It is well understood that the NFL is one of the most competitive sports organizations in the world. Simply looking at the format of the competition shows that this is true, right on paper. The NFL has 32 teams, as many as the UEFA Champions League, for example. In the NFL, 12 of these 32 teams go to the playoffs, that is, only 37.5% of the participants. In the UEFA Champions League 50% of the participants go to the second round, or 75% if we consider the Europa League recap.
A seed in the NFL Playoff is an uphill, weekly and continuous combat where only the elite franchises are present. This we NFL and American football fans already knew.
But sometimes practice does not confirm the theory. This is not the case with the NFL. 14 weeks of competition. 13 games played by each team. Teams qualified for the January Playoffs? Zero.
Three days from the end of the regular team, no team has yet been able to secure their place in the post season and fight for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. In theory, the Carolina Panthers, with a 4-8-1 partial can still qualify for the Playoffs and the Patriots, Broncos or Packers with scores 10-3 can now end the season in December. Or both can happen.
Therefore, making nfl football predictions this week about the twelve on road to Super Bowl is merely a guessing exercise, which is the winning key of the Euro Millions, subject to the most varied contingencies, looming or shrinking. But, as players know, you always hit a number or a star. The hard part is getting the full key right.
Some teams are already in playoff mode, ie if they lose a game they are no longer competing in 2015, others are in a phase where a defeat may be the end of the dream and others do not want to lose a game to get the best position on the grid. departure to the Super Bowl.
AFC
Let’s start our futurology exercise by AFC and one of the easiest. Seats # 1 and # 2, bye week teams, will be from the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos, teams that are expected to win their respective divisions (AFC East and AFC West) and most likely in that order, they must finish the regular season with an identical score: 13-3. Tiebreaker? The game of week 9 at Gillette Stadium. Victory of the Patriots over the Broncos 43-21.
Since 2000, only three times has AFC East not been beaten by the Patriots. And this year will be no different for the 6th consecutive time and 11th time in the last 12 years! In addition to the three-time win over the Dolphins and the Bills, Tom Brady and company, after their visit and victory in San Diego, have three divisive clashes ahead of them, two of which are played at home and precisely against the two. your two most direct opponents. A single off and against the Jets… Few will bet the year will not end for the Patriots with 13-3! In principle, this week, at home, against the Dolphins, should seal the division. Game, Set and Match!
In the Denver Broncos division, AFC WEST, having a team like the Raiders, means having 3 teams fighting for the playoff’s.
Two weeks ago it could have happened that all teams were tied at 7-4, but the results of the last two weeks made the Denver team shoot and now have two wins over San Diego and three over Kansas City.
The timing to which Peyton Manning and his peers will be subject is not easy this holiday season. In the next two weeks, two outings to San Diego and Cincinnati, teams that are equally looking for their place in the playoff’s, but the last round is at home and against the Raiders. Probably 13-3, not surprisingly Denver’s were 12-4 in a possible defeat in one of the on the road games. Hence the advantage for AFC # 1 is the New England Patriots.
AFC North is regarded as one of the NFL’s most competitive divisions. Since it exists as such (2003) it has 5 wins for Pittsburgh, 4 for Baltimore and 3 for Cincinnati and to top it off this year the Browns have been bummed to be the party’s drums and are equally in the fight. The division winner, almost certainly, will be Baltimore. Or Cincinnati. Or Pittsburgh. Or even Cleveland.
It is a total shuffle, with victory and a half, separating the first from the last. But the momentum to be on the sides of Pittsburgh. (Okay, I confess it’s also an act of personal faith, as I’m part of Steelers Nation). Last week’s win in Cincinnati gave a boost to a team that could have been very quiet right now, were it not for home defeats against Tampa By Buccaneers or in NY against the Jets! In terms of timing, they have a visit to Atlanta and the final two games at Heinz Field against the Chiefs and Bengals. If they no longer use the complicometer, the Steelers win the division.