As I skimmed the site\u2019s archives over the summer, I realized I\u2019ve gotten away from the half-assed NFL predictions that used to be a staple this time of year. That is mostly because I was busy with kid sports and the beginning of the NFL season often snuck up on me. And because I loathe how the NFL offseason dominates sports media and largely tune it out, not checking back in until the games begin. <\/p>\n
Both to honor the heritage of this site and because I listened to a few NFL preview pods this week, I\u2019m going to jump back in and offer some extra half-assed NFL predictions.<\/p>\n
Lots of people seem down on the Bills after their struggles to match the hype they entered last season with. I\u2019m going to chalk a lot of that, along with their early playoff exit, to injuries. Plus I don\u2019t trust the other teams in the division. Buffalo<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe the best and most intriguing division in the game. One injury to a key player could tip the entire thing. Since I\u2019m a partial Bengals homer now, I\u2019m going with Joe Burrow and his crew. Cincinnati<\/strong><\/p>\n Ugh. The Colts should really suck this year. Every preview I\u2019ve either listened to or read, though, suggests that at least Anthony Richardson is going to be interesting enough to watch their games. He\u2019s going to have amazing moments and look completely overwhelmed at times. Often within the same drive. I suppose the question is whether the organization can shake its recent dysfunction and build around him as he (hopefully) turns into a star, or is he destined to be a Must Watch QB stranded on a terrible team his entire career? <\/p>\n As for the division, both Tennessee and Jacksonville have strong selling points. Culture in Nashville, youth in Jax. Yet both teams have huge holes that have some people squinting and suggesting that if the Colts can protect Richardson, bring back Jonathan Taylor in week five, and keep the defense healthy, they could actually steal the division. Yikes. I like Trevor Lawrence\u2019s potential the most, so I\u2019ll take Jacksonville<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Kansas City<\/strong> until Mahomes can\u2019t throw. <\/p>\n There are a lot of good teams in the AFC. But once you get past the top three, they all have serious questions. Can Tua stay healthy? Is Aaron Rodgers washed up or revitalized? Can the Ravens still stop people? Was that late season-run by the Steelers legit? Can Sean Payton really fix the Broncos? What new ways will the Chargers find to squander their potential? I\u2019ll take Pittsburgh<\/strong> and New York<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Oh, wait, I just remembered there are three Wild Card teams now. Shit. Throw in San Diego<\/strong> just because their eventual loss will be highly entertaining.<\/p>\n If Washington were better, this would match the AFC North for overall strength. Lots of people are jumping on the Cowboys\u2019 bandwagon, but I can\u2019t possibly trust that franchise not to fuck it up somehow. Philadelphia<\/strong> was clearly the best team in the NFC last year. No reason they won\u2019t win the division again this year.<\/p>\n All the love for the Lions is cute. Get back to me when they\u2019ve won a meaningful game. I think Minnesota<\/strong> holds off Green Bay.<\/p>\n Man, what is it with the South divisions? They both suck. New Orleans<\/strong> I guess?<\/p>\n The Niners are a weird team, man. They might have the best, most complete roster in the game. With one glaring exception: quarterback. They always seem to have a couple huge injuries, too. I still trust them more than I trust Geno Smith to repeat last year\u2019s performance. San Francisco<\/strong><\/p>\n Dallas<\/strong>, New York<\/strong>, and Green Bay<\/strong><\/p>\n Buffalo<\/strong> over New York Kansas City<\/strong> over Pittsburgh Kansas City<\/strong> over Cincinnati<\/p>\n Dallas<\/strong> over New Orleans Philadelphia<\/strong> over Dallas San Francisco<\/strong> over Philadelphia<\/p>\n Niners get another chance at the Chiefs. Their defense slows Mahomes down, but when forced to play the entire game with some quarterback they signed in November – Carson Wentz!?!? – they can\u2019t put any points on the board. Kansas City<\/strong> 24, San Francisco 9, and the Chiefs officially enter dynasty territory.<\/p>\n As always, never, ever take use these to make actual bets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I skimmed the site\u2019s archives over the summer, I realized I\u2019ve gotten away from the half-assed NFL predictions that used to be a staple this time of year. That is mostly because I was busy with kid sports and the beginning of the NFL season often snuck up on me. And because I loathe how the NFL offseason dominates sports media and largely tune it out, not checking back in until the games begin. Both to honor the heritage of this site and because I listened to a few NFL preview pods this week, I\u2019m going to jump back in and offer some extra half-assed NFL predictions. AFC East Lots of people seem down on the Bills after their struggles to match the hype they entered last season with. I\u2019m going to chalk a lot of that, along with their early playoff exit, to injuries. Plus I don\u2019t trust the other teams in the division. Buffalo North Maybe the best and most intriguing division in the game. One injury to a key player could tip the entire thing. Since I\u2019m a partial Bengals homer now, I\u2019m going with Joe Burrow and his crew. Cincinnati South Ugh. The Colts should really suck this year. Every preview I\u2019ve either listened to or read, though, suggests that at least Anthony Richardson is going to be interesting enough to watch their games. He\u2019s going to have amazing moments and look completely overwhelmed at times. Often within the same drive. I suppose the question is whether the organization can shake its recent dysfunction and build around him as he (hopefully) turns into a star, or is he destined to be a Must Watch QB stranded on a terrible team his entire career? As for the division, both Tennessee and Jacksonville have strong selling points. Culture in Nashville, youth in Jax. Yet both teams have huge holes that have some people squinting and suggesting that if the Colts can protect Richardson, bring back Jonathan Taylor in week five, and keep the defense healthy, they could actually steal the division. Yikes. I like Trevor Lawrence\u2019s potential the most, so I\u2019ll take Jacksonville. West Kansas City until Mahomes can\u2019t throw. Wild Cards There are a lot of good teams in the AFC. But once you get past the top three, they all have serious questions. Can Tua stay healthy? Is Aaron Rodgers washed up or revitalized? Can the Ravens still stop people? Was that late season-run by the Steelers legit? Can Sean Payton really fix the Broncos? What new ways will the Chargers find to squander their potential? I\u2019ll take Pittsburgh and New York. Oh, wait, I just remembered there are three Wild Card teams now. Shit. Throw in San Diego just because their eventual loss will be highly entertaining. NFC East If Washington were better, this would match the AFC North for overall strength. Lots of people are jumping on the Cowboys\u2019 bandwagon, but I can\u2019t possibly trust that franchise not to fuck it up somehow. Philadelphia was clearly the best team in the NFC last year. No reason they won\u2019t win the division again this year. North All the love for the Lions is cute. Get back to me when they\u2019ve won a meaningful game. I think Minnesota holds off Green Bay. South Man, what is it with the South divisions? They both suck. New Orleans I guess? West The Niners are a weird team, man. They might have the best, most complete roster in the game. With one glaring exception: quarterback. They always seem to have a couple huge injuries, too. I still trust them more than I trust Geno Smith to repeat last year\u2019s performance. San Francisco Wild Cards Dallas, New York, and Green Bay Playoffs! AFC Buffalo over New York Pittsburgh over Jacksonville Cincinnati over San Diego Kansas City over Pittsburgh Cincinnati over Buffalo Kansas City over Cincinnati NFC Dallas over New Orleans New York over Green Bay San Francisco over Minnesota Philadelphia over Dallas San Francisco over New York San Francisco over Philadelphia Super Bowl Niners get another chance at the Chiefs. Their defense slows Mahomes down, but when forced to play the entire game with some quarterback they signed in November – Carson Wentz!?!? – they can\u2019t put any points on the board. Kansas City 24, San Francisco 9, and the Chiefs officially enter dynasty territory. As always, never, ever take use these to make actual bets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[67,70,66],"class_list":["post-12178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-football","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-nfl"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12179,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions\/12179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}North<\/h3>\n
South<\/h3>\n
West<\/h3>\n
Wild Cards<\/h3>\n
NFC<\/h2>\n
East<\/h3>\n
North<\/h3>\n
South<\/h3>\n
West<\/h3>\n
Wild Cards<\/h3>\n
Playoffs!<\/h2>\n
AFC<\/h3>\n
\nPittsburgh<\/strong> over Jacksonville
\nCincinnati<\/strong> over San Diego<\/p>\n
\nCincinnati<\/strong> over Buffalo<\/p>\nNFC<\/h3>\n
\nNew York<\/strong> over Green Bay
\nSan Francisco<\/strong> over Minnesota<\/p>\n
\nSan Francisco<\/strong> over New York<\/p>\nSuper Bowl<\/h2>\n