Super Bowl Prediction – 2011/2012 NFL Season
Here’s a bold one: The fighters 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 need two or three extra games to catch up. Plus, with the loss to the New York Jets hanging over them in last year’s playoffs, they’ll be itching for revenge.
And speaking of the Jets, the Patriots will beat them in the AFC Conference Championship game. That’s how 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 the underdogs: the Detroit Lions. Yeah, I’m predicting the Lions will take some breaks and win some games.
It wouldn’t be fun to pick a rematch between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Packers, though going into the season, it looks like both could repeat.
The division winners in the AFC will be Tom Brady and his New England Patriots in the East, with Mark Sanchez and the Jets as a division wild card team. 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 be the second wild card team? The Baltimore Ravens, of course.
The NFC East divisional winners will be the resurgent Cowboys, with Tony Romo back in his place. The Packers will win the Central, but the Lions will enter for the wild card. Sam Bradford will lead the St. Louis Rams to a Western Division title, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will crown 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. Last year’s Super Bowl winners are always overrated, as are the losers. Conventional wisdom about up-and-coming teams supports the Jets, but the CW is usually a big mistake. This leaves the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to lead slow, steady charges throughout the season and playoffs.
Trends lead to surprises and I usually try to follow these trends. The Browns could have gone 12-4 last year, and while they have new coaches, a new offense and a new defense, it seems pretty clear that the new regime is serious about winning sooner rather than later, and given that the Steelers and Ravens are Due to a slump, picking the Browns is no exaggeration.
Finally, the Detroit Lions need to put it all together. The talent is young. It’s there. Why not this year instead of next?
So that’s it for this year’s predictions. We talk next February and we’ll see if I can do it two years in a row.
