2010 NFL Predictions

With the season kicking off tonight, I thought I'd go ahead and make some picks of my own because...I have a blog and this is the kind of thing blogs are for! :)

AFC

East - New England
Wild Card - Miami
Bold Prediction - Riding high off of their season of Hard Knocks, the Jets will miss the playoffs. The schedule and inexperience at QB will do them in as their coach and several players on the team continue to place a rather large target on their collective backs.

North - Baltimore
Wild Card - None
Bold Prediction - The fact that there is no wild card coming out of this division is bold enough. I think the Ravens will claw their way to a 10-6 or 9-7 finish and the Bengals and Steelers will miss the playoffs with records of 8-8 or better.

South - Indianapolis
Wild Card - Houston
Bold Prediction - Not only will Houston make the playoffs out of this division, they'll win a playoff game as well! (not to spoil my picks!)

West - San Diego
Wild Card - None
Bold Prediction - Kansas City will keep itself in the playoff discussion all season long, but will miss out with an 8-8 record, which will be a vast improvement over previous seasons.


NFC

West - San Francisco
Wild Card - None
Bold Prediction - The 49ers will break through this year and will not only win their division, they'll get a first round bye and host a second round playoff game with a record of 11-5 or 12-4.

South - New Orleans
Wild Card - None
Bold Prediction - The Saints will be this division's first repeat champion in a long time and the Panthers under Matt Moore will finish second and remain in the playoff discussion all year long, but miss out by a hair at the end. If there were a 7th team I could put in the playoffs, it'd be Carolina.

North - Green Bay
Wild Card - Minnesota
Bold Prediction - Green Bay will win the division and will split in the regular season with Minnesota. Brett Favre will see his career come to an end at Lambeau field. Also, Detroit will finish with a better record than Chicago.

East - New York Giants
Wild Card - Washington Redskins (my homer pick)
Bold Prediction - When the Redskins and Giants lock horns on January second, it will be for the division crown. The Giants will edge the Redskins, but the Skins will finish 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs under first year head coach Mike Shanahan. Dallas will miss the playoffs because of divisional tie breakers and both Wade Philips and Jason Garret will be fired in an attempt to bring in Bill Cower, who will spurn the Cowboys to coach in Carolina.

Playoffs:

AFC Wild Card

Miami @ Baltimore - Baltimore
Houston @ New England - Houston

NFC Wild Card

Washington @ Green Bay - Green Bay
Minnesota @ New York - Minnesota

AFC Divisional

Houston @ Indianapolis - Indianapolis
Baltimore @ San Diego - Baltimore (Norv Turner gets fired)

NFC Divisional

Minnesota @ San Francisco - Minnesota
Green Bay @ New Orleans - Green Bay

AFC Championship

Baltimore @ Indianapolis - Indianapolis

NFC Championship

Minnesota @ Green Bay - Green Bay (I told you Brett Favre's career would end in Lambeau!)

Superbowl

VS.

And your Super Bowl Winner: The Indianapolis Colts

Welcome to Homeownership!

We woke up on Sunday morning to find that our water, which had previously been working just fine, was not working at all. After a visit from the service authority, it was determined to be a plumbing problem. Nothing like having the water go out on a holiday weekend.

Welcome to homeownership!

Consensus Top Kickers for 2010 Fantasy Football

The only advice I can offer here is to take a kicker in the last round.

Ryan Longwell, K MIN

Nate Kaeding, K SD

Stephen Gostowski, K NE
David Akers, K PHI
Garret Hartley, K NO
Mason Crosby, K GB
Rob Bironas, K TEN
Jay Feely, K AZ
Robbie Gould, K CHI
Matt Prater, K DEN
Lawrence Tynes, K NYG
Shayne Grham, K BAL
Neil Rackers, K ARI
Jeff Reed, K PIT
Joe Nedney, K SF

Consensus Top Defenses for 2010 Fantasy Football

I'm going to start this post out with some free advice. Don't let someone else dictate the pace of your draft. I believe this advice is particularly important as we head into the final two sets of rankings with Defenses and Kickers. Inevitably, someone will take a defense starting in round 7-8. Do not fall into this trap! While important, defenses are very unpredictable and more often than not, the ones you think will be outstanding don't produce nearly at the level they should based on where you select them. My philosophy is to take a defense in the second to last round. I suspect you'll replace your defense at least twice this year (once for a bye and once because it underperformed). Don't lose value at other positions to take a chance on a defense.

That said, here are the rankings:

1. NYJ Defense
2. Minnesota Defense
3. Baltimore Defense
4. Philadelphia Defense
5. Dallas Defense
6. Pittsburgh Defense
7. Green Bay Defense
8. San Francisco Defense
9. New Orleans Defense
10. Cinncinatti Defense
11. Giants Defense
12. Chicago Defense
13. New England Defense
14. San Diego Defense
15. Arizona Defense
16. Denver Defense
17. Indianapolis Defense
18. Miami Defense
19. Cleveland Defense
20. Washington Defense