2013 NFL Preview and Predictions

By Michael Schneid

The 2013 NFL season is finally here! Tonight marks the beginning of week 1 with the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens on the road to face the Denver Broncos. 

Here are our predictions for how the standings will look at the end of the year as well as some analysis, opinions and more predictions

AFC East:

1. Patriots - never count out Tom Brady and Bill Belichick

2. Bills - new regime is cause for optimism
3. Dolphins - off-season money spree will backfire
4. Jets - do we really need words?

AFC North:

1. Bengals - earn bye in playoffs, Dalton good enough and defense league's best and deepest
2. Ravens - made right moves in free agency to replace departing guys

3. Browns - show big improvement with new coaches, need better QB
4. Steelers - major disappointment due to defense

AFC South:

1. Texans - still the class of the South division
2. Colts - no sophomore slump for Luck but defense and run game holds Colts back

3. Titans - Locker shows improvement but not enough for playoffs
4. Jaguars - Jags slowly building, have some pieces, need QB

AFC West:

1. Broncos - AFC's best team, Manning even better after having OTAs and training camp

2. Chiefs - coaching makes a difference in football. Andy Reid leads KC to playoffs

3. Chargers - SD needs a full rebuild and reboot on offense at QB, RB, and WR
4. Raiders - league's worst team. GM and coach will be fired

AFC Playoffs:

1. Broncos

2. Bengals

3. Texans

4. Patriots

5. Ravens

6. Chiefs

Texans over Chiefs

Patriots over Ravens

Broncos over Patriots

Texans over Bengals

AFC Championship: Broncos over Texans

NFC East:

1. Cowboys - How Bout Them Cowboys?!

2. Redskins - RG3 will come down to earth a little more as teams are better prepared to defend him
3. Eagles - Chip Kelly's offense is a big hit but defense still has a lot of work to do

4. Giants - need WRs to stay healthy as well as defense

NFC North:
1. Packers - NFC's best team, finally have a running game

2. Bears - New coach won't be difference in playoffs for Bears, Cutler's final season in Chicago
3. Lions - Reggie Bush makes a huge difference in the offense
4. Vikings - Christian Ponder's play keeps Minnesota from even coming close to replicating 2012 despite Peterson going over 2k yards again

NFC South:

1. Falcons - will replicate 2012 success
2. Saints - defense will again hold back the Saints
3. Panthers - Cam might be superman but his WRs and RBs are very mediocre
4. Bucs - Josh Freeman wont start 16 games because hell be benched at some point for poor performance

NFC West:

1. 49ers - full year of Kaepernick and hungry team is not good for rest of conference
2. Seahawks - loss of Harvin wont hurt because they were fine without him last year

3. Rams - need to have strong run game, improved passing and defense will lead them to playoffs
4. Cardinals - improvement from 2012 but still a few pieces away from playoffs

NFC Playoffs:

1. Packers

2. 49ers

3. Falcons

4. Cowboys

5. Seahawks

6. Rams

Falcons over Rams

Seahawks over Cowboys

Packers over Seahawks

Falcons over 49ers

NFC Championship: Packers over Falcons

Super Bowl: Broncos over Packers

MVP: Peyton Manning (runner up: Aaron Rodgers)

Offensive Player of the Year: Aaron Rodgers (runner up: Adrian Peterson)
Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Watt (runner up: Patrick Peterson)
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Eddie Lacy (runner up: EJ Manuel)
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Alec Ogletree (runner up: Star Lotuleli)
Coach of the Year: Marvin Lewis (runner up: Jeff Fisher)

Coaches to be Fired:
Rex Ryan (Jets), Jim Schwartz (Lions), Jason Garrett (Cowboys), Mike Munchak (Titans), Dennis Allen (Raiders), Ron Rivera (Panthers)

NFL Draft Top 5

1. Raiders

2. Jets

3. Jaguars

4. Bucs

5. Chargers

(for fun - 6. Dolphins)