Madden 11 Season 3: AFC & NFC Season Previews

NFC

NFC East

Giants: hapless. The rest of the division? Super Bowl hopeful. The Katskins player movement bonanza ("I just traded this 71-rated Nobody for Team Y's 73-rated Who Cares!") won't be enough to climb the NFC East mountain, and the Cowboys seem to have lost their edge after a deal with the Broncos for the 8th seed sent them reeling.
The Eagles, with healthy QB play, are ready for the big time. Eagles win the first-round bye (1st seed). Cowboys win the wild card.

Kat's Take: The addition of Glover Quin Jr., Tanard Jackson and Vincent Jackson help the Katskins put it all together to take the division (what, you think I'm voting against myself?)

NFC North

With every off-season trade for a 3rd rounder, the Vikings tallied another notch in the loss column (expect 2-14), while the Bears were clever, the Packers uninteresting, and the Lions struck out to turn the NFC tide. It's not going to work. At least not fully. Bears win the first-round bye (2nd seed). Lions win the Wild Card.

Kat's Take: Bears new 1-5-5 defense hand the division to Megatron, Frank Gore and the Lions. Packers improve, but the Vikings take a big step back with the very raw Anthony Parisi under center.

NFC South

The Falcons new ownership means they're a wild card, and yet, they won't be. The Saints will deal knockout blows to their division, who will all hover around .500 — with the Panthers making a significant push before turning into "Season's 5's Steelers," losing four in a row to finish the season, and ending their playoff hopes. Saints dont' win it easily, but they win it. Saints win
the division.

Kat's Take: All Saints, all the way. The Panthers, meanwhile, could go 2-14 or 14-2, and neither would surprise me. The Falcons are a wild card, but adjustment period may prove to be tough.

NFC West

New ownership on two teams, and Peyton Manning taking a career knee, the NFC West is a wide-open shitstorm, and the biggest hopeful: Arizona. But that hope will be decimated. The Rams are too talentless, the Seahawks will make a serious push before folding, and the 49ers will take it to the house. 49ers win the division.

Kat's Take: Seahawks are tough, the Niners are unknown and the Cards can heave the ball to Fitz. With the Rams in shambles, all of them have a shot, but this year it'll be the Seahawks who stop knocking on the door and jump into the playoffs.


AFC

AFC East

The Dolphins ran all day, which earned them the division last season, and no one's draft or free-agent signings (there's no one important to sign) look ready to stop them, now. The mildly improved Patriots have a shot, and the Bills will steal a few games, but a repeat is in the cards for the fish. Dolphins win the division, and the 2nd overall seed; Patriots win the Wild Card.

Kat's Take: Phins are the clear cut favorites to win the division again. The only question is whether the Jets and the newly-acquired Adrian Peterson and Randy Moss can put it all together to return to playoff contention. Maybe not, but they ought to improve dramatically on last year's record.

AFC North

The toughest division in the AFC went dicknuts this off-season, with the Ravens cashing in their future to create an all-out attack this season, with Matt Schaub already the
league's Offensive MVP odds-on-favorite. But don't count out the talent-strapped Browns — after the Bengals gave them the gift of draft picks, the Browns struck late-draft gold repeatedly, which will plague the division. Steelers: no hot start this time. Browns win the division; Ravens win the Wild Card.

Kat's Take: Ken's dramatically improved Ravens loom over the most balanced division in the league. The Bengals and Browns will also be contenders as usual, but don't sleep on the Steelers. Given a healthy team, they are entirely capable of making a run. Ravens take the division though.

AFC South

Mike Suszek's a true believe in his team, and talents, the Jaguars are upstarts, and the Titans are a constant threat, but the Super Bowl Colts made the biggest improvements this off-season, tweaking a winning formula to set them up for domination. Texans, Titans and Jags will beat themselves up, and out of playoff contention. Colts win the division, and the first-round bye.

Kat's Take: Texans are knocking at the door of another tough AFC division. The Colts have the superior team, but the Texans proved that they are a force to be reckoned with win overs the Ravens and Browns to end the season. They may not have what it takes to win the division, but they can definitely grab the wild card. The Titans will do what they always do: sell off assets for another offseason. =)

AFC West

The Broncos went into the off-season ready to stand pat, and make two picks. The Chargers were eager to dump their diamond-hard dick-tipped O, and the Raiders were trying to earn respect. The result: the Broncos made monster moves to bolster a defense that looked helpless and scrambling in last season's post-season loss, and the Chargers dealt their biggest, constant WR threat (Antonio Gates, let me introduce you to our friend, the double-team). The AFC West have a tough schedule ahead and for the first time in AGES, the Chiefs owner isn't a rollover. Broncos win the division at 8-8.

Kat's Take: The new Chiefs are an unknown quantity, but they made some solid acquisitions over the offseason to improve what was an awful team. They will come in second this year to a solid Broncos team. The Broncos, however, will be out in the wild card again.

I'm so glad that everyone is writing me off. After taking the Rams to the NFC Championship in Madden 10, Season 2, and making the playoffs in in Madden 11, Season 1, and playing with half a squad last year, this Titans team is ready to prove the critics and doubters didn't look at the injured list of the Titans last year, and constantly forget that the Titans lost 2 games due to power failure. (CPU simmed).

Last year's Titans had 2 major issues - 1 was injuries, the other was defensive backs. In the off-season the Titan's CB's #2-4 on the depth chart each raised 6 overall, and raised stats in crucial stat categories. Brandon Flowers (already 90 overall) had his stats remain high. This was arguable my best offseason move.

Also, I feel like the Panthers are the Titans of the NFC.

Seriously, Chris is an excellent player. I personally told him to not get rid of Chris Johnson, but it doesn't matter who you run with ultimately, because when you can run like AC runs, you can make your rookies shine. I'm still anxious about his run game, and am not looking forward to his bolstered defense.

And now with his new LB, and Jared Allen and Mario Williams on either side of his D-line, I have a HUGE challenge ahead as far as finding a running game is concerned.

I "picked" Chris as a rival because he's so damn good, and makes me step my game up. And because he's a bastard. That too.

So really, the Texans, Colts, and Titans make the AFC South a tough, stout division. And I actually expect Rich to get more wins this season, as he irons out the kinks in his game.

AFC SOUTH, REPRESENT!

New teams bring unknowns. I am scared of the new chiefs while the vikings' moves confused me (sorry Kevin). I think I might get to 10 wins with a bit of luck and come 4th in the AFC North. Anyway here are my picks.

And I don't mean to disrespect anyone per se.

NFC East
Cowboys over Eagles over Redskins over Giants

NFC North
Bears over Packers over Lions over Vikings

NFC South
Saints over Bucs over Panthers over Falcons (I have no idea about the falcons)

NFC West
Seahawks over 49ers over Rams over Cardinals

AFC East
Dolphins over Jets over Pats over Bills

AFC North
Browns over Steelers over Bengals over Ravens

AFC South
Titans over Colts over Jags over Texans

AFC West
Chiefs over Chargers over Broncos over Raiders

NFC wildcards = Panthers & Packers

AFC wildcards = Chargers & Colts

Basically NFC East and AFC North will beat each other to a pulp.

Chairman7 wrote:
AFC South
Titans over Colts over Jags over Texans

DEAD LAST?!?!? Thanks for the vote of non-confidence, I can use this in the "underdog" way to propel myself to victory!

You do play it safe in the NFC, not that I can blame you.