[GTripp0012]

I chewed out ESPN here for 20 mins, and then my browser inexplicibly went back a page causing me to lose my essay. I'm going to repost this in two parts. Here are my predictions for the 2006 season:

In the AFC:
Dolphins take the East (11-5, #4 seed)
Steelers take the North (12-4 #2 seed)
Jags take the South (11-5, #3 seed)
Chiefs take the West (13-3, #1 seed)
Wildcards are the Bengals (11-5, #5 seed) and...you guys are going to love this one, Texans (10-6, #6 seed). Teams that were close include the Colts (9-7), the Raiders (8-8), and the Pats (8-8)

In the NFC:
Redskins take the East (13-3, #1 seed)
Panthers take the South (12-4, #2 seed)
Bears take the North (11-5, #4 seed)
Cards take the West (11-5, #3 seed)
And the wildcards are Tampa Bay (10-6, #5 seed), and Dallas (10-6, #6 seed) Close teams include Atlanta at 9-7, and the Giants at 9-7.

Wild Card Weekend:
Jags over Texans
Bengals over Dolphins
Cowboys over Cards
Bears over Bucs

Divisional Round:
Redskins over Cowboys
Jags over Steelers
Bears over Panthers
Chiefs over Bengals

Championship Sunday
Redskins over Bears
Chiefs over Jags

Super Bowl: I guess it's a GTripp tradition to not pick the SB in the preseason. Back in 2002 I said it would be Raiders-Bucs before the year, and didnt pick the SB then. Before the game I picked the Raiders, and we all know how that turned out.

Anyway, I didn't just pick records for teams. I went through the NFL schedule, picked winners in games based on team improvement, schedule trends, and many other factors. Last year for whatever it's worth, I picked 65% preseason picking every game throughout the year (166/256), and picked 3/4 of the league within 2 games of their final record. I'm not saying this to boast about my prognostication skills. I'm just pointing out that by picking the schedule, rather than assuming record by depth chart, you can eliminate the NFL schedule as a varible, and oh what a varible it can be.