I’ve been poking around at several of the other poker blogs out there and it seems like everyone is popping up with their opinions on the upcoming NFL season.  Since I’ve been a diehard 49er fan since 1970, and a diehard fantasy football leaguer since 1986, I’m gonna take advantage of MY blog to post my football predictions for the coming year…

 

NFC

West - Seattle will win the division with 10-12 wins.  Hasselback (cute wife) will be in the Pro Bowl, and Shaun Alexander will come in first or second in the NFC in rushing (him or Portis).  The Lambs will come in second, unable to cast off the Martz yoke of coaching ineptitude, but will contend for the wildcard, missing it when Martz chooses to go for it on 4^th and 15 from the 20 yd line in a tie game.  My beloved Niners will drop into suckitude and challenge the Cards for last, with both teams scraping to get 5-7 wins. 

 

East – Philly will coast to 10-12 wins.  Face it, the rest of this division has 7-9 written all over it.  That alone will probably propel Philly to the homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.  Dallas?  Please.  With Quincy Carter at QB, Eddie George at RB,  and Key at WR, they’ll be battling to escape the bottom five offenses in football.  Washington?  Joe Gibbs was last seen calling Art Monk and Gary Clark to revive this team.  Portis will get 350 carries and 1400+ yards and will be a fantasy monster, but they’ll miss Champ more than they think.  The Giants?  Kurt Warner (fumbler) + Tiki Barber (fumbler) + Eli Manning (INTs) = Giants lead the NFC in turnovers.  Book it now.

 

South – The most intriguing division.  Well, at least the most question marks.  Carolina must be the favorite, if only because they finished the year well, didn’t lose anyone significant, and nobody else showed anything last year.  Atlanta is interesting with new QB (basically), new coach, new WR, new offensive coordinator…  They’ll still struggle mainly because I can’t see Vick surviving an entire season with his balls-out style.  If he learns to be happy with 10-15 yd gains punctuated with a slide, Atlanta could win the division.  Tampa Bay is sliding downhill fast.  They have the look of a 7-9 team that will fire the coach to compensate for some bad offseason moves.  New Orleans is the unknown quantity, anywhere from 5-9 wins here with big offensive numbers, but inconsistent offensive performers.

 

Central – Ahhh, the Norris division.  Green Bay wins.  By default.  Brett Favre has gone from being great to being overrated, but still good.  Ahman Green still doesn’t know how to switch arms when carrying the ball.  And they’ll still win 10-12 games.  Minnesota will lead the league in combined total points this year.  They will score 450 and give up 450.  And be .500.  Mooch will start to get some props this year as the Lions make a run at the wildcard.  Harrington will show flashes with his shiny new receiving corps, and the Lions will be in the chase through week 17.  Chicago.  Sigh.  4-12 is my guess.  I don’t even know who’s playing here anymore.  Whither Matt Suhey?

 

Playoff Teams – Division winners – Seattle, Philly, Carolina, Green Bay

Wildcards – Atlanta, Detroit (Lambs might make it if they hide Martz’ headset for the last game)

 

Conference championship – Philly over Seattle.

 

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