Ladies & Gentlemen,

It's that time of the year for the NFL CRYSTALL BALL COMPETITION.

Basically the rules are you put a number next to the teams in the conference representing the position they finished in their division, We will also ha-ve predictions for the road to the superbowl and eventual superbowl winner. Those numbers will be entered into a spreadsheet and then locked off before the 2nd week of the season & we will go back and re-evaluate the findings after season.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkCmftpGtdBZdGNfODJIRFNlcU5NbmhSbElKOG5lLUE&authkey=CIzH9okH&hl=en_US#gid=0

AFC NORTH
PIT -
BAL -
CLE -
CIN -

AFC EAST
NE -
NYJ -
MIA -
BUF -

AFC SOUTH
IND -
JAC -
HOU -
TEN -

AFC WEST
KC -
SD -
OAK -
DEN -


NFC NORTH
CHI -
GB -
DET -
MIN -

NFC EAST
PHI -
NYG -
DAL -
WAS -

NFC SOUTH
ATL -
NO -
TB -
CAR -

NFC WEST
STL -
SEA -
SF -
ARI -

NFC WILD1 -
NFC WILD2 -
AFC WILD1 -
AFC WILD2 -

NFC DIV1 -
NFC DIV2 -
AFC DIV1 -
AFC DIV2 -

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP -
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP -

SUPERBOWL -
WINNER -

AFC NORTH
PIT - 1
BAL - 2
CLE - 3
CIN - 4

AFC EAST
NE - 1
NYJ - 2
MIA - 4
BUF - 3

AFC SOUTH
IND - 2
JAC - 4
HOU - 1
TEN - 3

AFC WEST
KC - 3
SD - 2
OAK - 1
DEN - 4


NFC NORTH
CHI - 2
GB - 1
DET - 3
MIN - 4

NFC EAST
PHI - 1
NYG - 3
DAL - 2
WAS - 4

NFC SOUTH
ATL - 1
NO - 2
TB - 3
CAR - 4

NFC WEST
SEA - 3
STL - 1
SF - 2
ARI - 4

NFC WILD1 - Dallas @ St Louis
NFC WILD2 - New Orleans @ Atlanta
AFC WILD1 - San Diego @ Oakland
AFC WILD2 - New York Jets @ Houston

NFC DIV1 - Dallas @ Green Bay
NFC DIV2 - Atlanta @ Philadelphia
AFC DIV1 - Oakland @ Pittsburgh
AFC DIV2 - New York Jets @ New England

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP - Green Bay @ Philadelphia
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP - Oakland @ New England

SUPERBOWL - Oakland vs Philadelphia

WINNER - Oakland

wow, you are doing this a little bit early, no?

I would wait at least a couple weeks before the preseason. We still don't know where some free agents are going. I like your Superbowl winner though.

Mr. Crackerz wrote:wow, you are doing this a little bit early, no?

I would wait at least a couple weeks before the preseason. We still don't know where some free agents are going. I like your Superbowl winner though.

There is no more impact free agents bro...

yeah wait a week or 2.. i dont care. im confident in that i know how the dominos wil fall.

Yeah, you're always confident, and with that logic (going with the Raiders every time) you're bound to hit it once...hopefully this board will still be alive by then.

Guybrush wrote:Yeah, you're always confident, and with that logic (going with the Raiders every time) you're bound to hit it once...hopefully this board will still be alive by then.

Likelyhood of it happening... Pretty Slim (I know that)... But i'm a homer & I wouldn't expect anything less from you Guybrush when you enter your predictions in (not that you'd pick the Niners to win the superbowl. but i figure you think they might win the division???)

Actually if you want a Raider v Niner tidbit straight from the mouth of Pawno.. I believe the chances of the Raiders winning a superbowl are far greater likelyhood then the Niners.
My logic is the Raiders have been to 5 superbowls now & never have we been led their by a hall of fame quarterback. (Larmonica, Stabler, Plunkett & Gannon)

If you go back into the history books you will see a lot of superbowl winning Quarterbacks end up in the hall of fame. Whether it is on the ring they recieved for the win or the domination at that position.. the correlation is that a Franchise Quarterback will get you to the superbowl.

So when I look at the 49'ers I see a team led by Montana/Young & I don't see a whole lot more post season success without the franchise Quarterback... My main analysis is the Raiders build "winning teams" where as the niners got lucky on "2x great quarterbacks"

I'll probably get ripped for this logic from Jreed (which i'm pretty sure I've argued about before).. But I am sticking by my guns on this one. I think I am right. (that the raiders draft/build better football teams)

How to not get ripped with that logic?

I'll be short, so I'll put it this way. If you think that those Superbowls we won are solely won on Niners' QBs shoulders, then you couldn't be more wrong.
Just take a look at the players that they had around them on offense: Tom Rathman, Brent Jones, John Taylor, Ricky Watters...and for Christ's sake, GOAT, Jerry Rice. With that kind of offensive firepower they could have as well allowed me to be a QB. Later on they got Owens as well...I don't see how that is not a good team. Just because they also had great QBs doesn't mean that they didn't have a good team. It was pretty much the same team that Montana played with, and Young got afterwards. So, it's more logical that those other players helped both QBs look as good as they did.

Guybrush wrote:How to not get ripped with that logic?

I'll be short, so I'll put it this way. If you think that those Superbowls we won are solely won on Niners' QBs shoulders, then you couldn't be more wrong.
Just take a look at the players that they had around them on offense: Tom Rathman, Brent Jones, John Taylor, Ricky Watters...and for Christ's sake, GOAT, Jerry Rice. With that kind of offensive firepower they could have as well allowed me to be a QB. Later on they got Owens as well...I don't see how that is not a good team. Just because they also had great QBs doesn't mean that they didn't have a good team. It was pretty much the same team that Montana played with, and Young got afterwards. So, it's more logical that those other players helped both QBs look as good as they did.

Oh I understand bro.. It's great quarterback play surrounded by great teammates. (i'm not saying that Montana/Young singlehandly took them to the big dance)... & yes, Jerry Rice is GOAT!!!

I'm just saying that the Raiders get to the title games on the back of sub-par quarterbacking.

Let me also say that the Niners of the 80's/90's might of been the best dynasty ever in sports!!! Considering they won 5 superbowls and played in a era where the Cowboys were pretty dominate too.

Well, you being so nice about the Niners, I just had to give you credit for it.

Well, I don't have anything to add, cause you basically said that it was a great team...I guess the only difference that you really meant is that Raiders can win it without Hall of Fame QBs. Though, I'm of opinion that pretty much any QB that was any good would have been a Hall of Fame QB if he played for that generation of 49ers.

And, god, do I hate the Cowboys...

I'm not going to rip anyone, actually I believe that the Raiders - right now are a better team then the 9ers because it seems like they have a slightly better core of players from top to bottom. Now I could easily change my stance on that as soon as I see both teams in action - but I'm not very optimistic towards the 9er's up coming season. The main thing I want to see is actually one of two options - either Alex sucks bad enough to finally close the chapter or he continues to progress like he has in the past 2 seasons and becomes our undisputed starting QB - I believe that the latter is more likely but it might be a more marginal increase and we'll still have a massive divide in the fan base.

I don't agree that the 9ers wont SBs because of great QB play - they dominated because of superb QB play, but average QBs probably would have sufficed, although PAWNO has a good point about how competitive the top teams in the league were in that era and maybe we would have only got 1 or 2 without back-to-back HOF QBs. I don't think that the 9ers were the best dynasty - they are the 2nd best and the Patriots are no. 1 - because I use similar logic as I previous used - the parity in the league is insane and for a team to be that consistent these days is crazy.

AFC NORTH
PIT - 2
BAL - 1
CLE - 3
CIN - 4

AFC EAST
NE - 1
NYJ - 2
MIA - 4
BUF - 3

AFC SOUTH
IND - 2
JAC - 4
HOU - 1
TEN - 3

AFC WEST
KC - 2
SD - 1
OAK - 3
DEN - 4


NFC NORTH
CHI - 3
GB - 1
DET - 2
MIN - 4

NFC EAST
PHI - 1
NYG - 3
DAL - 2
WAS - 4

NFC SOUTH
ATL - 1
NO - 3
TB - 2
CAR - 4

NFC WEST
SEA - 4
STL - 2
SF - 1
ARI - 3

I'll add my post season picks in a little bit.

Mr. Crackerz Picks:

AFC NORTH
PIT - 2
BAL - 1
CLE - 3
CIN - 4

AFC EAST
NE - 1
NYJ - 2
MIA - 3
BUF - 4

AFC SOUTH
IND - 3
JAC - 4
HOU - 1
TEN - 2

AFC WEST
KC - 3
SD - 1
OAK - 2
DEN - 4


NFC NORTH
CHI - 3
GB - 1
DET - 2
MIN - 4

NFC EAST
PHI - 1
NYG - 2
DAL - 3
WAS - 4

NFC SOUTH
ATL - 1
NO - 2
TB - 3
CAR - 4

NFC WEST
SEA - 2
STL - 1
SF - 4
ARI - 3

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLAYOFFS:

NFC WILD1 - New Orleans at St. Louis
NFC WILD2 - Detroit at Atlanta
AFC WILD1 - Pittsburgh at Houston
AFC WILD2 - New York Jets at San Diego

NFC DIV1 - New Orleans at Green Bay
NFC DIV2 - Atlanta at Philadelphia
AFC DIV1 - New York Jets at Baltimore
AFC DIV2 - Pittsburgh at New England

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP - Green Bay at Philadelphia
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP - New York Jets at New England

SUPERBOWL - Philadelphia vs. New England
WINNER - Philadelphia

AFC NORTH
PIT - 1
BAL - 2
CLE - 3
CIN - 4

AFC EAST
NE - 1
NYJ - 2
MIA - 4
BUF - 3

AFC SOUTH
IND - 3
JAC - 4
HOU - 1
TEN - 2

AFC WEST
KC - 2
SD - 1
OAK - 3
DEN - 4


NFC NORTH
CHI - 3
GB - 1
DET - 2
MIN - 4

NFC EAST
PHI - 1
NYG - 2
DAL - 3
WAS - 4

NFC SOUTH
ATL - 2
NO - 1
TB - 3
CAR - 4

NFC WEST
STL - 2
SEA - 4
SF - 1
ARI - 3

NFC WILD1 - Atlanta @ San Francisco
NFC WILD2 - Detroit @ New Orleans
AFC WILD1 - NY Jets @ Houston
AFC WILD2 - Baltimore @ San Diego

NFC DIV1 - New Orleans @ Green Bay
NFC DIV2 - Atlanta @ Philadelphia
AFC DIV1 - NY Jets @ Pittsburgh
AFC DIV2 - San Diego @ New England

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP - Atlanta @ Green Bay
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP - San Diego @ Pittsburgh

SUPERBOWL - Green Bay vs. San Diego
WINNER - San Diego

AFC NORTH
PIT - 2
BAL - 1
CLE - 3
CIN - 4

AFC EAST
NE - 1
NYJ - 2
MIA - 4
BUF - 3

AFC SOUTH
IND - 2
JAC - 4
HOU - 1
TEN - 3

AFC WEST
KC - 3
SD - 1
OAK - 4
DEN - 2


NFC NORTH
CHI - 2
GB - 1
DET - 3
MIN - 4

NFC EAST
PHI - 1
NYG - 2
DAL - 3
WAS - 4

NFC SOUTH
ATL - 2
NO - 1
TB - 3
CAR - 4

NFC WEST
STL - 2
SEA - 4
SF - 1
ARI - 3

NFC WILD1 - Atlanta @ San Francisco
NFC WILD2 - Chicago @ New Orleans
AFC WILD1 - NY Jets @ Houston
AFC WILD2 - Pittsburgh @ San Diego

NFC DIV1 - New Orleans @ Green Bay
NFC DIV2 - Atlanta @ Philadelphia
AFC DIV1 - NY Jets @ Baltimore
AFC DIV2 - Pittsburgh @ New England

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP - Philadelphia @ Green Bay
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP - New England @ Baltimore

SUPERBOWL - Philadelphia vs. Baltimore
WINNER - Baltimore


I know this is a long shot, but, hey, why not take a chance.

Pawno, check if I did something wrong when it comes to who advances and wild cards...