Might as well do it and get it done with:
NFC East:
Is there actually a team in this division which can get to nine wins?
Is there a team in this division which is actually worth mentioning?
About the only team which can really benefit the NFL by doing any degree of decent is DALLAS. Washington is about the only team which, by the normal Pythagorean discussion, even should sniff nine wins, but the only team which really can get a benefit is about the only team which can draw.
Too bad the Cowboys get the defending champs in the opener Thursday night.
So:
Should win the division: The Football Team.
Will win the division: How bout them Cowboys at 9-8?
NFC North:
He had to come back, especially when it became clear Mikey Richards was fucking with Jeopardy! People forget Aaron Rodgers also (ostensibly) tried out, and that would be an out for him if the Packers didn't serve him.
But it's clear the Brett Favre Spiral is beginning anew in Packer-land, and the 0-3 preseason... The only thing that proves is that if injuries hurt this team to any real extent, they have no replacements.
Again, though: It's Green Bay, and the NFL would like to get away from that kind of a fanbase, especially in an increasingly urban and thug image for the sport.
It all comes down to Rodgers and whether he lasts the 17, but...
Should and will: Green Bay, by default.
NFC South
Tampa Bay. Next!! It's not COMPLETELY out of the question Tampa may win more games than the other three teams in the division combined!
NFC West
The only division of any real repute in the NFC, as San Francisco, Seattle, and LA discussing matters. Given those three, perhaps a slight nod to LOS ANGELES, even though it probably doesn't matter.
Should win division: Seattle is probably the best team, but this is Super Fraud!
Will win division: The LA Experiment continues.
Wildcards: Seattle, San Francisco, and Minnesota -- pretty much all that is left in the NFC.
NFC Champion: In one of the easiest title defenses ever, Tampa Bay. The gulf between them and #2 (probably Green Bay with Rodgers, Seattle or LA if Rodgers gets hurt) is utterly massive. At least one early projection has Tampa Bay scoring the most points and conceding the fewest. They have built a mercenary group to get Brady at least #8, if not #9 and #10 to place him so far above the other athletes that all must lay prostrate to him (ignore that he's doing things with his body implausible at his age for athletes who are not on the gas. Tom Brady's on illegal performance-enhancers and any sane person knows it. But what also any sane person must know is how much of this league and it's history (20 years now, as of this week!) revolves around the White Patriot.)
Caesars has Tampa 3-1 to win the NFC. You're basically betting 3-1 that Tom Brady stays upright. Tampa has the easiest schedule in the NFL for a reason.
AFC East
The more which is coming out about Cam Newton, the less there's much hope this guy wasn't the fraud I knew he was in Auburn, and was bought and paid for by whatever controls the American Sports Machine (a good current analogue would be apparent New Orleans starter Jameis/Rapeis Winston).
Word has come out that the new quarterback actually had to teach Newton the playbook. Not the other way around. So Belichick has done The Belichick Thing and jettisoned Newton (probably ending his NFL career -- thank God!), but can a rookie first-round draft pick, even out of Alabama, get them to the Promised Land? About the only real story I've thought for months (sorry, Buffalo) for next February in Los Angeles is Brady vs. Belichick. This makes it significantly harder, but not completely implausible.
Should win division: Buffalo and EASILY.
Will win division: Probably 60-40 Buffalo over New England, but the other will Wild Card.
AFC North
I've actually seen a recent (as in today) major sports-website NFL prediction which has the Cleveland Browns as the patsy for Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LVI.
Mike Clay actually believes the Browns have the best roster in the conference, including an ascending quarterback.
The one thing they (and New England) would have, in the AFC, is The Great White Hope at quarterback.
The one problem is that, how do you market this team outside of Odell Beckham Jr. -- an aging, injury-prone effective never-really-was?
Should win division: Baltimore
Will win division: If they'd be remotely serious about getting Beckham to a Super Bowl, this might be the year. But Baltimore is the better team with the more marketable commodity.
AFC South
I think the biggest problem with this division is the same problem they've had for a number of years: WHO THE FUCK CARES, outside of the four fanbases?
Jacksonville is a complete and utter joke. Tennessee would be better if they had a material defense. (Clay points out that they have the most offensive touchdowns in the NFL 2015-2020, tied with the Ravens.) Indianapolis has no rudder at the top, unless you think Carson Wentz is going to amount to a hill of beans in this league. And Houston is, by a fair distance, the worst team in the NFL.
Should and will win: Tennessee, with no other real option.
AFC West
He may no longer be working for the team, but Britt is Andy's son. Next court date on the DUI attempted murder of that girl is September 16th.
Andy Reid is an unfit monster to lead his family, much less a group of men. The fact he has been shown, time and again, on both fronts, to be so unfit is the reason which has cost the Chiefs two large-scale runs in the last five years, and probably that second consecutive Super Bowl, even though many sportsbooks have them the favorite for LVI out of the AFC.
I can't see it. I really can't. Yeah, the on the field is obviously there. But the fact that Andy Reid is such a fucking piece of shit is not lost on Park Avenue in New York, and the Patrick Mahomes Experiment may be, at best, on long-term hold, if it's not off completely.
That said: Good God, what other choice would you have among these three? A Chargers team with zero fanbase? A Raiders team which sucks rocks? And a Denver team which is so obviously flawed, no sane person could understand why Aaron Rodgers would want to spend the rest of his career there, unless he never wanted to play another meaningful NFL game again...
Should and will win: Kansas City, of course -- but that reckoning comes in January.
Wildcards: Buffalo/New England, Baltimore/Cleveland (whichever of the pair does not win the division in both cases) and Tennessee.
AFC Champion: The one real question which I believe remains in the year. A month ago or so, I'd be 1,000% behind New England for Brady vs. Belichick. And I have them a nose in front of Baltimore and Buffalo to lose to Tampa in the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl: Caesar's has something like +650-+700 for Tampa to win SB LVI -- that's because either the bettors, the bookies, or both believe Kansas City is going to be allowed to amount to anything once the chips are down in January. Again, that's a bet that Tom Brady is upright come February. If he is, it's a mortal lock, number eight, put it in the book, regardless of the opponent.
If he's not, the entire season goes completely up for grabs. There are not even that many GOOD teams this year in the NFL. If you remove Tampa if Brady gets hurt, I count about... six??? And one of them is a one-man show in Green Bay.
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