First-Quarter Season Predictions

[elgreazy1]

The crown for the NFC East is going to be a dogfight now. Cowboys & Eagles are going to battle it out for sole possession next week and from there the division plays each other multiple times to end out the season. The Cowboys, for example, still have to play the Eagles & Redskins twice and the Giants at home; that's 5 division games, 3 away, in the last 9 weeks. Talk about yet another year of make or break in December.

I also have a strong feeling that the Texans don't make it into the playoffs with the loss of Owen Daniels. He had become a big part of the offense (Shannahan/Kubiak offenses heavily use TEs) and now they've just lost a major stud. With the Colts & Jags twice, Titans, Miami and Pats this could be tough. They have some winnable games: STL, SEA.

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by z Revis

Just looked it up.. the Ravens are 2-8 all time against the Colts, including Playoffs. Their last win was in 2001. They won 39-27. Since then they've lost 6 straight to the Colts.

Yeah that sounds more like it.

Quote: Originally Posted by z Revis

It's not much different. The Steelers have to play the Broncos, Bengals, Packers, Dolphins(?), and the Ravens twice. The Ravens have to play the Colts, Packers, Bears, Bengals, and Steelers twice. So both teams still have to play each other twice and they each have 4 tough games left.

This is true... but lets also not forget that Cincy has already beaten BAL, PIT and CLE and are currently tied for 1st. I still don't think they make the playoffs (admittedly still skeptical about the Ravens chances at least until after next weeks game in Cincy) but at this point they're certainly in the driver's seat.

[elgreazy1]

Hmm, I will go out on a limb here and say the Saints probably don't win the Super Bowl, let alone make it. There's something about highly-prolific offenses that seems to never win it all. Yes, the Greatest Show on Turf (99) won a SB but think of all the other high-octane teams we've seen lose. 16-0 Pats, 98 Vikes (Cunningham + R. Smith + Moss + Carter), 00 Rams, 08 Cardinals, early-mid 00's Colts, etc.

I think it has more to do with a team not being "well rounded". Right now, the Saints offense is playing arcade style with all the points which has allowed their defense to be aggressive & opportunisitic. But we've seen in the last few weeks the Saints winning margins going down which tells me DC's are catching up to the offense enough to make the games competitive.

The Saints D, personel wise, isn't good enough to win games but they are good enough to take advantage of mistakes. The more the Saints O scores, the more opponents have to pass, the more opportunities the Saints D gets at turnovers, etc etc but if games are closer, the D will not have those opportunities and will be forced to stop a BALANCED-offenses instead of focusing on one facet and that's where the problem is.

This is what happened to the Broncos just the other day: the Raven's DC saw something, took it away, and forced the Broncos to play a different game which resulted in their first loss. With NO having such an easy schedule here on out, they may fall victim to the Colts-late season fall out (being lulled into lower competitive levels) and end up facing a terror in the Playoffs with an early exit.

[wwharton]

The Broncos offense is fueled through their running game. That's what the Ravens are built to stop. It was a bad match up in that regard. I HOPE the Ravens can gameplan to stop heavy passing attacks better going forward but that last game shouldn't have been hard to push the Broncos to get out of their comfort zone. The Saints seem to be as dangerous in the air as on the ground (or vice versa). They're kind of scary. You might be right about their D but I don't know if we can really say at this point. They're doing what they need to and don't seem like they'll have to leave the dome too much to at least get to the SB.

[z Revis]

The Saints are scary man. Elgreazy, you're right, it does seem like high octane offenses usually get shut down in the Playoffs at some point. But let's not forget, the Saints have the 4th best running attack in the league. So even if their high octane passing attack gets shut down, it doesn't matter because they'll run it right at you with success. They're easily the best team in the league and I do not want to play them. Luckily for me the Colts are in the AFC, but if we happen to get to the Super Bowl and meet the Saints I'll be scared as hell.