NFL '09 thread

[Peon]

I've seen enough 1st quarter/half pre-season NFL to comfortably start making the "I might be talking out of my ass '09 NFL season" prediction. Here 'goes....

AFC

-Division Winners:

North: Steelers - the Ravens and Flacco mature, but not enough to stop the B & G (sorry in advance Iggy....I am a Steelers fan).

South: Titans - the Colts surprisingly fold, and the Titans limp into the playoffs.

East: Jets - highly competitive division led by a hungry and mature Jets team.

West: Chargers - I know...DUH! they cream the weak AFC West.

-Wild Cards: Patriots & Jaguars - the Colts fail to make the playoffs.


NFC

-Division Winners:

North: Bears - another competitive division, but 'da Bears make most improvements.

South: Panthers - hard division to predict, Car. seems to have edge.

East: Eagles - healthy Iggles team barely edges out division.

West: Seahawks - Seattle improves enough to pound the Cards D.

-Wild Cards: Vikings & Giants - Cards do well, but not enough.

*Seeding*

AFC:
1-Chargers
2-Jets
3-Steelers
4-Titans
5-Patriots
6-Jaguars

NFC:
1-Bears
2-Eagles
3-Seahawks
4-Panthers(?)
5-Vikings
6-Giants

-Wild Card winners: Steelers, Patriots, Vikings, & Seahawks.

-Divisional Winners: Jets, Steelers, Bears, & Eagles.

-Conference Winners: Steelers & Bears.

-SBXLIV Winner: Steelers....I bet no one saw this prediction coming eh?

Yeah, so I'm slanted towards the Steelers....you can feel free to replace them with another team if you feel like it....I think anyone might agree they'll make the playoffs though.

[public_slots_free]

Really dude..REALLY? the jets over the pats when the jets got a rookie QB. Better go back to the drawing board.

Hell you even got the Jets over the Steelers and Titans. You havent seen enough preseason!!

[Etzell]

Yep. 'Cause preseason matters.

Also the Vikes as a contender? Please. Farve can't make it more than 10-11 games in a season anymore.

[Peon]

Originally Posted by public_slots_free

Really dude..REALLY? the jets over the pats when the jets got a rookie QB. Better go back to the drawing board.

Well first of all, a couple of rookie QBs have made it to the AFC championship game in recent memory....Big Ben went in '04, and Flacco went in '08....so it's not completely unrealistic. Second, the Jets have had a really good team for a long time too, and I think all of their talent is starting to gel right about now.....they're going to surprise people.....maybe...

Originally Posted by public_slots_free

Hell you even got the Jets over the Steelers and Titans. You havent seen enough preseason!!

Yeah, I think they'll have a better record, but I don't have them beating either team.

Originally Posted by Etzell

Yep. 'Cause preseason matters.

Yeah well....it doesn't matter much....they should shorten it to 3 games, and extend the regular season by 1 like they've been talking about doing.

Originally Posted by Etzell

Also the Vikes as a contender? Please. Farve can't make it more than 10-11 games in a season anymore.

I also see the Vikes as a team on the fringe of greatness....it may come together for them this year. They've got the best RB in the league, a solid O-Line, and the, soon to be, back-up QBs are pretty good too. They have the right components.

Either way I smell a good season.

[Iggy]

Squeelers fan or not, even IF they win the AFC North, the Ravens are going to be in the playoffs somewhere. I think it'll be the other way around, though. Flacco has matured very well... and with Mason back in the fold, this team has a Hell of a chance this year.

I'll even argue with you that in ALL 3 of the games between the Ravens and Steelers, that the officiating was slightly biased toward the Steelers... including a few calls that SHOULD have been overturned by the league, except that they refuse to call an official on the carpet without an accusation of blatent cheating. Subtle cheating is fine.

BUT, you could reply with the fact that the Ravens should be good enough to defeat cheaters(biased officiating).

You know, I think a lot of Cleaveland fans are even more pissed about the Raven's success, than Shitsburgh fans... because had their cities leaders not been stupid, this would have still been THEIR team.

OH, yes, I just went there.

[Hica]

The only team I can even begin to see winning the AFC East over the Patriots is the Dolphins. Assuming Tom Brady doesn't get hit by a bus, I think they win it all (over the Eagles) in the end.

[Ricey]

Originally Posted by Peon

NFC
-Division Winners:
East: Eagles - healthy Iggles team barely edges out division.

Not gonna happen, I'm an eagles fan and I am saying it.

[KubeDawg]

Meh, I don't think the Patriots will do as well as they want to this year. With that said, they could get at least to the playoffs without a hitch. But I think there are some other teams who are going to stand out this year. Of course, my team Green Bay will likely do better this year with some of the changes they've made along with Aaron Rodgers being QB still. It'll be interesting to see them play the Vikings this year if Brett Favre is still playing by then.

I also think the Chiefs may show some positive changes this year, even with the loss of Tony Gonzalez. I think Larry Johnson is overrated, but they have Dwayne Bowe and Cassel, being a good combo IMO. Plus they've slimmed down, losing almost 750lbs total since last year. So they're faster, better, and will probably make it to the playoffs this year.