The SeedSing 2016 NFL Predictions and Picks

Time to hand out a few game balls

To round out my NFL preview, today I will pick each division winner and who I think will be the two wild cards from each conference. I will also pick the Super Bowl teams and winner. As well as team picks, I will also pick the offensive and defensive players of the year, the offensive and defensive rookies of the year, the coach of the year and the overall MVP. This blog is going to be short and to the point. One sentence as to why I pick each team is all I'm giving myself. If you want to know other reasons I like these teams, you can read my 8 part preview that I finished yesterday.

Let's start with the AFC. The AFC East will be tricky because of Brady's suspension, but I still think the Patriots will win. Brady will come back on fire, and he will, on his own, will this team to the division title. The rest of the teams are either not ready, or not good enough to dethrone the juggernaut that is the Patriots. The AFC West will, most likely, be the toughest division in all of football, with three of the four teams finishing over .500, but I think the Broncos will win it. Their defense is just too good, and they won't give up a lot of points. If the offense averages 20, that would be absolutely huge for them. But, watch out for the Chiefs and the Raiders, they are both coming to dethrone the Broncos. The AFC North will also be a three team race, maybe 2, the Ravens aren't that good, but the Bengals and Steelers will fight it out all season. I see the Steelers winning because they have one of the best offenses in all of football, and their defense is pretty decent. The AFC South is still a joke, but it is getting better. Tennessee still stinks, but the Jaguars are putting together a competitive team. This all comes down to health and performance, and I think the Colts will rebound and win the division, but the Texans will be tough. As far as the wild cards go, I'm going to have to go with the Bengals and the Raiders. The Raiders are going to be good, and the Bengals have become mainstays, even if they cant get out of the first round.

For the NFC, let's start with the lowly NFC East. As I stated many times in my preview, a team with a losing record, like the Cowboys or Giants, could win this division, but I think Washington has the best players and the talent to easily repeat. They will get bounced after one round, but they will make a second straight playoff appearance. The NFC West is a two team race, between the Cardinals and the Seahawks, but the Cardinals are a much, much better team than the Seahawks. If the Cardinals don't win this division with ease, it should be deemed a disappointment. They have the best offense, and their defense is right there with Seattle. Arizona should cruise. With the NFC North, again, we have a two team race between the Packers and the Vikings. I just don't see, especially if they are at full health, how the Packers do not win this division. They have one of the best QB's in all of football, and they have a pretty good defense. Green Bay should win by 2 games. The NFC South is all about the Panthers. They are my best team in the NFL this year, and a lot of other writers agree with me. The Panthers could win their first 10 games and sew up the division with 6 weeks left. They are the cream of the crop. As far as the wild cards from the NFC, I have Minnesota and Seattle, but this may be a last shot for both teams.

I like the Patriots and the Broncos to meet again in the AFC Championship, this time the Patriots will come out on top. And for the NFC Championship, I like the Cardinals and the Panthers, another rematch, with Carolina winning.

That means Super Bowl 51 will be Carolina-New England. As much as I want to pick the Patriots, just so they can shove it in Goodell's stupid smug, arrogant face, I think the Panthers are too good, and they will learn from last season's disappointing loss in the Super Bowl. Carolina is my pick to win Super Bowl 51.

As far as awards go, I like Cam Newton as both, the offensive player of the year and MVP. His time is now, and he will not back down. He has gotten better every year, and I don't see any regression from him. He is awesome. As far as defensive player of the year, I like Luke Kuechly. He is the star defender of one of the better defenses in the NFL. That makes a clean sweep by Panthers in awards and titles. The offensive rookie of the year will probably be some 6th or 7th round pick that a lot of people are overlooking, or if they had the nerve to give it to a lineman, I'd pick Laremy Tunsil, but I think someone like Derrick Henry, who was a second round pick, and will get every opportunity to play for Tennessee or, more likely, Corey Coleman at Cleveland or Laquon Treadwell in Minnesota. Let's go with Treadwell since Minnesota is so much better than Cleveland. For defensive rookie of the year, it will be tough because there are a lot of good, young defenders, but I think I will go with Jalen Ramsey. He may get beat deep sometimes, but he will be a good corner from day one in the NFL. My coach of the year has got to be Jack Del Rio. I love what he has turned the Raiders into, and he will deservedly win this award this year if the Raiders live up to the hype I have put on them.

So that does it for my 2016 NFL preview. Let me know why I'm right or wrong, and football will be here before we know it, thank goodness. Come back tomorrow when I finish off my football previews with my college football preview.

Ty

Editor's Thoughts - I have no major differences with Ty on the playoff teams. I think Kansas City could be better than the Raiders and I do not believe in Seattle. It pains me to say that Tampa Bay could sneak into the playoff picture. Also, the Cincinnati should be called Harambes will win the AFC North. The Cincinnati squad will (FINALLY) win not one, but two playoff games to face Arizona in the Super Bowl. The Queen city will be overjoyed.

The Cardinals will destroy the Bengals by 30-40 points.

RD

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. RD Kulik is the Head Editor and frequent contributor to the X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik and make RD happy by supporting SeedSing with straight cash.

Ty Previews College Football's Final Four Teams

How about one more game of catch with old orangie

The final college football playoff rankings came out yesterday. The final four was revealed and there were no surprises.

At number one you have Clemson, the team that's been number one most of the season. Number two, Alabama, with a great running game and a very good defense. Three, Michigan State, probably the luckiest team in all of college football this year. And number four is Oklahoma, maybe the hottest team in college football right now. If I was on the committee the only difference I'd have would be Oklahoma at 3 and Michigan State at four.

When looking back at my preseason preview, I got two of the top four correct with MSU and Alabama. In my midseason rewrite, I only got one team correct and that was Clemson. TCU fell apart due to injuries and a porous defense and Ohio State lost late to a team in the final four pushing them out. I also put LSU in at one point, but they have no QB and they got beat three times. Stanford was in there too, but Oregon beat them late in the year and they didn't do enough at the end to leapfrog the three teams ahead of them. So, at two different points, I got three of the final four correct. Sorry Oklahoma, I had no faith in you and your coach, but you have proven me wrong. I thought after Texas beat you guys, you'd blow a couple more games, but you stepped it up on offense and your defense came alive. Like I said earlier, Oklahoma is the hottest team in football right now.

So, let's get into it and look at the matchups.

The one versus four matchup pits Clemson against Oklahoma. This should be a pretty high scoring affair. Both offenses are very good and play very fast. Their defenses, on the other hand, they tend to give up big plays and have a hard time shutting down quality opponents. Both QB's, Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma and Deshaun Watson at Clemson are Heisman candidates, Watson more so than Mayfield. Deshaun Watson runs the Clemson team exquisitely. He is a precision passer and a deadly runner. He throws a great deep ball and runs the read option very well. He has weapons all over the field and spreads the ball to all of those weapons evenly. Watson has had a spectacular season and he could very well be the determining factor in this game. Baker Mayfield has had a very good season too. He transferred away from Texas Tech to Oklahoma this season and has thrived in the Sooner offense. He too is a good runner, but not on the same level as Deshaun Watson. He throws a good short to intermediate ball, but Oklahoma doesn't take too many deep shots, that's not their offense. Oklahoma has a lot of great weapons as well and they have a better running back in Semaji Perrine than Clemson has. He is a bruising yet explosive runner. He, much like Watson, could be the determining factor for Oklahoma. This game really comes down to the QB that plays better. As I said before, the defenses won't really stop either team, so the QB that leads his team better will help his team win. I really wanted to pick Oklahoma to win this game, but Clemson, and more importantly, Deshaun Watson, are having a magical season, and that will continue in the Orange Bowl with a close, high scoring win. The final score will be something like 42-38 in Clemson's favor.

In the Cotton Bowl we couldn't have gotten a more opposite matchup than the Orange Bowl in number two Alabama versus number three Michigan State. Both these teams are predicated on defense and running the ball. Running wasn't Michigan State's strong suit until Connor Cook got hurt a month ago, but they've taken to the run since then and its greatly benefitted them. LJ Scott has been a revelation and he doesn't play like a freshman. He gets stronger as the game goes on and he wants the ball in critical moments, take last weeks Big Ten Title as an example. He willed that team to a victory and a spot in the playoff. Connor Cook is clearly hurt and I don't know if he'll be any more healthy for the game and that sucks for MSU because they will not beat Alabama by simply running the ball. Alabama's defense is absolutely suffocating. I don't know how any team expects to run for any kind of yards against their front seven. They are faster, quicker, stronger, smarter and deeper than any other front seven in all of college football. Their secondary is equally as good. They cover better than everyone else and they're just flat out better than everyone. On offense, Alabama has the presumptive Heisman favorite in Derrick Henry at running back. Ever since their game against LSU, when he looked better than Leonard Fournette, he's been on an absolute tear, averaging 200 plus yards of rushing per game. He, much like their defense, is better, faster, quicker, stronger and smarter than every other running back in football. He's an absolute beast. Their offensive line is massive and blows people off the line, opening all those holes for Henry to run through. The problem lies with their QB and receivers. They don't have a receiving threat like Julio Jones or Amari Cooper anymore. The receivers are good, not great. Their QB is a fine game manager, but he's no real threat. He throws a subpar deep ball and he gets hit way more than he should. He holds the ball way too much. This game will come down to who can run the ball better and that's a HUGE plus in Alabama's favor. They have the better offensive line and they have the MUCH better running back. MSU may hang with Alabama for a half, but the Crimson Tide will cruise to an easy 28-10 victory in the Cotton Bowl. This was MSU's last real shot to win a title, but Connor cook is too banged up and, while their defense has played better as of late, they will not be able to stop Alabama and they won't be able to move the ball that much on Alabama. Alabama is the superior team.

So that leaves us with Clemson playing Alabama in the title game on January 11th. Number one versus number two. Two completely different style teams. Clemson is a spread team with a ton of quickness and scores in bunches. Alabama is a pro style team that beats you into submission on both the offensive and defensive lines and they want to chew up as much clock as possible by running 50 times a game if they have to. I like this matchup a lot and I will be rooting for Clemson, I hate Nick Saban and he's the biggest curmudgeon in all of sports, but Alabama is too good. They're just as fast as Clemson and they are much, much bigger. After they got beat by Ole Miss early in the season I thought Alabama was done, but they figured it out, of course, and they look just as good now as they did when they beat LSU in the BCS title game a few years ago. Alabama will beat Clemson pretty handily in the title game with a final score of 35-13. They're the best of this final four bunch.

So, Alabama will be your 2016 National Champs.

I'll also give one more Heisman prediction to keep some continuity and two big coaching changes that I think will take place. I think, as every other major publication does, that Derrick Henry will win the Heisman. Since the LSU game he's been on fire. He's broken Herschel Walker records. That's pretty god damn impressive. But, don't be surprised if Christian McCaffery, Stanford's running back, whose broken some of Barry Sanders records, gets some Heisman love. I think he's finish a narrow second to Henry. And the two big coaching moves you ask. I think both Urban Meyer and Nick Saban jump to the pros. In Meyer's case, he's won multiple titles at multiple schools in college, he's losing coordinators left and right, some kind of recruiting violations will almost assuredly be coming his way and the Cleveland Browns will stupidly(do they do anything smart) pay him a humongous amount of money to not only coach, but give him a say in player personnel. He will fail spectacularly if he makes the jump, but the amount of money will be too much to pass up. In Saban's case, and I'm really going out on a limb with this prediction, he failed once in the NFL and a la Pete Carroll, I think that he thinks he can win a Super Bowl. He can't, he's a much better fit for the college game, but his ego is so big, he thinks he will now succeed in the NFL. He's a better fit for college because he is the boss, he makes the most money, but in the pros, the coach is low man on the totem poll and that won't work well for Saban. But, I think his pride and ego and the fact that he's also losing coordinators left and right will give him the "confidence" that he will now succeed in the NFL where he previously failed. He won't, but I think he thinks he's ready to make that leap. So, two major college football programs will be looking for new coaches this summer.

There you have it, my final college football blog of the year. Tell me why I'm right or wrong in the comment section and lets enjoy the bowl season. I'm happy that my Wolverines are playing on New Years day, and I think this final four is a very good and competitive final four. The committee got it right this year and the playoff should be good.

At least, I hope so.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He expects Meyer to leave Ohio State because the coach is afraid of what Harbaugh is bringing to Ann Arbor. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.