Going On the Record - Micc's AFC Prediction

Okay, I admit it, I should've done this at the end of August, like last year. But I swear, I won't let the Colts impressive debut alter my prognostications. (ed. yeah right)

So without further ado, let me boldly go where, uh, only about 10,000 other Internet talking-heads have gone before:

AFC North: Wow is this a tough division to pick. The Ravens were tough as hell last year and now they've got a good young(er) back in Willis McGahee rather than the Jamal Lewis who rapidly transformed from thundering to plodding.
1. Baltimore Ravens - the addition of McGahee does it for me. I usually would shy from picking a team to repeat with competition like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, but a running game will give the Ravens that extra-win somewhere that puts them over the top.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers - neck-and-neck with Cincy, but I think the O might open up a bit.
3. Cincinnati Bengals - more like a 2a pick. QB Carson Palmer enters that oft cited "2nd year" back from a Torn-ACL. He alone could trash my entire prediction for this division because he is clearly the best QB in the AFC North (which is usually a pretty good barometer for who has the best team as well)
4. Cleveland Browns - over/under on the beginning of the Brady Quinn era: Week 7. Over/under on the # of wins for the Brownies: 5.

AFC East. The class of the division remains the Pats (though the sheen has come off a little in the past couple of weeks, with injuries/suspensions to Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison and their best CB Asante Samuel just now reporting to the team (and accepting his franchise designation)
1. New England Patriots - Brady got some scary weapons now. Lots of pressure on Laurence Maroney, but he look good. If he gets injured....well that's an argument that can put on a LOT of teams. The defensive holes could hurt them early, but unless the NY Jets streak out of the gate and the Pats stumble badly, they should have more than enough to win the AFC East tiara.
2. NY Jets - the Man-genius will be the primary competition for the Belichick-led Patriots. Thomas Jones gives the Jets a great option at RB. I don't think the Patriots are used to the Jets actually having a reliable running game the past couple of years (when Curtis Martin was in his last year and then gone in '06). They'll have one this year.
3. Buffalo - the J.P. Losman-Lee Evans combo won't be enough to get this team over the top. Huge turnover on D leaves a lot of questions. No answers yet. Wouldn't completely surprise me to see the Bills do really well, also wouldn't surprise me to see them founder
4. Miami Dolphins - No O-line and stauesque QB in Trent Green. Affording your QB less protection than what some of the girls wear down on the strip spells bad news for Miami.

NFC South - Defending Champs should rule the roost (see I told you)
1. Indianapolis Colts - swear this has nothing to do with their dismantling of the Saints on opening night. They just have too much for their division rivals. Period.
2. Houston Texans - ok, I will take a wild stab and say the Texans' gamble on Matt Schaub pays off. The guy knows the system the team uses and maybe Ahman Green will be the Texans' uncaped crusader for one season. That's the hope in Houston. It won't be enough to make the playoffs, but it could be enough to make some noise that Houston doesn't totally suck.
3. Jacksonville Jaguars - maybe Garrard will be "the man" down in J-town. Maybe the Jags won't recover from the release of Byron Leftwich. I'm down on the Jags because they can't seem to stop the internal roiling that seems to sabotage their season each year. Moreover, Garrard is just the 4th best QB in the division.
4. Tennessee Titans - an odd placement, I know, considering the Titans "remember us, we're still in the NFL" run last year. But jettisoning nearly every weapon Vince Young relied on last year (with the exception of TE Ben Scaife) just doesn't seem like a formula for success in 2007. If some weapons emerge, this pick will look foolish, cause Vince Young is just electric.

AFC West - aiya, San Diego, Denver and uh...oh my the other two should be bad.
1. San Diego - Going with talent alone on this one folks. LT, Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates? An orangutan could coax a 9-10 win season of this squad. They could roll out a wax figure of coach Norv Turner and be just as effective (come to think of it...)
2. Denver Broncos - Travis Henry is next-in-line to get the Shanahan-system-can-make-a-1,000-yard-rusher out-of-anyone. Thing is, Henry is already a damn fine back. He could become a monster in Denver....yea! I got him on one of my fantasy teams
3. Oakland Raiders - from bottom of the scrapheap to what? Mild, somewhat respectability? Perhaps. I just think any team with a defense as good as the Raiders should be somewhat decent. Is McNown the answer? Dunno, I expect Culpepper and his deep-ball ability to take over at some point.
4. Kansas City Chiefs - odd place for the Chiefs, but I just don't trust this team on either side of the ball. O-line is deteriorating and even with Larry Johnson, who is arguably a top 3 back in the league, it hard to see him dominating in a 3-yards and a cloud-of-dust offense. And who is going to be throwing the ball to new WR Dwayne Bowe? K.C. may make me pay for this lack of faith, but that's how I see it right now.

ProBowl Ruminations

As I spend my Sunday morning getting my final taste of football for the season (and a little taste of home), these quick thoughts struck me:

- Laughed out loud when after RB Larry Johnson was obliterated in the backfield Dan Dierdorf asked "was he tackled? or absorbed?"

- 1st quarter and Dan Dierdorf talks about how the guys in the trenches play all out...snap...and all 9 lineman stand straight up and mosey around while the NFC runs a pass play....hee hee

- Bulger drops the ball w/o being touched?? C'mon dude...don't give it away....

- Hitting does exist in the ProBowl (I still remember some of Dawkins big hits from a few years ago)

- Want to take bets on the most replayed highlight from today's game...little doubt in my mind; AFC Punter Brian Moorman just got annihilated by Washington's Sean Taylor on a fake punt...
BTW - CBS carried the call in Japanese as well...after you hear the NHK announcers go "OOOO" you know big hits translate to any language...

- Ok all you Romosexuals...Dallas QB Tony Romo has been just this side of pathetic...and what the fuck did he do to deserve playing the entire second half? Real coaching genius that Sean Payton...Romo couldn't even engineer a scoring drive after Chicago's great return man Devin Hester set up the NFC inside the 25! They the NFC gets the ball at the 11 on a fumble and the only reason they score is because of Steven Jackson's never-say-die attitude....and FINALLY, a decent pass by TR and Boldin scores on a nifty shift and scoot down the sideline...Cool...

- Game ends, AFC wins 31-28...what a cheesy way to end the game on a gimme FG after a Pass Interference penalty on the NFC...dang...had a chance for real drama...

Going "On the Record" - Micc's AFC Prediction

Since I went out on a limb with the NFC, I figured I take a couple minutes today and address the Eagles potential opponents in Superbowl XLI...(ok that goes a little far, but if you cannot dream at this time of year, when CAN you?)

My take on the AFC
AFC East: Unlike their NFC counterpart the AFC East is a division of sharp contrasts, premier organizations and laughingstocks
1. New England Patriots - god I am sick of seeing this team at the top, but I gotta admit the Pats looked sharp in the pre-season, they seem to pull good performances out of players who were mediocre with other teams...I mean Brady torched Washington vaunted D with Bam Childress, Troy Brown, Ben Watson and Reche frickin' Caldewell....fer crying out loud...
2. Miami Dolphins - I thought long and hard about shaking up the East and putting Miami first, and I think if Culpepper is fully recovered the team could squeeze another season out of long-in-the-tooth defense and very easily challenge the Patriots for the division. Part of me actually hopes this will happen, if only to balance out the karma, I just wouldn't bet the farm on it
4. Buffalo Bills and NY Jets - Hey what happened to #3, lets face it, this division has a huge gap in it and neither the Jets and Bills deserve being rated a #3: both have underachieved for years. Can either team challenge for the division, hell no...Can Marv Levy restore the Bills to glory? Doubtful...Can Belichick protege Mangini turn around the Jets? Maybe, not this year, but the Jets should be pointed in the right direction this year

AFC North: Unlike the NFC, the North division in the AFC is a powerhouse!
1. Cincinnati Bengals - wow, going against the World Champs??!! Am I nuts, no...I just watched Carson Palmer appear in mid-season form a couple of days ago, and the historically tepid Bengals looked superb...But consider last year, The Bengals took the division from the Steelers, it had been Pittsburgh's for years, and Cincy snatched it. What they couldn't do, as a young team was overcome the loss of Palmer in the playoffs. Cautionary note: the felony/misdemeanor count against this team is the highest I've seen in a long time...get that crap under control Marvin or else distractions may subtract from what should be very good season for lower Ohio.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers - I haven't seen much from Big Ben this preseason...he looks OK after his June asphalt face-plant, but the I dunno, something about the team is a little off. The D will be solid as ever, so the let-Ben-manage-the-game, keep-it-close-with-D strategy should see the Steelers in the hunt come late-December
3. Baltimore Ravens - Ravens fans owe Tennessee a big one...Baltimore got a proven leader and winning QB, Steve McNair, who fell right their lap after the Titans decided that after years of taking one for the team (yearly renegotiations of McNair's contract to make up for poor cap management in other areas of the team) made him deserving of a claymore-sized knife between the shoulder blades...Reunited with Derrick Mason, the Ravens are going to be a threat this year...after years of QB incompetence (Boller, Banks, etc, etc) the Ravens finally have a field general as tough as they come, that should scare the rest of the AFC North
4. Cleveland Browns - Romeo Crennel does have the Browns pointed in the right direction...but the Browns don't have it...Charlie Frye, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow are a great young nucleus, but they are at least a season away from serious competition

AFC South - Kinda similar to the AFC East, 1 contender, 1 good team, two pretenders
1. Indianapolis Colts - The only question for me - how does the "O" do without its Edge? They look decent so far, and the Colts don't have much competition in this divison because I think the Jaguars may have actually taken a step back this year
2. Jacksonville Jaguars - ok so Byron Leftwich is more experienced but what receivers does he have beyond Matt Jones? Jimmy Smith screwed the team by retiring AFTER the draft (a draft during which the Jags did not select a WR, hmmm, might they have drafted one had they known Jimmy wasn't going to be around...) The Jags D should be pretty stiff, but unless Coach Del Rio lights a fire under this team they don't have enough to overtake the Colts...
3. Tennessee Titans - Looks like they are starting to emerge from salary-cap hell, but jettisoning McNair the way they did was totally classless, no wonder Tennessee remains Vols-country...I also think the owner royally screwed up by forcing the team to draft Vince Young...I mean you have an instant starter sitting there on the board in Matt Leinart, who ran to perfection the same exact Offense the Titans run (they hired USC's Norm Chow the year before fer crying' out loud!)...and they go with the "athletic" option...I think the owner, being a Houston-homer, wanted to rub it in his former town's collective face by selecting their golden-boy Vince...So why did the Titans just sign Kerry Collins? What the hell can he teach Vince Young? How to stand still?
4. Houston Texans - A laughingstock since entering the league, the Tex-assns are going to be kicking themselves for years for passing up on Reggie Bush...its going to be a classic blunder...DE are necessary to win, but unless he is Reggie White reincarnated, #1 overall Mario Williams is almost destined to be overshadowed by a game-breaker like Bush....DE don't handle the "rock" and the comparisons are inevitable...Why didn't they take Bush, because they "had" a franchise back..Dominack Davis....what's he done this preseason....nothing but sit out injured....another faux pas from Houston...oh yeah...how bought fixing the Offensive Line!

AFC West: Three challengers and the Raiders
1. Kansas City Chiefs - I have my doubts about Herm Edwards, but I am tired of selecting the Broncos and KC is close, very close to Denver...what I like...LJ, Gonzo, Trent Green...what I don't like: loss of Roaf and Richardson raises questions about whether LJ will run rampant over the NFL again...if Ty Law, Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali can kick the D up a notch the Chiefs should be able to supplant Denver
1a. Denver Broncos - Mike Shanahan is prepping his pixie dust to create his next unknown-to-thousand-yard-rusher...Mike Bell....whodat? Exactly...of course, having a dirty, cheatin' O-Line helps, but the Broncos have gotten away with it for years, so why stop now? The key for Denver, can they get another season from their Cleveland re-treads on the D-line, and will Javon Walker be the stud he was in Green Bay, if so, Denver should be right there with the Chiefs in Dec
2. San Diego Chargers - Sure they got LT and Gates, but who is playing WR and they are going to depend on unproven QB Philip Rivers to carry them to the promised land? Brees' injury gave the GM the green-light to dump him, but Brees was the Chargers real hope to lead them to Miami in Feb. With Rivers...they have no shot
4. Oakland Raiders - Art Shell comes back after 12 years and the Raiders shackle him with Aaron Brooks - a career loser with the Saints...HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...going to be another long year for football in the Bay Area. Now they sign Jeff George? 'nuff said...

So who are my playoffs teams: Indy, Pats and Cincy return....KC, Miami are new entries, and the Steelers just edge the Ravens for another