Alright, what are your playoff predictions heading into the bye week?

[hepcat]

There's a lot of football yet to be played, but what are your playoff predictions at this point? Here's my best effort at realistic predictions.

NFC

#1: New Orleans Saints 13-3. The Saints are the best team in the NFC. Drew Brees isn't being asked to win games on his own behind a good defense and a great running game. This recipe won the Saints a Superbowl in 2009. 

#2: Philadelphia Eagles 12-4. The Eagles have looked good, but they have a harder second half schedule. Games against the Seahawks, Rams, and two against the Cowboys still on the schedule.

#3: Seattle Seahawks 11-5. Seahawks sweep the Rams to win the division by a tiebreaker. Dangerous team in the playoffs behind magic man Russell Wilson.

#4: Minnesota Vikings 11-5. Vikings have some tough remaining games the rest of the way. Home against the Rams, Thanksgiving against the pesky Lions, road game @Carolina. I see them dropping a few, but easily winning the NFC North without Aaron Rodgers around.

#5: Carolina Panthers 11-5. Panthers regret some early season losses, in particular the Bears game, and end up a wild card team. Losses against @Saints and @Falcons doom their chances at the division title. Their defense, stellar play by Cam Newton, and playoff experience, make them a dangerous team.

#6: Los Angeles Rams 11-5. I'm not high on this team. They've had a cupcake schedule so far, their only quality win being against the Cowboys. Their schedule is about to get much harder and I think they end up losing the division to Seattle.

Just missed: Detroit Lions (10-6), Atlanta Falcons (9-7), Dallas Cowboys (9-7)

AFC

#1: New England Patriots 14-2. Not a game on their remaining schedule will even be close. Superbowl favorites yet again.

#2: Pittsburgh Steelers 12-4. Somehow this team keeps winning. Loaded with talent on offense and a better than average defense, the Steelers make a case as the 2nd best team in the AFC.

#3: Kansas City Chiefs 11-5. Another hot start followed by a less than hot finish, the Chiefs enter the playoffs with a talented roster, but a coach that can't seem to win the big one.

#4: Jacksonville Jaguars 11-5. Jaguars coast the rest of the way with the only difficult game being against the Seahawks. Jags win a winner takes all final game against the Titans to claim the division.

#5: Tennessee Titans 10-6. The Titans return to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. More the result of a crappy division/conference than them being a good team.

#6: Baltimore Ravens 9-7. A late season 3 game win streak against a weak schedule of the Browns, Colts, and Bengals propels the Ravens into the final wildcard spot. 

Just missed: Buffalo Bills (9-7), Oakland Raiders (8-8)

NFC PLAYOFFS

Wildcard Round

#3 Seahawks vs #6 Rams: Seahawks beat the Rams for the third time this season behind the stellar play of Russell Wilson and their defense for an ugly 17-16 win.

#4 Vikings vs #5 Panthers: The playoff experience of the Panthers comes in handy against an overmatched Vikings offense. The Panthers defense force 3 Case Keenum INTs en route to an easy 28-17 victory

Division Round

#1 Saints vs #5 Panthers: An epic division showdown in the playoffs the NFC South has been waiting for. An exciting game from start to finish, a back and forth shootout in the dome, a last second FG wins it for the Saints 38-35. 

#2 Eagles vs #3 Seahawks: Playoff experience takes over for the Seahawks in a huge letdown game for the Eagles. After building a 21-10 lead at halftime, the Eagles fail to score in the second half, allowing the Seahawks to storm back in the second half and take the game 24-21.

Conference Championship

#1 Saints vs #3 Seahawks: The Saints, unable to run the ball on the Seahawks stout defense, rely on their own defense forcing 2 turnovers to beat the Seahawks in a defensive slugfest 13-9.

AFC PLAYOFFS

Wildcard Round

#3 Chiefs vs #6 Baltimore: The Chiefs manage a rare playoff win against the overmatched Ravens, who just don't have enough firepower to keep up with the Chiefs after getting down early. 35-20.

#4 Jaguars vs #5 Titans: In what is by far the least watched playoff game of the year, and maybe ever, the Jaguars rely on Fournette's legs and their defense to pound the Titans and their own running game in an ugly, very unexciting 16-7 win.

Division Round

#1 Patriots vs #4 Jaguars: The Patriots, clearly the class of the NFL, roll all over the Jaguars. Not even Tom Coughlin's magic against Bill Belichick can stop them, the Patriots offense making a mockery of the Jaguars supposedly stout defense, routing the Jaguars in an easy 34-10 win.

#2 Steelers vs #3 Chiefs: A rematch of the divisional round in 2016, this time in Pittsburgh. The Steelers seem to have the Chiefs number, and rely on Leveon Bell and the ground attack to pound the Chiefs defense into submission. Alex Smith struggles in the playoffs yet again, and the Chiefs fail to reach the conference championship yet again. 26-17 Steelers win.

Conference Championship

#1 Patriots vs #2 Steelers: Another rematch from 2016, the Patriots just know how to destroy the Steelers in the playoffs. This goes way back. The game is never in doubt and the Patriots march straight to the Superbowl for a second straight year, beating the Steelers 38-24. 

SUPERBOWL

#1 Saints vs #1 Patriots: Another absolutely epic Superbowl pits two future HOF QB's against each other in a game that has wild ups and downs. Patriots win their 6th Superbowl with another late game comeback from TB12. There is no doubt who is the greatest QB ever.

[Lemory]

Saints-Patriots Superbowl? fug that. Panthers-Patriots rematch where we get our revenge. 

[*FreeFua*]

Wow...

Came in here expecting full on Panthers homer type stuff but was pleasantly surprised. You have it almost identically the way I see it. 

If we do end up travelling to Minny in the playoffs I’m not sure we win that one. Their DL will cause our OL fits and will make for a long day at the office for Cam. Plus I think by then Bridgewater will be the Vikes QB.

The NFC is REALLY strong this year, whoever makes it to the super bowl will have definitely earned it. 

I’ll be rooting for the Jags in the AFC but can’t imagine they get far with Lemonbar Blake

[pantherphan96]

Saints aint making the SB

[Snake]

We are not going to lose 5 games. 

[juliosantos]

were winning this superbowl we beat brady once again 

[SurfNTurf]

It's really difficult for a team to beat a good division opponent three straight times. We're not going 0-for-3 versus the Saints.

[toldozer]

40-17 under Rivera after November 1st. I won't be surprised if we smack the saints around in new orleans. I didn't feel that way till last night.  The panthers made the dolphins tap out last night. 

[jfra78]

fug That! How can you be a Panther fan after last nights game and think we losing 5?  at most we losing 1 more and I know the Saints will lose at least 1 more(to us).  This thing is far from over, Panthers are real contenders to win the South and the Superbowl

[Pantha-kun]

If we go 0-3 to the Saints , that'll be embarrassing. Especially if they win the Super Bowl , probably won't ever be able to live that down as a Panther fan. 

[hepcat]

9 minutes ago, *FreeFua* said:

Wow...

Came in here expecting full on Panthers homer type stuff but was pleasantly surprised. You have it almost identically the way I see it. 

If we do end up travelling to Minny in the playoffs I’m not sure we win that one. Their DL will cause our OL fits and will make for a long day at the office for Cam. Plus I think by then Bridgewater will be the Vikes QB.

The NFC is REALLY strong this year, whoever makes it to the super bowl will have definitely earned it. 

I’ll be rooting for the Jags in the AFC but can’t imagine they get far with Lemonbar Blake

Panthers fans are so f*cking bi-polar. After the Bears game it was as doom and gloom as it gets. After the Miami blowout everyone is saying Super Bowl. The Panthers are a good, not great, team this year. They’re getting some lucky bounces, like Julio Jones dropping a TD that likely would have ended with a Panthers loss if he catches that. 

The Saints are the only team to just flat out beat the Panthers in all phases of the game. The Panthers beat themselves against the Bears and Eagles, but the Saints are just a better team this year. Not saying the Panthers can’t beat them, but Sean Payton knows how to exploit the Panthers defense and Ron Rivera has even admitted it before. 

[*FreeFua*]

3 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Panthers fans are so f*cking bi-polar. After the Bears game it was as doom and gloom as it gets. After the Miami blowout everyone is saying Super Bowl. The Panthers are a good, not great, team this year. They’re getting some lucky bounces, like Julio Jones dropping a TD that likely would have ended with a Panthers loss if he catches that. 

The Saints are the only team to just flat out beat the Panthers in all phases of the game. The Panthers beat themselves against the Bears and Eagles, but the Saints are just a better team this year. Not saying the Panthers can’t beat them, but Sean Payton knows how to exploit the Panthers defense and Ron Rivera has even admitted it before. 

Brees knows he can exploit our secondary long before our pass rush can get to him. 

We really don’t matchup well with this Saints team.

We left soooo many plays on the field last night. Shepard left 4 plays on the field himself, Munnerlyn drops INT in endzone. Yeah we blew out a HORRIBLE Miami team but if we gave a good team that many chances, it would’ve been a different story.

So as awesome as it was to see us blowout Miami, there was a lot of issues that were covered up because of it.

[hepcat]

Just now, *FreeFua* said:

Brees knows he can exploit our secondary long before our pass rush can get to him. 

We really don’t matchup well with this Saints team.

We left soooo many plays on the field last night. Shepard left 4 plays on the field himself, Munnerlyn drops INT in endzone. Yeah we blew out a HORRIBLE Miami team but if we gave a good team that many chances, it would’ve been a different story.

So as awesome as it was to see us blowout Miami, there was a lot of issues that were covered up because of it.

Panthers really don’t match up well against the Saints. Huge hole at the CB2 spot and the Saints will exploit it. There have been receivers running wide open for teams every game. Panthers dare teams to throw and bank on the pass rush getting there before the QB can beat them. If the pass rush can’t get there, the Saints will wipe the floor with the Panthers. And they already did it once. Panthers fans are just high on their own sh!t after trouncing a horrible Miami team. 

[ecu88]

Idk what yall smokin but we are going to give the Aints the  at their home stadium