Super Bowl winner

[JC]

So, wait, are all the other teams listed? There's 31 teams and "other" so "other" is essentially Denver? You want to have "other" in there but left only one choice?
I didn't think it could get any worse.

You expected otherwise?

He's as predictable as this response was.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Who is going to run the ball on the Steelers? Seriously?

The Ravens will backslide, but not for the reason everyone thinks. Their defense will actually be better. But they are one more injury away on offense from being in major trouble. The quarterback will be decent, but I bet someone on their line goes down (or Ray Rice) and he's running for his life. The Bengals will be the surprise winner of the division, then get housed in the playoffs.

Pats win their division by default.

Aaron Rodgers wins another MVP.

49ers just miss the playoffs when Kaepernick misses five games with an ankle sprain.

Saints go on a FU Tour of the NFC, but lose in a shootout in the title game to Green Bay.

Houston over Green Bay.

I like the way you think.
Particualrly with the Ravens. The defense will get better, but I also think they will backslide. The Bengals are the sexy pick to win the division. I've even seen them tapped to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.

I like the Falcons, but I am convinced they are choke artists. The same with Houston.

That said ... I'll take 'em both in the Super Bowl.

 

[H.L. Mencken]

People who think the Ravens will struggle on defense because Lewis and Reed are gone aren't very adept at understanding football. Lewis was truly, truly bad at the end of the last season, a total liability in the playoffs, an embarrassment in the Super Bowl. Pollard was a lunatic hitter, but also ****ty in coverage. Reed unwillingness to tackle and inability to stay healthy was impossible to ignore. Cary Williams was one of the league's softest corners. Their absence is addition by subtraction across the board. Yet I've seen numerous tired previews of that team where authors speculate how they'll deal with the loss of Ray-Ray.

Probably by replacing him with someone who doesn't run a 5.3 40-yard dash is my first thought.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

So, wait, are all the other teams listed? There's 31 teams and "other" so "other" is essentially Denver? You want to have "other" in there but left only one choice?
I didn't think it could get any worse.

You expected otherwise?

He's as predictable as this response was.

Oh please. If anyone else says this, you don't say ****.

 

[MileHigh]

I'm still not convinced on the Donkeys. Something still missing. They will miss Dumervil. Lots and lots of talk that this season is similar to 1996-1997-1998 -- the disaster of a playoff loss the season before and coming back to win the Super Bowl the next two years. We'll see.

They should run away with the division (something that didn't happen in 1997). But I'm not sold on others in the conference.

So I voted for "Other" thanks to the ineptitude of the thread's author.

 

[Batman]

Where's Mini-Ditka?

 

[DanOregon]

Went with the Packers. I figure there will be a lot of recalculating after the first three weeks. I can see a big time QB goes down for an extended period, one of the breakout players from last year will cause fans to wonder what is wrong with him this year and another team will suddenly realize that a player they believed expendable, really wasn't.
Most interesting teams for me this year are the Chiefs (new coach, qb), the Eagles (new coach) and the Bears (new coach).

 

[old_tony]

Went with the Packers. I figure there will be a lot of recalculating after the first three weeks. I can see a big time QB goes down for an extended period, one of the breakout players from last year will cause fans to wonder what is wrong with him this year and another team will suddenly realize that a player they believed expendable, really wasn't.
Most interesting teams for me this year are the Chiefs (new coach, qb), the Eagles (new coach) and the Bears (new coach).

Don't forget new GM also for the Chiefs -- one of Ted Thompson's soldiers from Green Bay. Interesting that they have two former Green Bay assistants -- Reid a former assistant under Holmgren years ago and Dorsey a former assistant to Thompson -- each part of a different Super Bowl winner.

 

[93Devil]

Seattle and New England playing for it all. Giants as a dark horse in the NFC and Cincy and Pittsburgh being mini-dark horses in the AFC, but the road to the Super Bowl will run through New England.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I don't understand the Patriots love. I think people have been blindly picking them in most seasons since 2001.

The only argument I would somewhat understand is that there really isn't any contending team in the AFC that seems significantly improved from last season. Maybe the Broncos...

The Packers losing Bulaga is going to hurt a lot. If Jordy Nelson is forced to miss significant time, that will hurt them as well.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I think the NFC is going to be wide open.

The Saints should be a lot better. I think the Rams or Cardinals could surprise. I actually think Chip Kelly will be successful in Philly, maybe as soon as this season and by successful, I mean 9-7 or better.

 

[93Devil]

I don't understand the Patriots love. I think people have been blindly picking them in most seasons since 2001.

The only argument I would somewhat understand is that there really isn't any contending team in the AFC that seems significantly improved from last season. Maybe the Broncos...

The Packers losing Bulaga is going to hurt a lot. If Jordy Nelson is forced to miss significant time, that will hurt them as well.

The Patriot love comes from a lot of young talent at RB and TE to go along with all the investments they made on D over the years starting to mature. plus, like you said, the AFC does not look so great when you think about Dalton or Schaub leading a team to the SB.

And for all of those "QB does not matter" people; put a good QB on Cincy right now (Brees, Luck, Roethlisberger, Brady, etc...) and they are a prohibitive favorite to win the AFC right now and for the next couple seasons.

 

[imjustagirl]

I threw in my vote for the Browns.

 

[Songbird]

49ers and Ravens again.

Ravens repeat.

 

[albert77]

I would love to say the Saints, but I'm not convinced they've improved their defense enough, and I'm not sold on Rob Ryan as DC. Honestly, I have no clue who will win the SB, but I picked Denver. I think they're in a position where it's do or die this year.

 

[93Devil]

Jesus, anyone but the Saints in the Super Bowl. I would take two weeks of Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder stories over watching Rob Ryan in a Super Bowl.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Mizzou, I think people pick the Pats because everyone knows they have a walkover to the AFC East title, such a walkover that it puts them in contention for overall home field advantage, too.
I myself suspect that the lack of divisional competition is one reason they've come up short in the playoffs and Super Bowl since 2004, but that's hardly based on strict data analysis.

 

[JC]

I don't understand the Patriots love. I think people have been blindly picking them in most seasons since 2001.

The only argument I would somewhat understand is that there really isn't any contending team in the AFC that seems significantly improved from last season. Maybe the Broncos...

The Packers losing Bulaga is going to hurt a lot. If Jordy Nelson is forced to miss significant time, that will hurt them as well.

The Patriot love comes from a lot of young talent at RB and TE to go along with all the investments they made on D over the years starting to mature. plus, like you said, the AFC does not look so great when you think about Dalton or Schaub leading a team to the SB.

And for all of those "QB does not matter" people; put a good QB on Cincy right now (Brees, Luck, Roethlisberger, Brady, etc...) and they are a prohibitive favorite to win the AFC right now and for the next couple seasons.

Didn't you say that about Flacco last year?

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

Curious about whether the Percy Harvin injury changed anyone's mind about Seattle?

 

[Songbird]

Dalton gets ripped on but I'm not ready to quit on him just yet. If they go out in the first round this season, too, maybe.

But the Bengals are ready. This is Dalton's third season so he's that much more versed. He's made it to the playoffs both years as a starting QB. I'd like to see him step it up now and win a playoff game or two.