AFC East
New England
1-0 The Patriots picked up Dont'a Hightower, Greg Salas, and Brandon Lloyd. Adding even more firepower to an already potent offense. If the Patriots go in a two TE set then they can have, Wes Welker, plus Aaron Hernandez on one side of the field, Brandon Lloyd and Rob Gronkowski on the other, and BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Dont'a Hightower, and Tom Brady in the backfield. That is a matchup nightmare. 10-1, 3-2, 13-3.
New York
0-2 Terrance Ganaway, and Stephen Hill. The Jets number one WR is Santonio Holmes, who last year had all of 654 yards for receiving. Their number 2 WR is probably Stephen Hill, a rookie who last year wasn't exactly catching a ton of balls for Georgia Tech. So yeah, there's some truth to what Cromartie said about being the 2nd best WR on the Jets.
The criticisms about the Jets offense being putrid are, for right now, much to do about nothing. I would say that the Jets have been running vanilla plays in the preseason, but that would be an insult to vanilla. Imho, it's not a matter of IF Sanchez loses the starting gig, but WHEN he loses it. I'll say Tebow gets decent playing time in the first few games, but doesn't fully take the starting roll until week 8. (though hopefully it will be sooner than that) 4-3, 6-3, 10-6.
Buffalo
0-3 Mario Williams, and Stephen Gilmore a CB who went to South Carolina.
The two headed running attack of Fred Jackson, who had the highest yards after contact last year, and CJ Spiller, who has great breakaway speed, is a fairly decent combo. 4-3, 4-5, 8-8.
Miami
0-3 Ryan Tannehill, and Jonathan Martin a RT who played for Standford. Miami's main offensive weapons right now, are Ryan Tannehill, Brian Hartline, Reggie Bush, Daniel Thomas, and Davone Bess. The oldest person in that group of playmakers is Reggie Bush. So an explosive group of players, but not exactly the most experienced group ever. I like most of the disciplining done by Coach Philbin so far. It's very likely I would have had Miami in the playoffs if David Garrard would have been healthy, but since Tannehill is starting.. 3-7, 4-2, 7-9.
New England 13-3 Best record in the NFL, Best Pats offense in the last decade?
New York 10-6 First Wildcard, thanks to Tebow and the defense.
Buffalo 8-8 Buffalo falls short, but continues improvement.
Miami 7-9 Miami goes with the youth movement, and falls from contention.
AFC North
Steelers
2-0 The Steelers picked up David DeCastro, an OG who attended Stanford, and Mike Adams, an OT who went to The Ohio State University, trying to shore up a somewhat shaky line. I think the window is closing for the Steelers to be the division winner. Rothelsburger and company get 'revenge' on the Broncos week one, but slog through the rest of their first 8 games going 4-4, they finish strongly however, 6-2, and capture the division with an overall record of 10-6.
Baltimore
1-2 Benard Pierce, a RB who attended Temple, and Courtney Upshaw, who's from Alabama. I have the Ravens as my fallout team, but I just remembered that they plan on running spread hurry-up offense with Flacco... And I really like the spread hurry-up O, so you can take this record prediction with a grain of salt actually more like a bucketload of salt. 4-4, 5-3, 9-7.
1-2 The rookies the Browns picked up in the offseason that are likely to start week 1, Brandon Weeden, Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon, Mitchell Schwartz, John Hughes. I wonder if any other NFL team can say that they are starting five rookies week 1.. About the only reason I think the Browns can finish with more than two wins is because of Brandon Weedon, who I think will prove to be the best and worst 29 year old rookie QB the league has ever seen.
1-7, 4-4, 5-11.
Bengals
1-2 Dre Kirkpatrick, a rookie from Alabama, and Terence Newman. I like Andy Dalton, but I think he and the Bengals take a step back. 2-5, 2-7, 4-12.
Steelers 10-6 4 Seed, last gasp by the Steelers?
Baltimore 9-7 Lose tie-breaker to SD, Robust Rice runs, Flacco fails, Ravens reflect.
Cleveland 5-11 Weeden and D play well, the rest of the team, not so much.
Cincinnati 4-12 The Bengals have an injury plauged season and Coach Marvin Lewis is fired.
AFC South
Houston
1-0 in the preseason. They picked up Randy Bullock, a kicker who attended Texas A&M. Could this be a Colts-esq franchise, where Houston wins the division in seven of the next eight years? I don't think so, but I do have the Texans winning it this year. Houston was likely only a Matt Schaub injury away from going to the AFC Championship, so I think they are a good sleeper for the Superbowl. I have Houston having a very simliar year to last year, starting 7-1, finishing 4-4, for an overall record of 11-5.
Indianapolis
1-2. Coby Fleener, and Andrew Luck were the main rookies Indy picked up. Indy also picked up 9 other players who are expected to be 1st string. Nine. Andrew Luck will get a majority of his starts indoor, which means I think he will actually exceed the lofty expectations for him, putting up, in the area of, almost 4,000 yards, 26 TD's, and 14 interceptions. The Colts defense is going to be a struggle, to say the least, but I think that Luck can win some toss-up games. I have the Colts as the breakout team for the AFC going 4-4, 3-5, for an overall of 7-9. A little weak in total wins for a breakout team I know, but it does mean 5 more wins than last year.
Tennessee
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| I expect Justin Blackmon to be a top 5 WR within half a decade. |
2-1. Kendall Wright, a rookie who attended Baylor. While I like Locker quite a bit, in the short term I think he will be a slight step down from Hasselback, and I think that will cost the Titans a couple of games. 5-5, 1-5, for an overall record of 6-10.
Jacksonville
1-2. The Jaguars acquired Justin Blackmon, Laurent Robinson, and Bryan Anger, a punter who attended California. So the Jaguars passed on making a trade with the 3rd round pick to acquire Tebow, so that they could start Blaine Gabbart...? C'mon man. That said, I do think that Gabbert will improve slightly this year, but it won't show in the win column, and won't get the Jags out of the cellar, 1-7, 3-5, 4-12.
Houston 11-5 2nd best record in the AFC, should they be the Superbowl favorite?
Indianapolis 7-9 2nd best improvement in the NFL.
Tennessee 6-10 Locker improves, rebuilding year for Titans.
Jacksonville 4-12 Gabbart gives games, defense does duty, Blackmon blacks-out blockers, Jaguars jeered.
AFC West
Denver Broncos 2-1. Jacob Tamme, Tracy Porter, a CB, Andre Caldwell, a WR, Justin Bannan, DT, Mike Adams, SS, and of course, Peyton Manning. Last year the Broncos went 7-4 with Tebow as the starting QB. Extending Tebow's starts to the entire season, in which the Broncos went 1-4, and being a little conservative, then the Broncs would have finished 10-6. Not being conservative, I think Tebow and the Broncs would have been the better team in all but the GB game, which would have meant 11-5. Also while the Broncos didn't have the leagues most injuries last year, they definitely weren't healthy either. Knowson Moreno was out after week 10, Decker suffered an injury against the Steelers, Tebow suffered an injury against the Pats, and Von Miller playing with a broken thumb, etc.
So anyways, that means that if Manning wants to exceed Tebow's win record last year, he has to win 11 or more games, and in the playoffs he either has to have a very competitive divisional round game, or advance to the AFC championship. An extremely difficult task for an average QB, but probably not too tough for, imho, the best regular season QB of all time. I think Manning will just barely be able to exceed last years Broncos regular season record, but the Broncos will fall short of the playoff record.
I think that Manning will have lost a bit off his deep ball due to his injury, but Manning should still be able to throw the short routes almost to perfection. On the downside for him though, he now has to play in the thin air and outdoors in Mile High Stadium instead of indoor at Lucas Oil Stadium. It's kind of a pity that Manning had to bump Tebow out of town, but I think it worked out fairly well for Tebow and the Broncs anyways. I expect Manning, Demarious Thomas, Jacob Tamme, etc., to struggle with cohesion and chemistry early against a tough schedule, but to gell and go on a nice winning streak late. 4-4, 7-1, 11-5.
San Diego 0-1. Robert Meachem, and Melvin Ingram, a linebacker who attended South Carolina. Interesting.. A preseason in which San Diego has been all but ignored. I think the lack of attention does the Chargers some good, and that Phillip Rivers and company bounce back with enough to grab the 2nd wildcard. 6-2, 3-5, 9-7.
Oakland 1-1. Miles Burris, who went to SDSU, and Philip Wheeler, a LB coming over from Indy. I think Darren McFadden has the potential to be a top 5 running back, but I think Oakland needs to improve their defense to be a playoff team. 3-3, 2-6, 5-11.
Denver 11-5 3 Seed, Manning injured? Ha. How does AFC West Champion for two years running sound?
San Diego 9-7 2nd Wild Card, 2nd fiddle to Broncs again, but feels good to be in the playoffs.
Oakland 5-11 A corner and OLB away from being a decent defense.
Kansas City 4-12 Playoffs? Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?
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