Thoughts on NFC 2021-22

[XPack]

The division will boil down to Packers, Bucs and top 2 teams in West imo.


East: Washington, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles

Unfortunately this will continue to stink up the place. Unless the Giants or Eagles make waves in FA, Washington will might still end up winning this. Less said about Cowboys, the better!

West: Seahawks, Rams, Cardinals, 49ers

Probably the most interesting and competitive division in NFC. Rams will get better with Stafford, and 49ers will bounce back from the injuries. I wouldn't be surprised if Hawks drop to 3rd. Cardinals are likely to get better too.

North: Packers, Bears, Vikings, Lions

Nothing would change. Likely to finish in same order.

South: Saints, Bucs, Panthers, Falcons

Bucs for the win. Where Saints will finish depends on Brees's retirement.

 

[Fredrik87]

I thinks the Saints Brees or no Brees is finishing no better then 3rd at the highest considering how much they are over the cap.

 

[ARPackFan]

EAST:

Eagles are a train wreck and in salary cap hell. Cowboys have no QB and Dak, even if signed, may be unable to play until later in the year. The Giants could take a step forward if Danial Jones steps up. Washington or the Giants - flip a coin.

WEST:

It is the Rams division to lose. They will be much better on offense with Stafford instead of Goff. The defense is still going to be good and I can see them making a deep run into the playoff.

NORTH:

The Lions are a terminally .500 team with Goff at QB and a new staff. Let the dysfunction continue. If the Bears can figure out their QB situation they could actually be good. Viking are still the biggest threat to the Packers NFC north supremacy.

SOUTH:
The Bucs have a bunch of players who's contracts are up and it is going to be difficult to sign them all and we all know there are teams out there that will overpay. They will still win the south because the other three teams will just plain suck in 2021.

 

[rmontro]

East: Washington, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles

Unfortunately this will continue to stink up the place.

Unfortunately for them maybe, but I have no problem with it. I remember too many years growing up when the East was dominating the league. Who can forget our playoff losses to the Giants, or 4th and 26 against the Eagles? And I don't even want to talk about Dallas.

 

[pacmaniac]

So Russell Wilson might leave Seattle. The Bears are one of the teams he'd be willing to play for. They'd have their first real quarterback in 70 years.

 

[Mondio]

So Russell Wilson might leave Seattle. The Bears are one of the teams he'd be willing to play for. They'd have their first real quarterback in 70 years.

Keep giving up draft picks

 

[rmontro]

So Russell Wilson might leave Seattle. The Bears are one of the teams he'd be willing to play for. They'd have their first real quarterback in 70 years.

I don't usually care too much about what the Bears do, but Russell Wilson scares me.

 

[Pkrjones]

I don't usually care too much about what the Bears do, but Russell Wilson scares me.

Russell on the Bears, with no high draft picks for the next 2 years and no receivers for him to throw to will be 8-8 at best in '21 and worse in '22, IMHO. The Bears are so fixated on "finding a QB" they keep throwing $$ and draft picks away gutting the team's other positions. I'd LOVE to see Wilson behind that garbage OL twice a year for the next few years.

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

NFC West will probably be the most competitive division again by far. It's so crazy because somehow the Rams seem to have the Cards and Seahawks numbers, somehow the Cards get the best of the 9ers, and 9ers get the best of the Rams. Obviously the Rams have big expectations with Stafford coming aboard, the 49ers look good if they stay healthy, and with the Seahawks ... Well it all comes down to whether RW stays or goes. I think the Cardinals are a talented team, but they got a lousy coach.

NFC East ... Likely the weak link again, but I'm going to say the NYG take it over Washington. I like their signings so far this year, at least more so than their division rivals. I just think the Eagles did themselves no favors by signing Flacco, and their new HC lacks experience. Cowboys so far haven't done themselves any favors and I just got the feeling McCarthy's time as a HC in the NFL may be winding down.

NFC South is the Bucs to lose for sure, but opposing teams have gotta be wanting to pound the wood on Brady because you can be sure once he retires their little run of greatness is finished. Panthers I think finish 2nd with the potential they have to be a dark horse this year. I think the Falcons struggle this year, but they'll make some noise and get setup to take the south in 2022. Saints are now searching for their next QB with Brees retired, and expect 2021 is going to be a rough year for them.

I think we win the NFC North again, but I'm going to say it'll be a close one vs Minny. Unless Chicago does miraculously land RW, which would change my opinion, they're only going to get worse as switching out Trubisky for Dalton was a bad move, and it's going to result in Nagy getting fired. Detroit's looking like they brought Matt Millen back to run the show again.

 

[rmontro]

I think we win the NFC North again, but I'm going to say it'll be a close one vs Minny.

If we don't win the North again, it's going to be a huge disappointment. We're coming off two consecutive NFCCGs, we looked like the best team in the NFC for a significant period last year, we made strides under LeFleur's system, and we shouldn't have lost that much. Of course a lot depends on Rodgers staying healthy.

 

[bigbubbatd]

I think it is between the Packers and Vikings. The Vikings have not improved their offensive line but did improve their dline. I dont think Peterson is an upgrade unless he sees a resurgence. He has been really bad the last 2 years.

The Packers really havent improved on paper but they were the best team last year and have a 2nd round pick the Vikings dont to improve their dline or dbackfield

 

[G0P4ckG0]

Washington, Arizona, Green Bay (with Rodgers), Tampa Bay

Wild Card: Minnesota, Seattle, San Francisco

NFCCG: Green Bay @ Washington

Super Bowl: Tennessee vs ???

I rarely pick GB to make the Super Bowl just to not be "that" fan, but I do like our chances this year moreso than the past 10+ years. If Love starts I think it will be Minnesota winning the division with Washington going to the Super Bowl. In either case I predict Tennessee will be the team to beat this year in a stacked AFC, and I'm not sure any NFC team can compete with the top 5 AFC teams

 

[bigbubbatd]

I still think the Vikings are the next best team in the division but man they are overtaking us for drama. Zimmmer calling out players for not getting vaccines and say "the stuff they have read is' whew, out there " sounds like Cousins, Theilen and Harrison Smith are not vaccinated and Zimmer isn't happy. If no one misses time it will be a non story. If guys do miss time it will be what a lot of people are talking about.

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

Washington, Arizona, Green Bay (with Rodgers), Tampa Bay

Wild Card: Minnesota, Seattle, San Francisco

NFCCG: Green Bay @ Washington

Super Bowl: Tennessee vs ???

I rarely pick GB to make the Super Bowl just to not be "that" fan, but I do like our chances this year moreso than the past 10+ years. If Love starts I think it will be Minnesota winning the division with Washington going to the Super Bowl. In either case I predict Tennessee will be the team to beat this year in a stacked AFC, and I'm not sure any NFC team can compete with the top 5 AFC teams

Ridiculous!!! Washington is going to host the NFC championship with old awful Santa Fitzbeard as their QB? Not in a million years! And even if they're favored to win the NFC East, they're far from a lock to do so.

Granted I don't think the Cowboys will do well, especially the way MM has coached lately and with Dak potentially facing heavy pressure from the get go. The Giants spent quite a bit in free agency but hard to say if they got the right guys to make it happen. Now the Eagles ... Well theoretically it shouldn't be a good year for them, but it might be interesting to see what the new HC does with Hurts, Devonta Smith and Reagor, plus their OL is rated pretty good. Its all a crap shoot though trying to figure out that division. Even if Washington does come out on top though, I don't see them as any better even if their defense is supposed to be good, because their offense is junky.

 

[OldSchool101]

Granted I don't think the Cowboys will do well, especially the way MM has coached lately and with Dak potentially facing heavy pressure from the get go.

Now I know that it’s innate for us not to like the Cowboys. But much will depend on if Dak is 100% (which my guess is he will be). Dak was on a tear through 4.5 games last season. He was pacing well over 2000+ passing yards through his 5 games until his injury. Do the math on that through 16 games.

Also how quickly new DC, Dan Quinn
(Consecutive SB appearances with Seattle) will turn things around on Defense. The addition of LB Micah Parsons and DB Will Keanu Neal should shore up some tackling issues there on Defense. Also their familiarity with Quinn and vice versa.
As with any team, much will revolve around staying healthy. Their schedule looks like a gift compared to ours.
I wouldn’t be underestimating McCarthy in 2021 and Dallas should have a legit shot at the East title. (or Washington?)

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

I think they're going to be in big trouble this Thursday in Tampa. MM in big games as of late has had his lunch money taken.

 

[OldSchool101]

I think they're going to be in big trouble this Thursday in Tampa. MM in big games as of late has had his lunch money taken.

Oh yeah. But who wouldn’t against the SB champs week 1 on the road. I wouldn’t want us to start in Tampa. Lol

 

[milani]

I think they're going to be in big trouble this Thursday in Tampa. MM in big games as of late has had his lunch money taken.

Yes. HAHAHAHA. Will he disappoint? No.

 

[rmontro]

The Giants spent quite a bit in free agency but hard to say if they got the right guys to make it happen.

Ugh, not the Giants again.
Ever since our last Super Bowl, every season has been a revolving door of "Okay, which team are we losing to this year?".

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

Oh yeah. But who wouldn’t against the SB champs week 1 on the road. I wouldn’t want us to start in Tampa. Lol

But the other thing, in regards to Quinn's hire .... I mean damn yeah the Cowboys defense should improve considering they just had the biggest garbage DC in Mike Nolan there who was so bad I would take even Rob Ryan over him, and that's saying something.

They could do worse than Quinn, but I really think the defense he coached up in Seattle was just a really talented group of players that could have made a lot of average DCs look good. I just think if he was a great DC at least one of those defenses he coached in Atlanta would have turned out good, and they were all mediocre to bad. We'll see, might be some minor improvement but I wouldn't expect a top 10 defense in Dallas at all.

 

[OldSchool101]

They could do worse than Quinn, but I really think the defense he coached up in Seattle was just a really talented group of players that could have made a lot of average DCs look good. I just think if he was a great DC at least one of those defenses he coached in Atlanta would have turned out good, and they were all mediocre to bad. We'll see, might be some minor improvement but I wouldn't expect a top 10 defense in Dallas at all.

The Dallas Offense is the driving force. If they pick up where they left off 2nd Qtr last year? They won’t need a top 10 D to be competitive.
Look at us. We go out and spend massive in FA several years ago (which is fine we wanted aggressive). We still struggle to crack a top 10 Defense.
What I’m projecting is that if Quinn can make a modest improvement on that Defense?(let’s call it a top 11-19 range scoring D) you’ve got a team there in Dallas that can’t be ignored. Definitely don’t expect a 6 win team or whatever happened last year.

MM will likely lead them to a playoff appearance at minimum. We very easily could be playing Dallas. I could see them being an NFC #6 seed and us being a #3 seed. Our schedule is not easy. You’ve got to expect we’ll at least 4-5 games this season just scanning our road games. It’s also hard to sweep a division every year snd go 6-0. Dallas on the other hand has an easier schedule than normal (except for week 1 Tampa as you mentioned). I’m smelling a repeat of our 2016 season (though we led nearly the entire game, We barely limped by Dallas in the Divisional and they are built very similar this year.

There’s just those NFC teams that we don’t want to wish well to (Minnesota, Dallas, San Fran etc.. ) Reality is we don’t have to wish them well to form an opinion of projection or if we want to fairly assess their strength. We can try to belittle them after their starting QB goes down, but that’s a slippery slope. Understanding our opponent is half the battle.

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

I’m smelling a repeat of our 2016 season (though we led nearly the entire game, We barely limped by Dallas in the Divisional and they are built very similar this year.

There’s just those NFC teams that we don’t want to wish well to (Minnesota, Dallas, San Fran etc.. ) Reality is we don’t have to wish them well to form an opinion of projection or if we want to fairly assess their strength. We can try to belittle them after their starting QB goes down, but that’s a slippery slope. Understanding our opponent is half the battle.

1. I'm not. Rodgers won't have to do it all through the air like he did that year with our non existant run game, and thank god MM is over there. Maybe he can do something stupid like sticking Gallup or Lamb at RB like he did Montgomery back then. Anyway, Aaron Jones has had his best games against these guys, and I wouldn't see that changing at all in another matchup vs them.

2. Pretty sure our current deeper defensive unit is better than the Dom Capers garbage we had to field against them then.

3. Meantime Z. Elliott for them keeps getting worse and didn't even crack 1000 last year, and they have no TEs on offense.


Now between their schedule which may give them some advantages, although possibly also benefiting their divisional opponents, there's no telling where they land. But I'm pretty sure if we do play them it won't be in Dallas, and it won't be a game decided in any part by any call like the Dez Bryant no catch call.

 

[milani]

1. I'm not. Rodgers won't have to do it all through the air like he did that year with our non existant run game, and thank god MM is over there. Maybe he can do something stupid like sticking Gallup or Lamb at RB like he did Montgomery back then. Anyway, Aaron Jones has had his best games against these guys, and I wouldn't see that changing at all in another matchup vs them.

2. Pretty sure our current deeper defensive unit is better than the Dom Capers garbage we had to field against them then.

3. Meantime Z. Elliott for them keeps getting worse and didn't even crack 1000 last year, and they have no TEs on offense.


Now between their schedule which may give them some advantages, although possibly also benefiting their divisional opponents, there's no telling where they land. But I'm pretty sure if we do play them it won't be in Dallas, and it won't be a game decided in any part by any call like the Dez Bryant no catch call.

They miss a Jason Whitten.

 

[OldSchool101]

Anyway, Aaron Jones has had his best games against these guys, and I wouldn't see that changing at all in another matchup vs them.

Aaron Jones will do what he does best, I don’t doubt that part. Hopefully smiling and wearing his gold sunglasses on the sideline like usual.

Pretty sure our current deeper defensive unit is better than the Dom Capers garbage we had to field against them then.

I agree with that although that’s a low standard in many seasons. imo, a big part of the reason Pettine is gone and Joe Barry is in is his “star” philosophy (DB playing Run support). Also Joe’s strength in coaching up young talented LB’s who can play downhill against the Run. We already saw a mini display of that aggressiveness in preseason.

Meantime Z. Elliott for them keeps getting worse and didn't even crack 1000 last year,

I think you’re being too critical of Zeke as He’s still very crafty running the ball. It’s common knowledge that Zekes success is intertwined with Prescott. Also they were missing La’el Collins (season) and Tyrone Smith (14 games); Zack Martin lost 6 games. He had 2 UDFA playing in their place. Zeke also is a well rounded back in Receiving and Blocking. 979 rushing is his career low and that probably has him very motivated knowing his personality. I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a top 10 RB this season.