NFC
First, in the Bengals' AFC-N, I am dead on so far. Although the Bengals and Ravens are tied for first place, I basically got it right. I must say that the middle of the season gives me cause for concern. The Bengals have a tough slate coming up, against the Ravens twice, Texans and Bears at home, and Pittsburgh on the road. It may be tough to emerge with a winning record, while Pittsburgh has some serious softballs in Detroit and Cleveland. As the Bengals end of season slate is fairly soft, so long as they emerge within playoff contention I think they can make it. I don't expect the Browns to win more than a couple games, and I don't think the Ravens will lose more than a few.
I was also pretty dead on the NFC-W. San Francisco is clearly the class of the division right now, and with pretty bad teams in St. Louis and Seattle, Arizona should at least find their way to second place.
I'm killing it the NFC-N too. Minnesota remains undefeated, and after a very poor week one showing, Chicago looks like a playoff contender. Green Bay looks improved, except for their offensive line, but I think even a 9-7 season could lead them to 3rd place in the division. My prediction that the Lions would win at least one game came true. Maybe they'll win a second against Pittsburgh?
It's too early to call in the NFC-E, but the two teams I put on top - Philadelphia and New York - are clearly better than Dallas and Washington. The Redskins look pretty bad though, so they might not manage to best the Cowboys in the division, and it looks like the Giants may be a hair better than the Eagles after all.
Actually, I'm doing pretty well in the NFC. In the South, I was wrong about the Panthers, but the Saints are clearly on their way to winning the division, and the Buccaneers are clearly on their way to last place. I don't know what's wrong with the Panthers, but it remains possible for them to pull out of a 0-3 funk.
In the rest of the AFC, I made some mistakes. The biggest were in the AFC-S. I put the Titans on top and the Colts at third. Well, the Colts look like one of the 3 best teams in football, and the Titans are amazingly 0-4, most recently losing to a Jaguars team that most (myself included) had written off. Well, now the Jags and Texans are 2-2, so both could make mid season runs at playoff berths, while the Titans are basically already done for the year, a year after having the best record in football. Strange.
The AFC-W features the single biggest surprise for me - an undefeated Broncos team. I still think the Chargers can come roaring back for the division crown, just like they did last year. And I'm not too surprised that Kansas City and Oakland aren't very good. The main surprise is that the Chargers are actually facing competition to win this division.
Last, the AFC-E threw me off as well. The Jets are tied for first with a re-emerging New England team. Buffalo and Miami both look mediocre, so I expect this dynamic to play out for the rest of the year. The big question is whether both the Jets and Pats can make the playoffs. I'd be pretty thrilled if the Patriots don't.
If I'm still looking decent, I might revisit these again at the season's mid point.
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