NFL Preview- Part II and III

Hello again, everyone.  Welcome back to the NFL preview.  After a one-day birthday hiatus, the blog is back with a double dose of NFL previews.  We clearly started out on fire (the Seahawks about to cut ties with receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh just a day after I picked them to reach the playoffs.)  Hopefully that continues today, as we will take a look at the NFC North and South divisions. 

Plenty of compelling storylines here--The 2009 NFC Championship game featured a team from each of these divisions.  While the Saints and Vikings will look to repeat that success, there are certainly some other contenders in play.  Let's get down to it, starting with Abe Lincoln and the North...


1.  Green Bay Packers

After going bold in the NFC West predictions, we're going to be a little vanilla in this division.  The Packers have all the makings of a supernova offense, led by start quarterback Aaron Rodgers.  He will be chucking the ball to Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, and tight end Jermichael Finley.  The whole world saw this offense on display in the Wild Card round of the playoffs last year, when the Pack put up 45 points on the road against the Cardinals.

Only problem is, they lost that game.  Arizona put up 51 points against the Green Bay defense to wins the game in overtime.  It was a bitter one-and-done for Green Bay.  This year they have the Super Bowl in mind, and there's not too many folks doubting them.  Rodgers is a favorite in the 2010 MVP race, and team was downright unstoppable in the second half of the regular season last year.  They won 7 out of their final 8 games before the circus game against the Cardinals.  This team is still on the way up, and they don't have much further to go.

Projected Record: 11-5


2.  Minnesota Vikings 

"This is not Detroit, man, this is the SUPER BOWL!! "

Vikings fans have seen it in their nightmares for over seven months now.  Brett Favre throwing an unspeakably-late pass over the middle of the field.  Saints intercept the pass.   Saints win the game.  Saints win the Super Bowl two weeks later.  One would think the fans could not wait for this season to start...put there have been some serious red flags with the Vikings in the last month or so.

Favre, after another dog-and-pony routine, will return for this season.  But he was on the brink of a wheelchair after the Saints mauled and battered him that entire playoff game.  The stability of his ankle is certainly still up in the air.  His receivers aren't doing much better.  Sidney Rice will miss almost half the season after having hip surgery.  Percy Harvin has awful cases of migranes that make him collapse during practices.  Not the most glowing signs for a Super Bowl offense...

The defense, however, will be able to pick up some slack.  Jared Allen wreaks havoc on opposing quarterbacks, and there's no real weak link that other teams can exploit.  It's impossible to run against this squad, and the pressure causes mistakes throwing the ball.  Throw in a dome atmosphere, and opposing offenses will not be in for a fun day when they visit Minnesota

Adrian Peterson will be stellar out of the backfield, and I think the offense holds the pieces together until Rice comes back.  They will certainly be a part of the Wild Card mix.

Projected Record: 9-7


3.  Chicago Bears

Very down on the Bears this year.  Everyone was ready to anoint them as legitimate Super Bowl contenders when they brought in quarterback Jay Cutler last year.  Now people are starting to debate whether Cutler's better than his predecessor, Kyle Orton.  New coordinator Mike Martz will have Cutler throwing the ball all over the field this season, which may result in crazy touchdown numbers and even crazier interception numbers.  On the ground, young Matt Forte had injuries and bad circumstances to blame for his bust of a season.  Chester Taylor may get an equal amount of touches in 2010.

The defense will be strong as usual, and Julius Peppers should bring a whole lotta ferocity to them this year.  He's a guy that can steal a win or two on his own.  Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris anchor the rest of the solid group.

Top to bottom, they have decent talent.  But glancing at that 2010 schedule, I just see a whole bunch of 'probable losses' looming for Chicago.

Projected Record: 5-11


4.  Detroit Lions

Yes, they're better.  Yes, I love rookies Jahvid Best and Ndamukong Suh.  And people are loving Matt Stafford taking a huge leap forward this season.  Calvin Johnson is a beast at wide receiver, so the Lions won't be backing down from some shootouts this season.

But boy, this defense is going to get lit up.  There will be some ugly losses here and there (the four games against GB/MIN come to mind.)  But the Lions have some winnable games on their slate in 2010, and should continue their slow-but-steady march back to respectability.

Projected Record: 4-12   


Now, onto Jefferson Davis and the NFC South division...


1.  New Orleans Saints

Thank you again, Saints.  My prognosticating highlight was picking you to win the Super Bowl last season.  I'm not so sure about a repeat, but they should win this division comfortably.  We all know about the offense (Brees, Bush, Colston, Shockey, etc.)  They will outscore anybody and did it pretty much every game last season.

The defense may have played just a tad over their head last season, though.  Brees and the boys got out to a big lead, forcing other teams to throw under pressure and, in effect, make big mistakes.  Tracy Porter made a huge name for himself during the playoffs last season at cornerback.  But besides him and blog favorite Jonathan Vilma, there's not exactly any superstars out there.  If Brees and the offense are on their game, the defense will survive.

But it probably won't be quite as easy in 2010.

Projected Record: 12-4


2.  Atlanta Falcons

Everyone is love, love, loving this team to take it to the next level this season.  Despite his brief step back in '09, Matt Ryan should build on the promise he showed as a rookie in 2008.  Michael Turner will be healthy and ready to run people over.  Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez are more-than-capable as pass catchers.  All in all, the offense will be above-average at worst.

The defense? Eh...  There were a lot of ugly scores put on them in 2009.  The addition of Dunta Robinson should help the other corners, but there's no real stoppers across the board.  They will be able to hold down the weaker offenses.  But it's what you do against the best that matters... and the Falcons may be pushed around a bit.   In a crazy NFC wild card race, the Falcons will be right in the middle of it all.

Projected Record: 9-7



3.  Carolina Panthers

Who the heck are these guys?  Gone are the mainstays on offense and defense: Jake Delhomme and Julius Peppers.  It will certainly be a transition year for Carolina, and they will be completely centered around running the ball.  DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart will see plenty of action as the running backs.  Both have plenty of ability and will be able to wear down defenses.  Matt Moore will step in at quarterback...we should know in the first month or so whether he sucks or not.

Jon Beason and Dan Connor are solid at linebacker.  But with Peppers now gone, nobody else will put any fear into opposing offenses. 

As we said earlier, it will be a transition year.  The Panthers will take their lumps and will probably end the season with rookie Jimmy Clausen starting at quarterback.

Projected Record: 6-10


4.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Yuck.

Projected Record: 3-13


Thanks a lot for reading.  Come on back for more tomorrow. 

 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments

Leave a comment

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.