Predictions

One of my favorite parts of the week right before the NFL regular season starts are the predictions that come out. Everybody seems to realize that roughly 50% of the playoff field will turn over from season to season, and yet every year people tend to pick the same teams to make the playoffs. I saw a guy on NFL Network last night who's AFC playoff field was the exact same from last season except he substituted New England for Miami, and the Patriots had the same record as Miami last season.

But you know what? I have trouble finding new playoff teams as well. I look at some of the teams who would be considered "sleepers" (and where does this term come from anyways? To me, a sleeper is a team that will be asleep all season), and I don't like any of them. Oakland, Kansas City, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Tampa Bay, San Fransisco and St. Louis would all be considered sleepers, and I can't say I like a single one of them this season. Cincinnati maybe, but I have a biased opinion of Palmer that probably affects my thinking there. The one team that was bad last year that I think could be good this year, Seattle, is a team that others have picked up on as well. But yet there's a good chance 2 or 3 of those teams are going to the playoffs. I just can't imagine which ones.

Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis seem very talent-deficient right now. Oakland and Buffalo are dysfunctional. Tampa Bay and San Fransisco have QB concerns (if the 49ers had a slightly better QB, even freaking Jake Delhomme, I could probably get behind them), and I don't think they're good enough to overcome that. And then there's Cincinnati, which has offensive line concerns and I really wonder how good they are defensively. I just can't get behind any of these teams. But I know I'm wrong about at least two of them.

I also enjoy articles about "potential breakout stars," where the potential breakout stars are players like Andre Johnson or Calvin Johnson. Uhh, they've already broken out, thank you very much.