NFL @ The Quarter Pole

AFC EAST @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Buffalo Bills ................................ 3-2
NYJ•3 DEN•3 ATL•3 9 [12]
☆5☆ New England Patriots ................ 3-2
NOS•2 HOU•2 TBY•2 6 [9]
☆5☆ New York Jets ............................ 3-2
MIA•2 JAX•3 CLE•0 5 [8]
☆5☆ Miami Dolphins .......................... 2-2
LAC•1 TEN•2 3 [2]

New England is not running away with this division, which makes me happy. As Week 6 approaches, each of these teams could take the division and 3 are tied for the lead. They all have glaring weaknesses. Buffalo must play strong defense and run the ball. New England needs to take the need to play effectively in all 4 quarters of the game rather than just the last quarter. Ultimately I think this division comes down to those 2 teams.

AFC NORTH @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Pittsburgh Steelers .................... 3-2
CLE•0 MIN•3 BLT•3 6 [9]
☆5☆ Baltimore Ravens ....................... 3-2
CIN•2 CLE•0 OAK•2 4 [7]
☆5☆ Cincinnati Bengals ..................... 2-3
CLE•0 BUF•3 3 [5]
☆5☆ Cleveland Browns ...................... 0-5
0 [0]

This division is somewhat living up to my expectations. Pittsburgh is in the lead, but not dominant. Cleveland is in last, and living up to expectations. Baltimore has a slight advantage over Cincinnati, which is the reverse of my predictions.

AFC SOUTH @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Jacksonville Jaguars ................. 3-2
HOU•2 BLT•3 PIT•3 8 [11]
☆5☆ Tennessee Titans ....................... 2-3
JAX•3 SEA•3 6 [8]
☆5☆ Houston Texans ......................... 2-3
CIN•2 TEN•2 4 [6]
☆5☆ Indianapolis Colts ...................... 2-3
CLE•0 SFR•0 0 [2]

This division is full of surprises. The strongest team, Jacksonville, is the one I believed to be the weakest. Tennesse is in second, as I thought they would be. Houston, whom I thought would be the strongest, is in third. The Colts, whom I thought would be in third, are in last. In their defense, they have not yet had their starting QB in play as of yet.

AFC WEST @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Kansas City Chiefs ..................... 5-0 NEP•3 PHL•4 LAC•1 WSH•2 HOU•2 12 [17]
☆5☆ Denver Broncos ......................... 3-1
LAC•1 DAL•2 OAK•2 5 [8]
☆5☆ Oakland Raiders ......................... 2-3
TEN•2 NYJ•3 5 [7]
☆5☆ Los Angeles Chargers ............... 1-4
NYG•0 0 [1]

Was I ever off on this division! I had the Chiefs in last place. Currently they look unbeatable and are arguably the strongest team in the whole league. That said, Denver, Oakland and the Chargers are in the order I thought they'd be among the three of them.

NFC EAST @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Philadelphia Eagles ................... 4-1
WSH•2 NYG•0 LAC•1 ARZ•2 5 [9]
☆5☆ Washington Redskins ................ 2-2
LAR•3 OAK•2 5 [7]
☆5☆ Dallas Cowboys ......................... 2-3
NYG•0 ARZ•2 2 [4]
☆5☆ New York Giants ........................ 0-5
0 [0]

This set of predictions is a hot mess! Dallas and the Giants have not been who I thought they would be. The Giants look incapable of winning. Meanwhile Philadelphia and Washington have played better than I expected.

NFC NORTH @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Green Bay Packers .................... 4-1
SEA•3 CIN•2 CHI•1 DAL•2 8 [12]
☆5☆ Detroit Lions ............................... 3-2
ARZ•2 NYG•0 MIN•3 5 [8]
☆5☆ Minnesota Vikings ..................... 3-2
NOS•2 TBY•2 CHI•1 5 [8]
☆5☆ Chicago Bears ............................ 1-4
PIT•3 3 [1]

Green Bay is playing well. They are one place higher than I thought they would be. It's not so much a matter of them playing better than I thought they would. The issue is that Minnesota has not lived up to my expectations of them. Detroit is doing better than I thought they would. And then there are the Bears. Inconsistency has put them where I thought they would be. There have been moments when I was tempted to believe I might be wrong on them. They beat Pittsburgh, and nearly beat Atlanta as well.

NFC SOUTH @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Carolina Panthers ...................... 4-1
SFR•0 BUF•3 NEP•3 DET•3 9 [13]
☆5☆ Atlanta Falcons .......................... 3-1
CHI•1 GBY•4 DET•3 8 [11]
☆5☆ New Orleans Saints ................... 2-2
CAR•4 MIA•2 6 [8]
☆5☆ Tampa Bay Buccaneers ............. 2-2
CHI•1 NYG•0 1 [3]

Atlanta has not been dominant, and has given opportunity for someone else to take the lead. Carolina has far exceeded my expectations and stepped up to take that lead. Tampa is a disappointment. New Orleans is more or less who I thought they would be.

NFC WEST @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ Seattle Seahawks ...................... 3-2
SFR•0 IND•2 LAR•3 5 [8]
☆5☆ Los Angeles Rams ..................... 3-2
IND•2 SFR•0 DAL•2 4 [7]
☆5☆ Arizona Cardinals ...................... 2-3
IND•2 SFR•0 2 [4]
☆5☆ San Francisco 49ers .................. 0-5
0 [0]

Seattle is where I thought they would be. My surprise has been that the team pushing them is the Rams and not the Cardinals. And if Arizona plays their hand right, Seattle could be in a three-way fight. The 49ers, sadly for their fans, are who I thought they would be and look horrible!

AFC PLAYOFFS @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ 1 Kansas City Chiefs .................. 5-0 NEP•3 PHL•4 LAC•1 WSH•2 HOU•2 12 [17]
☆5☆ 2 Buffalo Bills ............................. 3-2
NYJ•3 DEN•3 ATL•3 9 [12]
☆5☆ 3 Jacksonville Jaguars ............. 3-2
HOU•2 BLT•3 PIT•3 8 [11]
☆5☆ 4 Pittsburgh Steelers ................. 3-2
CLE•0 MIN•3 BLT•3 6 [9]
☆5☆ 5 Denver Broncos ...................... 3-1
LAC•1 DAL•2 OAK•2 5 [8]
☆5☆ 6 New England Patriots ............. 3-2
NOS•2 HOU•2 TBY•2 6 [9]

Wild Cards: Patriots @ Jaguars              NEP
                     Broncos @ Steelers             DEN
Only 1 of my Pre-Season Wild Card picks in the AFC remains in my forecast. That would Denver. The other 3 teams (Oakland, Tennessee & Houston) are presently out of the playoff forecast. Thus the 3 teams here who are not Denver are current surprises.

Divisional: Patriots @ Chiefs                   KCC
                    Broncos @ Bills                      BUF
Neither of these bye-week teams with home field advantage were in my forecast before the season began. I had New England and Pittsburgh in mind. Both made the playoffs but I now have the Steelers out in the Wild Card Round.

Conference: Bills @ Patriots                   NEP
This is very similar to what I expected. The only difference is that the eventual looser of this match I now believe to be the Buffalo Bills.

NFC PLAYOFFS @ The Quarter Pole.......
☆5☆ 1 Carolina Panthers ................... 4-1
SFR•0 BUF•3 NEP•3 DET•3 9 [13]
☆5☆ 2 Green Bay Packers ................. 4-1
SEA•3 CIN•2 CHI•1 DAL•2 8 [12]
☆5☆ 3 Philadelphia Eagles ................ 4-1
WSH•2 NYG•0 LAC•1 ARZ•2 5 [9]
☆5☆ 4 Seattle Seahawks ................... 3-2
SFR•0 IND•2 LAR•3 5 [8]
☆5☆ 5 Atlanta Falcons ....................... 3-1
CHI•1 GBY•4 DET•3 8 [11]
☆5☆ 6 Detroit Lions ............................ 3-2
ARZ•2 NYG•0 MIN•3 5 [8]

Wild Cards: Lions @ Eagles                     PHL
                      Falcons @ Seahawks          ATL
Only 1 of my Pre-Season Wild Card picks in the NFC remains in my forecast. That would Seattle. The other 3 teams (Arizona, Minnesota & NY Giants) are presently out of the playoff forecast. Thus the 3 teams here who are not Seattle are current surprises.

Divisional: Falcons @ Panthers              CAR
                    Eagles @ Packers                 GBY
Neither of these bye-week teams with home field advantage were in my forecast before the season began. I had Atlanta and Dallas in mind. Dallas is not in my playoff forcast. Atlanta is in this round, but on the road as a victor of a Wild Card Game.

Conference: Packers @ Panthers          CAR
This matchup is very different from what I expected. Neither team was picked by me to make the playoffs.

NFC PLAYOFFS @ The Quarter Pole.......
New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers

Prediction: Panthers win Super Bowl