Here it is. Something that I always wanted to do. Put out NFL predictions for an upcoming season. Write them out and post them for all to see. Then wait for the season to arrive to see how accurate or inaccurate I turn out to be. Every year they are surprises. How many predicted before the 2001 season that a backup quarterback named Tom Brady would lead the Patriots to win the Super Bowl? Last year we saw Peyton Manning lose to the team that his father played for. What’s in store this season? Only time will tell. So here it is. The 1st Annual Brian Grant’s NFL Predictions. Enjoy. Feel free to post your opinions.
AFC East
1. New England Patriots
2. Miami Dolphins
3. New York Jets
4. Buffalo Bills
Despite losing much of their core to free agency and retirement, The Patriots are still the team to beat in the AFC East. They still have Tom Brady and Randy Moss and they have Vince Willfork anchoring a defense with a few new faces. The Dolphins are your typical Bill Parcells team. Loaded with solid players who rarely make mistakes. Heavy on running the ball and hard core defense. If Chad Henne develops, they’ll make a run for a wild card spot. I’m not as sold on the Jets. If being a blowhard won football games, Rex Ryan would be the new Vince Lombardi and the Jets would be the next NFL dynasty. Not going to happen. Don’t forget, they backed into the playoffs last year. They’ll do little more than provide bulletin board material for the league. It’s a shame how far a once proud franchise like the Bills have fallen. One of the worst teams in the leagues and losing a few home games the new few years to Toronto. Even some talk about the Bills eventually moving over there. Anyone who tries to move the Bills to Toronto should be tarred and feathered.
AFC North
1. Baltimore Ravens
2. Pittsburgh Steelers
3. Cincinnati Bengals
4. Cleveland Browns
The Ravens, a playoff team last year, addressed their biggest weakness last year by trading for WR Anquan Boldin. By far the best pick up by a NFL team this off season. They should win the division. Many people are writing off the Steelers because of the six game suspension of Ben Roethlisberger. Don’t forget, this is a talented team that is very well coached and has among the best brain trust in the league. Don’t write them off. Roethlisberger, while he may be a sociopath, know how to win football games. Could be a dangerous #6 seed in the playoffs. The Bengals are a combination of the Jets and the 70’s Oakland Raiders. Loaded with blowhards and thugs. They already had Chad OchoCinco, one of the top drama queens in the league. Then they added Terrell Owens to the mix. Add in a few players who names appeared on the police blotter (Matt Jones, Pac-man Jones) and you got the most dysfunction roster in the NFL. Pretty much, the 70’s Raiders but without the rings. It sucks these days to be a Cleveland sports fan and the Browns are not going to make them any better. They are many reasons the Browns have been terrible since returning to the league. Jake Delhomme, last year played like someone who played in the league a year too long. One of the worst quarterbacks in the league. What do the Browns do? Sign him and anoint him the starting QB. LeBron James is not walking through that door. Neither is a Cleveland Browns playoff appearance.
AFC South
1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Houston Texans
3. Tennessee Titans
4. Jacksonville Jaguars
The Colts deserve to go 0-16 after deciding last year to opt not to go for the perfect record. How can you not go for history? But as we all know, they chose to pull their starters against the Jets and in the meantime game a lot of fantasy football owners headaches. But the Colts are way too talented to go winless. Another Super Bowl run is in the mist. This is the year the Texans finally make the playoffs. Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson make one of the best QB/WR duos in the league and the defense is improving. A roster loaded with talent. Will the real Vince Young please stand up? One week, the Titans QB is playing like a future Hall of Famer. The next week he plays like someone who should be in the Arena League. If the Titans ever get consistently good QB play from Young, they could get a wild card spot. Who other than Maurice Jones-Drew plays for the Jaguars? Is he the only guy on the roster? Sometimes it seems that way. While Jones-Drew is among the best plays in the league, he can’t do it alone. A last place finish.
AFC West
1. San Diego Chargers
2. Oakland Raiders
3. Denver Broncos
4. Kansas City Chiefs
While the Vincent Jackson situation is a total mess, the Chargers are still the team to beat in the NFC West. A talented roster. While LaDainian Tomlinson may be gone, they won’t miss a beat with the addition of Ryan Matthews. The Oakland Raiders have become the LA Clippers of the NFL. Quite a fall for a once proud franchise. But on occasion the Clippers will have a season in which they’ll won’t be pathetic. Same here with this seasons Raiders. Jason Campbell is a upgrade on offense and Richard Seymore leads an underrated defense. They won’t make the playoffs, but a .500 season could be on the horizon. So Broncos coach/guru dumped Josh McDaniel dumped Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall and got Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow and a six pack of PBR. He traded up for Tebow in the 1st round when he could have been picked one round later. The Tebow pick will make him look like a genius or a idiot. Still, doesn’t matter who’s the Broncos QB this year. He’ll be hurting with the departure of Marshall. Chiefs QB Matt Cassel is finding out that life in the NFL is tougher when you don’t have Randy Moss and Wes Welker to throw to. He does have a somewhat promising supporting cast. Just not the proven teammates he played with when he was in Foxboro.
1. San Diego Chargers
2. Oakland Raiders
3. Denver Broncos
4. Kansas City Chiefs
While the Vincent Jackson situation is a total mess, the Chargers are still the team to beat in the NFC West. A talented roster. While LaDainian Tomlinson may be gone, they won’t miss a beat with the addition of Ryan Matthews. The Oakland Raiders have become the LA Clippers of the NFL. Quite a fall for a once proud franchise. But on occasion the Clippers will have a season in which they’ll won’t be pathetic. Same here with this seasons Raiders. Jason Campbell is a upgrade on offense and Richard Seymore leads an underrated defense. They won’t make the playoffs, but a .500 season could be on the horizon. So Broncos coach/guru dumped Josh McDaniel dumped Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall and got Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow and a six pack of PBR. He traded up for Tebow in the 1st round when he could have been picked one round later. The Tebow pick will make him look like a genius or a idiot. Still, doesn’t matter who’s the Broncos QB this year. He’ll be hurting with the departure of Marshall. Chiefs QB Matt Cassel is finding out that life in the NFL is tougher when you don’t have Randy Moss and Wes Welker to throw to. He does have a somewhat promising supporting cast. Just not the proven teammates he played with when he was in Foxboro.
NFC East
1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Washington Redskins
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. New York Giants
Tough division to call since I consider all four teams to be talent laden. The toughest division in the NFL. I put the Cowboys in first place and the Redskins in second. But I can’t argue with anyone who would put the Eagles or the Giants in second. The Cowboys are among the best teams in the league. The face a very difficult schedule, but have enough firepower to overcome it and have a deep playoff run. The Redskins got major upgrades in their head coach and quarterback. Mike Shanahan is a proven head coach and a leader of quarterbacks. Donovan McNabb is an established and criminally underrated quarterback. He a proven winner and is tough as they get. The Redskins return to the playoffs. Eagles QB Kevin Kolb looked good filling in for an injured quarterback. So did Scott Mitchell. Not that he’s the next Scott Mitchell, because he is not. He’s better than that. He also has a good supporting cast and coaching staff. But it doesn’t mean he’ll have a few growing pains along the way playing in a tough division. The Giants are a good football team. Trip aces is a good poker hand. But trip aces won’t win you money if your opponent is holding a full house. The Giants is the guy holding trip aces. Holding something good, but just not good enough. If they played in the NFC West, they’d win the division. In the NFC East, they are the fourth best team.
NFC North
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Minnesota Vikings
3. Chicago Bears
4. Detroit Lions
The top two teams in this division, the Packers and the Vikings rank as among two of the best teams in the league. Two teams capable of winning the Super Bowl. Solid everywhere, top to bottom. For first place I’ll pick the team with the younger and less mistake prone quarterback in Aaron Rogers. The Packers have their best team since the heyday of Brett Who? Brett Favre? Yes, that Brett, who used to play of the Packers and now plays for the Vikings. I can’t argue with those who pick the Vikings to win the division. Favre is a future Hall of Famer and the Vikings is stocked with talent. It’ll will also be fun to see Favre play in the Super Bowl one more time. If Jay Cutler stops throwing so many interceptions and if Matt Forte returns to the form of his rookie year, the Bears might contend for a playoff spot. They are definitely capable of doing better than what they did last year. The Lions are a team on a rise. Not I’m not drunk, I’m being serious. The Lions are a team on a rise. Matt Stafford is looking like a future franchise quarterback and the team suddenly has a few good young players. They won’t make the playoffs this year. But hope for a better future is on the horizon.
NFC South
1. New Orleans Saints
2. Atlanta Falcons
3. Carolina Panthers
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Drew Brees still leads a Saints offense that is arguably the most dangerous in the league. The defense is capable of creating a turnover at any given time. This team has what it take to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Matt Ryan leads a Falcons offense that has one more year experience under its belt. But is their defense good enough to secure a playoff spot? That’s the question that surrounds that team. The Panthers has some talent, but a squad loaded with unproven quarterbacks means this team will be on a golf course in January. The Buccaneers are quickly returning to form to what they were like in the pre Tony Dungy/orange uniform days: last place.
NFC West
1. San Francisco 49’ers
2. Arizona Cardinals
3. Seattle Seahawks
4. St. Louis Rams
Do I have to pick a winner here? This is by far the weakest division in the NFL. Might as well pick the team on the upswing: the 49’ers. The team has some good young talent on offense and the defense is a unit on the rise. The only blemish here is that I’m still not sold on quarterback Alex Smith. Could win nine games, which could very well be good enough to win the division. Losing Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin means that a playoff appearance is not win the works for the Cardinals. The Seahawks are in for a major rebuilding project. A lot of holes in this roster. Pete Carroll will soon be wishing he was back at USC. Rams rookie QB Sam Bradford has looked good in the preseason and Steven Jackson is one of the true elite running backs. But this team is still a long way from being a contender. Six wins and possibly passing the Seahaws for third place would be a major accomplishment.
Playoffs
AFC Playoff Teams: Patriots, Ravens, Colts, Chargers, Steelers, Texans
NFC Playoff Teams: Cowboys, Packers, Saints, 49’ers, Redskins, Vikings
AFC Championship Game: Colts over Ravens. The Ravens give the Colts a good run and show that they will be a force to reckon with. But they don’t have quite enough firepower to beat the Colts. The Colts return to the Super Bowl.
NFC Championship Game: Packers over Saints. The Saints have what it takes to repeat as champs. But they’ll be going up against a team a little bit stronger than last year’s Vikings. A team with a quarterback less likely to cause a fourth quarter turnover. Packers win in a shootout.
Super Bowl: Packers over Colts. As usual, the Colts come ready to play. But they'll be going against the most solid team top to bottom in the NFL. Colts lose again. The Lombardi Trophy returns to Green Bay.
