As I mentioned in the preseason thread, I didn’t see one of these this year, so here goes…
Carolina Panthers
Last season: 7-8-1 (NFC South champs!)
After winning the NFC South for the 2nd straight year (7-8-1 baby!) the Panthers went all in on Cameron Newton (and what choice did they have?) and promptly surrounded him with possibly the worst receiving corp in history. Sure, they didn’t know the Kelvin Benjamin would tear his ACL. Yes, Greg Olsen is a very good receiving TE. But… holy cow. I don’t know if one of their WRs would start on another team. Bad times.
Their biggest weakness in the off-season was Left Tackle. So they went and got … Michael Oher? He’s actually had a good pre-season, but…uh-oh.
I do like what I have seen from late-round draft pick CA Payne. Bruiser. Insurance for when Jonathan Stewart gets hurt. And he will.
They should be solid on defense with one of the best 3 linebacker squads in the league. The secondary should be improved and the D line will be solid, especially when Star Lotulolei gets healthy.
They will need to win a lot of close games. They don’t have the weapons to come back from a big deficit.
The first 4 games are winnable, then they have very tough 2nd 4-game stretch. The 2nd half of the season isn’t too bad.
I think the Falcons may be the team to beat in the South, but really, there are no juggernauts there, so there is hope.
My guess is they go 9 - 7 and win the division for the 3rd straight year.
The Bears will likely be terrible, but not quite terrible enough to win one of the first couple of draft picks. I’m barely paying any attention to football at all this year thanks to their likely craptitude and the fact that the Cubs are in playoff contention.
Chargers 10-6 if they can play at the same level as last year and not have the entire offense get catastrophically injured. SI’s Don Banks has them going to the Super Bowl! Optimistic! Although if you’re going to make a weird pick like that, go all the way and pick them to win it, man.
– The offense will be slightly above average (10th-14th best by the better metrics).
– The defense will be pretty bad, but not disastrous (15th-25th).
– They will once again be among the most heavily injured teams in the league.
– Eli Manning: 16 games, 4250 yards, 30 TDs, 16 INTs, 62% Comp, 7.2 YPA (so, very similar to last year).
– Odell Beckham Jr.: 13 games, 84 receptions, 1155 yards.
– I have no idea what’s going to happen with the RBs/running game.
– Final record: 7-9.
Someone has to remember to bump this thread in January so we can all boast and/or point & laugh.
49ers -
6-10 and a nice high draft pick to get a new right tackle. The whole right side of the offensive line looks terrible, no pass protection whatsoever. Kaepernick might rush for 1,000 yards and the defense looks decent.
Patriots lose three regular season games, advance through the playoffs to the Superbowl, where, seconds before kickoff, Roger Goodell announces that he has appointed himself officiating crew chief for the game…
Not surprisingly, the game ends in a scene of chaos as order among the players, team staff, and halftime acts has completely broken down. Goodell, still in a referee’s uniform, is attempting to quickly award the trophy to Russel Wilson and escape, but suddenly, Tom Brady , who was ejected during the opening coin toss even though he was on the bench at the time, appears, roller blading around the field and doing a strip tease down to his jockstrap. Skating by a stunned/bemused Goodell, Brady snatches the trophy and resumes skating around with the trophy held high. Paul Newman is spotted smoking a cigar and cackling in Robert Kraft’s box.
I think that’s the most likely outcome of the season, anyway.
My Giants are always tough to figure, but realistically… they’d be doing well to go 9-7 and grab the last wild card spot. The Cowboys and Eagles both looked better than the G-men do.
I’ll say they look great one week, lousy the next, and end up 7-9.
