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Predict NFC playoff teams

Pick your 6 NFC playoff teams


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    72

rmilia1

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Well Carolina caught as at the end of a three game road trip, all three of which were in the playoff hunt (Detroit, Atlanta, and Carolina). The Vikings also ended up higher seeded than both Carolina and Atlanta.
Minnesota has a very good team and a very good roster. I just think Atlantas is better but its close enough that I dont really begrudge someone who disagrees
 

DHoey

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Dallas will not be bad but they will not be good enough to make the playoffs. I think best case scenario is they win 9 games and that will not be enough to make the playoffs in the NFC. I personally think Zeke is the best RB in the NFL but he is not going to be enough IMO.

You could have said the same thing about Philly last year.
 

PnkPanther

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Minnesota has a very good team and a very good roster. I just think Atlantas is better but its close enough that I dont really begrudge someone who disagrees

Is it really surprising the Falcon fan thinks their roster is better and the vikings fan thinks their roster is better? We also beat you in 2015 :)

I'm big fan of De'vondre Campbell

In 2017 Vikings were the better team. 2018 who knows
 

PhillyGreen

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You could have said the same thing about Philly last year.

Yes you could. I personally did not think they were Superbowl contenders last year but I did expect them to be competitive and have a shot at the division. Going into last year the Eagles made roster improvements from the previous year. Going into this upcoming season IMO the 2018 Cowboys are not as good as the 2017 Cowboys.
 

rmilia1

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Yes you could. I personally did not think they were Superbowl contenders last year but I did expect them to be competitive and have a shot at the division. Going into last year the Eagles made roster improvements from the previous year. Going into this upcoming season IMO the 2018 Cowboys are not as good as the 2017 Cowboys.
People get far too caught up in peuor year results without looking at roster moves, age, luck ( good OR bad from the prior year) etc

Dallas 2 years ago was 13-3 but their record in one score games was not a sustainable thing sp that led to the conclusion they would regress to 10 wins or so last year and that was before the Zeke suspension or any other roster moves and that also assumed their defensive efficiency spike wasn't an anomaly. There are teams this year in similar situations. Those are the teams you shouldn't have faith in
 

rmilia1

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For example Carolina was 8-1 in one score games last year yet only went 11-5. A normal regression to 5-4 or 4-5 takes them to 7 or 8 wins . One score record is a great indicator of a teams likeliness to repeat success OR for a track to have an "unexpected" turnaround. It's why the fall back of teams like Dallas and Miami last year shouldn't have been surprising and why the leap forward of philly shouldn't have been either
 

jarntt

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Yes you could. I personally did not think they were Superbowl contenders last year but I did expect them to be competitive and have a shot at the division. Going into last year the Eagles made roster improvements from the previous year. Going into this upcoming season IMO the 2018 Cowboys are not as good as the 2017 Cowboys.
Come on. Talk as you will about a possible worse record, but how can you say that with a straight face? Unless you assume injuries which throws all predictions for every team into disarray, how can you say that? OL way better due to health and draft pick. Dak likely better. TE worse. WR likely better as a whole. RB way better. Defense overall expectations are much, much higher. LB better, DL likely better, Secondary probably a lot better. Coaching seems a lot better if you read what is being said about DB and WR coaches. Healthy Bailey means kicking game way better. STs? Who knows. Could they finish worse than last year? of course and they likely are within a couple games of last years record, but on paper, which is all we have right now, they look better than they ended up being in 2017.
 

Earl Stevens

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Come on. Talk as you will about a possible worse record, but how can you say that with a straight face? Unless you assume injuries which throws all predictions for every team into disarray, how can you say that?
His screen name
 

PhillyGreen

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Come on. Talk as you will about a possible worse record, but how can you say that with a straight face? Unless you assume injuries which throws all predictions for every team into disarray, how can you say that? OL way better due to health and draft pick. Dak likely better. TE worse. WR likely better as a whole. RB way better. Defense overall expectations are much, much higher. LB better, DL likely better, Secondary probably a lot better. Coaching seems a lot better if you read what is being said about DB and WR coaches. Healthy Bailey means kicking game way better. STs? Who knows. Could they finish worse than last year? of course and they likely are within a couple games of last years record, but on paper, which is all we have right now, they look better than they ended up being in 2017.

Injuries come into play every season for every single team. I can't recall a season where any team did not get hit with the injury bug. Personally I think the Cowboys are not better than last year. I was not all that sold on them last year either but I did pick them to win the divison with a 10-6 record (I think that is what I picked) but did not expect them to get far in the playoffs. I did not the the NFC East had any true SB contenders last year. I made this prediction thinking Zeke would play all season. While the Cowboys receiving corp may be better as a whole when you compare them to the rest of the NFL they are below average IMO. I just don't think any team are going to respect the receiving corp. I think they are going to load the box and dare the Cowboys to beat them throwing. The Cowboys lack depth in key positions and I personally think the coaching staff is poor. I think Garrett is a good coordinator but a bad head coach but that is just one man's opinion. These are just my opinions and I could very well be wrong. Won't be the first time and will not be the last. And no.... I did not make this prediction because I am an Eagles fan and hate the Cowboys. When the Cowboys have been better I have always admitted it.
 

jarntt

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Injuries come into play every season for every single team. I can't recall a season where any team did not get hit with the injury bug. Personally I think the Cowboys are not better than last year. I was not all that sold on them last year either but I did pick them to win the divison with a 10-6 record (I think that is what I picked) but did not expect them to get far in the playoffs. I did not the the NFC East had any true SB contenders last year. I made this prediction thinking Zeke would play all season. While the Cowboys receiving corp may be better as a whole when you compare them to the rest of the NFL they are below average IMO. I just don't think any team are going to respect the receiving corp. I think they are going to load the box and dare the Cowboys to beat them throwing. The Cowboys lack depth in key positions and I personally think the coaching staff is poor. I think Garrett is a good coordinator but a bad head coach but that is just one man's opinion. These are just my opinions and I could very well be wrong. Won't be the first time and will not be the last. And no.... I did not make this prediction because I am an Eagles fan and hate the Cowboys. When the Cowboys have been better I have always admitted it.
I'm not talking about comparing them to what Dallas was expected to be in 2017 preseason, but rather what they ultimately were. Also, I'm not saying their WRs are great by any means, just that I think as a whole they are better than last year. Even if they are bottom 3rd this year, they will still likely end up better than last year. That is why I bolded the comment about being worse than 2017. The record may end up worse, but as we sit here today, sans injury, the ylook better. Lastly, I think the depth s/b much better than it has been so I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say the depth is bad. Sure the top end talent is not great at some spots, but I think the depth should be there
 

PhillyGreen

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I'm not talking about comparing them to what Dallas was expected to be in 2017 preseason, but rather what they ultimately were. Also, I'm not saying their WRs are great by any means, just that I think as a whole they are better than last year. Even if they are bottom 3rd this year, they will still likely end up better than last year. That is why I bolded the comment about being worse than 2017. The record may end up worse, but as we sit here today, sans injury, the ylook better. Lastly, I think the depth s/b much better than it has been so I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say the depth is bad. Sure the top end talent is not great at some spots, but I think the depth should be there

I am talking about backups. One thing I think we can say with absolute certainty is that injurie cannot be avoided. Every teams would love to have all their starters play every single game and it just does not happen. The best teams in the NFL have good backups. While the expectation should not be that they perform as well as the starters it is nice to have players that can hold the fort down if necessary for a short period of time.
 

Pattersonca65

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Injuries come into play every season for every single team. I can't recall a season where any team did not get hit with the injury bug. Personally I think the Cowboys are not better than last year. I was not all that sold on them last year either but I did pick them to win the divison with a 10-6 record (I think that is what I picked) but did not expect them to get far in the playoffs. I did not the the NFC East had any true SB contenders last year. I made this prediction thinking Zeke would play all season. While the Cowboys receiving corp may be better as a whole when you compare them to the rest of the NFL they are below average IMO. I just don't think any team are going to respect the receiving corp. I think they are going to load the box and dare the Cowboys to beat them throwing. The Cowboys lack depth in key positions and I personally think the coaching staff is poor. I think Garrett is a good coordinator but a bad head coach but that is just one man's opinion. These are just my opinions and I could very well be wrong. Won't be the first time and will not be the last. And no.... I did not make this prediction because I am an Eagles fan and hate the Cowboys. When the Cowboys have been better I have always admitted it.

That is true to the point. But each team suffers injuries to a different extent. There is a stat that tracks the amount of starters on each team that miss time due to injury and there is normally a good spread to that. Sometimes injuries pile up on a certain position group like offensive line where you have first and second string guys go down and you are forced to start waiver wire scrubs or undrafted free agents. There is a certain amount of luck involved. My team was really lucky during the 2011 and 2012 run with injuries. Haven't been that lucky since.
 

Clayton

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For example Carolina was 8-1 in one score games last year yet only went 11-5. A normal regression to 5-4 or 4-5 takes them to 7 or 8 wins . One score record is a great indicator of a teams likeliness to repeat success OR for a track to have an "unexpected" turnaround. It's why the fall back of teams like Dallas and Miami last year shouldn't have been surprising and why the leap forward of philly shouldn't have been either
The one-score thing is a helpful guide but just like everything else its only part of the equation.

Usually when you see something lopsided like Carolina's 8-1, though, its a bad sign unless they have one of the best QBs in the league. A Brady or a Peyton or even a Rodgers can get away with that without too much regression. A normal team? Yeah, they overperformed.

When teams show up on the unlucky line every year and they are teams like the Browns and Bears who haven't had steady QB play then it probably isn't luck.
 

rmilia1

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The one-score thing is a helpful guide but just like everything else its only part of the equation.

Usually when you see something lopsided like Carolina's 8-1, though, its a bad sign unless they have one of the best QBs in the league. A Brady or a Peyton or even a Rodgers can get away with that without too much regression. A normal team? Yeah, they overperformed.

When teams show up on the unlucky line every year and they are teams like the Browns and Bears who haven't had steady QB play then it probably isn't luck.
For sure. There's always exceptions based on QB and to a lesser extent coaching. That said 8-1 type finishes really isn't repeatable by anyone. 6-3 even 7-2 maybe not only with elite elite QB play
 

ericd7633

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1. Philadelphia Eagles
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Atlanta Falcons
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. New Orleans Saints
6. Los Angeles Rams
 

PhillyGreen

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That is true to the point. But each team suffers injuries to a different extent. There is a stat that tracks the amount of starters on each team that miss time due to injury and there is normally a good spread to that. Sometimes injuries pile up on a certain position group like offensive line where you have first and second string guys go down and you are forced to start waiver wire scrubs or undrafted free agents. There is a certain amount of luck involved. My team was really lucky during the 2011 and 2012 run with injuries. Haven't been that lucky since.

Yup.

The teams that go the deepest in the playoffs have the best rosters. You still have to have a very good team to get to and win the SB but you have to overcome some adversity. The Patriots are poster children for this. You look at their teams and aside from Tom Brady they never have any true game changing superstars. Yet they manage to win year after year. The reason IMO is that aside from the best coaching staff in football they have always had the deepest rosters.
 

SeattleCoug

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1. LA Rams
2. Philly
3. Minnesota
4. Atlanta
5. New Orleans
6. Green Bay
 

Fountain City Blues

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Yup.

The teams that go the deepest in the playoffs have the best rosters. You still have to have a very good team to get to and win the SB but you have to overcome some adversity. The Patriots are poster children for this. You look at their teams and aside from Tom Brady they never have any true game changing superstars. Yet they manage to win year after year. The reason IMO is that aside from the best coaching staff in football they have always had the deepest rosters.
I can't agree to this. If anything the Pats had a pretty weak roster (and it wouldn't be the first to get that far under Brady) that you never hear about because Brady can carry them... Doesn't hurt to have the hooded one on the sideline as a cherry on top.

If anything the Manning Colts and Brady Patriots indicate this is not only false- but a blatantly QB dominated league. That defense was horrible last year by DVOA and ran into issues against most of the respectable offenses in the NFL- yet they required a herculean performance from Foles- on what was easily a superior and deeper non-QB roster- to be denied a SB.

The Steelers have repeatedly had better rosters than the Pats outside of QB in recent years- yet here we are always putting the Steelers second behind the Pats. The deepest team did win last year- that was more remarkable exception than anything, JMHO.
 

jarntt

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I am talking about backups. One thing I think we can say with absolute certainty is that injurie cannot be avoided. Every teams would love to have all their starters play every single game and it just does not happen. The best teams in the NFL have good backups. While the expectation should not be that they perform as well as the starters it is nice to have players that can hold the fort down if necessary for a short period of time.
Yes, I understood that. I just disagree. For example, OL depth was horrible last year and s/b much better this year. Other positions it's tough to say who is better, the starter or the backup. So my concern is more with the top end talent at certain spots than the backups who aren't expected to be great.
 
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