Fan Stop Central

Who will hoist the Lombardi trophy in 2012? Well, we’ve really failed the past couple of years in our predictions, but we DID predict the Chiefs to return to conference championship form!

We’ll see how our predictions for other returning organizations go:

NFC East – Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North – Green Bay Packers
NFC South – Atlanta Falcons
NFC West – St. Louis Rams

NFC Wildcard – Arizona Cardinals
NFC Wilcard – New Orleans Saints

AFC East – New England Patriots
AFC North – Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South – Houston Texans
AFC West – Kansas City Chiefs

AFC Wildcard – New York Jets
AFC Wildcard – Indianapolis Colts

NFC Champion – Green Bay Packers
AFC Champion – Pittsburgh Steelers

NFL Champion – Green Bay Packers

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Well another NFL season has come and gone, and our predictions were pretty much blown to kingdom-come. Let’s take a look back:

• NFC East – New York Giants (Philadelphia)
  
• NFC North – Green Bay Packers (tho they made it, they didn’t win the division – Chicago)
  
• NFC South – New Orleans Saints (tho they made it, they didn’t win the division – Atlanta)
  
• NFC West – San Fransisco 49ers (Seattle)
  
• NFC Wildcard – Dallas Cowboys (New Orleans)
  
• NFC Wildcard – Minnesota Vikings (Green Bay)
  

• AFC East – New York Jets (tho they made it, they didn’t win the division – Chicago)
  
• AFC North – Baltimore Ravens (Pittsburgh)
• AFC South – Indianapolis Colts (woo hoo! we got one!)
• AFC West – San Diego Chargers (Kansas City)
• AFC Wildcard – Miami Dolphins (New York)
• AFC Wildcard – Kansas City Chiefs (Baltimore)

• NFC Champion – New Orleans Saints (Green Bay)
• AFC Champion – New York Jets (Pittsburgh)

NFL Champion – New York Jets (Green Bay)

Oh well, we’ll try again next year … well, if there is a next year …

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And then there was one. Who might that one be? Oh, it’s the unexpected Kansas City Chiefs … of course, they are still undefeated (3-0) largely in part because they had a bye this week, but hey, we’ll take it. Now, the Chiefs must roll into Indianapolis and try to figure out a way to steal a win; however, it’s more likely than most pundits seem to think.

Indianapolis isn’t burning it up on the ground, and the Chiefs run defense has been close to stellar so far.
Indianapolis will most likely gear up with Manning (and who wouldn’t), but sources say the Chiefs have been putting in some special schemes to thwart Manning’s attack … hey, with Romeo Crenell as your D-coordinator it’s possible … he did have a lot of success in New England stopping Manning over and over and over.

The Chiefs MUST control the offensive line of scrimmage and get Jamaal Charles, Thomas Jones and Dexter McCluster churning positive yards, and just wearing them down. Being highly successful in the running game will then open some gaps in the secondary when the safteys has to cheat in to help stop the run, all of a sudden … oops … there goes Bowe right past you for a long gain.

The biggest factor may come down to pride. The Colts are sitting at 2-2 right now, and you just can’t put it past Manning (with his back against the wall) to come out firing on all cylinders.

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Week 3 narrows the undefeated field even more. What’s even greater about this week is our backyard favorites (Kansas City Chiefs) are still in the mix.

• Kansas City (3-0) def. San Fransisco (0-3)
• Pittsburgh (3-0) def. Tampa Bay (2-1)
• Chicago (3-0) def. Green Bay (2-1)

Only three teams remain undefeated in 2010. This actually looks promising to the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Kansas City wasn’t picked to do what they’ve done so far; however, they have a young team with nothing to lose, and with some of the play calls we’ve seen from Todd Haley this year, they’re pulling out all the stops.

Pittsburgh … no one saw this start coming with Big Ben on the sidelines. The only question will be … will their play rise up once they get him back and they continue their dominance?

Chicago … put them in the category of “surprise, surprise.” Coming into the season with many question marks … QB, RB, WR, CB, LB, DL … and so on. They may just be proving to be a force in the North.

VIDEOS:
KC – Moeaki one-hand TD (shades of Tony Gonzales)
KC – Razzle-dazzle wildcat reverse flea-flicker TD

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Statistics would have us believe that since half of the teams began the season with a win, then week 2 would see half of the undefeateds go down … well, statistics prove right this year:

Green Bay, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Chicago, Miami, Houston and New Orleans all escaped week 2 to remain undefeated.

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