NFL Predictions for Week 16

Predictions


Okay, well, I forgot to add this part to my Monday Night Recap, something that I usually do not forget to do.

So, to remedy that, here are the predictions for this coming week in the NFL:

The big game next week would seem to be the Chicago Bears visiting the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football. These are two teams that are in front of their division, yet are fighting and clawing for their playoff lives at the moment. The Bears lose the tie-breaker against Detroit, so they would need to have an outright better record then Detroit, while Philly loses the tie -break to Dallas as well, and needs also to place higher than the Cowboys.

So, the stakes really could not be any higher for either team. And I see the Eagles prevailing here.

Another huge contest will take place in Carolina, where the Panthers will host the New Orleans Saints, in what will likely be for the division title. I think Carolina will take revenge on the Saints, and take the division with this victory.

New England will visit Baltimore, as these two tough and accomplished rivals meet again. This time, I think the Patriots will find a way to eke out the win, albeit just barely.

Another game with playoff implications will be Arizona at Seattle. The Cardinals have been relatively hot, but it is hard to see them going off on the road, where they are weak, and knocking off one of the toughest teams at home in Seattle. I was tempted for a minute to predict a Cardinals upset, but Seattle still has to clinch things, and that means that they will show up. And that's bad news for the Cardinals, who will likely see their playoff hopes finally extinguished this weekend.

I like the Chiefs over the Colts, in s potential playoff preview.

The Lions should beat up on the Giants, as they fight for their playoff lives, looking for the division title that should be theirs. I like the Chargers beating Oakland, The Packers over Pittsburgh in a Super Bowl XLV rematch, Miami over Buffalo, The Bengals over the Vikings, St. Louis over Tampa Bay, the Jets over the Browns, Jacksonville over Tennessee, and finally, the Broncos should win handily over Houston.

For Monday Night Football, I'll take San Francisco over Atlanta.







Peyton Manning & the Denver Broncos


I began talking about this in the last sports update that I did, and then kind of petered out, I realize.

So, I figured that it would be best to remedy this as well, by outright mentioning the dominance displayed by the Denver Broncos  They are enjoying one of those years, where everything seems to be in sync, and that is showing in the statistics. The Broncos have one of those video game offenses that NFL fans have grown used to over the last few years - probably since the record-smashing offense of the underachieving 1998 Minnesota Vikings.

The great Peyton Manning is the unquestioned leader of that offense, throwing for 47 touchdowns, and he is on pace to set a new record, eclipsing Tom Brady's 50 touchdown passes in 2007, which itself eclipsed Manning's record of 49 touchdown passes in 2004. Manning has also passed for 4,811 yards, for an average of 343.6 yards per game. Only six times before have quarterbacks ever reached the 5,000 passing yards in a season mark. But Manning is easily on pace to reach this landmark, and perhaps even make a run at second or third place in terms of passing yards (although he is most likely too far back to catch Drew Brees's record of 5,476 yards passing in the 2011 season). Manning's overall quarterback rating is 112.9, which is his second highest QB rating ever (he had a QB rating of 121.1 in 2004).

As for the Broncos offense, they are very hot, ranking among the most powerful offenses that the league has ever seen. The New England Patriots scored a total of 589 points in 2007, although not all of those were offensive points. These Denver Broncos have scored 535 points, with two games left. That means that they would have to average well over thirty points for both of the next two games to eclipse the 2007 Patriots, who went 16-0, as the highest scoring team in NFL history.

It will be really interesting to see if they can do it.

As for what that translated to, in terms of playoff success? Well, nothing is guaranteed, of course. Those Minnesota Vikings of 1998? They went an incredible 15-1 in the regular season. But in the playoffs, they only won one game against Arizona, before losing in shocking fashion to the Atlanta Falcons, after holding a 20-7 first half lead. They changed their game in the second half, grew overly conservative, and paid a huge price.

And those 2007 Patriots, I think everyone remembers what happened to them, right? They set all sorts of records that year, and were generally seen as the greatest team in NFL history. Until, that is, the Super Bowl, when they failed to secure a four point lead in the last forty or so seconds of the fourth quarter, and suffered their only loss at the worst possible moment to do so. Instead of being remembered for their dominance of the entire season, they are generally remembered for their one moment of glaring failure. Unfair? Perhaps, yes. But like it or not, that's what people remember.

The Broncos at least do not have the pressure of being unbeaten, or even of being 15-1. They are 13-3. Their offense might be a record shattering offense, but they have been beaten a few times already, and have almost suffered defeats a few other times, as well. So, their is likely not going to be that aura of invincibility with them that those other two teams had.

That said, the Broncos are still the team to beat in the AFC, and most likely, the road to the Super Bowl in that conference runs through the Mile High City. So, the pressure is on them, to be sure.

Let's see how they do.

Here are the links to the individual quarterback statistics, as well as the dominant offensive statistics, that I utilized in this blog entry:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_yds_single_season.htm

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/greatest-scoring-offenses-all-nfl-history/6100/

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_24169450/these-denver-broncos-could-rewrite-nfl-book-offensive