2009-10 NFL Preview

‘Twas the night before football and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a fantasy football-exhausted computer mouse,

The father and sons slept with dreams of footballs in their heads,

The remotes were cleaned and the TV was shined,

Extra batteries by their chairs, chips and burgers smelled divine,

When all of a sudden… “Bwoooooooop”,

Power outage! Wait, it was just a dream. Well, here we are once again. The start of another amazing football season. A chance for the slate to be wiped clean. (I bet the Detroit Lions couldn’t wait.) And once again it’s time for my NFL Preview Post “Fake studio applause”. I’m your host, thisoldsoul.

AFC East: I will take the Patriots here. They would have won the division last year, had it not been for Tom Brady’s injury. The Jets, Dolphins, and Bills just can’t contest this year. Possible wild card for 1 of those 3.

AFC North: This will be contested between the Steelers and Ravens. The Bengals will fight valiantly but lose out, and the Browns will acknowledge another poor season. Steelers will most likely win, with Ravens being in the lead for a wild card.

AFC South: Titans vs. Colts here, with the Jaguars and Texans slipping in here and there.  Tough call but whatever team doesn’t win the division will win a wild card. Best guess: Titans. Texans may have a possible wild card.

AFC West: Plain and simple: Chargers. They may be slightly contested by the Broncos, but the Chiefs and Raiders will not even pose a threat.

AFC Wild Cards:  Colts and Ravens.

NFC East:  Quite possibly the strongest division in the NFL at this point. I will take the Giants here with Eagles and Cowboys, and quite possibly the Redskins in wild card contention.

NFC North: I’ll take the Packers, with the Vikings and Bears lurking in the wild card and possible division contention again. The Lions should pop champagne if they get one win, celebrate by going out to eat if there are two, and if they win three, they should sit around and just stare in amazement. Give them a clap. Or two if they deserve it.

NFC South: Falcons will most likely win, but Buccaneers, Panthers, and Saints should all contend also. Expect those four to fight to the finish.

NFC West: Flat out Cardinals here. Rams, Seahawks and 49ers will not even contend for anything. Except possibly first pick in next year’s draft.

NFC Wild Cards: Eagles and Vikings.

AFC Championship: Patriots over the Steelers. (Sorry, pal.)

NFC Championship: Eagles over the Giants.

Super Bowl: Patriots over the Eagles.

Finally!

Finally, a Redskins win. And it actually came from a quality opponent. The Eagles’ playoff hopes have now been dashed, and the Redskins have played the spoiler. Next week, they take on the 49ers. USA Today has actually picked the 6-9 49ers over the 8-7 Redskins. Not surprising, considering the poor quality of theri wins and play this season. But jsut think, if the Redskins had been able to beat the Rams and the Bengals, 2 absolutely horrible teams, they would be 10-5. And if they had just one more win versus another team, they would be 11-4 and have a playoff spot virtually locked up.

 

Now, considering the wild AFC East race.  The Patriots need to defeat the Bills and have the Jets beat the Dolphins to win the division, or have the Ravens lose to the Jaguars and Beat the Bills to get the final wild card. If the Jets beat the Dolphins and the Bills beat the Patriots, the Jets win the division. If the Dolphins win over the Jets, they win the division.

Man, that was tiring.