I'd like to see your ranking of the top five or top 10 NFL teams, based not necessarily on record, but on what you have seen from the teams. For example, Kansas City is still undefeated, but I believe there are several teams better than them. Also, predict division winners and wild card teams.

My top ten:
1. New Orleans
2. Denver
3. Seattle
4. Indianapolis
5. San Francisco
6. Cincinnati
7. Green Bay
8. Detroit
9. Dallas
10. Kansas City

Playoff prediction
AFC
East: New England
North: Cincinnati
South: Indianapolis
West: Denver

Wild Cards - Kansas City, San Diego

NFC
East: Dallas
North: Green Bay
South: New Orleans
West: Seattle

Wild Cards - San Francisco, Detroit

I don't see San Diego making it. 4-4 and 2 games left with Denver and Kansas City. I don't see them winning but maybe 1 of those 4. At best they go 9-7.

my top 10-
1 Denver
2 Seattle
3 Indianapolis
4 San Francisco
5 New Orleans
6 Green Bay
7 New England
8 Kansas City
9 Detroit
10 Dallas

AFC New England, Cincy, Indy, Denver WC Kansas City, NY Jets
NFC Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans, Seattle WC San Francisco, Carolina

Panthers @ Niners this coming Sunday will be EPIC.

well, I think our pick of the Packers may be in doubt if Rodgers is out for any stretch of time. Though next 3 weeks schedule is soft enough to where they could weather the storm(Eagles, Giants, and Vikings)

Do think they'll sign Matt Flynn who got released today.

My top ten:
1. Denver
2. Seattle
3. San Francisco
4. Indianapolis
5. New England
6. New Orleans (full disclosure: I'm a Saints fan)
7. Kansas City
8. Cincinnati
9. Carolina
10. Chicago

Playoff prediction
AFC
East: New England (#3 seed)
North: Cincinnati (#4 seed)
South: Indianapolis (#2 seed)
West: Denver (#1 seed)

Wild Cards - Kansas City (#5 seed), New York Jets (#6 seed)

NFC
East: Dallas (#4 seed)
North: Chicago (#3 seed) (would have been GB before Rodgers' injury)
South: New Orleans (#2 seed)
West: Seattle (#1 seed)

Wild Cards - San Francisco (#5 seed), Carolina (#6 seed)

Ranking Green Bay is tricky. With a healthy Rodgers, I'd have them top 6-7 and winning their division. I'm rating them based on the assumption that Rodgers will miss at least three games, which I think will be enough to torpedo their playoff chances. I give the nod to Chicago by a hair over Detroit.

(11-05-2013 04:20 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  My top ten:
1. Denver
2. Seattle
3. San Francisco
4. Indianapolis
5. New England
6. New Orleans (full disclosure: I'm a Saints fan)
7. Kansas City
8. Cincinnati
9. Carolina
10. Chicago

Playoff prediction
AFC
East: New England (#3 seed)
North: Cincinnati (#4 seed)
South: Indianapolis (#2 seed)
West: Denver (#1 seed)

Wild Cards - Kansas City (#5 seed), New York Jets (#6 seed)

NFC
East: Dallas (#4 seed)
North: Chicago (#3 seed) (would have been GB before Rodgers' injury)
South: New Orleans (#2 seed)
West: Seattle (#1 seed)

Wild Cards - San Francisco (#5 seed), Carolina (#6 seed)

Ranking Green Bay is tricky. With a healthy Rodgers, I'd have them top 6-7 and winning their division. I'm rating them based on the assumption that Rodgers will miss at least three games, which I think will be enough to torpedo their playoff chances. I give the nod to Chicago by a hair over Detroit.

I would agree with you except for who they play in those 3-4 weeks. Eagles, but then Giants and Vikings. I think they can skate by those teams maybe going 2-1. It's not awful by any stretch.

(11-06-2013 01:06 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(11-05-2013 04:20 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  My top ten:
1. Denver
2. Seattle
3. San Francisco
4. Indianapolis
5. New England
6. New Orleans (full disclosure: I'm a Saints fan)
7. Kansas City
8. Cincinnati
9. Carolina
10. Chicago

Playoff prediction
AFC
East: New England (#3 seed)
North: Cincinnati (#4 seed)
South: Indianapolis (#2 seed)
West: Denver (#1 seed)

Wild Cards - Kansas City (#5 seed), New York Jets (#6 seed)

NFC
East: Dallas (#4 seed)
North: Chicago (#3 seed) (would have been GB before Rodgers' injury)
South: New Orleans (#2 seed)
West: Seattle (#1 seed)

Wild Cards - San Francisco (#5 seed), Carolina (#6 seed)

Ranking Green Bay is tricky. With a healthy Rodgers, I'd have them top 6-7 and winning their division. I'm rating them based on the assumption that Rodgers will miss at least three games, which I think will be enough to torpedo their playoff chances. I give the nod to Chicago by a hair over Detroit.

I would agree with you except for who they play in those 3-4 weeks. Eagles, but then Giants and Vikings. I think they can skate by those teams maybe going 2-1. It's not awful by any stretch.

The Eagles game could prove interesting and I think the Giants beat them. Green Bay wins any games with Rodgers out and I think they still win the division.

New Orleans is 6-2 now after the loss to the Jets, but they could easily be 8-0. Conversely, Seattle, while strong has struggled to eke out victories over weak teams the last two weeks. Every team has off days, but I believe those are the best two teams in the NFC, while a healthy Green Bay challenging them. San Francisco could be there but I just don't have a lot of confidence in their offense. Detroit could be a sleeper, but I think Dallas is too inconsistent to make a run in the playoffs.

I still believe Denver is the best team in the AFC, but you can't ignore the way Indianapolis has played against the best teams on their schedule. Cincinnati is the team that I think could surprise in the AFC, as long as Andy Dalton continues to play well and limit mistakes. stever20, you could be right about San Diego. I can see the Jets or Baltimore getting the last wild card spot.

I say the Jets. schedule. Buffalo, Baltimore, Miami, Oakland, Carolina, Cleveland, Miami. Pretty easy to see them getting at least 4 wins out of that. That gets them to 9 wins. Baltimore would have to go 6-2(with a win over the Jets). Problem is they have- Cincy, @ Chicago, Jets, Steelers, Vikings, @ Detroit, New England, and @ Cincy. That's pretty hard there to see them going 6-2. That would be splitting with the Bengals, and wins over Bears, Jets, Steelers, Vikings, and splitting with the Lions/Patriots. That's a pretty tall order.

(11-06-2013 01:06 AM)stever20 Wrote:  I would agree with you except for who they play in those 3-4 weeks. Eagles, but then Giants and Vikings. I think they can skate by those teams maybe going 2-1. It's not awful by any stretch.

That's a fair point. If they go at least 2-1, I'd still consider them the favorite. If they go 1-2 though, that would leave them at 6-5. They'd probably need to go 4-1 the rest of the way to win the division at that point, with road games at Detroit, Chicago, and Dallas.

(11-06-2013 09:55 AM)Zombiewoof Wrote:  New Orleans is 6-2 now after the loss to the Jets, but they could easily be 8-0. Conversely, Seattle, while strong has struggled to eke out victories over weak teams the last two weeks. Every team has off days, but I believe those are the best two teams in the NFC, while a healthy Green Bay challenging them. San Francisco could be there but I just don't have a lot of confidence in their offense. Detroit could be a sleeper, but I think Dallas is too inconsistent to make a run in the playoffs.

I still believe Denver is the best team in the AFC, but you can't ignore the way Indianapolis has played against the best teams on their schedule. Cincinnati is the team that I think could surprise in the AFC, as long as Andy Dalton continues to play well and limit mistakes. stever20, you could be right about San Diego. I can see the Jets or Baltimore getting the last wild card spot.

Seattle and Indy both seem to play to the level of their competition. Indy's wins vs Seattle, Denver, and @ SF are very impressive, and that's why I have them at #4, but it's concerning that they could lose at home to Miami and by double digits @ SD.

The Saints could also very easily be 4-4, as they barely eeked out wins in weeks 1 and 2. Conversely, the Panthers could have easily won in weeks 1 and 2 and be 7-1 right now.

To your statement about SF's offense...aside from the 2 game hiccup early this season, they've scored 31+ in all other games.

(11-06-2013 11:16 AM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  To your statement about SF's offense...aside from the 2 game hiccup early this season, they've scored 31+ in all other games.

My statement was that I didn't have a lot of confidence in their offense. Frank Gore is a beast and I have a lot of respect for his ability. If the 49ers are able to control the line of scrimmage and Gore gets his yards, they can make life difficult for anyone offensively. However, Kaepernick has only passed for more than 200 yards in a game twice this season, including the 400+ yard effort in the opener. He's only completing 57% of his passes and has as many turnovers as touchdown passes. For a stretch, Kaepernick can look like a world beater, but I haven't been very impressed by his performance this season.

Yes, SF has scored more than 30 points in their current five-game winning streak. That's been against St. Louis, Houston, Arizona, Tennessee and Jacksonville. I don't see any playoff teams among those, unless Tennessee goes on a roll. Against probable playoff teams, they are 1-2, scoring 34 in the opener, then three and seven points in their losses.

All I am saying is that since the season opener, they haven't beaten anyone of consequence and I think the offense may be a concern. I still think they will make the playoffs where anything can happen.

As an aside, I won't be surprised if Carolina beats the 49ers Sunday.