Welcome back to the NFL!
We are finally here, the NFL Season starts tonight. This season is the first year with 18 regular season weeks and only 3 pre-season weeks. It will be interesting to see if the extra “real” game impacts any team’s strategy. End of season totals will also be interesting to see how they get inflated compared to the past seasons.
As usual, I will have my weekly NFL picks with the spread posted each week of the season. But before we begin the season, let’s get to how I see the 2021-22 NFL season finishing up:
AFC East
1. Buffalo Bills
2. New England Patriots
3. Miami Dolphins
4. New York Jets
Comments: Spoiler alert, I think the Bills will have a super season this year.
AFC North
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
2. Cleveland Browns
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. Cincinnati Bengals
Comments: Don’t overlook the Steelers. The Browns could win this division, but I still don’t know how I feel about Baker Mayfield.
AFC South
1. Tennessee Titans
2. Indianapolis Colts
3. Jacksonville Jaguars
4. Houston Texans
Comments: Trevor Lawrence is going to have a good season. I expect the Jaguars to be down a lot and he has an underrated receiving core. The Jaguars will score points, but I don’t think they make the leap to division title contention this year. It will be interesting to see how the Titans react to losing their offensive coordinator, but the talent is their so I don’t expect much, if any, regression.
AFC West
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Denver Broncos
3. Los Angeles Chargers
4. Las Vegas Raiders
Comments: This is a tough division and it wouldn’t surprise me if three of these teams make the playoffs this season.
NFC East
1. Washington Football Team
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. New York Giants
Comments: Ryan Fitzmagic finally makes the playoffs this season. The defense is legit, the receivers are good and Fitzpatrick makes enough plays. Dak Prescott will have a great season and it will come down to the end of the season.
NFC North
1. Minnesota Vikings
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Chicago Bears
4. Detroit Lions
Comments: I just can’t take the Packers after this off-season. Last year, Rodgers is MVP after being slighted with the Packers taking Jordan Love. This season, all he can think about is leaving the team and I just can’t see that leading to a Super Bowl let alone a division title.
NFC South
1. Tampa Bay Bucs
2. New Orleans Saints
3. Carolina Panthers
4. Atlanta Falcons
Comments: It is pretty remarkable that the Bucs were able to return all 22 starters from last year’s Super Bowl team. That just doesn’t happen in the modern NFL. Sam Darnold will show that he is not a bust this season now that he has real weapons and a competent coaching staff.
NFC West
1. San Francisco 49ers
2. Los Angeles Rams
3. Seattle Seahawks
4. Arizona Cardinals
Comments: This is another solid division. The 49ers look to continue the NFL’s trend of a last place team finishing in first the next season now that they are healthy. Stafford is a big improvement over Goff and they will be a playoff team this year.
Postseason
AFC
Wild Card Weekend
2. Chiefs over 7. Chargers
3. Titans over 6. Patriots
5. Broncos over 4. Steelers
Divisional Round
1. Bills over 5. Broncos
2. Chiefs over 3. Titans
AFC Championship
1. Bills over 2. Chiefs
NFC
Wild Card Weekend
2. 49ers over 7. Packers
3. Vikings over 6. Saints
5. Rams over 4. Football Team
Divisional Round
1. Bucs over 5. Rams
2. 49ers over 3. Vikings
NFC Championship
2. 49ers over 1. Bucs
Super Bowl LVI
49ers over Bills
A healthy 49ers team returns to glory.
NFL Honors
MVP: Josh Allen (Bills)
Coach of the Year: Kyle Shanahan (49ers)
Offensive Player of the Year: Christian McCaffery (Panthers)
Defensive Player of the Year: Nick Bosa (49ers)
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Mac Jones (Patriots)
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Patrick Surtain II (Broncos)
Comeback Player of the Year: Dak Prescott (Cowboys)
