their best game against the Pats got 4 turnovers and still lost......................

 

[juny]

AFC East: Patriots
AFC North: Ravens
AFC South: Texans
AFC West: Chargers
WC: Steelers
WC: Raiders

AFC Champs: (homer pick) Patriots
(Ravens scare me the most of the rest)

NFC East: Cowboys
NFC North: Packers
NFC South: Saints
NFC West: 49ers
WC: Lions
WC: Bucs

NFC Champs: Packers

Pats over Packers, revenge for SB 31

 

[RJB87]

Seriously, if we win the Super Bowl this year it is going to be sweet for the fact that we have story lines against every NFC team that can possible be there.

Packers.. they beat us in SB31
49ers.. Joe Montana-Tom Brady connection
Giants... do I even need to explain this?
Falcons.. BC QB vs the the hometown team
Cowboys.. Modern Day America's Team versus The Media Darlings

 

[brdmaverick]

Bengals, Bills, Raiders, Lions in the playoffs?!? What is going on here!?!?!

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

To pick the Bengals over the Steelers to get a playoff berth is laughable

The Bengals look o.k. Now...but more like an 8-8 team down the road

I hate the Steelers more than anyone and everyone says their defense is old,but last time I looked the Steelers were top 5 in D all across the board.

Playoffs ....

AFC

Pittsburgh gets the 6 seed by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Jets after Pitt beats them in the regular season
San Diego gets the 5 seed
Houston wins the South and gets seed 4
Oakland edges SD for the division and gets the 3 seed
New England gets the 2 seed
Baltimore gets HFA

NFC

Atlanta,Green Bay,San Francisco,Tampa Bay,Philadelphia,Dallas

That's all I got for the NFC


If I were forced to pick the SB right now..........I'll say Ravens vs. Falcons

If the Pats D edges up to mid pack rank, then they could beat Baltimore

 

[jmt57]

So is this thread a mulligan for everyone's pre-season predictions?

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...-way-premature-playoff-prediction-thread.html

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...39-annual-predict-patriots-season-thread.html

I'll guess 12-4. As for what games they lose, who knows, other than you can count on at least one 'any given Sunday' game. Since I have to list which ones I'll say Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh and the Jets, though the Eagles certainly look like they could be a tough challenge as well.

Division winners: Pats, Ravens, Texans, Chargers; Steelers and Jets are the wild card teams.

In the NFC the Eagles, Saints, Packers and Rams win their divisions, with Atlanta and Detroit as the wild cards.

Pats over the Eagles in a rematch from week 12, in front of Irsay and Polian in the Super Bowl.

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...10/803057-ot-worst-first-who-does-2011-a.html

If we're going to include Houston then we should include all teams that finished tied for last in their division last year: Washington, Detroit and Tennesse along with the eight listed in the poll.

I would say the Bills, Bengals, Broncos, Vikings, Redskins and Panthers have the least chance of going from worst to first because either they are not that good, there are multiple teams at the top in their divisions too far ahead of them, or both. Tennessee has a new coach and new QB; the lockout hurts their chances to improve this year.

Dallas may be the best of the remaining teams but it will be difficult to leap past both the Giants and the Eagles. Detroit is in a similar situation with the Packers and Bears.

That leaves Houston and Arizona. The Texans not only have a chance, but are likely the favorites in that division if Manning can't play or is appreciably below 100%. The Cardinals have an excellent chance simply because that division is so bad. However, my guess is that the Rams take the NFC West this year; my vote goes to the Texans.

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...1-season-wins-over-under-11-5-vegas-line.html

If you are going to bet, you have to leave all of your personal fandom aside; if you're unable to do that then you shouldn't bet.

The fan in me says 12-4, 13-3, 14-2, but the reality is that there are not a whole lot of teams that historically do that well in a given season. Injuries, 'any given Sunday', an upstart opponent, and it is not uncommon for a preseason conference favorite to finish 11-5, 10-6, or worse.

The bottom line is that the fan in me says make the bet, but the objective realist in me says it's not worth it. Vegas' numbers are based on getting people to bet on both sides of the line, so you're much better off finding a team that the masses assume will be bad once again, but instead is in line to improve their win total dramatically; 2010 examples would be St. Louis and Tampa Bay. The other option is to find a team destined to take a plunge like Carolina did last year.

If there's one team that seems to be off, I'd say it is Tennessee at 7 wins. New HC, new QB in an off-season with no OTA's, and Chris Johnson holding out? I'd feel better if I got 7.5 or 8, but I might be willing to go with the under on that one.

Obviously much of my preseason prognosis leaves a bit to be desired ...

For this mulligan update, I am going to go with the Pats, Ravens, Chargers and I guess the Titans as AFC division winners, with the Bills and Steelers as wild cards. The Bengals have had a very soft schedule thus far; they fall back to earth with a more difficult 2nd half schedule. Houston's loss of Mario Williams hurts them, and though the Raiders will improve with a healthy Carson Palmer, they're still a notch below the Chargers. Bills finishing ahead of the Jets may be wishful thinking, but I'm expecting/hoping for a Jets implosion. Admittedly this is a homer pick, but I'll go with the Pats over the Ravens in the AFCCG.

In the NFC I'll take the Eagles, Packers, Saints and 49ers as division winners, with the Lions and Giants as wild cards. Philadelphia secures the ball just a little bit and Eli throws a few more picks, and the Eagles end up taking the division. Washington's QB situation hurts them, I'm still not sold on Tampa Bay, and I almost went with Atlanta but they don't have a good enough offense to overcome their defense. I'll say Packers over Saints in the NFCCG, and Pats over Packers in the Super Bowl.