East Coast Bias: NFL Post-Mortem West

The first few Sundays without football are the worst. I tried to fill the void today with tape-delayed FA Cup games and then, horror of horrors, the Daytona 500. Many news outlets are calling the finish “thrilling,” capped off with a two-lap rush after a five-car wreck. One of the many, many reasons that I believe NASCAR is fake, is caution. Get the guy you want in the lead, radio someone to cause an accident and, boom, you have a winner.

Fortunately, pitchers and catchers reported this week which means it’s almost time for me to start talking baseball.

AFC West

San Diego Chargers: Prediction: Under 9 (8-8). Actual 14-2. When I wrote this original prediction, a lot of the teams I expected to be good ended up sucking. The Steelers had a Super Bowl hangover, Cinci had a problem with the law, the Seahawks never really got it together, and the Broncos decided to start the Jay Cutler era a little ahead of schedule, while Tomlinson had a record-breaking season and Rivers didn’t suck like he should have. All of it was rendered useless by a 4th quarter collapse against the Patriots that rendered their season useless, saw their most “classy” player transform into a whiny baby, and, after a 14-win season, their head coach is looking for a new job. Go figure. If Bill Parcells hadn’t just retired, I’d fully expect him to hop onto this gravy train and win a ring next season. See also: Riley, Pat.

Kansas City Chiefs: Prediction: Over 9.5 (12-4). Actual 9-7. Larry Johnson might still be running. He’s probably, at the very least, waking up screaming at the thought of Herm Edwards still being in charge next season. LJ had over 400 carries this season. Early fantasy tips from ECB: stay away from LJ in your draft next year.

Denver Broncos: Prediction: Push 10 (10-6). Actual 9-7. They jettisoned Jake the Snake and kicked off the Cutler Era early. On one hand, it kind of wrecked this season. On the other hand, Cutler’s going to be effin good. They got his butterfly season out of the way and, with Denver’s assembly line of 1500-yard backs, their future is, as usual, bright.

Oakland Raiders Prediction: Under 6 (4-12). 2-14. Everyone expected this season to bad. I don’t know if they expected it to be quite this bad. Honestly, I have no idea where the Raiders go from here. If they trade for Michael Vick, hilarity will ensue.

NFC West

Seattle Seahawks: Prediction: Under 10.5 (10-6). Actual 9-7. Seattle never really got their season together and still made the playoffs. Their division looks to be a little tougher next season.

St. Louis Rams Prediction: Under 7 (6-10). Actual 8-8. For future reference, the 6-to-8 range on these picks suck. The Rams were a sexy dark horse pick during the pre-season but it never really worked out. They’re another team that over-achieved due to a weak division and a weak conference.

San Francisco 49ers Prediction: Under 5 (3-10). Actual 7-9. The Niners, next season, will have a ton of cap-space for the first time in quite a while. Coming off a decent season, a few good signings and a decent draft could make swing the karma-paying 49ers back to a respectable franchise. This assumes they get their front office sorted out.

Arizona Cardinals Prediction: Under 8 (4-12). Actual 5-11. The good news is: Dennis Green is out, Matt Leinart showed flashes of being excellent, Anquan Boldin is an excellent option (and fantasy pick-up), and the team will have a good draft position to pick up guys for the line. The bad news, Edgerrin James is apparently cursed and they won’t win playoff games until he’s gone.

I’m now 12-12 and not nearly as good at this as I thought. I’ll finish this up probably on Wednesday or Thursday and then it’s time for a really early look at the baseball divisions. By then, I should be able to get into my NCAA bracket strategy based entirely on geographic location, seeding, and division. Believe it or not, it works.