Atlanta, Philadelphia<\/strong>.<\/p>\nPlayoffs<\/h3>\nAFC<\/h3>\n
Kansas City over Denver. Farewell, Peyton. Maybe he can think about being a pitch-man on the teevee commercials. Call me crazy, but I think he might be OK at that.
\nBaltimore over Cincinnati. Always take Flacco over Dalton in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Indianapolis over Kansas City. Just like always.
\nNew England over Baltimore. Belichick is all up in the Ravens\u2019 heads.<\/p>\n
New England over Indianapolis. Just like always.<\/p>\n
Hey, some of those results look awfully familiar!<\/p>\n
NFC<\/h3>\n
Atlanta over New Orleans. The Saints\u2019 glory era ends in an upset loss at home.
\nPhiladelphia over Dallas. Shocker!<\/p>\n
Green Bay over Atlanta. Ugly weather = Packers win.
\nSeattle over Philadelphia. Closer than you might think.<\/p>\n
Seattle over Green Bay. Would it be too much to ask for an insane, classic game like last year\u2019s again? Probably so, and this ends up being a blowout.<\/p>\n
Now wait a minute, am I even trying, or just cutting\/pasting from last year?<\/p>\n
Super Bowl<\/h3>\n
Redemption vs. coronation! Karma vs. Predestination! Wilson vs. Brady! Carroll vs. Belichick!
\nSeattle 31, New England 30<\/strong><\/p>\nMark it down!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes! It is that time of year: time for fearless football predictions! I admit up front that my predictions are even more half-assed than normal this year. That\u2019s because my regular disdain for preseason football was combined with the Royals leading the division this year. So I\u2019ve been able to spend even less time than normal avoiding NFL news as I\u2019ve been fully immersed in all things Royal. More than likely there have been half-a-dozen season ending injuries I know nothing about that will affect some of the teams I\u2019m picking to do good things. First, some thoughts about the Colts. They\u2019re certainly going all-in this year, signing a bundle of free agents who are all at the tail ends of their careers. Obviously the hope is that the Colts can squeeze another year or two out of Frank Gore, Andre Johnson, etc. and surrounded them with weapons like Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, etc. will slow their declines a bit. Ideally they\u2019d be signing a bunch of young guys on the upswing and build a core that can stay together for 4–5 years. But between cap space and a dearth of those kinds of players on the open market, I can\u2019t say I argue all that much with the Colts\u2019 strategy. Of course, the real question is are Gore, Johnson, etc. enough to get the Colts over the top in the AFC? That\u2019s where I\u2019m not so sure. No matter the source, it\u2019s clear the Patriots have some kind of voodoo magic going for them. I don\u2019t think the Colts found the kryptonite for the Pats\u2019 sorcery in their offseason signings. But here\u2019s the thing that really gives me pause about the Colts: I have a bad feeling about Andrew Luck staying healthy this year. He\u2019s been beaten and battered every year since he came into the league. The Colts o-line is still suspect, at best. I have a fear that this is the year he either takes one too many hits, or one huge hit, and that keeps him from playing an entire season. I\u2019ve had that vibe all summer. I really hope that is just needless worrying on my part. OK, onto the predictions! AFC East Man, I\u2019ve been saying the Patriots have one more run in them for about five years now. So clearly my predictions powers are locked in. As long as Brady is under center and Belichick is on the sidelines, this division is theirs. New England AFC North The classic \u201ca bunch of decent but no real great teams\u201d division. One injury could play a huge role in who ends up winning this thing. I\u2019ll stick with Baltimore, mostly because they seem to have their own, lighter version of voodoo magic and lack glaring weaknesses. AFC South Houston has that monster defensive line, but no offense. This division is Indianapolis\u2019s provided Luck stays healthy. AFC West Does Peyton have one more run in him, or is this his \u201cWillie Mays, 1973 World Series\u201d season? I\u2019m wagering he\u2019s good enough to lead Denver to one more division title. Wildcards Cincinnati, Kansas City NFC East Do you trust Dallas to do what they did last year, or at least get close, again? Or do they turn back into team turmoil, equally capable of blowing someone out and of choking away winnable games? I\u2019ll stick with Dallas, because their defense should be healthy and much improved this year. NFC North Green Bay in a runaway. NFC South Drew Brees isn\u2019t as close to the end as Peyton is, but this feels like his last, best shot to make a deep run before the Saints blow up their roster completely. New Orleans. NFC West Seattle. Wildcards Atlanta, Philadelphia. Playoffs AFC Kansas City over Denver. Farewell, Peyton. Maybe he can think about being a pitch-man on the teevee commercials. Call me crazy, but I think he might be OK at that. Baltimore over Cincinnati. Always take Flacco over Dalton in the playoffs. Indianapolis over Kansas City. Just like always. New England over Baltimore. Belichick is all up in the Ravens\u2019 heads. New England over Indianapolis. Just like always. Hey, some of those results look awfully familiar! NFC Atlanta over New Orleans. The Saints\u2019 glory era ends in an upset loss at home. Philadelphia over Dallas. Shocker! Green Bay over Atlanta. Ugly weather = Packers win. Seattle over Philadelphia. Closer than you might think. Seattle over Green Bay. Would it be too much to ask for an insane, classic game like last year\u2019s again? Probably so, and this ends up being a blowout. Now wait a minute, am I even trying, or just cutting\/pasting from last year? Super Bowl Redemption vs. coronation! Karma vs. Predestination! Wilson vs. Brady! Carroll vs. Belichick! Seattle 31, New England 30 Mark it down!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[67,66],"class_list":["post-5516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516","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=5516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13953,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions\/13953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}