2021 NFL Season Preview
M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD
The 2021 NFL season has finally arrived.
Fun!
To honor the beginning of this new website, I’m going to be predicting the postseason for this upcoming NFL season.
It’ll probably be wrong, but who cares? Sometimes it’s fun being wrong!
Disclaimer: This post was written on Wednesday, September 8th before the season began. I am still waiting for the authorization code to make the website public, so this might come out after the season begins Thursday night. But trust me, the result of that game isn’t going to change anything here…
AFC
Kansas City Chiefs
There are a lot of people wondering about the Kansas City Chiefs after they, more or less, rebuilt their entire offensive line. A lot of people think the Bills are more likely the team to beat in the AFC.
I ain’t buying it.
The Bills are good, no doubt, but the Chiefs still have a genius coach, a phenomenal quarterback and loads upon loads of weapons for him.
They’re more than fine.
Buffalo Bills
And here we have the Bills.
Also a great football team, though I do still have some questions on Josh Allen.
Call me crazy, but I need to see more than just one great year of Allen after years and years of poor accuracy at every level before I can officially consider him a quarterback who can lead his team to the Super Bowl.
Still, the Bills are incredibly well coached and have a fantastic defense. If Josh Allen truly is the real deal, they’ll be more than fine.
Tennessee Titans
Are the Titans the third best team in the AFC? No. At least I don’t think so.
I’d consider the Browns and Ravens better than them. You can definitely make arguments for the Dolphins and Patriots even being better if Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones are the real deal at QB.
So why are they at 3?
Look no further than their own division.
The Titans get 6 games a year against the Jaguars (who are bad), the Texans (who are bad) and the Colts (who are good but have Carson Wentz at QB who is bad).
They probably won’t because it’s very rare for any team to pull this off, but the Titans could possibly go 6-0 against their division rivals this year.
And when the top four seeds are division winners based on their record, that gives them the edge over the AFC North winner.
Cleveland Browns
I’m sorry, Ravens friends. I really did go back and forth on this.
At the end, I picked the Browns simply due to the current injuries the Ravens face.
The receivers for Baltimore are still a question mark.
Rashod Bateman, who the Ravens drafted to help out quarterback Lamar Jackson, is likely going to miss the first month of the season.
J.K. Dobbins was expected to be the star back for the Ravens this season. He’s out with a torn ACL, as is depth running back Justice Hill.
Throw in the NFL’s rules for unvaccinated players this season and Lamar Jackson’s “personal choice” which could have him possibly miss games or practice due to close contact with people who test positive for COVID, and a very talented Browns team (with a much improved secondary) just barely gets the edge over the Ravens.
But the Browns have to deal with the Ravens, the Steelers who I believe are better than people think and a possibly improved Bengals team with a full season of Joe Burrow.
That could lead to a team better than their record or seeding indicates for Cleveland.
Baltimore Ravens
Don’t worry, Baltimore. You get your shot at revenge during the wild card weekend.
Everything I said above is a worry. They’re still extremely good. Let’s not kid ourselves on that front.
Miami Dolphins
I don’t get all the freaking out about Tua.
His injury history worries me, sure. And was he perfect last season? No not at all.
But he was also a rookie with an incredibly strange COVID season that gave him no preseason time and threw him directly into the fire.
Tua will take a nice step forward this year to help compliment an already very good defense and coaching staff to get the Dolphins into the playoffs.
Los Angeles Chargers
That’s right, baby! I’m hopping on the Chargers Choo Choo!
Should I? Probably not because the Chargers are seemingly cursed!
They are the anti-Seahawks. The Seahawks can do everything wrong and still win. The Chargers can do everything right and still lose.
But I love Justin Herbert. I think they are incredibly talented as a roster overall.
All that’s stopping them are those pesky injuries but those stop this year!
I’m counting on you, Bolts!
NFC
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The team that won the Super Bowl last year brought back everyone.
Yes, Tom Brady is another year older. No, I don’t care. It’s Tom Brady.
Throw in their terrible division, and the Bucs will be far and away the best team in the NFC this season.
Green Bay Packers
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Aaron Rodgers over the years, it’s that he’s very whiny and annoying.
I’ve also learned that when you piss him off to get to his whiny and annoying phase, he plays unbelievably good football.
This offseason has been a nightmare for the Packers, with Rodgers and star wide receiver Davante Adams claiming this will be their own version of the Bulls “last dance.”
But hey, that’s exactly what Packers fans should want to see considering what Rodgers did last year after they drafted Jordan Love in the first round.
Los Angeles Rams
The league’s best defense and one of the brightest young coaches in football just got rid of Jared Goff and upgraded to Matthew Stafford.
Probably not a bad move, to be honest.
Dallas Cowboys
Someone has to win the NFC East.
Though I will say, I see lots of people saying it will either be the Washington Football Team or the New York Giants.
I know the Cowboys are a bit of a meme at this point, but do people forget how good Dak Prescott was last season before his injury?
Yes, the defense last year was atrocious but it can’t possibly be that bad again.
Watch out for Dallas this season.
I mean, not really. Because it’s the Cowboys so they’ll flame out in round one unless they played some weird team who makes everything extremely challenging for no reason and they steal one.
But the odds of that are unlikely.
Seattle Seahawks
Oh boy…
Well, the Seahawks still have Russell Wilson, a terrific offense with weapons all over the place, quality safeties and a much improved pass rush.
Unfortunately, they also have giant question marks at corner and are in a conference with Brady, Rodgers and Dak.
And that doesn’t include their own division which has Matt Stafford, Kyler Murray and whatever inaccurate heartthrob San Francisco sends out to try to distract the opponent with their looks.
It’s going to be a rough ride for the Seahawks this season, but they are still talented enough to make the playoffs.
San Francisco 49ers
Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance is the QB battle everyone has their eyes on.
Who knows who will start? The better question is actually who cares?
The Niners defense? Yeah that’s still pretty damn good. And whoever starts at QB will have play calling genius Kyle Shannahan overseeing them.
Much like the Seahawks, the team is too talented to miss entirely.
And, unlike the Vikings, they won’t have their quarterback in a plastic bubble because of his “personal choices.”
Chicago Bears
Yeah. That’s right Vikings.
Your bubble boy is going to cost you the last playoff spot to a division rival.
The Bears made the playoffs last season with Mitch Trubisky. Now they have Justin Fields, and even though he won’t start immediately for the Bears he will likely be in quite early.
And if Trubisky/Foles could lead the Bears to the postseason last year, I see no reason why Fields couldn’t himself.
Super Bowl Prediction
Smart money says it’ll be the Buccaneers over the Chiefs again, but that’s no fun so let’s get weird.
The Browns represent the AFC while the Cowboys represent the NFC. Both teams, desperate to stop being the laughing stock of the league, fight for every inch to win the Super Bowl and stop the jokes once and for all.
Neither gives in. They never give in.
The year is 2091. The world is on fire. Fish have grown legs and taken over the planet as their own.
The Browns and Cowboys are still deadlocked at 24 in the 1987th overtime of Super Bowl 56.
