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Fearless Football Forecasts: NFL 2018

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September 06, 2018, 05:04 AM
catskilleagle
Fearless Football Forecasts: NFL 2018
I was surprised no one had started making predictions for the season starting tomorrow.

I say the Eagles will win the NFC East because they're better than the Cowboys and the Redskins. It is being said that insiders like the Giants this year but I think they have a solid shot at third place in the division.

The Packers will win the NFC North but Aaron Rogers will get beat-up by Khalil Mack both times the Packers play the Bears.

The Rams own the NFC West. The 49ers got better with Garappolo late last year but they just lost their running back McKinnon for the season. In two years Seattle has gone from Super Bowl contender battling to keep third place in their division.

The Saints are the class of the NFC South though a lot of people are picking the Falcons.

In the AFC it's a given that the Patriots will win the AFC East because the Jets are going to be only a little better and the Bills and Dolphins are going to be about the same. As a Dolphins fan, I can still hope we'll split with the Patriots (like last year) because either Brady or Gronk will be hurt during at least part of the season.

The AFC West is less clear to me but I think the Chargers will win the division though the Chiefs look good. The Raiders and the Broncos aren't going anywhere.

The Steelers should win the AFC North. People are predicting the Browns to win as many as eight games this season but I think it will be more like four.

The Houston Texans should win the AFC South. I don't think the Colts, Titans, nor Jaguars have enough to stop them.

I think the Saints will beat the Rams in the NFC Championship and the Texans will defeat the Steelers in the AFC Championship. In the Super Bowl the score will be Saints 23, Texans 17.

Jess
February 06, 2019, 05:11 AM
catskilleagle
Well, I was mostly wrong but I picked the NFC Championship teams and was a pass interference call away from picking the NFC team in the Super Bowl.

The Eagles did make a strong late run but the Cowboys beat expectations. Prescott is a little too much like Osweiler: he can't hit a wide open receiver downfield but he worked around that well enough to get into the playoffs. He showed improvement

The Packers ended up the season with Rodgers recovering from early injury but because he had to have so much money, they can't afford to put enough playmakers around him. He's probably not going to sniff Super Bowl grass ever again as a participant.

The Seahawks put up a better fight than predicted even against the Rams. They'll get even better and the Rams could be bummed out for a while and lose an assistant coach or free-agent or two. That high-powered offense was beat-down worse than Carolina was a few years ago and the Panthers haven't been the same since.

Look for the Saints back in the playoffs again.

Who's picking against the Patriots next year? They'll probably be even better next season but still lose a few games they shouldn't.

The Texans went through a season pretty healthy. Watson, Watt and Clowney made through the season but they were still clearly not as good as the Chiefs, Chargers, and Patriots.

The Chiefs need 2-3 better players on defense and a little better coin-flip luck.

The Steelers defeated themselves - too much drama. Now, they have to worry about a Lamar Jackson with a year of NFL experience.

I didn't mind the low scoring Super Bowl. For most of the game the Rams were still a good trick play or turnover runback away from taking the lead. It was a good game for anyone with an attention span.



quote:
Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I was surprised no one had started making predictions for the season starting tomorrow.

I say the Eagles will win the NFC East because they're better than the Cowboys and the Redskins. It is being said that insiders like the Giants this year but I think they have a solid shot at third place in the division.

The Packers will win the NFC North but Aaron Rogers will get beat-up by Khalil Mack both times the Packers play the Bears.

The Rams own the NFC West. The 49ers got better with Garappolo late last year but they just lost their running back McKinnon for the season. In two years Seattle has gone from Super Bowl contender battling to keep third place in their division.

The Saints are the class of the NFC South though a lot of people are picking the Falcons.

In the AFC it's a given that the Patriots will win the AFC East because the Jets are going to be only a little better and the Bills and Dolphins are going to be about the same. As a Dolphins fan, I can still hope we'll split with the Patriots (like last year) because either Brady or Gronk will be hurt during at least part of the season.

The AFC West is less clear to me but I think the Chargers will win the division though the Chiefs look good. The Raiders and the Broncos aren't going anywhere.

The Steelers should win the AFC North. People are predicting the Browns to win as many as eight games this season but I think it will be more like four.

The Houston Texans should win the AFC South. I don't think the Colts, Titans, nor Jaguars have enough to stop them.

I think the Saints will beat the Rams in the NFC Championship and the Texans will defeat the Steelers in the AFC Championship. In the Super Bowl the score will be Saints 23, Texans 17.

Jess

February 06, 2019, 10:45 AM
Raven
quote:
Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I didn't mind the low scoring Super Bowl. For most of the game the Rams were still a good trick play or turnover runback away from taking the lead. It was a good game for anyone with an attention span.
Jess
[/QUOTE]

Hey Jess, I've got an attention span, the game was awful. Big Grin

It happens a lot that the best games are in the Championships and the Super Bowl is anti-climactic. Usually it isn't both teams that look like they don't belong there. Regardless of how low the scoring, I don't think anyone thought the Rams could win after getting like 50 yards in the whole first half. They had no plays at all and Belichick is not that great a genius. The Pats were almost, not quite as bad, for most of the game and any decent effort from an opponent would really have put them in a hole.

Anyway, I didn't even know you had started this thread, so if you run it up for 2019, just start with NFL and maybe you might get more participation. No fun if you can't argue with someone. Wink
February 06, 2019, 06:10 PM
catskilleagle
Hi Raven,

I was hoping to get a reaction with that. Yeah, it's hard to find anyone who liked that game. The Chiefs were going nowhere in the first half of the AFC Championship but figured it out by the 4th quarter and they were moving on the Patriots. I thought Goff blew the field goal attempt taking a sack and forcing a 53 harder (not a gimme). The Rams needed to run a couple of plays the Patriots hadn't seen before from them. The Dolphins got to the playoffs one year with the Wildcat.

One of things lost in all the hoopla was the Redskins were still in the playoff hunt with a couple of weeks to go and they were injury-riddled - down to their 4th string quarterback.

The Dolphins beat the Bears, Titans, and Patriots but they lost both games to the Bills. They should not have fired Gase. The Jets got instantly better getting him and the Dolphins are rolling the dice again.

Jess
February 07, 2019, 06:25 AM
wolfie
quote:
Originally posted by Raven:

Belichick is not that great a genius.



show us your medals. Big Grin

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