Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – We’re only a little over a month away from the start of the NFL season, so you know what that means?<\/p>\n
It’s time for another preseason prognostication column in which a so-called expert (in this case, me, I guess) ranks all of the teams and tells you what’s going to happen before it happens. Or something like that.<\/p>\n
Well, with that disclaimer out of the way, here’s what we foresee today with projected overall records (subject to change, of course).<\/p>\n
The best team in football will be …<\/p>\n
Nah, let’s go in the opposite direction, worst to first, that’s more fun.<\/p>\n
32. Bringing up the rear, and getting the opportunity to draft first next April, oops, May, will be, the Oakland Raiders (1-15). “The greatness of the Raiders” stuff is just a distant memory. They have to beat somebody to get the one win, I’m just not sure whom that will be.<\/p>\n
31. The Arizona Cardinals (2-14). Why do you always get the feeling the players playing for the Cards never want to be there?<\/p>\n
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-14): I had them last originally, so this is a couple of steps up. When are they moving to L.A.?<\/p>\n
29. Buffalo Bills (3-13): I like the Bills. I root for the Bills. But they’re just not very good.<\/p>\n
28. Cleveland Browns (3-13): Maybe if they can get LeBron to come back, you know, and play football, too.<\/p>\n
27. Dallas Cowboys (3-13): It’s good for football when the Cowboys are good. But they’re not.<\/p>\n
26. Carolina Panthers 4-12): Cam Newton’s all sizzle and not much steak. The Panthers know that now, but are stuck.<\/p>\n
25. Tennessee Titans (4-12): Boy, oh, boy, the bottom fourth of the league really stinks. You can put these eight teams into a hat and just pick an order.<\/p>\n
24. New York Jets (5-11): Like the Bills, I quietly pull for the Jets. But a QB controversy is never a good thing and they have one.<\/p>\n
23. Kansas City Chiefs (6-10): Give Andy Reid a couple of years and he’ll turn things around.<\/p>\n
22. Miami Dolphins (6-10): The Dolphins are a chic pick to do well (basically because their division stinks), but they’ll need to show me first.<\/p>\n
21. Philadelphia Eagles (6-10): Will Chip Kelly’s high-octane offense be revolutionary or just hocus pocus? I’m leaning toward the latter.<\/p>\n
20. Detroit Lions (6-10): Love the offense, but you win with defense – something the Lions are still working on.<\/p>\n
19. St. Louis Rams (7-9): Another chic pick, like the Dolphins. The Rams will need to “show me” first.<\/p>\n
18. Chicago Bears (7-9): Their division is lackluster (like most of the NFL, it seems), and with a little luck, they could go 9-7 and make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
17. New Orleans Saints (8-8): Sean Payton is back to coach, but there are just too many holes.<\/p>\n
16. Washington Redskins (8-8): The ‘Skins take a sideways step this season and miss the playoffs.<\/p>\n
15. Baltimore Ravens (8-8): From Super Bowl champs to missing the playoffs the following season. The Ravens won’t be the first team to do that.<\/p>\n
14. San Diego Chargers (9-7): Hmm, I foresee a quick start and a dismal finish. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n
13. Minnesota Vikings (9-7): Adrian Peterson breaks the single-season rushing record and the Vikes stay home and watch the playoffs. Weird.<\/p>\n
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6): The Bucs get back in the playoffs after a long drought.<\/p>\n
11. Indianapolis Colts (10-6): Andrew Luck keeps the magic going in Indy.<\/p>\n
10. PIttsburgh Steelers (10-6): All is well in the world when the Steelers make the playoffs. I’m not sure what world that is, but it will make a lot of folks happy.<\/p>\n
9. San Francisco 49ers (10-6): Unlike the Ravens, this Super Bowl participant finds a way back to the playoffs.<\/p>\n
8. New England Patriots (10-6): Their division is just awful and the Pats know how to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n
7. Cincinnati Bengals (11-5): Have the Bengals finally figured this thing out? It says here they have.<\/p>\n
6. New York Giants (11-5): They own New York again as the Jets struggle.<\/p>\n
5. Green Bay Packers (12-4): When you have the best QB in football (Aaron Rodgers), you also have one of the best teams.<\/p>\n
4. Atlanta Falcons (12-4): Are the Falcons deserving of this spot? They sure are. But they miss the Super Bowl by one step.<\/p>\n
3. Seattle Seahawks (13-3): The ‘Hawks go to the Super Bowl behind the amazing Russell Wilson and a superb defense. They don’t win the Super Bowl, but getting to it is still impressive.<\/p>\n
2. Denver Broncos (13-3): Peyton Manning comes up a step short of the big game despite a valiant effort.<\/p>\n
1. Houston Texans (14-2): There will be a parade in Houston in February as the Texans hammer the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, 41-13.<\/p>\n
Don’t fear if I picked your team to struggle because it’s only August. Your team won’t officially stink for another two months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – We’re only a little over a month away from the start of the NFL season, so you know what that means? It’s time for another preseason prognostication column in which a so-called expert (in this case, me, I guess) ranks all of the teams and tells you what’s going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}