NFL Playoff Prognostication

As I said earlier, I did really terrible with my football picks last year. Which is why I'm not saying only a few teams have a realistic chance to win it. I'm going to rank them all on likelihood. Here's the teams from least likely to most likely on winning the Super Bowl...

12. New York Jets 10-6: J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS! The Jets have a nice record, but if you look at their schedule, I'm not real sure this is a team that will stay around very long, especially in the loaded AFC. Their first game is at New England and if they somehow win that they'd have to play the Chargers or Ravens. A nice season, but they won't be around very long.

11. New York Giants 8-8: Their record says it all. Went 2-6 down the stretch to stumble into the playoffs. Fortunately for them, nobody else in the NFC wanted it either. And their first game is at Philadelphia who has won 5 straight. Yeesh!

10. Kansas City 9-7: Larry Johnson broke the single season rushing attempts record today. Don't know if that's a good thing. He's got to be running on fumes by now. And this team just isn't in the class of the other top teams in the AFC. They might upset Indy but anymore would be asking a lot.

9. Dallas 9-7: Probably the most exasperating team in the NFL. At times they looked like one of the contenders. Other times...well today they lost to the Lions. Not a good sign. Romo is a good player but I don't think he can lead this motely crew very far. They open with another inconsistent team in Seattle. And in this conference, they might be able to sneak out a few but not as likely as the rest.

8. Seattle 9-7: My preseason Super Bowl pick!!! I regret that. Seattle never really looked special all year, so I don't really expect much out of them. Best case scenario is probably the NFC Championship game.

7. Philadelphia 10-6: Now we're starting to get into the more serious contenders. I thought Philly's seasonw as over when McNabb went down. But Jeff Garcia stepped in and has made the Eagles one of the hottest teams in the league. I would like their chances more but if they beat the Cowboys they have to go play New Orleans. I'll mention why that's bad in a minute.

6. Indianapolis 12-4: Probably the worst Colts team in awhile. But it is the Colts and this may be the year Manning steps up in the playoffs. That run defense is abysmal though. And they're playing Kansas City who will probably do that every play. But maybe LJ will be pooped. So with luck, this team could get over the hump. But if the Colts couldn't win a game with last year's team in the playoffs...why would they go far with this year's team in a much tougher conference?

5. New England 12-4: I've always liked the Patriots. I don't know why. I don't normally jump on bandwagons. But maybe I like them because I think Tom Brady is the best player in the NFL (and one of the least selfish). Perhaps because Bill Belichick is an economics major. They just have that aura. And this year they'll be mad because their aura suffered from last year's early exit. Expect the Jets to feel their wrath. I don't think they're in San Diego or Baltimore's league...but keep an eye on them.

4. New Orleans 10-6: One of the most stunning stories in sports history. After last year's tragedy of Katrina, the team pretty much had no home games all year. They struggled but tried their best in extremely difficult circumstances. This year the Superdome re-opened...and the Saints had a miraculous turnaround. They've looked like one of the best teams all year. Drew Brees is one of the two serious choices for MVP and Reggie Bush isn't even the best offensive rookie on the Saints because of Colston. Can you imagine what this atmosphere is going to be like in New Orleans only a year and 3 -4 months after Katrina? I feel sorry for any opposing team going in there because the Saints will be damned if they let anyone come into New Orleans and win. I don't think it will happen. I think they're a near certain lock for the NFC Title Game.

3. Baltimore 13-3: After several years, they finally got a decent QB. Steve McNair is nowhere near the player he once was but he's solid enough to keep the Ravens rolling. The AFC is tough but the Ravens are one of the teams to beat.

2. Chicago 13-3: It's a good thing they're in the NFC. Because if they were in the AFC, they might be 6th or 7th on this list (or worse). A great defense (although it's not been as strong as it was earlier this season) and a dynamic return man in Devin Hester are the core of this team. But...I just don't know if they can win it all with Rex Grossman at QB. He is awful. Against the Packers today, he was 2-12 with 3 INTs. I know the Bears had nothing to play for, but if this keeps up, they'll be home early. Will Chicago go to a backup before the playoffs even start? It'd be risky but so is playing with Rex. Still...if Grossman can just play decent, this team could win it all. But that is a huge question mark. You probably wonder how I rank them this high and talk so much trash about them? Their defense is that good.

1. San Diego 14-2: Since the first game when they shut out Oakland, I realized they were the best team in the NFL. With Rivers doing a solid job at QB and Ladainian Tomlinson probably going to win the MVP with his astounding stats ar RB, they're the class of the NFL. They ahven't lost a game since October and have won 10 straight. The only thing that hurts them is Marty Schottenheimer has had some bad coaching mistakes in past playoffs. But, I think this year is different. I've liked the Chargers all year and they look to have the best chance. It won't be easy. They'll probably have to play New England. And most likely will have to avenge their loss against Baltimore just to get to the Super Bowl. But their games will be at home so they're the favorite in the AFC. In fact, any Super Bowl opponent will probably be a step down in quality from the AFC. It won't be easy. But expect the Chargers to win Super Bowl XLI with Ladainian Tomlinson winning the Super Bowl MVP Award.

A Few Other Things...

My brother is trying to get me to watch Independence Day. But I'm not really in the mood for it. Although we do both enjoy the formulaic plot that is exactly like every disaster movie. You know. The mass casualties, the failed counter-attack, the "DAMMIT WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING", the assemblage of a motley crew with a scheme "so crazy it just might work", and finishing with the least reliable character giving his life in the end for the greater good. YAWN!!!

I also meant to post that I wanted to import my LiveJournal to Blogger (for easier reading!!!), but Blogger doesn't have that capability yet. So we'll have to wait for that if it ever comes.

It's taken some time, but I'm finally getting used to the templates on Blogger. I got annoyed earlier today because I was on the old version before the new Beta (or something like that) and I couldn't even upload a picture. So I had to delete and start all over again. It was delightful.

I popped open the Sports edition of Scene It I got for Christmas. I took Will on in a game and easily won! The trivia champ strikes again. I won because I knew what the Minnesota Twins logo looked like. Go me!

Well the NFL regular season is over, we have our playoff teams and matchups, so as promised, my next post will be a complete breakdown of all 12 teams in likelihood of their playoff chances. GET EXCITED!

Rebirth

...I've decided to switch to Blogger.

I decided that one way I was going to bring in the New Year was by finally changing blogs which I have been talking about for quite some time. Through a little bit of research, I decided I wanted to strike out on my own and join Blogger. It seems to have the best features with what I wanted to do.

I'm still working on some things for this new page (BOOKMARK) so it'll be under construction for a little while. I hadn't decided exactly how I want it to look template-wise and all that so it'll be a work-in-progress. And look! There's my handsome face! So unlike my old journal, in case you don't know me, now you'll have a visual

Another change that I'm doing is that I'm selling out. And by that I mean, I'm adding advertising through Google's AdSense services to my blog. I'm going to try this awhile and see how it works. I'm intrigued by the idea that I could get some income just by people either viewing my blog or clicking on advertisements on the page. I'm not sure if it will be much, but I know for a while, a significant amount of people checked out my blog on LiveJournal before I stopped tracking it. So perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. So hope the advertisements don't bother you. Once again, I'm still working on the site so I'll constantly tweak and learn more about Blogger to see how the site looks best.

I'll try to get back to posting regular entries a little later tonight. But let me know what you think and I'll try to accommodate. Haha! I'm kidding. It's my blog. I'll do whatever I want

Well, hope you enjoy the new blog and have a Happy New Year!