Updated NFL Playoff Predictions

[drizzt3117]

NFC:

1. Eagles 14-2 (Lose either @ St. Louis or against Cincinnati, not that it matters)
2. Packers 11-5 (win out)
3. Falcons 11-5 (Lose to Carolina, Lose @ Seattle)
4. Seahawks 8-8 (Lose @ Minnesota and @ NYJ)
5. Carolina 8-8 (Lose @ TB)
6. Tampa Bay 8-8 (Lose @ San Diego)

I think the Rams will lose 3 of their last 4 to finish 7-9, as will Dallas.

Wild Card Round:

TB over Falcons
Carolina over Seahawks

Divisional Round:

Philly over Tampa
Carolina over GB (at this point, I'd take Carolina over almost any team in the NFL)

Conference Championship:

Carolina over Philly

Sorry, but this is going to happen no matter how good Philly looks now.

AFC:

1. Pats 15-1 (Win out)
2. Steelers 14-2 (Lose @ Buffalo)
3. San Diego 13-3 (win out)
4. Colts 12-4 (lose to San Diego)
5. Jets 11-5 (Lose to NE and Pittsburgh)
6. Buffalo 10-6 (win out)

I think Denver will melt down yet again, Buffalo is hot, has a great young receiver and RB, and has a favorable schedule the rest of the way.

Wild Card Round:

Chargers over Buffalo (but it's close)
Colts over Jets

Divisional Round:

NE over SD
Colts over Pittsburgh

Conference Championship:

NE over Indy

Peyton Manning picked 4 times again, same old story.

Super Bowl:

Rematch, and NE wins BIG.

 

[Thracozaag]

NFC: Carolina over Philly

This had BETTER not happen

koji

 

[drizzt3117]

I won't be a believer in either the colts or eagles until they make the big game and win.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Conference Championship:

Carolina over Philly

Sorry, but this is going to happen no matter how good Philly looks now.

Time to lay down the crack pipe.  The Eagles have lost the conference championship the last three years because they had Donovan McNabb, a good defense, and nothing else.  Say what you want about T.O., this year he has been the best professional football player not named Peyton Manning.

 

[shoreman1782]

As a Philly fan, I believe we're going all the way this year. As a betting man - which I am not - I probably won't bet on the Eagles in the conference championship.

That said, their recent history of futility in the NFC championship is tied directly to their personnel and injuries. Against the Rams, the Eagles probably didn't deserve to be there. Against the Bucs, DMac was not at all healthy, and he is the key to that offense. Again, they probably didn't deserve to be there. Last year, they were depleted on defense, and missing Westbrook.

Pending all the pieces staying healthy, who can't they beat? I know it's considered important to peak going into the postseason, but unless someone goes on a real, surprise run, I don't see any team primed to take momentum into the playoffs (in the NFC).

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES.

 

[Thracozaag]

As a Philly fan, I believe we're going all the way this year. As a betting man - which I am not - I probably won't bet on the Eagles in the conference championship.

That said, their recent history of futility in the NFC championship is tied directly to their personnel and injuries. Against the Rams, the Eagles probably didn't deserve to be there. Against the Bucs, DMac was not at all healthy, and he is the key to that offense. Again, they probably didn't deserve to be there. Last year, they were depleted on defense, and missing Westbrook.

Pending all the pieces staying healthy, who can't they beat? I know it's considered important to peak going into the postseason, but unless someone goes on a real, surprise run, I don't see any team primed to take momentum into the playoffs (in the NFC).

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES.

Go Iggles.

koji

 

[drizzt3117]

Well Carolina and TB have looked pretty good lately. Delhomme has Colbert and a resurgent Muhammad in the receiving corps, and Goings looks as strong a runner as Davis was. The defense has tightened up a bit too as players start to come back from injury. If they are fully healthy by the playoffs, theres no reason they can't terrorize Philly as they did in 2003.

TB is arguably as good a team as the one that won the SB, Griese is at least as good as Johnson, and Galloway, Jureviscus, and Clayton are probably better than McCardell, Jureviscus, and Keyshawn. Pittman is better than he was in 2002, and the defense lost Sapp and Lynch, but is otherwise more or less the same unit, with a few younger players and the same scheme.

GB didn't play well against Philly, but when you play teams more than once in a season, weird things can happen.

The Vikings didn't lose by too much to Philly, they had a shot of coming back on their last drive, until Culpepper threw a pick. If their offense is clicking, they can beat anyone.

The only playoff team that I couldn't really see beating Philly is Atlanta, but with their defense and Vick, anything could happen, they torched SD who is a pretty good team.

I think Philly would get torched by NE, Pitt (they already did), the Colts, and San Diego. They've played three potential playoff teams (Pitt, Green Bay, Minnesota) and won closely over Minnesota, beat Green Bay handily, and got blown out by Pitt.

 

[TheRookie]

How much did you pay for your Julius Peppers fanclub membership?

Philly is twice the team Carolina is this year (at least).

Also, I think there is a federal statute that prohibits attaching the term "win out" to any team helmed by Drew Bledsoe.

 

[drizzt3117]

I don't like the Panthers at all, in fact they're one of my least favorite teams, but they are on a roll. Lest people forget, the Panthers weren't supposed to put up any resistance last year, and utterly dominated the Eagles.

The Bills have a solid defense, a good running back, and good wide receivers. Bledsoe may be a statue in the pocket, but he can still throw the ball down the field, and the running game allows him to do so. The bills have always shown the talent to win any game at any time (and lose any such game) They're one of three teams to beat NE in the past 2 years, so that's saying something.

 

[esquire.]

I won't be a believer in either the colts or eagles until they make the big game and win.

At that point, it'll be too late. If you had that attitude, you wouldn't have believed that the Rams or the Patriots would have won their first super bowl in the last 5 years.

We've seen plenty of teams in the NFL that weren't any good that were able to win it all the next year.

The Eagles just seem to be on a mission. With the addition of TO, their offense has gone up a notch. And, the colts could be like the rams where their offense is so good that it's able to cover up the mistakes of the defense.

 

[drizzt3117]

The Rams and Pats didn't have a history of losing the conference championship or the Super Bowl. The Pats did make the superbowl in 1996 but didn't win, but there was so much stuff regarding Parcells in that particular game that it wasn't surprising, and that 96 packers team was really good. As far as the Rams, they were 1 foot away from losing the super bowl. It's not like the Colts and Eagles were close to winning the conference championships, the Eagles were dominated by TB, Carolina, and St. Louis, respectively, while the Colts got shut down by NE in their only visit to the conference championship, before last year, Peyton Manning had the rep of not ever winning a playoff game.