2012 NFL Predictions: Preseason

Those of you who know me real well will know that I have been doing NFL season predictions for several years now and a few of you out there know that I have quite the elaborate system in making these predictions. Most of you, however, don't know and so now you are being educated. Here is my system in a nutshell. Sometime before the regular season starts I copy all of the 32 NFL teams' schedules into one Excel file. Once that is done, I pick the winners of each individual game and do that for all 17 weeks. That makes it so I come up with a predicted set of standings and using the NFL tie breaking rules, I determine the playoff match-ups based on my predicted standings and I thus predict the playoffs game by game and come up with a Super Bowl champion. Yeah, it does take up some time, but I enjoy it and there are some Excel shortcuts and codes that make it go faster. I think it provides a much more realistic set of predictions than what I could've come up with otherwise because not only does it implement how I think each team will perform, but it also implements the teams' schedules into the equation. Every year there are always teams that underperform because of a really hard schedule and teams that overperform because of a really hard schedule, and that is often portrayed in my predictions. Sometimes people will ask me why I predicted a team to do so good or bad and I can't respond because I surprised myself with the pick. So that's how it rolls. I update my Excel file weekly on my own time and re-predict monthly. When I re-predict monthly, I will post it on my blog. I hope you enjoy! And feel free to question me about any pick I made. It will kindle some fun football debates.

P.S. - This being the preseason edition does not mean I am predicting the preseason. It means I am predicting the regular season and playoffs before the season begins. My preseason predictions.

Regular Season Predictions

AFC

AFC East
*-New England Patriots - 13-3
y-Buffalo Bills - 9-7
Miami Dolphins - 7-9
New York Jets - 6-10

AFC North
z-Baltimore Ravens - 10-6
Pittsburgh Steelers - 8-8
Cincinnati Bengals - 6-10
Cleveland Browns - 6-10

AFC South
z-Houston Texans - 10-6
Tennessee Titans - 7-9
Indianapolis Colts - 5-11
Jacksonville Jaguars - 4-12

AFC West
z-Denver Broncos - 10-6
y-Oakland Raiders - 10-6
Kansas City Chiefs - 8-8
San Diego Chargers - 6-10

NFC

NFC East
z- New York Giants - 10-6
Dallas Cowboys - 8-8
Washington Redskins - 8-8
Philadelphia Eagles - 8-8

NFC North
*-Green Bay Packers - 13-3
y-Detroit Lions - 12-4
y-Chicago Bears - 10-6
Minnesota Vikings - 6-10

NFC South
z-Atlanta Falcons - 11-5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 8-8
New Orleans Saints - 7-9
Carolina Panthers - 7-9

NFC West
z-San Francisco 49ers - 11-5
St. Louis Rams - 8-8
Seattle Seahakws - 5-11
Arizona Cardinals - 2-14

x- Clinched Playoffs
y- Clinched Wild Card
z- Clinched Division
*- Clinched Division and Homefield Advantage



Playoff Predictions

Wild Card Round

3- Houston Texans - W
6- Buffalo Bills - L

4- Denver Broncos - W
5- Oakland Raiders - L

3- Atlanta Falcons - L
6- Chicago Bears - W

4- New York Giants - L
5- Detroit Lions - W

Divisional Round

1- New England Patriots - W
4- Denver Broncos - L

2- Baltimore Ravens - L
3- Houston Texans - W

1- Green Bay Packers - W
6- Chicago Bears - L

2- San Francisco 49ers - W
5- Detroit Lions - L

Championship Round

1- New England Patriots - W
3- Houston Texans - L

1- Green Bay Packers - L
2- San Francisco 49ers - W

Super Bowl XLVII

1- New England Patriots - W
2- San Francisco 49ers - L

SUPER BOWL XLVII CHAMPIONS

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

(To view my detailed explanations for these picks, see my NFL Season Preview here: AFC / NFC)