Tom Brady is 34 (35 when the season starts) and his long time left tackle just retired. Injuries happen, especially as players hit their mid to late 30's.
I don't think the AFC will see too much shakeup. Maybe Cinci out, Denver, New England, and Houston should all be improved from last season and I don't really see many other options to eliminate one of Baltimore/Pittsburgh from the conversation unless the Chargers, Jets, or Bills go on a tear at some point. Though, based on schedules, with the AFCE having a total cake walk and the AFCN dealing with NFCE I could just as easily see either the Bills or Jets taking a Wild Card. As for the NFC, unless the 9ers had a total fluke Seattle probably has to put on 3 more wins and hope the 9ers lose 3 from last season in order to have a chance. Giants I think are out, they are counting on a lot of rookies and players coming off of injury to contribute large amounts while the Cowboys should be improved and the Eagles started to mesh towards the end. Falcons out, Panthers in. Falcons haven't proven they can win a big game even during the regular season. Saints will be fine. Trade the Lions for the Bears, it should have been Chicago last year anyways if Cutler hadn't tried to be a hero. Only thing that worries me about the Bears is that the defense is a year older. Marshall should pick up any offensive slack that Forte may put down coming off of a bad knee injury, and he gives Cutler another guy he has done some impressive things with. Cinci out Giants out Falcons out Lions out Those are the only 4 "certainties" as I see it. Potentially swap one of Pitt/Bmore if their schedules get to them, but they're still both great teams, it just might be hard for the AFCN to send more than one with their schedule this year.
Probably not, but Tom Brady going down certainly could. A 35 year old Brady and an 11 year starter, 4x pro-bowler, all-pro LT retiring could catch up to the Patriots quicker than the Jets. This is the NFL, things change quickly - you should know that as a Pats fan. Mo Lewis.
You'll get over it. It's a fun prediction thread. Predicting a 35 year old QB with a new starting LT for the first time in 11 years gets injured isn't outlandish by any means. Most sane folks get that Brady is pretty much the only reason the Pats are successful. You will get your Pats homers that point to the Matt Cassell year though.
Haha. If this is one of those "You heard it here first" off-the-cuff, bold predictions, then I see no problem with it. But if you truly believe that the Patriots are one of the five 2011 playoff teams most likely to miss the playoffs in 2012, then I think you need to get your head examined. Year in, year out, the Pats are one of the safest picks to win their division and make the playoffs, and predicting injuries in the NFL is like playing the lottery. Between Solder and Vollmer, we are almost guaranteed to have at least one very capable player at LT at all times, even taking into account injuries for either player. Even if we lose Brady halfway through the season, there is a very good chance that Hoyer could pick up enough wins in the remaining games to get us a WC spot or better.
I don't think anyone making predictions in this thread is expecting their 5 teams to be correct. Brady is still playing at a very high level but you have to admit that he's getting into his twilight years as an NFL player here. Like I said, injuries happen, especially to 35+ players.
I think most people here are actually expecting to be accurate, but you just admitted you're simply trolling and/or dreaming. lol More than a few haven given thought out reasons as to why they think team won't be or will be making it.
I picked my horses and took a long shot. If that hurts your feelings then too bad. I'm sure you'll be able to sleep tonight. This is the NFL, things change quickly.
Obviously his remaining years are limited at this point, just from a simple numbers standpoint, but his performance trend doesn't suggest that he is even approaching the end. As you already seem to understand, the only age-related threat that seems to be a factor at this point is an increased injury risk. So yeah, injuries do happen, but they are incredibly difficult to predict, especially at the QB position. Even old QBs can be pretty durable when they have decent protection. The Pats OL has shown the ability to play at a near-elite level despite significant injuries to Koppen, Mankins, Vollmer, Neal, Kaczur, sometimes 3-4 starters at once. Brady has also played through a number of injuries. Only a really debilitating one would cause him to miss any significant number of games. Plus, he would likely need to get injured pretty early in the season to prevent us from making the playoffs. It just seems like you are depending on a very specific, narrowly defined (and thus statistically unlikely), scenario to fulfill your prediction that we might miss the playoffs this year. EDIT: It seems like you already understand that your prediction was a bit of a long shot, and I really have no problem with that considering this exercise is just for fun.
See here's where you lose. I'm just playing along with the thread making my picks, knowing damn well I probably won't be right (like probably everyone else picking won't be). You're on here talking as if the idea of Brady getting injured is ridiculous. Now if he does go down I get to shove this thread up your ass after I stop laughing. Thanks for playing.
Well....somebody's gotta say it. The Jets suck so bad the Patriots would win the division with Brian Hoyer :smile:
What pissed me off about 2008 was that the Jets clearly looked like the best team in the AFCE and a contender after 11 weeks then pissed the season away. I was also annoyed by the fact that Pennington won the AFCE with the Fins, but seeing them face a real team in the playoffs and get crushed erased that pain.
Out: Giants Saints Bengals Broncos Steelers In: Cowboys (win East) Bears (wild card) Jets (wild card) Chargers (win West) Bills (wild card)
I remember watching them dismantle the Titans and thinking "Oh shit, they might be the best team in the AFC." But of course, they're the Jets, so they blew it.
broncos, giants and saints out. could the streak be broken this year? i only see 3 that i would say will drop out. i refuse to pick the bengals only because everyone else did.
