Brandt: Most vulnerable 2015 division winners

[theENGLISHseahawk]

What's that?

Popeye created a strawman argument and took over a thread?

What a turn up for the books.

 

[RichNhansom]

^^^^ Turning any thread into a Kaep vs Wilson debate is a fool's errand. Nuff said.

Yeah, because there is no comparison...Keeporpick sucks.

Thanks Rothlessburger. Or is it Bradshaw?

 

[rideaducati]

^^^^ Turning any thread into a Kaep vs Wilson debate is a fool's errand. Nuff said.

Yeah, because there is no comparison...Keeporpick sucks.

Thanks Rothlessburger. Or is it Bradshaw?

Captain Obvious works too.

 

[kearly]

And what did the Seahawk offense have? Wilson didnt play that great either over Teddy.

Both teams were too frozen to do anything on offense that game, that's why I think it shouldn't be used as a basis of analysis.

Two years before in an even colder playoff game Kraperdick had more than twice as many yards as Wilson and a 15 point higher QB rating (4x higher if QBR), and he friggin sucks. Wilson played poorly. It happens. End of story.

GB had the 24th ranked scoring defense that year vs. Minnesota's 5th ranked in 2015. Just a small difference... and that's not including the gimme pick 6 that the GB DB dropped that went right into his hands at the end of the game which would have plummeted Kaepernick's rating. Sorry to throw reality into your BS narrative though.

As said already, Popeye has some holes in his attempted comparison. Seattle and SF run different offenses (timing pass offense vs. smash mouth rush offense), had different opponents (Kaep simply owns Capers), had a 10am start vs a night game that favors the West coast team, and faced a pretty good defense instead of a terrible one. Not to mention, Seattle's game was significantly colder.

If Popeye had said that Wilson struggles more than most QBs do in bad game conditions, I would agree with that. But that's just the thing, was he bad because of he had an off day or was he bad because of the conditions? There is no way of knowing for sure. What we can say is that Wilson played the Vikings a few weeks prior while they were missing a few guys and absolutely destroyed them in a game that had decent game conditions.

 

[kearly]

Cards look tough man, they had a great draft, especially on D. So IMO it's gonna be a dog fight all the way til the end.

I thought their draft sucked. They killed it in FA though, just like they usually do.

Hmm, most of the draft grades I saw had the Cards as a A or B.....................and Nkemdiche is probably the steal of the draft, dude's a beast.

Dude's a headcase who didn't produce in college. Several teams had him completely off their board.

Even if Nkemdiche pans out the rest of their draft was small (just six draft picks) and loaded with reaches.

Draft grades are meaningless (though for the record their grades were not that great). The only way to judge a draft is to simply wait and see. Until then all we are doing is opinion sharing on the internet.

 

[kearly]

Would you say this if he were a Seahawk? Doubtful.

Thankfully we don't have to because Seattle passed on him.

You are still removing the context of that game which is absurd. Kap playing better than Wilson against a bottom 10 defense when Wilson was against a top 5 defense has absolutely no correlation.

You would be better off comparing Bridgewater and Wilson that day since they both faced stiff defenses (and cold weather), but both played poorly so it doesn't support your argument.

We should also mention that Tom Brady ran into a brick wall at Denver. It's really tough to do well against good/great defenses in freezing conditions, it's true even for the very best.

 

[LolaRox]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000661070/article/broncos-texans-among-most-vulnerable-division-winners

Eighth is the least vulnerable, 1st is the most vulnerable to being over-taken. Brandt's list:

8. Redskins
7. Cardinals
6. Panthers
5. Patriots
4. Vikings
3. Texans
2. Broncos
1. Bengals

Here's how I'd rank them (least threatened to most):

8. Panthers. They will have a SB hangover year and will probably win only 10 or 11 games. A division rival might make it to 9-7 with some luck, but I don't see anyone but Carolina breaking double digits.

7. Patriots. Brady may use legal tactics to delay his appeal. Even if he doesn't, the early games are very winnable even with a backup QB. Buffalo isn't ready to compete with New England, and the Jets are a clip below the Pats. It's becoming a competitive division, but the Pats still have an edge barring a career collapse by Brady.

6. Texans. Houston is the safest bet in the NFL's worst division. The bigger question is, will they remember to show up for their home playoff game?

5. Cardinals. Arizona will have another 12+ win season in 2016 if Palmer stays healthy, but Seattle is currently favored by Vegas to win the division.

4. Bengals. Pittsburgh will probably win the division if Big Ben stays healthy. The Ravens could be a threat too.

3. Broncos. Rookie QB and Mark Sanchez vs. a Chiefs team that won 11 straight games in 2015. Denver's defense will not likely be historically good in back to back years.

2. Redskins. The Redskins are a flawed team that is heading in the right direction, but if Tony Romo is healthy they will be a distant second in the division.

1. Vikings. They were among the weaker teams to make the playoffs last year, and directly benefited from the Packers' injury plagued 2015 campaign. This time around the Packers have the easiest schedule in the league and are fully healthy with a slimmed down Eddie Lacy. The Vikings are going to get boat-raced.

The Packers were injury plagued?? Jordy was out, but relative to other teams they seemed pretty healthy. Football Outsiders had them at #9 AGL - it may not account for everything, but it's a decent gauge at overall 'healthiness' over a season.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-a ... games-lost

My groupings -

Most vulnerable
Redskins and Texans - NFCE & AFCS are not loaded with very good teams. They seemed to be a jumbled mess at times and neither the Skins nor Texans have a strong hold on their division. Cowboys and Giants should be better. Jags and Colts should at least be more competitive.

Broncos - Chiefs are a good team and Raiders should be better. Add that to their uncertainty at QB and what they've lost on defense, they might have a hard time repeating as division winner.

Least vulnerable
Pats - I'd like to see someone overtake the Pats but I'll have to see it before I believe it can be done by any of those teams.

Panthers - the Panthers are still a very strong team and not sure Falcons or Saints are in a position to win the division just yet.

The rest
Cards , Bengals, Vikings - all in very competitive divisions and I give the Seahawks, Steelers and Packers equal (or better) chances to win their respective divisions.