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Brady and the Pats Get Revenge

In February of 2008, the Giants and Patriots staged one of the best Super Bowls in history. The constant pressure applied by New York eventually wore the Patriots out, and Tom Brady was frustrated for the first time all season. This year, I see both teams using the same methods that drove them to that epic game. Bill Belichick will ride that explosive offense to the best record in the league, while a younger, less experienced defense gets up to speed. On the other hand, the Giants will set an NFL record for team sacks and hope that the running game can put up enough points to pull out some key games. In the end, I can't see Belichick allowing another coach to get the best of him twice.

As for the individual awards, I like Tom Brady for MVP. I don't think he'll have the ridiculous Madden-like numbers he had in the 2007 season, but I could certainly see a 40 touchdown, 10 interception campaign. I'll repeat my pick for the Offensive Player of the Year with Adrian Peterson. He's a beast, and if Brett Favre is able to forge any sort of a passing game, there's a chance he'll go for 2,000 yards. Look for Osi Umenyiora to garner the Defensive Player of the Year, being the most statistically impressive player on the league's best defense. A wide receiver winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year is out of the ordinary, but I think Percy Harvin has the attributes to do it. Brad Childress will use him at almost every skill position on the offense to get this explosive talent involved. Defensively, Aaron Curry will take home the hardware as the most physically gifted linebacker I've seen come into the league since Shawne Merriman. Lastly, a five-game improvement over last season will give Green Bay's Mike McCarthy the title of Coach of the Year over Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin.

OK, OK, enough of the small talk. Let's move on to the really important stuff.

As usual, feel free to let me know what you think of any of the predictions for this season.

 

 

East W L   East W L
New England (x) 14 2   New York Giants (x) 12 4
Miami 8 8   Philadelphia (z) 11 5
New York Jets 6 10   Dallas 8 8
Buffalo 4 12   Washington 5 11
             
North W L   North W L
Pittsburgh (y) 13 3   Minnesota (y) 11 5
Baltimore (z) 12 4   Green Bay (z) 11 5
Cincinnati 6 10   Chicago 9 7
Cleveland 5 11   Detroit 1 15
             
South W L   South W L
Indianapolis (y) 12 4   New Orleans (y) 12 4
Tennessee (z) 10 6   Carolina 11 5
Houston 10 6   Atlanta 9 7
Jacksonville 7 9   Tampa Bay 3 13
             
West W L   West W L
San Diego (y) 14 2   Arizona (y) 9 7
Denver 6 10   Seattle 7 9
Oakland 2 14   San Francisco 4 12
Kansas City 2 14   St. Louis 2 14

(x) denotes home field advantage    (y) denotes division winners    (z) denotes wild card team

             

Wild Card Round

 

Wild Card Round

Indianapolis over Tennessee

 

Philadelphia over Arizona

Pittsburgh over Baltimore

 

Green Bay over Minnesota

             
Divisional Round   Divisional Round
New England over Indianapolis   New York over Green Bay
San Diego over Pittsburgh   New Orleans over Philadelphia
             
Conference Championship   Conference Championship
New England over San Diego   New York over New Orleans
             

Super Bowl

New England over New York Giants

Make sure to catch Jimmy Neil every Friday from 1:00 to 3:00 on 1560 AM. Listen in at 1560thegame.com.