NFL – Pick ’em pal!
How I view the NFL Divisional Races
AFC West
(1) Denver has too much firepower, a healthy offensive line, a rebuilt defense with attitude, and of course Peyton Manning. They do get Von Miller-Ryan Clady back at 100% health.
(2) San Diego has an array of big play guys now on offense. What a match-Philip Rivers with Coach Mike McCoy. They will score lots of points, but they will need them. Bolts to finish second because of substandard defense…
(3) Kansas City takes a huge step back. They went from 2-wins to 11-last year, but gutted some veteran players. No one can forget the ugliness of the playoff loss either…this will be a disappointing year at Arrowhead….
(4) Oakland now has to start rookie QB-Derek Carr because of injuries, and they have surrounded him with veterans, but they have no continuity on defense..if they get to (8-8) that will be an accomplishment..
AFC East
(1) New England has now had a year to work in the kid WRs with Tom Brady, has rebuilt the defense, which is healthy and younger.
(2) The Jets talk a good game, but I doubt they have enough to play a good game. Geno Smith takes a step forward at QB and the defensive front seven is special, but Revis-Cromartie are gone in the secondary and the WR corp is shaky…
(3) Buffalo has the young QB-WR combo-EJ Manuel-Sammy Watkins and depth at RB-but not much else…
(4) Miami-massive attitude adjustment there, not enough people around QB-Ryan Tannehill.
AFC North
(1) Cincinnati is the choice here but they need to get Andy Dalton to learn how to win in postseason.
(2) Baltimore has Joe Flacco and an upgrade at WR, but lots of new pieces on defense. (3) Pittsburgh has failed as an organization to draft talent of late to wrap around Ben Roethlisberger, and likely won’t be in the postseason…
(4) Cleveland has issues everyone and now uncertainty at QB with Hoyer-Manziel debate going on everyday…Might be a year away from being good.
AFC South
(1) Indianapolis wins because of Andrew Luck, but also wins because the division is so bad. Colts have lots of holes in what looks like a rebuild of the roster…
(2) Tennessee starts the life after Chris Johnson era with Ken Whisenhunt as coach, a new look OL, a rebuilt defense, but lacking enough firepower around the uncertain QB-Jake Locker-give them another year…
(3) Jacksonville has the QB of the future sitting right now-Blake Bortels, but he looks good. Nothing else on the team does however…
(4) Houston has all the powderkeg players on defense, but they cannot play 60-minutes a game, and they have not added much around Arian Foster-Andre Johnson-not a good year for new coach Bill O’Brien.
NFC East
(1) Philadelphia has changed some parts-out goes WR-DeSean Jackson, in comes RB-Darren Sproles and a bigger group of WRs…Defenses caught up with Chip Kelly the second half of the year, but this will be fun to see if they grow this package more…
(2) Washington will be better a couple of weeks down road, but the growth of QB-RG3 in this pocket offense will take time..think the defense is better than anyone realizes…
(3) New York Giants have Eli Manning and a new offense, but question marks at running game, a struggling WR corps, and injuries and new faces on defense..a work in the process package…
(4) Dallas-yes Tony Romo is back but aside from Dez Bryant and Jason Witten, is there anything else…Can a defense that gave up (415Y) per game last year be worse-stay tuned.
NFC North
(1) Green Bay thinks it will be more dangerous than in the past with a full commitment to Aaron Rogers no huddle and has 3-RBs to help him..but does porous run defense hold up now that they lost DT-BJ Raji for the year…
(2) Detroit unveils the Jim Caldwell era and they think they can tone down turnover prone QB-Matthew Stafford and make the rest of the offense consistent..the defensive front does play angry, but can they stop anyone in the secondary…
(3) Chicago was very active in free agency and has given Jay Cutler lots of bullets in the gun, and the defensive looks superb with Jared Allen-Lamarr Houston, but do they have enough in the secondary, or is it just outscore people…
(4) Minnesota has new leadership in Mike Zimmer-Norv Turner and I like them..they have RB-Adrian Peterson but face a rebuilding job in their DL.
NFC South
(1) New Orleans has a revitalized Drew Brees, playmakers at WR with Stills-Cooks and 3-RBs-but now do they have enough defense…
(2) Atlanta needs to bounce back from the (4-12) misery of last year or Mike Smith could be in trouble..Injuries in OL and LB hurt the hopes of the season…
(3) Carolina must grow QB-Cam Newton, but running off all their WRs seemed a strange way to do business..Deep at RB…and the Ron Rivera defensive front seven is ferocious..Just don’t know about things around the QB…
(4) Tampa Bay’s hiring of Lovie Smith was great, and they hauled in lots of new faces, but will need time to make it fit, and answer the question, who really is the QB.
NFC West
(1) Seattle is the likely pick to get to the NFC finals again, but the 3-weeks schedule out of the gate is tough, and they lost a bunch of depth on defense…Still loaded however and really fast around Russell Wilson…
(2) San Francisco-this could be a drift back year eventhough the WR corps and RB group looks good around Colin Kaepernick…but off field problems-injuries have really stripped defense…
(3) Arizona will be a force, but might have been a real threat for top spot before injuries and suspension gutted the up-the-middle defense..Carson Palmer will be better in year two of Bruce Ariens offense and he has weapons, but jut not enough guns on defense…
(4) St. Louis-just when you thought they had arrived under Jeff Fisher-QB-Sam Bradford goes down again with a knee injury…Defense will have to carry them, but you need star power at QB in this league and they don’t have it.
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