2011 NFL season prediction thread

From the offseason thread:
ok, here are my picks for the season:

NFC East: Eagles
NFC West: Rams
NFC North: Packers
NFC South: Falcons
Wild Cards: Saints and Giants

AFC East: Patriots
AFC West: Chargers
AFC North: Ravens
AFC South: Colts
Wild Cards: Steelers and Jets

I know, these picks are very unimaginative. Besides the Rams, Giants, and Chargers, all these teams made the playoffs in 2010. I'm just saying that these are the "obvious" picks now so I want to put them here for posterity and see how I did in January. Obviously no season ever really winds up as predicted, case in point the 2010 Cowboys who were supposed to be the first team to play the SB in their own stadium. Other predictions:

NFCCG: Eagles vs. Packers
Packers will repeat (fingers crossed!)
NFC West champ will have at least 9 wins
Carolina will lose every game
Tampa Bay and Detroit will both prove to be overrated
The Cowboys will be one of the strongest teams, but smothered by a great division

alright, allowing for the fact that everything in the nfl always changes

afc

1 patriots (afc east champ)
2 ravens (afc central champ)
3 texans (afc south camp)
4 broncos (nfc west champ)
5 jets (wild card)
6 colts (wild card)

texans over colts
jets over broncos

pats over jets
texans over ravens

pats over texans (i still believe in belichick, lord help me)

NFC

1 packers (nfc north champs)
2 eagles (nfc east champs)
3 falcons (nfc south champs)
4 rams (nfc west champs)
5 dallas (wild card)
6 lions (wild card)

falcons over lions
cowboys over rams

packers over cowboys
falcons over eagles

packers over falcons

super bowl

packers over pats

mvp: aaron rodgers
offensive player of the year: tom brady
defensive player of the year: nnmadi asmoguah

offensive rookie of the year: a.j. green, cincy
defensive rookie of the year: von miller, denver

I think it'll be interesting just so see how wrong these predictions wind up being. Pretty bold to pick the Texans and the Broncos but very little surprises me in this league anymore.

But if there's one team I think people are seriously underrating, it's the Chargers, who had a hell of a fluke season last year (in a bad way) - I can see them making a big playoff run

yeah i mean...

i think the texans are really good, were really good last year, and i'm thinking that defensive additions + wade phillips will push them over the top

as for denver, idk, it seems as if there's always one team per conference per year where everyone is like O_O the chiefs had a really nice schedule last year & i think they'll take a step back. the chargers could win that division obv. idk, i think the broncos have a decent roster, they needed a coaching change there cuz i think they quit on mcd. also i think john fox is a really good coach.

I still feel like Denver's defense is going to be god awful and give up like 30 points a game, my guess is Orton gets traded midseason. The Texans also will probably be handcuffed by their defense. I'll believe it when I see it. IMO the Raiders are more likely to be the AFC's surprise team. In the NFC, it could be the Vikings (Donny McNabb's stock is at an all-time low, but he could regain form, though their recieving core took a big hit). You're right that the Chiefs probably aren't going anywhere.

yeah i mean, i don't have a totally strong conviction about denver. i just looked at the shitty teams from last year and thought they might have a pretty decent chance at making that unforeseeable one year jump.

i feel strongly about the texans tho. the titans are a non-factor now, the colts are aging, the jags are the jags. and they were close last year.

texans schedule is super soft too towards the end

their final 10 games

@ tenn, vs jax, vs cle, @ tb, bye, @ jax, vs atl, @ cin, vs car, @ ind, vs ten

that looks like 7 wins at worst in the bag to me

kubiak always finds a way to go .500 or worse

Jacksonville also looks like they could come out of nowhere though. Though they did get freakishly lucky last year.
I dunno, seems as likely as the Texans. I thought Houston had a great shot last year but fell short.

I remember a Bill Simmons column where he mentioned this, that every year there's always one or two surprise teams and one or two teams that take like a 6 or 7 win hit (going from like 12-4 to 6-10). He predicted the 49ers as the "surprise" team which was way off but did correctly predict the Vikings' disaster season. I think that Manning and the Colts really are still a great team but I wouldn't be too surprised if the wheels just totally came off this year.

they'll prob have one of the best offenses in the nfl. added a really good d coordinator, shored up their DBs a bit. weak division & sched. i like them.

i wouldn't be surprised to see any of the teams in either west division win

i prob discounted the cardinals too quickly. i forgot about kevin kolb.

The West is such a crapshoot. I predict that the Cards will suck, Kolb or not, and that the Rams w/ Action Jackson and Bradford (who looks like he could be an elite QB in a couple years) look the best. The 49ers on paper may be the best team but they underperform nearly every year.

i don't even see how the 49ers are the best team on paper

i like the rams a lot -- i'm a noted josh mcd stan

if stafford can stay on the field, i kinda like detroit tbqh

of course, i will still bet against them on thanksgiving

rams will be better but their schedule will hide it for awhile.

I'm not sure if Stafford is really as great as he's said to be, I actually never really saw how he was supposedly better than Shaun Hill. Obviously he has that star "potential" but he hasn't really shown anything other than an ability to sky it downfield (which he should never have to do), a tendency to get hurt, and a really stupid jock mentality that had him risk his career to beat the Cleveland Browns (on a pass any QB could have made)

NFC East: Giants
NFC West: Cards
NFC North: Packers
NFC South: Saints
Wild Cards: Cowboys and Falcons

AFC East: Pats
AFC West: Raiders
AFC North: Steelers
AFC South: Colts
Wild Cards: Ravens and Jets

ive always loved stafford's skillset, but ive never been sure about his makeup. they need to give him a few more seasons to see if he can put it together, because if he does he'll be pretty formidable

So if he gets hurt this year will the Lions be looking to draft another QB?

i think that would be a mistake, but you'd have to ask the lions

I think the Lions are trying to move past their years of overcorrective personnel decisions

Not to put any stock in preseason games but I just realized that the 2011 Jags may bottom out this year at like 2-14. They had a shot at the playoffs but seemed utterly incompetant in big games and pulled a couple of them out of their ass last year to finish with a respectable record. I can only see them getting much worse this year.

NFC East: Cowboys
NFC West: Rams
NFC North: Packers
NFC South: Saints
Wild Cards: Philly and Atlanta

AFC East: Jets
AFC West: Chargers, duh
AFC North: Steelers
AFC South: Texans
Wild Cards: Patriots and Titans

Chargers over Packers

someone is a boys fan

All the teams in the NFC East are equally loathsome to me.