THE 2023 NFL POSTSEASON SPECTACULAR (Played in 2024)

Another NFL season flew by in four months and now that 2024 has burst into existence, the playoffs have arrived. Like I have promised in the past, if I predict less than half the teams correctly (Six or less), I will skip my postseason NFL blog and write about the things that truly inspire like Jennifer Lawrence’s ass, the mating patterns of the Regent Parrot, and whether Napoleon was one of the worst dictators in history because he was angry about being born small. Here are my predictions from early September.

AFC

1. Buffalo
2. Kansas City
3. Baltimore
4. Jacksonville
5. Cincinnati
6. Miami
7. Pittsburgh

NFC

1. Dallas
2. New Orleans
3. San Francisco
4. Detroit
5. Seattle
6. Philadelphia
7. Atlanta

 
Here is how they finished.

AFC

1. Baltimore
2. Buffalo
3. Kansas City
4. Houston
5. Cleveland
6. Miami
7. Pittsburgh

I did an impressive job with the AFC. I predicted the first three seeds correctly even if the seeding was incorrect. Successfully predicted Miami as the 6 and Pittsburgh as the 7. Jacksonville missed the 4 seed on the last day by losing their last game to Tennessee. Cincinnati had injury problems all year and even without their superstar quarterback, they finished last place in the AFC North at 9-8, only a game out of the postseason. Houston’s rise was a surprise and I underestimated how talented the Cleveland Browns were before the season.

NFC

1. San Francisco
2. Dallas
3. Detroit
4. Tampa Bay
5. Philadelphia
6. LA Rams
7. Green Bay

Nine out of fourteen is not bad. But my predictions with the NFC were not as impressive. Like the AFC, I got three of the four division winners only missing the South in both conferences. The top 3 teams were predicted to make the playoffs but with different seeds. I expected David Carr to be the difference with New Orleans in a weak NFC South and they did finish 9-8 but lost the tiebreakers with Tampa for the division and Green Bay for the wild card. Seattle also finished 9-8 and lost the wild card tiebreaker to Green Bay. With their impressive draft, Seattle seemed stagnant this year when improvement was expected. Atlanta had the easiest schedule in the NFL which is why I picked them to finish 9-8 and get the 7 seed. Instead, they went 7-10 and are looking for a new head coach. I also predicted the decline of the Philadelphia Eagles but not for the right reason. Their team seems like it may have given up on their coach. I believed they would have a miserable Super Bowl hangover. But I did have them making the playoffs which they accomplished. The LA Rams, due to an incredible draft and staying injury free, shockingly got into the playoffs after initiating a rebuild in the offseason. And the youngest team in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers, are way ahead of schedule with their youth movement.

SUPER WILD CARD WEEKEND

Here are my picks.

Cleveland over Houston

Houston has found a franchise quarterback in CJ Stroud. He had a wonderful rookie season and stepped up at the end to lead the Texans to a division title. The future is bright with this kid. Cleveland’s playoff run may have been even more impressive. Winning eleven games despite starting four quarterbacks. Their 4th starter, 38-year-old Delaware graduate and Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco, has had a career renaissance with the Browns late in the year. I believe this will continue for another week.

Kansas City over Miami

The Chiefs are the defending champions and despite having a Super Bowl caliber defense, the offense has been abysmal especially during the second half of the season. Despite their decline, the rest of the AFC West was pathetic which allowed Kansas City to win an 8th consecutive division title. Miami was impressive early but as soon as they started playing some of the NFL’s best, they began to struggle only winning at the last minute over Dallas at home and losing the rest. If this game was in a dome, I would be leaning towards Miami. But this game will be taking place in freezing weather in Kansas City. Miami historically does not play well in this weather. Kansas City will bumble and stumble their way to a victory.

Buffalo over Pittsburgh

Not much to say here. Buffalo struggled and was sitting at 6-6 in early December. They are now 11-6 and hanging onto the 2 seed as possibly the hottest team in the AFC entering the playoffs. Pittsburgh again slips into the playoffs as Mike Tomlin keeps his insane non-losing record streak alive for another season. The talent gap in this game is immense. Unless a bomb blows up and kills half the Bills team or Josh Allen has one of his infamous high turnover games, the Bills should roll.

Dallas over Green Bay

Dallas won the division as expected even though it took until the final week to do it. Green Bay’s Jordan Love matured in the 2nd half and took a struggling 3-6 Packers team and guided them to a 6-2 finish to slide into the 7 seed. Green Bay is young and Dallas, who is undefeated at home, should defeat the Packers.

Detroit over LA Rams

The Detroit Lions were my favorite pick in the preseason. I was impressed with how Detroit finished in 2022. I expected this to carry over with an even more talented team in 2023. The Lions rewarded my prediction by rolling to an NFC North division crown. The LA Rams being in this spot is a huge surprise. Going into the bye week with injuries to three of their top four skill players and sitting at 3-6, the season was starting to resemble the miserable 5-12 2022. But in a shocking turn of events, the Rams came together and finished 7-1 and slid into the playoffs only one year after blowing up their roster due to salary cap issues and starting over. Detroit has two significant advantages over the inexperienced Rams, a great D-Line and two very good running backs. If they play conservative and use their superior line talent to control the line of scrimmage, the cursed Lions franchise should advance for the first time in 32 years.

Tampa Bay over Philadelphia

Tampa Bay is the most shocking surprise of this NFL season. They lost Hall of Famer Tom Brady and were heading into rebuild mode. In comes Baker Mayfield who wins one more game than Brady did with a more talented team the previous season and steals away a shocking division title. Philadelphia looked dominant at 10-1. Since December started, the team has completely fallen apart. Jalen Hurts looks like he has regressed, and the defense can’t stop anyone. If this play continues, I believe Tampa will blow the Eagles out and move them into their offseason with a likely new coach.
 
AFC Divisionals
 
Baltimore wins a close one over Cleveland.
Buffalo blows out Kansas City
 
NFC Divisionals
 
San Francisco blows out Tampa Bay
Detroit upsets Dallas
 
AFC Championship
 
Baltimore wins after a late Josh Allen turnover.
 
NFC Championship
 
San Francisco handles Detroit
 
Super Bowl LVIII
 
A rematch of Super Bowl XLVII from eleven years earlier. Baltimore won this game 34-31 after taking a 28-6 lead and holding on. Joe Flacco, who is now with Cleveland, was the winning quarterback. Baltimore walloped San Francisco earlier in the year. This Super Bowl will be a repeat of that game. Baltimore jumps out early and cruises to a 37-27 victory capturing their 3rd Super Bowl title and sending the 49ers to their 3rd straight loss in the Big Game since 2012. Baltimore will become the 11th team to win at least three Super Bowls putting them into a five-way tie with Las Vegas, Kansas City, Washington, and Denver.

Enjoy everyone!