Many believe the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are the best teams in the NFL going into the 2014 season, and for good reason. Therefore, do not expect much fallout from the defending champion Seahawks.
Minus a few missing parts in their world-class secondary, the team has the pieces to repeat as the NFL’s champions. The NFC West will go to either the Niners or the ‘Hawks, but the Cardinals will hang around for a while.
Their defense is only getting better, and Andre Ellington has shown flashes of becoming a feature running back. The NFC is stuffed with championship caliber teams. No division in the conference has an obvious favorite to win. In other words, making predictions is somewhat of a guessing game.
In years past, the NFC East was widely considered the league’s most competitive division. After a terrible year for the four teams, expect another vintage NFC East dogfight that goes down to the very last couple of weeks.
The Giants made vast improvements on their offensive and defensive lines, but this is the first year of Eli Manning’s career on a new offensive system.
They may make a run in the second half of the year, but it is hard to see them win more than nine games. With inconsistency problems in Dallas and the new scheme in Washington, up and down years for both teams are likely. The Redskins have once again changed their offense, and that will affect RGIII. The favorite in the East is the Philadelphia Eagles. Don’t think Coach Chip Kelly and quarterback Nick Foles will be another flash in the pan with beginner’s luck. The Eagles will maintain their offensive creativity with some raised defensive intensity. Which will allow them to pull a rare repeat in the East.
The NFC North may be the league’s most intriguing division this season. The Packers have Aaron Rodgers back healthy. The Bears have possibly the best wide-receiving duo in the NFL with Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall. Outside of Adrian Peterson and Cordarrelle Patterson, the Vikings lack in players that can make plays to win football games, so a possible disaster season could be coming for Minnesota.
This pick is an outside of the box prediction but the Detroit Lions will win the North. With the new acquisitions of Golden Tate and Eric Ebron, it will be difficult to shut down the many weapons Detroit throws at you.
Reggie Bush, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Pettigrew, Ebron, Tate and a quarterback in Matthew Stafford that can get the ball to all of them, the Lions will be a tough team to beat. If new Head Coach Jim Caldwell can finally provide the discipline the Lions desperately lacked in years past to get over the hump, Detroit has the talent to take the league by storm.
Considering Drew Brees is the quarterback for the Saints, you have to put them on the top of the list for Super Bowl contenders. But the Falcons are just two years removed from playing in the NFC Championship game. Don’t forget they lost Julio Jones for basically the entire season, and Roddy White missed time with ailing injuries. If they can return back to form, and Steven Jackson can stay on the field, the Falcons could return to NFC dominance. The Bucs have a new logo, new brand, and new man in charge.
Still, it will take another year of getting the players to fit in Lovie Smith’s scheme to be a successful team. The team that fans should expect to have the most fallout is the Carolina Panthers. Their defense is led by middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, but Cam Newton’s injury problems in camp and inconsistency lead fans to believe that they will struggle out of the gate and never recover in the competitive South.
James Belluscio can be reached at james.belluscio@spartans.ut.edu