NFL Playoff Picks

[Gert T 0]

I take a terribly boring college class on Tuesday nights, so this was what I was working on. The NFC seems an easy lock on all six plaoff teams, besides who wins the NFC North. In the AFC, The Patriots, Steelers are the locks. The last four spots with one going to the Broncos/Chargers as AFC West champs and the other going to the Jags/Colts as AFC South champs. But it looks like eight teams in the AFC may end up with a 9-7 record. First lets go to the NFC.

 

NFC

1. Philadelphia

2. Atlanta

3. Green Bay

4. Seattle

5. Minnesota (wild card)

6. St. Louis (wild card)

 

Now here is where the AFC gets very complicated. I'll leave the records of the eight teams left.

 

 

New England Patriots 9-1, (loss at Pittsburgh)

Baltimore

at Cleveland

Cincinnati

at Miami

at N.Y. Jets

San Francisco

 

Pittsburgh Steelers 9-1 (loss at Baltimore)

Washington

at Jacksonville

N.Y. Jets

at N.Y. Giants

Baltimore

at Buffalo

 

Indianapolis Colts 7-3 (losses at New England, Jacksonville, at Kansas City)

at Detroit

Tennessee

at Houston

Baltimore

San Diego

at Denver

 

Denver Broncos 7-3 (losses at Jacksonville, at Cincinnati, Atlanta)

Oakland

at San Diego

Miami

at Kansas City

at Tennessee

Indianapolis

 

San Diego Chargers 7-3 (losses N.Y. Jets, at Denver, at Atlanta)

at Kansas City

Denver

Tampa Bay

at Cleveland

at Indianapolis

Kansas City

 

Baltimore Ravens 7-3 (losses at Cleveland, Kansas City, at Philadelphia)

at New England

Cincinnati

N.Y. Giants

at Indianapolis

at Pittsburgh

Miami

 

New York Jets 7-3 (losses at New England, at Buffalo, Baltimore)

at Arizona

Houston

at Pittsburgh

Seattle

New England

at St. Louis

 

Jacksonville 6-4 (losses Indianapolis, at San Diego, at Houston, Tennessee)

at Minnesota

Pittsburgh

Chicago

at Green Bay

Houston

at Oakland

 

 

Obviously, tie-breakers are going to play a HUGE part in determining the wild card teams.

 

 

I like Indianapolis over the Jags in the AFC South. They will have a one game lead over the Jags, but even if they are tied, Indy will have a better division record. If Jacksonville can win one of their two tough road games (Minnesota, Green Bay) they may have a shot with Indy's tough final three games.

 

In the AFC West, my gut is telling me not to, but I think the Chargers will win the AFC West. Of course I am basing that on them beating the Broncos next week. If Denver wins, forget about it, because I think they will win against Oakland and at Kansas City and then go 6-0 in the West. But I think San Diego beats Denver and based on the remaining games they win the West.

 

I think Denver gets the #5 seed with 11 or 12 wins, and Baltimore and the Jets end up tied with a 10-6 record in the fight for the 6 spot.

 

 

AFC Playoffs

1. New England (I think they go 15-1)

2. Pittsburgh (they could go 15-1 and get the #1 spot, but they have a lot of playoff chasers left)

3. Indianapolis

4. San Diego

5. Denver

6. Baltimore (Edwards can take a clock management class while searching for a new offensive coordinator in the off-season)

 

NFC Playoffs

1. Philadelphia

2. Atlanta

3. Green Bay

4. Seattle

5. Minnesota

6. St. Louis

[CanadianChris 0]

I think Tampa Bay has a decent shot at rising up and taking a WC spot away from one of the bottom 3 teams at 8-8.

 

My AFC looks identical to yours.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

NFC

 

1. Philadelphia

2. Atlanta

3. Green Bay

4. St Louis (via H2H tiebreaker over Seattle)

5. Minnesota

6. Seattle

 

 

AFC

 

1. New England

2. Pittsburgh

3. Denver

4. Indianapolis

5. Baltimore

6. San Diego

[Guest Vitamin X]

Minne-ha-ha might not even make the playoffs this year, and the Eli-led Giants almost beat the Falcons. It's all about the running game this time of year also. I'll make some wild and crazy picks here->

 

NFC

 

1. Philly

2. Hotlanta

3. GREEN BAY~

4. St. Louie (I agree with the H2H vs. Seattle, the `Hawks are collapsing all Vikings-style)

5. Seattle

6. ??

 

The last spot in my opinion will come from the NFC North. Detroit and Chicago both have a chance to finish at 10-6, and both have a crack at Minnesota in the next month to hurt the Vikings' chances and help their own. However, Detroit plays Chicago head to head in Detroit on 12/26, and they should be able to take that one... except that Detroit will come in that game having just played the Pack and Vikes in the past two weeks. The Indy game tommorrow is going to be huge for them, because one more loss pretty much kills their chances. I'm thinking the next two games are crucial for the Bears, if they can make it back to .500 by beating Dallas and Minnesota, they have to prove themselves against Jacksonville and Detroit on the road, and Houston and Green Bay at home. Anyways, onto the AFC...

 

1. New England

2. Pittsburgh

3. Indy

4. San Diego

5. Denver

6. Jacksonville, although Baltimore and the Jets have a better record now, they all have equally tough schedules. The difference is at quarterback. Leftwich might be coming back this week against the Vikes, and the only obstacle in their path is a home game against Pittsburgh, and the Packers at Lambeau in December. Baltimore has to play the AFC's top three teams- The Patriots, Colts, and Steelers- all on the road on the rest of their schedule, with Indy and Pittsburgh being back to back games. And the Jets just aren't the same type of team without Chad Pennington, that win last week at Cleveland was ugly and not convincing at all. That's what you'll get with Quincy Carter. They've also got Pittsburgh and St. Louis on the road, and the Pats and `Hawks at home all in December.. Again, all this with or without Pennington who is going to start throwing this week, but might not play until that Pittsburgh game, if at all.

[Damaramu 0]

Poor poor KC.....I had such high hopes for you this year! Get a new defense a-holes!

[Brett Favre 0]

It looks like Pennington might start against Houston, and I expect them to beat Arizona. I see the Jets getting the last or 2nd to last seed. The Chiefs can play spoiler for the Chargers. Not to mention facing Indianapolis, and Denver. If the Jets can steal one from the Steelers, Patriots, or Seahawks, and win the games they are suppose to, than they are good to go. And the Ravens have just a tough a schedule with Indy, New England, and Pittsburgh, so they should be in the same boat.

 

1. Steelers

2. Patriots

3. Colts

4. Denver

5. Ravens

6. Jets

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

AFC

1. Pittsburgh

2. New England

3. Indy

4. Denver

5. San Diego

6. Baltimore

 

NFC

1. Philadelphia

2. Atlanta

3. Seattle

4. Green Bay

5. St. Louis

6. Minnesota

[Vern Gagne 0]

The Vikings schedule is much easier than the Packers. Plus Randy Moss is back this week.

 

1.Eagles

2.Falcons

3.Vikings

4.Seahawks

5.Packers

6.Rams

 

1.Patriots

2.Steelers

3.Colts

4.Broncos

5.Ravens

6.Jets

[Guest Vitamin X]

The Vikings schedule is much easier than the Packers. Plus Randy Moss is back this week.

 

I don't know about that..

 

Minnesota-

Sun 11/28 Jacksonville 1:00 pm

Sun 12/5 at Chicago 1:00 pm

Sun 12/12 Seattle 1:00 pm

Sun 12/19 at Detroit 1:00 pm

Fri 12/24 Green Bay 3:00 pm

Sun 1/2 at Washington 1:00 pm

 

Green Bay-

Mon 11/29 St. Louis 9:00 pm

Sun 12/5 at Philadelphia 4:15 pm

Sun 12/12 Detroit 1:00 pm

Sun 12/19 Jacksonville 1:00 pm

Fri 12/24 at Minnesota 3:00 pm

Sun 1/2 at Chicago 1:00 pm

 

Minnesota has one game they should be expected to win (Washington), and even that might be tough because typically teams that aren't going to make the playoffs (as Washington probably won't) but have played well at times love to play major spoilers in Week 17. It's a road game, also. Aside from that, both teams have 3 divisional games left, and three tough games.. Washington for the above reason stated, Jacksonville, and Seattle for Minnesota, and St. Louis, Philly, and Jacksonville for Green Bay.

 

The only concern I have for the Pack is the running game, whose only healthy body (William Henderson, fullback) hasn't carried the ball since 2002. The defense played pretty damn well against Houston, minus that huge Andre Johnson reception.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

AFC:

1. Patriots

2. Steelers

3. Colts

4. Broncos

5. Ravens

6. Chargers

 

NFC:

1. Eagles

2. Falcons

3. Packers

4. Rams

5. Vikings

6. Giants/Seahawks

 

At this rate Seattle might not even make the playoffs, they've been terrible.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I think the Ravens have a shot at winning the division, but its a lot of hoops that have to be jumped through to get to that point, but the Ravens do have the advantage of being able to beat the Steelers on December 26th in Baltimore and getting the tiebreaker (as it stands right now the Ravens are only 2 games back, so over the next 4 weeks all the Ravens would have to do is finish 1 game better than the Steelers (4-0 vs 3-1, 3-1 vs 2-2, etc). Most people are automatically calling the Ravens 2 road games in that stretch losses (Pats,Colts) but I think they have a shot of winning one or the other (probably the Colts). No one is talking about the fact that the Steelers play the Jets and Jags. The Jets probably will have Pennington back and Jacksonville could easily prove to be a tough game as well.

 

If I had to peg the AFC, Id say realistically the Ravens wont win the division, but they will probably end up with the first wild card facing 4th division winner.

 

Pats

Steelers

Colts

Broncos

Ravens

Chargers

 

And I can tell you Im rooting for the Broncos to finish 4th in that scenario since the Ravens absolutely OWN the Broncos.

[iggymcfly 0]

Here's how I see the AFC:

 

1. Steelers (14-2)

2. Patriots (14-2)

3. Colts (12-4)

4. Chargers (11-5)

5. Broncos (11-5)

6. Jets (11-5)

 

Yeah, it will probably be the first time ever that there were no 10-6 teams in one conference's playoffs, but that's how I see it.

 

I see the Patriots dropping one to the Jets at the Meadowlands, and the Steelers maybe losing a freak game to the Giants or Bills. The Colts are still solid, the Chargers will beat the Broncos, and with the Jets not getting into the meat of their schedule until Pennington's 100%, they should all be able to get to 11-5.

 

As for the playoff picks, I say the Colts and Broncos win, since the Colts are too good to lose to the Jets at home, and the Chargers won't be able to beat the Broncos twice in a row. Then, the Steelers and Patriots will whip those two teams in the divisional games, and the Patriots will dig down deep to the fact that they're actually better than the Steelers when motivated to win the AFC.

 

I don't have all the schedules quite so handy for the NFC, so I won't break it down team-by-team, but I'm still sticking with my preseason picks. I say the Eagles will go 15-1 and get the 1 seed, and end up facing the Falcons in the NFC Championship. They'll be off to a 24-7 lead at halftime, before Donovan McNabb reverts to his real self, throwing three picks against the solid Falcons defense, as Atlanta goes on to a 35-34 win.

 

Then, since the Falcons aren't actually an elite team like the Patriots, Steelers, or Eagles, they'll get killed in the Super Bowl, 38-14.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I think the Ravens have a shot at winning the division, but its a lot of hoops that have to be jumped through to get to that point, but the Ravens do have the advantage of being able to beat the Steelers on December 26th in Baltimore and getting the tiebreaker (as it stands right now the Ravens are only 2 games back, so over the next 4 weeks all the Ravens would have to do is finish 1 game better than the Steelers (4-0 vs 3-1, 3-1 vs 2-2, etc). Most people are automatically calling the Ravens 2 road games in that stretch losses (Pats,Colts) but I think they have a shot of winning one or the other (probably the Colts). No one is talking about the fact that the Steelers play the Jets and Jags. The Jets probably will have Pennington back and Jacksonville could easily prove to be a tough game as well.

Too bad that Ravens-Steelers game is in Pittsburgh, not Baltimore. Kind of throws off your predictions there..

 

So yeah, they've got the Pats, Colts, and Steelers, all on the road.

[Elbarto997 0]

Plus, the only reason why The Ravens beat the Steelers is because the Steelers had Tommy Maddox as the QB, instead of Big Ben.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Maddox was only 1-1 as a starter.. Truth be told, who knows if Big Ben really is better than Maddox once you look past all the hype...

[Gert T 0]

Plus, the only reason why The Ravens beat the Steelers is because the Steelers had Tommy Maddox as the QB, instead of Big Ben.

Let's not get ridiculous yet.