Here is a bold one: The combatants in the Super Bowl will be the New England Patriots and the Dallas Cowboys, and the Patriots will win.
Why? The Patriots will be there because they are the most prepared in a season where most teams will take an extra two or three games to catch up. Also, with the loss to the New York Jets hanging over them from last year's playoffs, they will be anxious for payback.
And speaking of the Jets, the Patriots will beat them in the AFC Conference Championship game. This is the way life works. Win a big game unexpectedly one year - lose a similar game the next year.
And who will the Cowboys beat in the NFC Conference Championship game? The underdog of underdogs - the Detroit Lions. Yes, I am predicting that the Lions will catch a few breaks and win a few games.
It would be no fun to pick a rematch of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Packers, although entering the season, they both look like they could repeat.
Divisional winners in the AFC will be Tom Brady and his New England Patriots in the East, with Mark Sanchez and the Jets being a wild card team from the division. The Cleveland Browns, under the leadership of Colt McCoy, will win the brutal AFC Central division. As always, Payton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts will win the South, and perhaps surprisingly, the Kansas City Chiefs will win the AFC West. Who will the second wild card team be? The Baltimore Ravens, of course.
Divisional winners in the NFC East will be the resurgent Cowboys, with Tony Romo back in place. The Packers will win the Central, but the Lions will get in via the wild card. Sam Bradford will lead the St. Louis Rams to a West Division title, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will top off the South. The second wild card team will be the boring old New York Giants.
The Cowboys will be undervalued this year simply because they were overvalued last year. Super Bowl winners from the previous year are always overvalued, as are the losers. Conventional wisdom on up and coming supports teams like the Jets, but CW usually is a big miss. This leaves people like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to lead slow and steady charges through the season and the playoffs.
Trends lead to upsets, and I usually try to follow these trends. The Browns could have been 12-4 last year, and while they have new coaches, a new offense and a new defense, it looks pretty clear that the new regime is serious about winning sooner then later, and since the Steelers and the Ravens are due for a fall, picking the Browns is not a stretch.
Finally, the Detroit Lions need to bring it all together. The talent is young. It's there. Why not this year rather than next?
So that's it for this year's predictions. Let's talk next February and we'll see if I can do it two years in a row.
