Posted by Brandon

To say that I am excited for this Thursday’s Packers-Saints game and our first full weekend of football would be an immense understatement. Last week, with a few college football games strewn throughout the days, was a mere warm up. This week, we get the Packers on Thursday, college football on Saturday, and an NFL Sunday.

Due to some scheduling conflicts, Jake and I will be unable to pump out two podcast this week but we want to get our season predictions to you in a timely manner. So, we will both be doing a Mega-Predictions Post with all of our relevant picks for this NFL season. Then Thursday, we will do our Week 1 Lines podcast, kicking off another season of exciting competition where we both struggle to hit .500 each week. Look for that on Friday as a warm up for the weekend.

Personally, I will be getting my first 55 Percenter post of the year up this week. Given that there are so many games and my excitement level, I am legitimately concerned that I will pick 20+ games. Then again, football is like whiskey, restraint is for pussies.

AFC East Champion - New England Patriots (13-3, #1 Seed)

I gave this away in the podcast, but I think the Patriots once again win this division by a few steps. I just think that the Jets will be a few feet behind the Patriots this year. Sanchez has taken this team deep into the playoffs the last two years, but I don’t quite see him putting that next foot forward. I know that I am toeing this line closely, but I view the Patriots as an elite team in this league.

AFC North - Pittsburgh Steelers (13-3, #2 Seed)

Much like New England, Pittsburgh is elite. Things have been quiet in Pittsburgh during camp, but I think that is just the way they like it. After all, it’s better than another story about Big Ben crashing his motorcycle or cornering a coed in a bathroom while a bodyguard watches the door. I’m just not a Ravens guy. I think their defense is declining, they collect aging receivers, and Joe Flacco is what he is, a mediocre quarterback. I see the Steelers and Patriots as the two clear cut favorites in the AFC.

AFC South - Indianapolis Colts (9-7, #4 Seed)

I know, I know, Peyton is out and that kills the Colts. But what other options are there? The perennially underachieving Texans with Gary Kubiak? I think we should nickname Kubiak “Norv Turner Ice”. Think about it, his teams underachieve every year, but unlike Norv, he can’t even guide them into the playoffs. He is like the 9% alcohol version. The Jags have been steadily declining and I see no reason for that to change. I’m strangely tempted to throw a dart and picks the Titans, but I just don’t trust teams that rely on running backs coming back from such a long holdout. That almost always ends badly, usually in injury. That leaves me with the Colts. Let’s say Peyton misses four weeks, isn’t it reasonable to think that Kerry Collins could lead the to 2-2? Then Peyton comes back and they go on another 2-2 stretch while he gets back into game condition. In this division, that is completely possible and then they only have to finish 5-3 to get to 9 wins, which should be enough to take this division title.

AFC West - San Diego Chargers (11-5, #3 Seed)

This is another case of having no faith in the rest of the division. The Chiefs seem destined to fall back this year with a tougher schedule after overachieving a year ago. The Broncos are a mess. And the Raiders are run by Al Davis…who is a genius and the greatest man to ever live, but struggles in what we call “talent evaluation”. With that said, I actually do like the Chargers and Philip Rivers, despite his douchey-ness, just not as much as the top two teams in the conference.

AFC Wild Cards - New York Jets (#5), Baltimore Ravens (#6)

Boring but I just can’t justify picking anybody else in the AFC. I’m not in love with either of these teams but the AFC is extremely top heavy, there are just a ton of bad teams.

AFC Surprise Team - Cleveland Browns

Like I said in my wild card picks, the AFC doesn’t have many strong contenders for playoff spots and I don’t see the Browns getting all that close. With that said, I think they have improved and are set to win 8 or 9 games this year, including finally knocking off either the Steelers or the Ravens one time. I may also just have a soft spot for the Shurmur family, as Fritz was always an enjoyable watch on the Packers’ sidelines.

AFC Stinker - Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals are the leaders in the clubhouse to grab the elusive #1 pick. This team will struggle to win 3 games and Marvin Lewis will finally be fired, as Mike brown should have done several years ago. That would put this franchise in an interesting spot with one of the top prospects in the last decade, Andrew Luck, sitting on the board the year after they picked Andy Dalton. Bengals fans can relax though, it’s not like their franchise has a history of making terrible decisions at the top of the draft.

NFC East - Philadelphia Eagles (12-4, #2 Seed)

The tide has turned too strongly against the Eagles. This almost has a Heat like feel where they signed so many good players that suddenly everybody is picking them apart and saying that it can’t work. While it is true that free agency is not the way to build a team in the NFL, the Eagles are mostly built from within. They had the space and believed they were poised to make a run, so went for it and added the best players they could. I agree that it won’t be smooth and I still wouldn’t be comfortable trusting Mike Vick with my playoff life, but they are a lock to be one of the best regular season teams. There are two things that you can count on with Andy Reid: his team will make the playoffs and he’ll always finish that meatball sub when you just can’t take another bite.

NFC North - Green Bay Packers (13-3, #1 Seed)

An absolute shocker that I like the Pack this year. What is there to say? They have tremendous talent on both sides of the ball, a great coaching staff, and most importantly, the quarterback who appears poised to go on a run of owning the league. Throw in a nice schedule and it’s tough to see them not having a bye week come playoff time.

NFC South - New Orleans Saints (11-5, #3 Seed)

I love the Saints this year, but being in that division, it is hard to pick anybody to get to 12 wins. This is petty, but I’m going to stop saying nice things about them because they play the Pack in two days. Like we’ve said many times, what is that shit on Drew Brees’ face anyway?

NFC West - St. Louis Rams (9-7, #4 Seed)

Seriously, throw a dart. This division is terrible and nobody sticks out. I think the Rams are headed in the right direction and despite thinking they are still a year or two away from being an actual contender, I’m going to pick the team whose direction I like most. I like the addition of Kevin Kolb for the Cardinals, but that is mostly because they had a collection of dead carcasses and NFL Europe caliber QBs a year ago. The jury is still out on Kolb, so let’s slow down on that bandwagon.

NFC Wild Cards - Dallas Cowboys (#5), Detroit Lions (#6)

I needed to do something weird, this is the NFL, picking the favorites is a worse idea than playing roulette or keno. I leave the Falcons out of the playoffs, mostly because I’m down on them and it would seem like an easy way out to put them in as a #6 seed. I think both them and the Lions get 10 wins, which means the tiebreaker would come down to their Week 7 matchup in Detroit. In that case, I’ll take the home team and throw the Lions in the playoffs. I also like this Cowboys team, I think they have a ton of offensive talent and they’ve finally rid themselves of the STD with a Headset in Wade Phillips.

NFC Surprise Team - Minnesota Vikings

Obviously picking Detroit to make the playoffs is somewhat of a surprise, but they are popular enough where they can’t count as a real surprise. I’ll take the Vikings to surprise, but don’t get carried away and think that I am picking them to win 10 games. I think most people view them as a bad team likely to finish with 5-6 wins while I see them as more of an 8-9 win team. Yes they are aging, but I think they have a solid defense and an elite offensive weapon in Adrian Peterson.

NFC Stinker - New York Giants

There will be worse teams than the Giants, but I think they will be the biggest disappoint in a conference that will have a few. I think Atlanta and Chicago will take a step back and while I think Tampa may actually improve, I expect their win total to drop down to 8-9 games after overachieving a year ago. The Giants are in trouble. Their offensive line has major question marks but more importantly, their defense scares me. Couple that with Eli throwing interceptions and the Bradshaw/Jacobs combo putting the ball on the ground and I see 6-10 this year for the GMen.

Gun to the Head Playoff Bracket

AFC Wild Card Round

#3 Chargers over #6 Ravens, #5 Jets over #4 Colts

AFC Divisional Round

#1 Patriots over #5 Jets, #2 Steelers over #3 Chargers

AFC Championship

#1 Patriots over #2 Steelers

In the AFC, I think we are on a collision course for a Patriots-Steelers AFC title showdown that should be a game for the ages. I’ll take the Pats if for some reason someone holds a gun to my head to get a football pick, which for some reason, Jake and I think is a reasonable scenario.

NFC Wild Card Round

#3 Saints over #6 Lions, #5 Cowboys over #4 Rams

NFC Divisional Round

#1 Packers over #5 Cowboys, #3 Saints over #2 Eagles

NFC Championship

#1 Packers over #3 Saints

I made the case for the Eagles in the regular season, but like I said, I still don’t trust Reid/Vick in the playoffs and the Saints are a team equipped to knock them off. They creatively get to the quarterback, something that Vick has never handled well. I’ll take the Packers to beat them all because I’m a raging homer.

Super Bowl

Packers over Patriots

It’s good to be the champs. ::Puts on the Belt::