Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles ended one of the longest droughts in professional sports history, winning their first Super Bowl and their first title since 1960. If you watched the game or the highlights, you’ll remember that they did this with a back-up quarterback catching a touchdown pass and a strip-sack of Tom Brady to seal the victory. It was one of the more fun Super Bowls I can remember watching where I was not rooting particularly for either team, with the ’09 Steelers-Cardinals up there was well. As of August 20th, the Patriots (6-1) were the unsurprising Vegas favorites to win the upcoming Super Bowl in Atlanta. Philly sits at 10-1, tied for the second best odds with a handful of other teams. As a graduate student, I certainly do not have the surplus of funds to bet on any team’s Super Bowl odds. But I do have a blog, and I love football, so I figured I’d take a crack at predicting this year’s playoff teams. Feel free to screenshot them and remind me in late December how terribly wrong I was. I won’t bore anyone with a extensive team by team breakdown, but I’ll go through each division and offer up a few thoughts.
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AFC EAST
Winner: New England Patriots
So, this one is a no-brainer. The Patriots stranglehold on the AFC East is quite remarkable, on two fronts. Brady and Belichick are incredible, the mainstays of almost two decades of excellence. Additionally, the Pats have gotten consistently good seasons from guys like Nate Solder, Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower, Wes Welker, and others. We all know this. On the other hand, if you really think about it, the rest of the division has been pretty awful for most of New England’s run. Since 2003, the only other team to win the AFC East was the ’08 Dolphins, who got a career year from Chad Pennington when they played him at QB, and also briefly took the league by storm by lining up Ronnie Brown at QB in the “Wildcat”. That’s it, though. No other team has won this division in 15 years.
This year, the 3 non-New England teams have some pieces that I like but the collection of their teams in entirety are not enough to pick them over the Patriots. The Jets are probably rebuilding. The Bills were a playoff team last year at 9-7, but AJ McCarron just busted his collarbone and I don’t have much confidence in their offense outside of LeSean McCoy (who might be in some trouble). I like Miami’s depth at wide receiver and on the defensive line, but there’s just no way I’m picking anyone here besides the Patriots.
AFC SOUTH
Winner: Jacksonville Jaguars
The trendy pick would be the Texans, but I think Jacksonville’s defense is just too good. There is obviously concern with their Blake Bottles-Led passing attack, and the fellas lining up wide receiver don’t inspire that much confidence either. Leonard Fournette should be healed from a nagging ankle though, and I believe the Jags will secure a second consecutive division title. The Colts are a true enigma, maybe I’m a poor fan but I’m not sure if I could name 10 guys on their team. Andrew Luck and his neck-beard return but the roster around him seems lacking. I think the Texans are a Wild-Card team here, assuming they get a full season out of both JJ Watt and DeShaun Watson. Unfortunately, that’s a difficult thing to predict considering injury history and the question marks surrounding Houston’s offensive line. I don’t have much to say about the Titans. I have nothing to say about the Titans. I try not to think about them anymore after the second half of last year’s wild card game.
AFC NORTH
Winner: Pittsburgh Steelers
Another unexciting pick here. It seems we’ll get one more season in Pittsburgh with the vaunted “Killer B’s” of Ben Rothelisberger, Antonio Brown, and Le’Veon Bell. Those 3, with a solid offensive line, should be enough to get the Steelers a home playoff game. I’m not buying Browns stock yet, and I don’t believe in the Bengals. The Ravens have a finite ceiling with today’s version of Joe Flacco at QB, and it will be interesting to see the story unfold with Lamar Jackson this year. He was flat out incredible at Louisville, and I thought the Ravens did a great thing by trading up to get him at the end of round 1.
AFC WEST
Winner: San Diego Los Angeles Chargers
Ok, quick aside, how silly are the LA Chargers? They play in a 27,000 seat soccer stadium for the time being. An NFL team. They have no fans in LA, as displayed by the tremendous amount of road jerseys at their “home” games last season. They moved from San Diego because of stadium reasons, which seems ironic now today. Regardless, I think they’re the best team in the AFC West this year. They have a really good secondary, a really good defensive line, and a steady offense that should be able to move the ball with Phil Rivers, Melvin Gordon, and Keenan Allen. I don’t think the Jon Gruen 2.0 tour in Oakland is going to move swimmingly. Case Keenum could be good in Denver this year, but that defense is not what it was 5 years ago. My Chiefs have won back-to-back division titles and turned over the reigns to Pat Mahomes this offseason after a career year from Alex Smith. The offense doesn’t concern me much in KC, with the amount of talent surrounding their new QB. Kareem Hunt was great last season, Spencer Ware comes back, and Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and Tyreek Hill provide excellent playmaking. Eric Berry returns and Justin Houston is still dang good but some big questions in the linebacker core and new faces in the secondary leave me worried the Chiefs will settle for a wild card this year. (I hope I’m wrong.)
AFC PLAYOFF TEAMS:
Division Winners: New England, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, LA Chargers
Wild Card: Tennessee, Kansas City
AFC Champ: Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC EAST:
Winner: Philadelphia Eagles
Par for the course here. It’s hard to pick against the defending champs in this division. They added Mike Wallace as a deep threat to an already good receiving core and Michael Bennett to an already good defense. They could get a full season of Jay Ajayi, Jason Peters, and hopefully Darren Sproles. If Carson Wentz comes back close to what he was last year, the Eagles should comfortable win this division. Maybe I’m just an Alex Smith fan, but I think Washington is the most likely challenger here. I don’t have much to say about Dallas or the Giants, other than I don’t believe either will be very good this season. Sorry, Eli.
NFC SOUTH:
Winner: New Orleans Saints
The bizzaro version of the AFC East, this division has seen each team win at least 3 times since 2002, with each team playing in at least one Super Bowl in the time frame as well. Unsurprisingly, 3 different teams have won the NFC South in the last 3 seasons. Last year, the Saints, Falcons, and Panthers all made the post-season. This year, all three look to be competitive again. I’ll pick the Saints to host a playoff game. You know what you’re getting with Drew Brees, spreading the ball around to a lot of different weapons. The defense might not have a lot of flashy names, but New Orleans has a deep secondary with veterans like Kurt Coleman and Patrick Robinson to add to young breakouts like Marshon Lattimore. This is probably my least confident division pick, but I’d be very surprised to see the Saints miss the playoffs altogether. Atlanta brings back the gang of familiar characters around Matt Ryan, with the addition of first round pick Calvin Ridley. They still have a really talented defense with one of my favorite defensive players to watch in former LSU Tiger Dion Jones. It seems like a long time ago that the Panthers went 15-1 and lost in the Super Bowl, but they were a playoff team again last year and added two receivers in Torrey Smith and rookie DJ Moore to give Cam Newton a boost. Norv Turner has been quoted saying he wants Christian McCaffrey 30 touches a game, which seems downright crazy but time will tell. Really, the Saints, Falcons, and Panthers should all have good teams and I would not be surprised to see all 3 in the playoffs again. And Tampa… eek.
NFC NORTH
Winner: Minnesota Vikings
I want to pick the Packers. I really do. It’s not that I don’t like the Vikings. I really don’t have anything against them, as a team. I just… I don’t like Kirk Cousins. I think he’s a dork. A goofball. Corny. Whatever you wanna say. The guy can sling a football, no doubt. But I digress. Minnesota is really loaded, on both sides of the ball. I don’t understand why their Super Bowl odds are at 10-1, to me, they are the most complete team coming into the season. So, I think they’ll win this division, despite their goofy QB. Just for fun, here’s this. (GBR)
As for the rest of the division, I think the Packers will be happy if they can get a full season of Aaron Rodgers. I think that’s an understatement. Throw in a healthier season from the offensive line, and I think the Pack are a playoff team. The Lions could be close as well, but their kind of the inverse of the Packers in that I’m never very confident in them. Hopefully the Bears continue to improve under first year HC Matt Nagy, but I don’t see a playoff berth in the cards this year.
NFC West:
Winner: Los Angeles Rams
I’d feel silly picking against the Rams in this division. There’s space on the 49ers bandwagon for sure, but the Rams have a superior team this year. LA should benefit from another year of the Jared Goff- Sean McVay team, and added a Pro-Bowl level talent in Brandin Cooks. Not to mention, their running back is still Todd Gurley. On defense, the Rams added three marquee names in Ndamakungh Suh, Aqib Talib, and Marcus Peters. Peters is a total head case, but extremely talented and still on a very cost-friendly contract. Overall, the Rams should win this division. San Francisco gets a full year from Jimmy GQ and gave a whole lot of money to Jerick McKinnon, but I think a wild card is a best case scenario. Elsewhere, Seattle may need a quick rebuild to initiate another competitive cycle, and Cardinals’ tickets may be cheap enough that I can afford to go this season. 
NFC PLAYOFF TEAMS:
Divison Winners: Philly, New Orleans, Minnesota, LA Rams
Wild Card: Atlanta, Green Bay
NFC Winner: New Orleans
SUPER BOWL: Pittsburgh vs. New Orleans
SUPER BOWL Champs: New Orleans Saints
The 520 Wire 