JASON ROSS: 4 IN AND 4 OUT
Every year since 1990 at least 4 NFL teams that made the playoffs the previous season missed the playoffs the next season. This has been a hard fast rule for nearly 30 years. That is amazing! So that had us thinking on the Lo-Down and we went to work to find out who would be in and who would be out as we start the NFL season. Just as a reminder, here are the teams that made the playoffs last year: Detroit, Seattle, New York Giants, Dallas, Green Bay, Atlanta, Oakland, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh, New England and Kansas City.
Those last two teams hooked up for a thrilling season opener in which the Chiefs went to Foxboro and left with an impressive win. Does that mean the Chiefs are in for sure? Are the Pats going to be on the outside looking in? Well here is how I looked at it on the show. I feel like Miami, Houston, Detroit and the New York Giants will be the four teams to miss the post-season from last year. Detroit has a good quarterback but I believe their roster is a little thin. New York had a lot of things go right last year but just not feeling big blue with a return to the post-season especially considering that tough NFC West. Houston has a strong defense but still some concerns at quarterback and Miami will be guided by Jay Cutler. I just am not a Jay Cutler fan.
So who goes in? The four replacing those teams in my opinion include: Tennessee, Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. Tennessee was close to making it a year ago and I think they just leap frog the Texans and win the division. I don't believe the Chargers will win the West but I think they will join the Raiders and Chiefs in the post-season. With Phillip Rivers and a healthier team they always compete and may catch a few more breaks this season. Philadelphia replaces the Giants for me in a tough NFC East and Tampa has flirted with the post-season the last couple of years and now they will break through.
In the end these are just my predictions, but let's watch and see how they end up. I am just glad that the NFL is back. Here's to 17 weeks of entertainment on the field.
