Who do you predict will win each of the NFL's divisions?

[ August 27, 2004, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I know this for a fact ...

The Vikings will choke YET AGAIN courtesy of Dante Culpepper and Randy Moss. I'm expecting another year of that here in the Twin Cities.

:mad:

Wow... so far no votes for Tampa Bay to win the NFC South... I guess the bandwagon doesn't fill up in Tampa until they win a few games, then it's "All on board" and "Does that bandwagon have a hemi" ?

Here's another prediction for you betting fans: Take the "OVER 9.5 wins" for Seattle. The reason why Seattle is everyone's darlings this year - weak, WEAK schedule... Divisionally, they get to play the Cards and Niners twice, they'll split with the Rams, their conference opponents are from the weak NFC South, along with Dallas & Minnesota, and their non-conference opponents are the AFC East. Hello NFC home field advantage (barring any serious injuries)! Aaah, the benefit of an easy schedule.

The AFC North should be a fun division to watch for the first time in many years.

Hey thats fine that Seattle is in a "weak" schedule. We don't care that much out here. We just want something wildly to cheer about this year, and Seattle is due. Go Hawks!

Even though the Eagles are the clear favorites, I think the NFC East may be the most competitive division this year. At least for in-division games.

Some of us think all the hype about how great the Eagles will finish this year is similar to all the hype at the beginning of the baseball season for the Phillies. Sadly, the Eagles, like the Phillies, will not live up to all the hype.

Those who are overly hyped up ought to look at the injury situation, just for one thing. But on the other hand, I think the NFC is weaker than the AFC overall so that might make a difference.

Judging from the poll results so far, no one has the AFC North figured out.

Scottie - hear ya about the expectations but that's about where the comparison ends. The Phillies are a tired, mediocre franchise with a harried manager and a marginally competent GM -- both of whom should be tossed asap.

The Eagles have a history (at least under this coaching staff and management) of overall success even in the face of past adversity (i.e. McNabb's injury).

I look for them to win the NFC East but who knows.

SO far the Eagles, Colts, Seahawks, Chiefs and Patriots are overwhelming picks to win their divisions.

The AFC North is a dead heat between the Ravens and Bengals with the Steelers close behind.

The NFC North has the Packers justa bit ahead of the Vikings.

The Panthers are the majority choice in the NFC South but the Falcons are liked by a few as well.

Keep the votes coming!

My prediction: Eagles finish dead last, well, right above the Chargers.

ZERO votes for Al Davis' Oakland Raiders to win the AFC West?....I'm shocked! ....not a single Outsporter has any belief in Norv Turner's coaching ability? -- just look at his track record of success during his 7 years in DC (on second thought, nevermind)....how far the silver and black have fallen since their Super Bowl appearance a mere 18 months ago....just win baby, right Al? wink

~Joe

[ September 02, 2004, 03:35 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Ah, yes. Another year begins with the NFC South being overlooked as a division capable of spiting out a super bowl contender. Tampa and Carolina have taken their turns. Now it's between New Orleans and Atlanta. Personally, I hope the dirty birds can do it but, to be realistic, I have to concede that the Aints have quite a bit more talent and that stench of "their due." In the AFC? Who the hell knows? Smart bet is that the Pats ride Tom Brady's sweet ass to another title.

I meant "they're due" (stupid english tutor!).
Also, I just wanted to mention Tom Brady's sweet ass again.

[ September 02, 2004, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: Brooking's boy ]

Actually you were right the first time. It's "they're due".

Anyway you can go back and edit any post of yours by clicking on the Paper icon directly above your post. Make the edit(s) and click Edit Post. Had to use it many, many times!

I don't think the Saints will be doing much of anything. They do have some nice talent with Brooks, McAlister and Horn. But there are just too many NFC teams that are better, barring injuries of course.

I'm hearing alot more "experts" talk about the Vikings making a playoff run and it makes me nervous. But if Bennett can get healthy and sttay that way, they could certainly win the North.

[ September 02, 2004, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Thanks for the edit info.

The Vikes are clearly the most promising team in the Central now that Favre and co. have gone the way of the Steelers.
The East is Philly's to lose, as Dallas (Testeverde?) and the 'Skins (I'll believe it when I see it.) sound more like pretenders than contenders.
Carolina repeating in the South makes even less sense than their making the Super Bowl last year. Which ATL and NO (I'm not even gonna sully this with Tampa). If Vick shows something more than flashes of brilliance, it's ATL all the way.
AFC-KC (Gunther Cunningham and a healthy Priest makes short work out of overhyped division), Cincy (Deion actually cinches this choice for me), and NE (weak division, improved offensively)

Jim and I have posted our annual NFL predictions.

Jim has Philly missing the playoffs: Fire away, Iggle fans.

The only disagreement I have is with Jim's pick of Green Bay over Seattle in the Conference finals. Nope. Other way around Jim. Other than that I agree with all your picks. wink

WOW New Orleans is so good this year, they get 1st and THIRD, awessome.

Looks like some folks were hittin the bottle with the SI hacks. heh heh.

The Saints are so unpredictable that picking them to finish in 2 places made the most sense.

I actually am picking them 1st and Tampa 3rd.

Salon's King Kaufman is again using our picks as part of his expert's preseason forecast :

Salon:

Here's a list of the experts.

From ESPN.com, I chose the 11 prognosticators whose photos ran on the predictions page, ignoring Web producer types, no offense to them. The 11 were: Len Pasquarelli, John Clayton, Joe Theismann, Tom Jackson, Merril Hoge, Sean Salisbury, Randy Mueller, Mike Golic, Mark Schlereth, Eric Allen and Sal Paolantonio.

I also used the picks of Brian Baldinger of Fox Sports, Cris Carter of Yahoo Sports, and Jim Buzinski and Cyd Ziegler Jr. of Outsports.com. Three Sporting News senior writers weighed in: Dan Pompei, Paul Attner and Vinnie Iyer.

From Sports Illustrated I used the magazine's picks, as well as those of Peter King, Dr. Z (Paul Zimmerman), which I extrapolated from his power ratings, and Don Banks. From CBS.SportsLine.com came senior writers Pete Prisco and Clark Judge.

I used the picks of Gregg Easterbrook, NFL.com's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, who expresses them in the form of haiku. Extrapolating from projected records, I took the picks of the 2004 "Brassey's Pro Football Forecast," the book that used to be "Pro Football Prospectus." One of the authors of that book this year was Aaron Schatz, a founder and front man for Football Outsiders.com. I used his picks and the site's staff consensus, no offense to the other individuals on staff, who also made picks.

After further review of my pick for ATL in the South, the pick is overruled due to early signs of gross incompetence. New coach with new scheme predicated on precise passing and timing routes combined with management's iron clad promise that Vick will be the QB come hell or high water equals ANOTHER rebuilding year for Foul-cans. Vick never learned Dan Reeves' admittedly complicated offense (the only reason for our offensive success in '02 was Vick's ability to shine on broken plays) and, despite playing football his whole life, Vick has never learned, or even seems interested in learning, how to slide (think Shaq/free throws) or check off receivers. I have lost confidence in his ability to learn the west coast, or any, offense and the o-line seems ill equiped to give Vick time to both blow the play and run for big yards. The South will shake down in this order: 1.New Orleans 2.Carolina 3. Tampa Bay 4. Atlanta (and may God have mercy on their souls).

Fortunately, I still get to watch Keith Brooking and Matt Stewart do their pregame stretches (unlike my beloved Falcons, that's never a let down).

The NFC East "the NFL's weakest division"? You've got to be kidding?

Jim, The Jags over the Titans? I don't see that happening even if the Titans lost several veterans.

Theoretically, if you base the strength of each division based upon the estimated (by Las Vegas oddsmakers) number of total wins of each of the teams within the division, the NFC West is football's weakest division. The NFC East is football's second weakest division, followed by the NFC South, AFC West, the NFC North and AFC North are even, then comes the AFC East and culminating with the AFC South as the division whose teams are predicted to have the highest cumulative win total.

Jim....AGAIN with the Stillers in first ? Didn't you learn from last year ?

I'm like a lemming.

Dear Joe,

Why won't you return any of my calls? I was worried about you so i've been waiting for you outside your house. I'm consfused as to why you would call the police? Can you please explain?

I just wanted to tell you how EXCITED I am to have you back, i've slept with your doll everynight for 12 years.

Anyway just wanted to let you know that i think we will win with year (just like i did last year, and the year before).

Throw away the fact that we lost our best OL and we have no depth on either of line.. you're joe gibbs, you have to win!

YEAH!

Love always

PCC

PS can you run that corner blitz to shut down the run like they do in Yuckville?

PhillyFan, you poor, simple, single-digit-IQ soul. Considering the fact that Jon Jansen missed the entire preseason, and both Chris Samuels and Randy Thomas missed the final two games and still, in those five games, the Redskins gave up three sacks and the Eagles gave up six sacks in four games, I would hesitate to talk about depth.

...By the way, the Redskins defense had 12 sacks and the Eagles had 9, for whatever it's worth.

And speaking of stopping the run, the Redskins gave up 445 rushing yards, again in 5 games and the Eagles gave up a whopping 612 rushing yards in 4 games.

Again, it was only preseason. Maybe this goes back to that depth thing you were talking about.

There must be an abundance of dead horses in Arizona to beat. Year after year after year! Good thing none of those Philly teams he roots for hasn't won any Championships, otherwise he MIGHT have some NEW material!

[ September 10, 2004, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Kenny ]

Dear PF,

Please stop sending cheesesteaks and pastries to my house. Bribing me with food will not make me coach better so that the Eagles may FINALLY win an NFC championship. I promise to not lose a 4th consecutive NFC title as I've already pissed away our opportunity by handing all rushing responsibilities to the oft injured Westbrook. By week 8 we should be securely eliminated from playoff contention.

Love,

Andy Reid

PS I'm really looking forward to watching the Vikes play. I hear that Randy Moss is phenomenal on Monday Night Football. Gee, I hope I can get his autograph. Maybe I'll even wear a clean sweat suit to that game.

Oh My,

PCC, when you broke down your numbers, tell me... did you take out scab time? Or does Joe Gibbs get those also.

Let's see the Eagles first teams played one game for a 1/2. Didnt play at all in the last game. GOOD JOB man.

Pre-Season stats... geez and i thought the yuck bandwagon was filled with idiots... guess i've found 2 of those.

Depth, PF, Depth. If "scab time" is scab time then why didn't every team only give up three sacks? BTW, no one else gave up fewer.

It's all about depth.

[ September 10, 2004, 09:13 AM: Message edited by: PCC ]

Once again, you are throwing out stats of games where 1/2 the guys who played in those games are no longer on the roster.

So you claiming anything from those games is nothing more than if i threw on my dawk jersey and threw the ball around with sting then counted those stats...

Anyway the flippin cards went 4-0 last preseason and we see how well they did.

Then again rooting for the skins, you need any advantage you might have... pre-season... off season.. or your favorite... draft day with high picks.

Tally ho Mr Myopic.

PhillyFan, I'm so sorry for posting over your head. I actually thought you understood what "depth" meant.

Yes, Depth is when you have AJ Feeley running the offense and still win.

Depth is when Taylor, Vincent, and Dawk are all out with injuries and still go on a 9 game win streak.

Depth is when you have 4 DL on the IR and still go to the playoffs.

Depth is when you have a player like Ike Reese who is the captain of special teams and can back up any LB spot.

Depth is not that you didnt allow a sack when you 4th string QB is running a vanilla offense in the Pre-Season.

Depth is drafting well so when your older players leave or want more than they are worth another player steps up. You dont destroy your salary cap... and you still win games.

Depth is not saying that in one preseason bitch gibbs made this team into the powerhouse of the NFL.

Mom left you stay up pretty late playing on the computer didnt she?

[ September 10, 2004, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: PhillyFan ]

Yes, Depth is when you have AJ Feeley running the offense and still win.

Depth is when Taylor, Vincent, and Dawk are all out with injuries and still go on a 9 game win streak.

Depth is when you have 4 DL on the IR and still go to the playoffs.

...and what this has to do with the 2004 season is?


Depth is when you have a player like Ike Reese who is the captain of special teams and can back up any LB spot.

His name is Antonio Pierce. He'll be starting at middle linebacker on Sunday. He also plays both outside positions.

Depth is drafting well so when your older players leave or want more than they are worth another player steps up. You dont destroy your salary cap... and you still win games.

What have you won? How many Super Bowl trophies do they have to dust off in the Eagles lobby?

Depth is not saying that in one preseason bitch gibbs made this team into the powerhouse of the NFL.

Tell me PF, when did you come to the realization that the Eagles weren't going to win the NFC East this year? Were you in the shower? Drinking your coffee? Driving to work? Did the realization make you shudder?

[ September 10, 2004, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: PCC ]

Just who will win the NFC East this year if the Eagles don't?

My thoughts... The Eagles should win this division by 2-3 games, with the Cowboys finishing second and the two lesser teams battling it out for the division cellar.

Only 4 teams have failed to get a single vote to win their division-the Bears, Cardinals, Raiders and Chargers. Yes even the 49ers, Texans, Dolphins, Giants, Bills, Browns and Lions have received at least 1 vote. I guess since there is always one surprise team each year...

The AFC North has the Outsporters most beffuddled. The Ravens are the pick with 15 votes. Bengals and Steelers have 11 and 10 respectively. The NFC North is close with the Packers up on the Vikings 22-17 votes.

Eagles, Panthers, Seahawks, Patriots, Colts and Chiefs are all overwhelming choices for their division crowns.

Picked the Browns as a sleeper. If Jeff Garcia and Kellen Winslow wake up together (at the same time that is wink ), this could be an interesting season for them. At the least, fun to watch.

for some damn reason, my signon and pin are not working specifically withthe Pick em game. . .so just to cover myself while I continue to work with it, here are my picks. .

NE
Pitts
Baltimore
Tampa Bay
San Diego
St. Louis
Tenn
New O
Philly
Atlanta
Minnesota
KC
Carolina
Jax
NY jets
Chicago

If Cyd's predicted Patriots-Vikings Super Bowl comes to be, it'll make for an interesting Super Bowl party at Cyd's place. That is provided I am invited back! Then again, my pigs-in-a-blanket were the talk of the party last year!

This has everything to do with the 2004 season. The depth that i provide to you is proven over the last 2-3 years.

How am I to even doubt that all of a sudden, in one offseason, all the depth is gone? How is that possible? Just because Gibbs entered the division?

Better yet, where do the 4skins even have an advantage on the Birds?

QB- NO
OL- NO
RB-Perhaps
WR-NO
DL-NO
LB-Tie maybe
Secondary-NO
Special teams-No
Kicking-NO

Coaching? Push. I'll take Jim Johnson any day over any Def Coordinator in the league. Harbaugh is one of the best speacial teams coaches in the league. Actually, you folks had Marvin Lewis as your Def Coordinator and he couldnt get those guys going... How is that failed coach from the bills any better than him?

The real kicker is this, the 4skins are cap dead in 2-3 years. The eagles are not.

QB - Yes (McNabb couldn't complete a pass to the broadside of a barn)

OL - Yes

RB - Yes

WR - Yes

DL - Tie (at worst)

LB - God Yes!

DB - Yes

Special Teams - No

Kicking - No

Coaching - Need we even go here?

Someone has been drinking too much of the Kool Aid.

You know PCC I was going to try and explain that to you, then i saw that you had burnell over McNabb and said...Idiot.

I think most of america laughed at that observation.

[ September 12, 2004, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: PhillyFan ]

No, the idiot is anyone who thinks the Redskins and Eagles coaching is a "push".

...by the way, that Eagles rush defense is mighty stout, isn't it?

HAHAHAHAHA are you talking about tiki's 4th qtr run when the gints had already taken out Warner and the second stringers were in? That goes under the, who cares stat of the day man. At that point I toasting the 31-10 score on the scoreboard.

Shouldn't you be a little more worried that portis had one good run then only got 84 yards on 28 carries for the rest of the game?

To me i see the gints were in the red zone 4 times and scored just once.

When the game was close, even Ron Dayne looked good running the ball. There were huge gaping holes for the Giants running backs. Not for the fact that the Giants are terrible and couldn't keep running the ball, the Giants would have had far more rushing yards.

And I'm certainly not worried about Clinton Portis.

...and I don't think the Bucs were in the Redskins' redzone, at all.

What on earth are you talking about...

They could have should have would have what?

Dayne averaged what, maybe 4 yards a carry? Doesnt really sound like huge holes to me.

Maybe you should pay attention tot he game on the field and not play with your gibbs blow up doll man, it's getting pretty crusty.