FanPost

2014 NFL Season predictions


It's that time of year again....

This thread will be for all your meaningless talking-head type team predictions that will probably be proven way, way wrong in a month or two. It's always a fun exercise though, and I don't take it too seriously. Teams expected to contend tank every year, and teams expected to do nothing go all the way. Injuries happen. Heck, for all we know, it could be a Texans/Buccaneers Super Bowl next year...Feel free to add any awards/details that you want to predict. Here's my go at it:

AFC EAST:

1. New England Patriots (12-4)

2. Miami Dolphins (9-7)

3. Buffalo Bills (7-9)

4. New York Jets (5-11)

Comment: OK, so not my favorite division to follow, nor am I the most up to date on the comings and goings here. But I predict (a predictable, but don't get me wrong, would LOVE to see MIA or BUF dethrone NE) New England taking the division with a little resistance from the Dolphins and Bills. I think they go 4-2 in the division. NYJ falls apart due to Geno's play and injuries. Tannehill continues to develop and look good. Bills D and Sammy Watkins make them an exciting type of 7-9 or 8-8 (think 2007 Cardinals type of vibe, but probably not QB play). Brady's lack of receivers will be an issue again.- BUT NE has an easy schedule...

AFC North:

1. Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)

2. Baltimore Ravens (10-6)

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-9)

4. Cleveland Browns (5-11)

Comment: OK, so another division I don't pay a lot of attention to. Dalton, Green, Bernard and that Defense. Ravens have a rebound year, but D is aging. Steelers have an off year and can't overcome Ravens' rebound and Bengals' continued improvement to get over the hump. Browns a mess with Hoyer, Manziel starts at some point. Still a mess - Defense looks better, though and gets them those 5 wins.

AFC South:

1. Indianapolis Colts (12-4)

2. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8)

3. Tennessee Titans (6-10)

4. Houston Texans (4-12)

Comment: Indy feasts on a weak division again. JAX makes a leap with that Defense and Bortles winning the job down the stretch and serves notice for 2015. Whiz will overachieve and put up 6 wins with his mess of a QB situation, finding a way to get Mettenberger, his John Skelton-clone onto the field earlier then he should ("the system works."). Houston just doesn't have the offensive talent, and will struggle with a rookie coach.

AFC West:

1. Denver Broncos (11-5)

2. San Diego Chargers (10-6)

3. Kansas City Chiefs (7-9)

4. Oakland Raiders (5-11)

Comment: I still don't see how anyone can be scared of Denver in the postseason after watching the Super Bowl, no matter how many free agents they add on defense. The AFC is weaker, though - but they have a relatively tough schedule including the whole NFC West, @CIN, @NE (Manning's house of horrors) and SD and KC won't exactly be pushovers - SD will make a very real push for this division. Rivers and McCoy solidify in year two, with some explosive offensive talent and a solid defense. KC, who feasted on the most patsycake schedule I'd ever seen through the first nine weeks of 2013, is primed for regression: more difficult schedule, opponents adjusting to scheme and personnel and Alex Smith as your starting QB. Jamaal Charles gets injured. They're a mediocre or possibly good-but-not-great Andy Reid team waiting to happen. Oakland, despite all its activity in free agency has a brutal schedule, no QB and is an organizational mess. Feel bad for these guys, but then nah, not really.


NFC East

1. Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)

2. New York Giants (8-8)

3. Washington Redskins (6-10)

4. Dallas Cowboys (5-11)

Comment: This division plays the NFC West. Philly with Foles and some other nice pieces figures to win it again. NYG will take a while to figure out McAdoo's new system and a Coughlin will not allow them to have two bad seasons in a row - I think they have a slow start, and a hot finish, like the 2011 or 2013 Cardinals. Jay Gruden will do good things for the Skins' offense, and they too will better towards the end of the season, but still not anywhere close to good enough in 2014. This is the year the wheels come off in Dallas. Garrett will be gone, and Romo will be on his way out after this year. The defense is awful and lost Ware, and Romo doesn't start all 16 due to injuries.

NFC North

1. Green Bay Packers (11-5)

2. Chicago Bears (9-7)

3. Detroit Lions (8-8)

4. Minnesota Vikings (5-11)

Comment: The Pack will take this one. Rodgers is simply too good. Chicago is for real and has a solid roster, but I don't trust Cutler and think they are merely good, not great. Detroit will be an intriguing and improved team, but in their first year under Caldwell won't have quite enough. Vikes will field a good defense, but I'm not sold on Cassel or Teddy being able to do enough this year under a new regime.

NFC South

1. New Orleans Saints (13-3)

2. Atlanta Falcons (10-6)

3. Carolina Panthers (7-9)

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-11)

Comment: OK, so mild controversy here, I guess, with me picking ATL over CAR. Cam and the Panthers take a step back after overachieving last year and somehow now have less receiving options. ATL will rebound, but still won't look great. I think Steven Jackson has a (relative to that which can be expected of an aging RB) nice season for them and Julio does as well, but they won't exactly inspire fear in anyone. Tampa Bay is rebuilding and while I love me some Josh McCown, it's not their time yet, although the D will be pretty good. New Orleans is going to feast on a favorable schedule - they'll be a good team, but the Superdome and the sched is going to inflate their record quite a bit - they went 8-0 at home last year. Take a look: They start out with ATL and CLE on the road, two relative lightweights. They get the Vikes in the superdome, then they travel to Dallas, they get the Bucs in NO, and then travel to Detroit, then get the Pack, but in the Superdome! Follow that up with quick turnaround and a game four days later in Charlotte (which is admittedly tough coming off of a game versus a tough opponent like GB - CAR won't be pushovers either.), and it's likely this team starts out 6-0 through six and probably no worse than 7-1 through the first half. After that, they get the Niners - but in the dome - get the tough Bengals - but in the dome - have a monday nighter versus the Ravens - but in the dome - and then travel to Pittsburgh. They finish up with CAR, @CHI (in december....), ATL and @TB. The most difficult team they play on the road is Chicago. All their tough games are in the superdome, and even Niners will be easier with Brees versus that secondary. I say they drop a division game (maybe CAR) and maybe even a loss at the dome to a tougher team (GB?). I really don't see more than three losses in that schedule, and they'll probably be the 1 seed in that case, which is very dangerous for the rest of the conference.

NFC West:

1. Seattle Seahawks (12-4)

2. Arizona Cardinals (10-6)

3. San Francisco 49ers (9-7)

4. St. Louis Rams (7-9)

Comment: OK, so this one is extremely tough to be objective about, but I genuinely feel that either SEA (SB hangover) or SF (Defensive/OL and Kaepernick regression) will take enough of a step back to let us in. Ideally, It'd be both - and that might be the scenario where we can win the division with 12 or so wins - but I'm not ready to go that far yet. All four teams have a very tough schedule, and not just because they play each other. Look at San Fran's and it's not hard to see six or seven losses if things don't break their way. I mostly want to focus on how I think things will go in a scenario that's not quite best-case, but is pretty good and reliant on no or very few major injuries. FWIW, St.L will be tough with that D and running game, but before Bradford's injury I was way more worried about them.

AZ:

1st four:

SD

@NYG

SF

@DEN

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Need to take the SD game at home, realistically we need to not have more than three losses going into our last six, since that stretch includes 4 NFC West games, basically amounting to an NFC West tourney (including 2 vs. SEA), so while I think we can and will beat @DEN and are lucky to get @NYG early before they get it together, and are certainly good enough to get SF at home, I think we go 3-1 or split. Hell, wouldn't be all that surprised if we lost to SD (cue panic) only to sweep the other three. Can't go worse than 2-2 for playoff hopes.

2nd four:

WAS

@OAK

PHI

DAL

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Welcome back to the NFC East, gents! We absolutely need to win three here. PHI is the logical choice for a loss if any, but I think we will be ready for payback after a game we should've won IN philly last year...Just don't lose focus, and this could easily be a 4-0 stretch (and CANNOT be worse than 3-1 for playoff hopes) putting us at around 5-3 or 6-2.

3rd four:

STL

DET

@SEA

@ATL

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We need to be prepared for a loss to the Seahawks. Yes, I know we beat them up there last year and I like our chances this year, but we can't count on it. Absolutely have to take three of four. STL at home shouldn't be too difficult, and we need to pressure Stafford enough and keep CJ under wraps. ATL needs to be a crucial road win against a decent team, but one that isn't exactly the Saints or Seahawks at home. 9-3 or 8-4 keeps us on pace. 7-5 (maybe because of losses to DEN and SF and NYG earlier...) would leave us bleeding badly going into a dogfight at this point. Maybe we lose to SEA and DET? Who knows...

4th four:

KC

@STL

SEA

@SF

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9-3 going into this stretch means we MIGHT be able to go 1-3 if other NFC wildcard teams or SEA and SF are flagging, but 10-6 is far from a guarantee for the playoffs and 9-3 is not extraordinarily likely either, meaning we need to take care of business versus the two Missouri teams and take one from SEA or SF. I think we do take care of KC and STL (although they will be hair-raising finishes) and we take it from SEA at home instead of on the road this year. We lose to SF (cringe! Just trying not to be homer....this div really is tough), but this year they're the ones trying to catch us in week 17 for the playoffs and come up short. that leaves us between 12-4 (9-3 start and 3-1 finish) and 10-6 (maybe an 8-4 or 7-5 start and a 2-2 or 3-1 finish). We make it this time, or fall just short once again, as painful as it is to type that. On to the playoffs! We'll say AZ makes it in this scenario at 10-6 while dropping one or two they shouldn't have (gut feeling says its an NFC East game, @NYG, @DAL or WAS).

Playoffs:

AFC WC:

SD(6) @ DEN (3)

BAL (5) @ CIN (4)

DIVISIONAL:

CIN (4) @ NE (1)

DEN (3) @ IND (2)

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I really hate myself for picking a DEN - NE championship game, but that's just the way it worked out with the teams I picked to get in. I like CIN to get over the playoff win hump, but feel like too much of a homer for picking them to do that and THEN go to Foxboro and win....if they do that and get hot though, watch out...

AFCCG:

DEN (3) @ NE (1)

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Peyton finally goes into Foxboro and wins a big game. Only because NE beats up on an easy division and schedule and grabs the one seed that way, while DEN has a much more potent offense and better defense. It won't matter much since the AFC is so weak outside of DEN, and a few other intriguing teams like CIN, SD, and KC and NE just because they're there every year. If anything, this should indicate that there is no better time than this season for a darkhorse like BUF or JAX or MIA to strike.

NFC:

WC:

AZ (5) at PHI (4)

ATL (6) @ GB (3)

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Cards dodge a bullet by avoiding Lambeau. I like us in this matchup especially if we lose the regular season game to PHI in AZ. While I believe Philly is for real, I just don't believe they measure up to the NFC West. It'll be a close one and we get payback for the last two games, or maybe just the 2013 one.

Divisional:

AZ (5) @ NO (1)

GB (3) @ SEA (2)

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Shows just how important seeding in the NFC will be. the Superdome keeps a viable Cards team out, and Qwest/CLink keeps a viable Pack team out. The Superdome then goes on to keep a good Seahawks team out....

NFCCG:

SEA (2) @ NO (1)

SB:

NO over DEN

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I never would have picked it to shake out this way if you had asked me to name the super bowl match up off the top of my head, but since I basically simulated it based on the records I predicted, it highlighted really how important having a good record, winning the division and things like SF not making it will completely change the balance of power. NO must not have a high seeding if other NFC teams want to make it far. A team like ATL, CAR, SF, AZ (sorry) or even SEA grabbing the one seed likely makes things more interesting in the postseason, since the homefield advantage will be less pronounced.

Too tired after writing all that to do DROY and OROY, so I'll just give an MVP prediction I pulled out out of the air:

Conservative: Aaron Rodgers, QB

Out there prediction: A.J. Green, WR (!)

<em>This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.</em>