2007-08 Preview (part two)

2007-08 NFL Predictions (continued)

NFC East – You know what the biggest move Dallas made in the off-season? They took Tony Romo off of field-goal holding. Oh, and he bagged Carrie Underwood. Other than that, not much has changed. Philly will be slightly down this year from their perennial 10-12 wins, and that will be enough for Dallas to pass them by. The Giants won’t be contenders, partially because of Eli, partially because they’re just not that good. Same with the Redskins, who have a whole slew of almost-good-enough players (Portis, Moss, Cooley, etc.)

Dallas (11-5), Philly (9-7), New York Giants (7-9), Washington (6-10)

NFC North – Gawd, this is a bad division. Sure, the Bears are OK, but are they Super Bowl quality? Rex Grossman proved me right by being the worst QB in the Super Bowl since David Woodley, almost single-handedly giving away the game. And the damn Bears will still win 11-12 games because this division is total crap below them. Which means they’ll get homefield, which means they have a chance to fuck up another Super Bowl. Minnesota, Green Bay, and Detroit won’t total 20 wins this year, even though it’s made simpler by the fact that six of them will come against each other. The NFC Rookie of the Year will come from this division though with Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson fighting it out.

Chicago (12-4), Detroit (6-10), Green Bay (6-10), Minnesota (4-12)

NFC South – New Orleans will roll this sad group and challenge da Bears for homefield. They’ll have two 1000-yard backs, and Drew Brees is good enough not to screw things up. Bill Simmons is touting the Falcons as a Ewing Theory sleeper, but I don’t think they have enough on defense to sustain a playoff push. Carolina is an enigma. They should be better. I don’t know if it’s Jake Delhomme’s fault or not, but they have too much talent not to compete for a wildcard this year. It’ll be interesting to see if Jeff Garcia can save Jon Gruden’s job this year. I don’t think he can.

New Orleans (11-5), Carolina (8-8), Atlanta (7-9), Tampa Bay (5-11)

NFC West – OK, I’m a 49er fan, and even I don’t believe all of the preseason hype. They’ll be better on offense this year, and immensely better on defense. So, 7-9 should become 10-6, right? Well, a lot of that is going to depend on keeping Frank Gore healthy, which seems difficult. I predicted his coming-out party last year (though I guessed low with 1200 yards compared to the 1600+ he actually got). Seattle should still be considered the front-runner here with the Rams playing lots of 34-31 games. Arizona will put up some impressive fantasy numbers, but won’t crack .500.

Seattle (10-6), San Francisco (10-6), 7-9 if Gore gets hurt, St. Louis (9-7), Arizona (7-9)

Division winners: Chicago, New Orleans, Dallas, Seattle

Wildcards: San Francisco, Philly

NFC Championship: Dallas at New Orleans

Super Bowl Prediction : New Orleans 34, Indianapolis 30