by Tom Nieradka
With only 7 games left in the regular season, now is as good a time as any to make some predictions as to who is going to the playoffs. This week we’ll start off with the AFC (Pitt gets home field advantage as reigning champs is my predictions) and run down each division as well as the wildcard race.
AFC East: Winner: New England Patriots…..Wildcard Contender: Miami Dolphins
The AFC East really isn’t looking all that tough. Starting at the bottom are the Bills (3-7), who despite TO’s best (or worst) efforts have no shot at the playoffs. Moving on up to the Jets (4-6), Mark Sanchez is plagued by turnovers, and though it pains me to say it the Jets are 1-4 in the division and this does not look like a playoff team.
Miami (5-5) has a middle of the road schedule coming up and the losses of Ronnie Brown and Chad Pennington do not bode well (would look for them to stay right around .500). The Pats (7-3) sit at the top of the division, and aside from New Orleans next week have a very winnable schedule.
AFC North: Winner: Cincinnati Bengals….Wildcard Contenders: Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens
The North is looking like one of the better divisions in football at the moment. Sitting firmly at the bottom are the Browns (1-9), who I have already wasted too much time on. As for the professional teams, Baltimore (5-5) and Pittsburgh (6-4) look to be gunning for the first place Bengals (7-3). All teams lost this past week and none looked very good.
Baltimore took a tough loss to the Colts when their offence couldn’t score a TD, and they face Pittsburgh twice in the coming weeks in what will be no doubt heated games. Assuming they split those games, Pittsburgh has one more tough game while the Ravens have two, and with the one game lead I’d look for Pittsburgh to end up ahead of Baltimore at the end of the season with a strong record.
As for the Bengals, they showed that they are not yet a team that a lot of people were thinking that they were in their loss to the Raiders. Coming up they have three easy ones, two tough ones against the Chargers and Vikings, then a week 17 showdown with the Jets. The Bengals will end up in first at the end of the season, one game ahead of the Steelers.
AFC South: Winner: Indianapolis Colts….Wildcard Contenders: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars
Here is another good division overall that contains one of the elite teams in football. Let’s just get this out of the way, the Colts (10-0) are making the playoffs and will be the number one seed in the AFC. The race for second is led by Jacksonville (6-4), then followed by Houston (5-4) and then the Titans (3-6).
Though the Titans have been surging recently, barring a miracle they will not make the playoffs. In the last seven games both teams must lose to the Colts and the Pats. The rest of the games are winnable for each team and it will come down not to match-ups but whether or not each team is able to stay healthy and execute on a consistent level.
Though neither team is made for a deep playoff run just yet (both lack a strong defense), the Texans have more talent at both defense (DeMeco Ryans, Brian Cushing and Mario Williams) and offense (Andre Johnson, Matt Schaub and Steve Slaton) and have a better shot at pulling an upset and winning the games that they should win.
AFC West: Winner: San Diego Chargers…..Wildcard Contender: Denver Broncos
The past few years the AFC West (along with the NFC West) has been one of the crappier divisions in football, and this year is no exception. After a slow start the Chargers sit atop the division (7-3), followed by the fading Broncos (6-4) and then a pair of awfuls in the Raiders (3-7) and Chiefs (3-7) (and yes I used awful as a noun). The Chargers have a relatively simple schedule coming up and should take the division easily.
The Broncos, meanwhile, are a shadow of their former selves, and despite an earlier prediction I’d be shocked if Denver ends up with 10 wins. Their defense has faltered and with the injury to Orton and the tougher defenses that they have been facing the offense is looking more like many predicted that it would (mediocre). As for the other two, despite the wins over Pittsburgh and Cincinnati neither of these teams has even an outside chance at making the playoffs.
The Final Cut:
1. Indianapolis Colts (first round bye, home field throughout)
2. New England Patriots (first round bye)
3. San Diego Chargers
4. Cincinnati Bengals
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
6. Houston Texans
Brilliant. A triumph!
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