NFL Late-Season Predictions

Being almost three quarters of the way through the regular season, I’d like to update everyone on my preseason predictions and make some new playoff predictions. As the season began, I had the Giants last in the NFC East, the Chargers in first in AFC West, and the Jets in second in the AFC East. Well, if you don’t mind me stating the obvious, those were way off.

Not only are the Giants in first in the East, they’re first in the NFC and, honestly, the best team in the NFL right now. That team is unreal. Just watch and you’ll see, I promise. Their running game is so balanced between the strength of Jacobs and the speed of Ward (and Bradshaw late in the game), it’s damn near impossible to stop. Also, Eli hasn’t looked this composed and…well…good, ever. Even last year, he was throwing off his back foot and making textbook mistakes, but because the rushing attack is so strong, a lot of the pressure is off him, allowing him to win with receivers like Domenik Hixon, Steve Smith, and Sinorice Moss. And finally, am I the only one who is baffled that this team defensively has not lost a step despite an injury from Osi and a retirement from Strahan? Just wonderful football all around from the Giants. I think they could improve the play-calling a little, but who am I to criticize?

The Chargers are the most unlucky team in football right now. 1) They’ve had 4 of their 7 losses come within the final 24 seconds of the game. 2) Denver has had several very lucky wins (Gramatica’s miss, Winslow’s choke job, and who could forget that Week 2 Hochuli call). And 3) they’ve had two serious injuries in Merriman and LT (everyone knows he wasn’t himself the first couple of weeks. There’s no way they’re second in the AFC West with even half of those things going their way.

And the Jets…what a turn around. Since that horrible 48-29 loss to SD in Week 3, we’ve gone 8-1 with our only loss coming in OT in Oakland. We beat Buffalo when they were 5-1, we beat Arizona in Arizona, New England in New Engand, and Tennessee in Tennessee. We have the second overall scoring offense in the NFL, we’re top 5 in sacks, top 5 in rushing, top 5 in run stopping, and top 5 in forced fumbles. Wow, I definitely didn’t see that coming.

My NFL Playoff predictions go as follows:

NFC
1) NYG 2) ARI 3) TB 4) GB 5) CAR 6) WAS
AFC
1) TEN 2) NYJ 3) PIT 4) SD 5) NE 6) IND

WILD CARD
TB over WAS, CAR over GB, NE over SD, IND over PIT
FIRST ROUND
NYG over CAR, TB over ARI, TEN over IND, NYJ over NE
CHAMPIONSHIPS
NYG over TB, NYJ over TEN
SUPER BOWL--> NYJ 38 NYG 27