SI/MMQB Season Predictions

[SVN]

Oddly no one picks denver to win . Thought they were the AFC favorites. Bedard says about this on twitter although Iam a little surprised by his Steelers pick.
The MMQB's 2013 Predictions and Preview Spectacular | The MMQB with Peter King

AFC wide open. Just depends on luck and who's hot. My pick is another AFCN team takes out Patriots at Gillette. DEN is overrated. Again

Greg A. Bedard ?@GregABedard 35m
Reason for Steelers. If healthy (sure, huge if), most well-rounded team in div. Dalton holds CIN back. BAL D nasty, but will struggle on O

 

[JackBauer]

Eh. I don't buy the Steelers hype.

Kind of odd that King picked Honey Badger to win DROY.

 

[jmt57]

There are plenty of teams in both conferences that one can either make a case for, or make a case against getting to the Super Bowl. Right now it seems really difficult to predict a conference champion with any confidence at all, more so than in previous years.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

There are plenty of teams in both conferences that one can either make a case for, or make a case against getting to the Super Bowl. Right now it seems really difficult to predict a conference champion with any confidence at all, more so than in previous years.

Pair of Dee
Pair of Ds? (not focusing here)
Parody (maybe thinking Jets too much here)
Parity - I think that's it.

Should be a great season with plenty of good football. Can't wait for Sunday 1pm.

 

[Gronkandez]

Kind of odd that King picked Honey Badger to win DROY.

Why is that? His talent was never in question.

ESPN's Adam Schefter stated Tuesday that Mathieu "keeps making plays and right now looks to be one of the steals of the draft."

Tyrann Mathieu - Arizona Cardinals - 2013 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com

 

[JackBauer]

Why is that? His talent was never in question.



Tyrann Mathieu - Arizona Cardinals - 2013 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com

Never said it was. I'd just be shocked if he won given the competition.

 

[patsfaninpa]

I don't see the hype on us. I'm usually the cup is half-full guy. I don't think BB is an idiot. I just think this is the least talented Pats team since 2002. That said. Our division is a train wreck. The AFC seems to get worse every year. I think we will win 11 games. But, there are holes all over.

QB - Best since Montana. And, the rules allow the qb to dominate the game more than ever.
That's been big in our success of the last 3 years. Thank You Bill Polian.

RB - Very good. Amongst the best in the league. Like Ridley. I'm big on Vereen and think Blount has something to prove.

TE - No AHern and hope like hell Gronk can finish the year. Went from A+ to B-

OL - Starters are very good. But, Vollmer and Mankins have been nicked the last couple of years. Cannon is the only reliable depth.

DL - Starters are good. Backups; Buchanan, Bequette, Vellano and Jenkins. The depth is awful and we have two aging dt's. I smell a recipe for disaster.

LB - Have rebuilt this position and is the strength of the defense. Though, it seems like we have 3 MLB's out there. Mayo, Spikes and Hightower.

DB - I like McCourty, Talib and Dennard. You can have the rest unless the rookies are for real. Ryan and Harmon. The play back there has been terrible the last few years and could be "slightly" improved. Just not enough.

ST - No kick returner. Edelman is very good. Do you really count on Gost any longer? New holder. Not so sure about dumping Mesko. When backed up, he seemed to come thru most of the time.

I forgot the wr's in my originial post. Freudian slip I'm thinking. Nuf ced.

 

[jmt57]

I don't see the hype on us. I'm usually the cup is half-full guy. I don't think BB is an idiot. I just think this is the least talented Pats team since 2002. That said. Our division is a train wreck. The AFC seems to get worse every year. I think we will win 11 games. But, there are holes all over.

You make excellent points about the Patriots - but don't forget, it's all relative. Every other team has question marks as well - even the ones in the NFC.

Also, if the AFCE is a train wreck, what do you call the AFCW? The Broncos won as many games last year as the three other teams combined! The three other AFCE teams won about 50% more games than the bottom three AFCW teams; collectively the AFCW hasn't had a winning record in seven years.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I don't see the hype on us. I'm usually the cup is half-full guy. I don't think BB is an idiot. I just think this is the least talented Pats team since 2002. That said. Our division is a train wreck. The AFC seems to get worse every year. I think we will win 11 games. But, there are holes all over.

You can scheme around lack of talent. You can't scheme around apathy (2009).

 

[Gronkandez]

I forgot the wr's in my originial post. Freudian slip I'm thinking. Nuf ced.

You must not have been paying attention around here lately. Dobson is a 1st round talent, as is Thompkins. Boyce is very impressive and Sudfield will finish up with around 800 receiving yards (that stat courtesy of Matthew Berry, not a PatsFans poster.)

 

[JackBauer]

I don't see the hype on us. I'm usually the cup is half-full guy. I don't think BB is an idiot. I just think this is the least talented Pats team since 2002. That said. Our division is a train wreck. The AFC seems to get worse every year. I think we will win 11 games. But, there are holes all over.

QB - Best since Montana. And, the rules allow the qb to dominate the game more than ever.
That's been big in our success of the last 3 years. Thank You Bill Polian.

RB - Very good. Amongst the best in the league. Like Ridley. I'm big on Vereen and think Blount has something to prove.

TE - No AHern and hope like hell Gronk can finish the year. Went from A+ to B-

OL - Starters are very good. But, Vollmer and Mankins have been nicked the last couple of years. Cannon is the only reliable depth.

DL - Starters are good. Backups; Buchanan, Bequette, Vellano and Jenkins. The depth is awful and we have two aging dt's. I smell a recipe for disaster.

LB - Have rebuilt this position and is the strength of the defense. Though, it seems like we have 3 MLB's out there. Mayo, Spikes and Hightower.

DB - I like McCourty, Talib and Dennard. You can have the rest unless the rookies are for real. Ryan and Harmon. The play back there has been terrible the last few years and could be "slightly" improved. Just not enough.

ST - No kick returner. Edelman is very good. Do you really count on Gost any longer? New holder. Not so sure about dumping Mesko. When backed up, he seemed to come thru most of the time.

I forgot the wr's in my originial post. Freudian slip I'm thinking. Nuf ced.

It's strange that you claim there are holes "all over" and then proceed to identify only a couple real holes.

 

[Sicilian]

It's strange that you claim there are holes "all over" and then proceed to identify only a couple real holes.

And all of them backups (with the exception of S2).

Depth is a concern on defense and the pass catchers (both WR and TE) are talented but unproven. Those aren't terrible problems to have in the grand scheme of things, especially when your areas of strength are REAL areas of strength, not just "meh, they're good enough."

QB = Elite
OL = Top 10 in the league
RB = Top 10 in the league
TE = Elite. And when you consider most teams don't have two starting caliber TE's, the fact that Gronk is our "only" proven one still makes this position elite.

Interior DL = Elite (though older)
DE = One ready to break out, the other steady. I'd say above average with a chance at being better than that.
LB = Tough and solid. Top 10 grouping in the league.

Like I said, there are groupings with question marks and depth problems, but that's a lot of positives to go into a season with. It's hard to not be optimistic.

 

[BlueThunder]

There are alot of rookies that are manning the backup spots. Their progress, along with any key injuries,will determine how good this year's team will be.

11-5 or better is my homeristic prediction.

Anything less than a playoff spot this season will be a disappointment.

 

[VrabelJr]

Did everybody forget about the Texans and how they have Ed Reed now and healthy starting linebackers?

 

[BlueThunder]

Did anyone forget that the Pats have Mayo,Spikes,Hightower, and Ninkovitch ? Pretty good LB's in their own right.

I'll take Brady and his RB's any day also.

 

[VrabelJr]

Did anyone forget that the Pats have Mayo,Spikes,Hightower, and Ninkovitch ? Pretty good LB's in their own right.

I'll take Brady and his RB's any day also.

I think you're missing my point.

 

[patsfan13]

Did everybody forget about the Texans and how they have Ed Reed now and healthy starting linebackers?

I mostly remember the Pats shredding ever W Philips D it has ever played against.

 

[doesntmatter1]

13-3 is what I'm banking on. The homer in me is saying undefeated with a straight face. I'm feeling more optimistic about this team than last year's squad and that team was in the afc championship.

I honestly have no issues with our depth either. Backup dt are a question mark for me but the little I have seen of them leads me to believe they are an upgrade from deadrick, and we got by just fine with him.

 

[SVN]

More predictions
NFL predictions 2013 -- Super Bowl XLVIII, awards, New England Patriots - NFL - SI.com

 

[supafly]

There are plenty of teams in both conferences that one can either make a case for, or make a case against getting to the Super Bowl. Right now it seems really difficult to predict a conference champion with any confidence at all, more so than in previous years.

And I think this is the general overall point that many writers are making in their predictions, especially the ones against us and Denver.

As far as the AFCN goes, I can certainly respect Bedard's choice of PIT--especially when he backs up his thoughts by stating that he hasn't fully bought into CIN, and BAL may have taken a step backwards.

My thinking has been that if you played the season 3x, there'd be 3 different winners in the AFCN due to the parity and uncertainty. I wouldn't personally stick a fork in the Steelers just yet. They're just the kind of team that should remain competitive and could parlay a lucky break or two into an addition 1-2 wins throughout the course of the season. At this point most would assume that they'll be about 9-7, but if they should get lucky (or CIN/BAL falters a bit) they certainly have a legitimate shot at the divisional crown.