Ty Ranks the 2023 NFL Teams: Let's Try the New Starry Soda Division

Welcome to day five of my NFL preseason rankings. These are the teams I expect to be in playoff contention all season long.

At number 16 I have the Pittsburgh Steelers. I have never been a fan, but Mike Tomlin is an all time great head coach and he always finds a way to be above .500 with whoever is on the Steelers roster. I expect nothing different this season. Also, we need to recognize how great of a coach Tomlin is. He is awesome. But Kenny Pickett is his QB. He definitely looks better right now, definitely better than his rookie year, but he is still very green and very unproven. I think he can be solid, but I would not want him to be my QB of the future. Najee Harris is incredible. He is one of the better running backs in the NFL. He is big, fast, can break tackles and catch the ball out of the backfield. He can do it all. George Pickens is a blooming star. Lots of players put together viral catch clips, but Pickens is one of two players, DK Metcalf being the other, where those clips look real. They look truthful. The o line, as has always been the case, is very good. They are solid. The defense is always good too. Minkah Fitzpatrick really turned the tide for this team last season. He is a ball hawk and a very solid cover guy. TJ Watt has lived up to the hype coming into last season. I'm not a fan, but the dude can rush the passer. Joey Porter Jr was very good in college and he looks like he can be the real deal in the NFL. His dad is a coach in Pittsburgh as well. Cameron Hayward is steady. Alex Highsmith can play. The defense has always been dependable. The Steelers will, annoyingly, be above .500 and will most likely make a playoff push. Mike Tomlin is that good.

At number 15 I have the Minnesota Vikings. I loathe this team. I cannot stand them. I am a lifelong Packers fan and I think I dislike the Vikings more than the Bears. The hatred starts for me at QB. I have never liked Kirk Cousins. I think he is wildly overrated. I find him cringey. He has bad politics, and he cannot win when it matters. That has all been proven. They should have stuck with Teddy Bridgewater. Dalvin Cook is gone. They refused to pay him and he took off. Good for him. He is being replaced with guys I have never heard of. The Vikings are going to miss Cook. They are really going to miss him. Justin Jefferson is one the best wideouts in the league and the only reason why this offense scares anyone. I have no qualms or problems with Jefferson. He's awesome. Jordan Addison can be a good pro, he just has to slow down when he is driving. TJ Hockenson is a solid tight end, but Cousins relies on him far too much. The o line is serviceable. The defense is nowhere near as good as it used to be. In fact, it may be a liability. They are giving Marcus Davenport a second chance, but I don't think he pan out. That's a bummer because I thought he had potential. Danielle Hunter is a head case. Harrison Smith is washed. And the rest of the guys are a bunch of no names. I think this defense will be their undoing. They may still get a wild card spot, but they will have to outscore teams to win, and with Kirk Cousins at the helm, that is not a very likely outcome.

At number 14 I have the New York Giants. I mean, why did they give so much money to Daniel Jones? He is a less athletic Kirk Cousins. He is not why this team wins games. He is just a game manager at his very best. The money they gave Jones should have gone to Saquon Barkley. He is why this offense works. He does EVERYTHING for this team and the front office could care less. The receiving corps is very mediocre. Again, they rely on Barkley for the run and pass game. They did sign Darren Waller, which I do like and he will help very much. The o line is awesome. They are one of the better overall units in the NFL. The defense is solid. The defense is in good hands. They play their roles very well. Kayvon Thibodeaux hasn't lived up to the massive hype yet, but he is incredibly talented. Leonard Williams is a very good d lineman. He can stop the run and contain the pass. The secondary is led by Adoree Jackson, and he has been fine so far. The linebackers play their parts to a T. The defense is good. Combine the d with Barkley and the Giants will be a playoff contender. Add on that the division stinks, they could very well find their way back to playoffs for a second straight year.

The final team for the day, at number 13 I have the Jacksonville Jaguars. They looked like they may be figuring things out during the second half of last season. Trevor Lawrence looked much better. He seems to be figuring it out and that is a big deal for this team. Travis Etienne is another year healthier and he and Lawrence form a solid backfield. Christian Kirk is a good wideout. Calvin Ridley can be even better than him. And Evan Engram looks to be putting it together at tight end. The o line does the job. The defense used to be what made them great a few years ago, and they are solid now, but with no big names. Travon Walker was the number one overall pick last year, but he is still very raw and finding his way. Josh Allen has been as good as everyone expected at linebacker. The d line is very good. The linebacking corps, led by Allen, plays physical football. The secondary is just fine. The Jags appear to be a much better team with what looks like some staying power. They are young, but they got playoff experience and they should build off that.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next four teams. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty’s 2022 NFL Preview - Warm Natural Light Division

The next two weeks are going to be football focused. I'm going to be counting down the NFL teams from worst to best. Then I will make postseason predictions and awards. Then, next Friday I will do my massive college football preview. This is one of my favorite times of year because it means football is right around the corner. So sit back and enjoy some football talk for the next few weeks. On to the countdown.

Coming in dead last I have the Houston Texans. I like Lovie Smith. But that hire was out of nowhere. I love Nico Collins. But he is only in year two and he still needs time to develop. Davis Mills was a nice surprise last season. But defenses will be ready for him. There will be no more surprises. Derek Stingley has potential. I was so high on John Metchie, and I know he will beat cancer. But that is devastating for him. I hope he gets better soon. Outside those guys this team is very, very mediocre. Marlon Mack is washed, as is Brandin Cooks. Pharaoh Brown is out of position at tight end. The O line is not great. The defense is full of youth and no name guys. Jerry Hughes used to be good, but when that is your best signing, that is a bad, bad sign. This team is in full rebuild mode and they will be for sometime. I hope they give Lovie Smith time to turn it around, but they probably won't and that stinks. I assume they will win 2 to 4 games, at best this year. They will be in the hunt for one of the top QB's in the 2023 draft. The Texans are not a good football team.

At number 31 I have the Atlanta Falcons. This team has really fallen off since they blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl however many years ago that was. Matt Ryan is gone. Julio Jones is gone. Todd Gurley didn't work out. They fired the coach who led them to the Super Bowl. This team is still rebuilding. They signed Marcus Mariota and drafted Desmond Ridder. I was way off on Mariota. He has not been good. I would not be surprised if Ridder, who I really like, starts at some point this season. They have a receiver starting at running back. Cordarelle Patterson is fine, but he is not an every down back. I think Drake London will be good when the Falcons get a competent QB. Same with Kyle Pitts, who has the ability to be one of the better tight ends in the league. The O line is mediocre. The Falcons defense is a lot like the Texans. I do not know who most of these dudes are on the roster. I recognize Casey Hayward. He is an okay corner. As is AJ Terrell. But the dudes on the D line and the linebackers, I am drawing a total blank. They got scored on a ton last season, and I see much of the same this year. The Falcons will win 3-5 games this season and they will be picking early in the 2023 draft.

At number 30 I have the Chicago Bears. It is no secret that I despise this team. I have never liked the Bears. I think they are overrated. Every year they look like they are going to take a leap and then they fall flat on their faces. I do like Justin Fields, I think he can be very, very good, but this team has absolutely no weapons for him at all. Fields has all the tools in the world to be great, but he needs solid teammates. Every single receiver is hurt. N'Keal Harry is out for the year. Byron Pringle is hurt. So is Cole Kmet. I mean, they have no solid wideouts on this roster. David Montgomery is an okay running back, but he is not someone the offense can lean on. The O line is bad and riddled with injury as well. And the defense is not much better. Khalil Mack has been traded. Robert Quinn wants out. So does Roquan Smith. He just asked for a trade and I believe he is holding out of camp. From there it is rough. This is a roster full of has beens or never was guys. It is going to be a tough year in Chicago and Justin Fields is going to bear the brunt of it. This team is in the bottom of the league. They will win maybe 3 games all year. Fields needs weapons and maybe they will draft someone in the next year's draft with the high pick they will have. We will see.

The final team for the day, coming in at 29 I have the New York Giants. They have a new coach. They have a new GM. They have what looks to be a direction they are settled on. But they just don't have the talent yet, or the team is way too young. Daniel Jones is a bust. He doesn't have it. It is more than apparent that they need to move on. As much as I root for Saquon Barkley, he just looks timid and not fully healed. He doesn't look the same as he did before tearing his ACL. I like Wan'Dale Robinson, but he is a rookie. Kadarius Toney may be asking for a trade. Kenny Golladay had one good year and that was it. The O line is not good, but they got a guy that looks like he could be awesome in Evan Neal. They should build the line around him. The defense is also not great. I absolutely love the Kayvon Thibodeaux pick, but much like Robinson, he is a rookie too. Leonard Williams is oft injured. Blake Martinez is not great anymore. Adoree Jackson is on his second team in not so many seasons. I mean, the defense, outside of Thibodeaux, is not very good. The Giants are on the verge of yet another 5 win season and their fans will be losing their minds. I do think the team is going in a better direction, but they need a new QB, to build the D around Thibodeaux and get Evan Neal some help on the O line. Then they will win some games. But this year is not even close to their year.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next four teams. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Ranks the 2021 NFL Teams - Out of Contention By Thanksgiving Division

Welcome to day three of my NFL countdown.

Coming in at number 24 I have the Carolina Panthers. This team is in what should be a rebuild. They need to start over. After they let Cam Newton walk they should have torn down the whole thing. Instead they gave Christian McCaffery a humongous salary and he proceeded to tear his ACL. Then they let Teddy Bridgewater leave and opted to sign Sam Darnold. They have no real number 1 or number 2 receiver. The O line is very bland. I thought Darnold was going to figure things out, but ever since the "I'm seeing ghosts" thing was plastered all over TV and the internet, he never recovered. He hasn't had a great camp by all accounts. I'm not a big proponent of giving running backs big money, and the Panthers are dealing with that problem as we speak. McCaffery is coming off a big injury, and while I really enjoyed Chubba Hubbard in college, he missed time last season and he needs to develop. DJ Moore is not the dude at receiver, and he is their best option. The defense is not so great either. Luke Keuchly retired, rightfully so, and some of the dudes they have taken a chance on haven't panned out. I still think Brian Burns has the potential to be a very good edge rusher, but he is about it. Shap Thompson and Jeremy Chinn could be good, but they haven't shown much of anything yet. Hasson Redick is getting a second chance after not doing much in Arizona, but I just do not see it with him. The Panthers will not win much until they get a decent QB.

At number 23 I have the Detroit Lions. The Lions traded oft injured, much maligned Matthew Satfford for a clone in Jared Goff. Goff has been the QB of a team that made it to the Super Bowl, but that was based on the running game and the defense. I do like that Goff is younger, but he doesn't have the arm that Stafford has. He is also less mobile, and Stafford isn't very mobile. I did not like this trade at all. I do not think Lions fans are stoked about it either. I will miss Jamal Williams in Green Bay, but the fact that he isn't starting in Detroit is crazy to me. Deandre Swift is fine, but Williams is better, and more deserving of the starting role. Breshad Perriman had moments in Baltimore, and I do really like Amon-Ra St Brown, but they do not have the good, not yet, to be number one wideouts, especially with a QB like Goff throwing to them. The O line is fine, but it doesn't matter. The defense is not awful but not good. Jeff Okudah had a rough rookie year. Jamie Collins has already played his best football. Trey Flowers could be solid. I like Da'Shawn Hand but he cannot stay healthy. The team has some dudes, but they are past their prime or not ready yet. This is a five or six win team at best.

My number 22 team is the New Orleans Saints. That may seem low, but Drew Brees retiring and Michael Thomas not talking to the team has made a big impact on me. This team is going to find it tough to get back to contention. The fact that they did not go after a QB in free agency and decided to pay Taysom Hill and keep Jameis Winston was a big mistake. They will regret it for sure. Hill is no more than a gimmick and Winston has shown minimal flashes but also has shown that he does not have what it takes to win important games. I'd be frustrated as hell if I were Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas. They chose to stay and now they have no real QB to get them the ball. Kamara will still do what he does, but it will be tough because he will be the focal point of every defense they face. Thomas may not play this year, we do not know, and that is a bummer for the Saints. The O line is good, which is a luxury, but they have a whole new QB to break in. As for the defense, they have gotten better, and with the uncertainty at QB, I think the defense will be their best unit. Cam Jordan is elite. Marshon Lattimore is a shutdown corner. Kwon Alexander is a good linebacker. And I really like Marcus Davenport. I kind of look at them like a little better version of the Jets. The defense is good, they will keep them in games, but the offense will not be as potent as they have been in the past. That will be their undoing. I think six wins is the ceiling.

The final team for today, coming in at number 21, I have the New York Giants. This is the year to see if Daniel Jones is the guy. I thought they drafted him way too early, he has not been that good yet and he has weapons that should benefit him. I do not think much of him though, and that is why I have them so low on my list. They'd be lower if they weren't in such a bad division. Saquon Barkley is back, and that is awesome. I hope he stays healthy because he is a joy to watch. He is not only a great running back, but he is a good pass catcher, a solid and willing blocker and an electric return man. He just has to stay healthy. I like the Kenny Golladay pick up, Sterling Shepard is a fantasy stud and Evan Engram is a great modern tight end. The O line is also sufficient. Again, my only problem with the offense is Jones. I have zero faith in him. The Giants defense is quietly solid. Jabrill Peppers is decent. Leonard Williams is an upper tier D lineman. Logan Ryan is a nice secondary piece. Blake Martinez is an okay linebacker. They have guys that can play. The defense should be in the top fifteen of the league. This team could win their division or they could win five games. I like to split down the middle and say they will win six or seven games. I have that little trust in Daniel Jones. He is not good and that is why they will once again miss the playoffs.

That is it for today. Come back for the next four teams tomorrow.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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I am Already Sick of the Eli Manning Hall of Fame Conversation

Eli Manning officially retired from the NFL today. Eli will go down as a two time Super Bowl champ and MVP of each game, undeserved in my opinion. He has something near a .500 winning percentage as a starting QB. He has a lot of career TD’s, but also a lot of interceptions as well. He also griped his way to the Giants, refusing to play for the Chargers if they took him.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not a fan. If his last name wasn’t Manning, and he didn’t play in New York, he wouldn’t have near the shine, or love that has been poured all over him today. I like to think of players I put in his class, guys like Trent Dilfer, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco and Jim McMahon. They all won Super Bowls, had a few good years, but none of them are considered hall of fame players like Eli has been talked about lately. They’re all mid level starting QB’s that played on teams with otherworldly defenses, Nick Foles being the lone exception. The fact that Manning won the MVP twice is lip service to the people who vote on that, and almost always give it to the QB. The first year the Giants won the MVP should have been David Tyree for that insane catch, or even better, the Giants D line should have gotten it for attacking Tom Brady all game. The second MVP should have been Mario Manningham, or Wes Welker for dropping that gimme that would have won it for the Patriots. So, no I don’t think he was anywhere close to deserving of either award.

As for his case as a hall of famer, I don’t think he should even be considered. Take away his two Super Bowl seasons, he is an average, at best, NFL QB. I don’t ever remember him leading the league in any major statistical category. I don’t ever remember him being a real MVP candidate. While the starting QB of the Giants, they were never a contender, even when they won the Super Bowl. They were a wild card team each time. Eli was never must watch TV. He’s more a meme, for those stupid faces he makes on the sideline, than anything else. He was also a dreadful “SNL” host. Everything about Eli Manning, except his last name, screams average. He wasn’t even a real star in college. You may say, but Ty, he was the first pick in the draft. So was Jamarcus Russell. So was David Carr and that dude Tim Couch. Eli Manning was a teeny tiny better version of Jay Cutler, a high draft pick as well, in college. Everywhere he has played, he’s been just okay. I say again, if his name was Eli Jones, with the exact same resume, he doesn’t even get a second thought as a hall of famer.

What’s a shame though, I bet he becomes a first ballot hall of famer, and people point out that he beat the undefeated Patriots, and then beat another Patriots team in the Super Bowl. Eli will benefit from beating this dynasty twice. For no other reason will he get into the hall of fame. Eli Manning is average, doesn’t belong in the hall of fame, I’d rather have 20 guys before I’d even consider him as my franchise QB, but will get in based on his name alone. That’s a real bummer. And call me a hater all you want. But after you do that, look at his stats, and then come back at me to tell me I was right.

My point? Eli Manning does not belong anywhere near the hall of fame.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Ranks the 2019 NFL Teams: Pineapple Pizza Division

We are a mere few days away from preseason NFL football, so that means I am going to spend the next 2 weeks talking about the NFL and college football. Much like the past, with the NFL, I am going to rank the teams from 32 to 1, in my personal order. I will give a few brief sentences as to why I have a team where I have them, and what I think their season will look like.

I do need to say, the NFL is getting tougher and tougher for me to watch. The people at the top do not care about the safety of players, the refs are dreadful, Roger Goodell is an absolute dolt and players who abuse women and children seem to get off scott free. It is so irritating and ridiculous. Colin Kaepernick cannot even get a tryout with a team, but guys like Richie Incognito and Tyreek Hill get chance after chance after chance. It is disgusting. My NFL watching can be boiled down to The Redzone Network. I do not watch full games anymore, unless it is the playoffs or Super Bowl, and the NFL is more about Fantasy Football for me than anything else now. College football is much different, but I will explain more about why when I get to my NCAA football preview.

Anyway, I do like doing these rankings, so lets get to it.

At number 32 I have the Arizona Cardinals. I do not think I have seen a franchise fall so hard so fast. Things in Arizona are bleak right now. I cannot believe they gave Kliff Kingsbury, a guy that got fired from Texas Tech, and has a losing overall record, the head coaching gig. I assume he got it because he is buddies with Sean McVay, but that doesn't make him Sean McVay. If he lasts one season I will be stunned. I loved Kyler Murray in college, but he is going to be begging to go back to baseball halfway through the season. He is going to get just as abused as Josh Rosen did last year. Also, why did they give up on Rosen so quick? He had nothing at all, besides Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson, and yeah he struggled, but I thought he looked better than other rookies like Sam Darnold at times last year. He was not given a fair shot. The aforementioned Fitzgerald and Johnson are back, but dos it matter. I love Fitzgerald, but he is very, very old. And Johnson is not the back he was before tearing his ACL. Also, I don't think Kingsbury will use him properly. They have no o line as I already stated, and outside of Johnson and Fitzgerald, I cannot name one other skill position guy. Their defense is not very good either. Tyrann Mathieu left 2 years ago, Patrick Peterson wants out and everyone else is very blah. The Cardinals stink, and I cannot believe they think Kliff Kingsbury is the answer at head coach. This team is an absolute disaster. I will be stunned if they win 3 games this year, and they retain Kingsbury at season's end.

At number 31 I have the Oakland Raiders. You may see that and think, but they got Antonio Brown and he and Derek Carr will click. And, they drafted Josh Jacobs to be their running back of the future. And Gruden is bringing in veteran leadership. I say no to all of that. Antonio Brown is a great receiver, but he is 31 years old, and he is a diva. Derek Carr is awful and loves Jesus far too much to take football 100 percent seriously. Josh Jacobs is already at odds with the coaching staff, and I don't know if he is even signed yet. And the "veteran leadership" is Richie Incognito and Vontaze Burfict. I mean, Jesus Christ is that scary, and not in a good way. Those two will surely put multiple teammates in the hospital because they "looked at them wrong". And Jon Gruden might be the most overrated head coach in the NFL, by about a thousand miles. The game has passed him by, and last year showed that big time. He still thinks he runs the show, and that the players will buy into his nonsense. They won't. The first time he tries to say something to Brown, or criticize Carr, they will fight back. Well, Brown will at least. The Raiders have become the Knicks of the NFL. They used to be important, but now they are a joke of a franchise. The gap between them and the Cardinals is not as far as you may think. The Raiders front office disgusts me with their offseason signings, and how they have handled the whole Josh Jacobs situation. Also, while I think Clelin Ferrell is great, he was a major reach at number 4 in the draft. The Raiders are lost. They will not win anymore than 5 games this year. But, they will be the most dysfunctional team in the NFL.

The two New York teams will close out the rankings today. At number 30 I have the Giants. The Giants made the worst reach of the draft this past draft when they took Daniel Jones at number 6. He is like Eli Manning right now. Not past Eli, and not kind of still had it Eli. I mean current Eli. Jones is supposed to be the future, but he has bust written all over him. He is tall, slow and not very accurate. He also won nothing in college. He is 2019 Jay Cutler, except Cutler was even better coming out of college. Daniel Jones is not going to be a good pro. What the Giants do have is Saquon Barkley. He is great. But, he is a running back, and he can only do so much. I fear that they will overwork him, and by the time he is 27 or 28, he will be out of the league. He is dynamite right now, but all those hits he is taking will take a toll. They have no receiving threats now that Odell Beckham is gone. Corey Coleman is done for the year, Golden Tate is suspended for the first games and who knows when Sterling Shepard will be back from his injury. The o line is suspect and the defense is terrible. The Giants are very far removed from being in the Super Bowl. They are even further removed from being a playoff contender. They are just a bad football team right now, and their future does not look very bright. Unless Saqoun Barkley turns into Bo Jackson, the Giants will be a 4 or 5 win team, at best. Even when Daniel Jones takes over for Eli Manning.

My final team for the day is the Jets. This front office is almost as bad as the Raiders front office. Todd Bowles did not get a fair shake, and now they are letting Adam Gase run the whole franchise. That sentence should send shivers down Jets fans spines. Gase is a mediocre NFL coach, and he is going to ruin this team for years to come. First off, they way overpaid for LeVeon Bell this offseason. Sure, he was great in Pittsburgh, but they had an o line there, and James Connor proved that Bell might not be as great as many perceived him to be. Also, he has not played football in a year, and while he may be rested, he hasn't been hit at all, and he lost an entire year of his prime. His holdout, while it worked in the end as far as getting paid goes, really backfired on the field. I mean, he is now on the New York freaking Jets. Sam Darnold is pretty far away from being the franchise QB they were hoping for when they drafted him 4th overall last year. He makes far too many mental errors with the ball. As I said, they have no o line to speak of. And I cannot name one single receiver. Bell will get his touches, but when he is routinely facing 8 men fronts, it won't matter. Their defense is best known for having a player that tackled, and injured, a mascot at the Pro Bowl last year. This team is a mess too. Adam Gase is a dumb dumb, and the Jets are going to be bad once again. They just don't have the guys to win many games. I'd say their ceiling is about 6 wins.

That's it for today, come back tomorrow for the next 4 teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Let’s not forget that two years ago Ty and the head editor had the Cardinals and Raiders on the cusp of the Super Bowl. My, how things have changes.

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The Odell Beckham Jr Trade is Truly a Game Changer

Well, Odell Beckham is now a member of the Cleveland Browns.

This is stunning to me. I was shocked when I read about the trade last night after I got home from dinner. I kept saying to my wife, what happened. I simply could not believe it. And, it has nothing to do with the fact that Beckham got traded. It has everything to due with the timing and the team. I mean, he just signed an extension with the Giants last year. They went out and drafted Saquon Barkley to pair with Beckham. They signed some O lineman to try and help out Eli. He is so washed by the way. Even Sterling Shepard was starting to step up as an okay number 2 option on that team. Oh, and they drafted that monster tight end from Mississippi State last year. I really thought they were starting to build around him. They were trying to get more weapons so he wouldn't be the only option. All they really needed, at least to be competitive, is a real QB. They could have drafted one this year, had they kept Beckham.

This is a real stunner. If I were guys like Shepard, and definitely Barkley, I would be so very frustrated today. They are going to have to pick up the slack, and then some. And they already are overusing Barkley. Think how much more work he is going to get next season. I just am baffled that they chose Eli over Beckham. Odell Beckham is younger, better and more fun to play the game with. As I said, Eli is washed, the playoff appearances are a thing of the past and he is slower than his older brother. What a dumb decision by the front office.

On the flip side, it looks like the Browns are going for it. At least on paper. I'm not a believer in Baker Mayfield. He reminds me far too much of Robert Griffin. Everyone thought after his rookie year he was going to usher in a new era of the NFL QB. Well, that didn't happen. I feel that Mayfield is now being looked at as the new hot QB in the NFL. But, when you have guys like David Njoku and Jarvis Landry and Nick Chubb, and now Beckham, he has far too many weapons to have a drop off like Griffin did. I feel like I could sling it around for 3,000 yards and hand it off 20-25 times a game and do well with these guys. The Browns also closed the 2018 season solid, and they are looking to build on that for this year. The offense, again, on paper, looks incredibly lethal. They could put up a ton of points. They should be the favorite in their division, and one of the favorites, right now, to knock off the Patriots in the AFC. I'm serious.

The Browns did have to give up a first and third rounder, and Jabrill Peppers, who seems like he is starting to figure out the NFL. I think he may be just as happy as Beckham, because he is back near his hometown. So the Browns did have to give up 2 early picks, and a starter. But, they got one of the best receivers in the game. Beckham is so good at taking slant routes 70 yards to the house. He also has exceptional hands. He is also a matchup nightmare. While he and Landry may be a bit undersized, they can still make plays.

The fact that this is what all the NFL shows and podcasts are leading off with today prove how crazy and spectacular this deal is. I mean. LeVeon Bell signed with the Jets, and I could care less. My Packers signed a ton of new starters, but all I can think about is this Beckham trade. Terrell Suggs is no longer a Raven, but that doesn't matter. This was a big time trade. This made waves. This changes the complexion of the entire AFC. And dare I say, this makes the Browns legit. I mean, WOW. What a move and what a deal.

This is stunning.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He can not think of any trade that would be more of stunner than this. I guess we could always see Jon Gruden trade away newly acquired Antonio Brown for some magic beans. It is a possibility.

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Ty Ranks the 2018 NFL Teams: The Taste of Day Old Coffee Edition

Today marks the beginning of my third straight NFL preseason preview. I will do the same thing as always, I will do 4 teams a day, going from worst to best, giving a few reasons why I put them where I put them, and how, if they have any shot, they can win the title. No fuss, mo muss. Also, on the ninth day I will do post season predictions, award winners and who I think will play, and win, in the Super Bowl.

Okay, lets go.

At number 32 I have, and who would have thought this, the Cleveland Browns. It is hilarious to me that professional journalists keep saying that this team is finally going to turn it around. I have heard this same nonsense for the past 2 years, and now, it is white noise to me. The Browns are the Browns, and what that is, is a terrible football team. Hue Jackson, while a decent coordinator, is a horrendous head coach. His record these past 2 years you ask, 1-31. That is abysmal. How he still has that job is far, far beyond me. But, the product they put on the field is an affront to football. They lost their best player to retirement this offseason, so it will only get worse for them from here. You may be asking, "who was their best player Ty?". It was lineman Joe Thomas. That is how bad it is for the Browns. Their best overall football player was a 300 plus pound offensive lineman. And enough with the Baker Mayfield hype. I wrote last week how overblown it has already become after one preseason game. He has bust written all over him. They "juiced" up their receiving corps by giving slot man Jarvis Landry is absurd amount of money. I don't even know who their running back is. This offense is a mess. And, it doesn't get any better on the other side of the ball. The defense has some guys, but those guys are either not ready, Denzel Ward and Jabrill Peppers, or too old, or too hurt. This team is a joke of a franchise. They are going nowhere fast. They may have made the overreach of the century taking Mayfield first overall. All you professional pundits that are saying, "this is the year", knock it off. The Browns stink, and if they win 2 games, I would be shocked. They have zero shot of going to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl.

At number 31 I have the New York Giants. Again, preseason hype for a rookie needs to grind to a total halt. Yes, Saquon Barkley looked wonderful the other night, but it was a preseason game against the Browns. Don't put too much stock in it. I know Giants fans will say they finally got rid of the problem, head coach Ben McAdoo, but he isn't the problem, and Pat Shurmur sure as hell isn't the solution. The problem is Eli. It really always has been. I know he has won 2 Super Bowls, but it was through no doing of him. His receivers made miraculous catches, and those Giants defenses were some of the best. Eli is trash. He should have retired 3, maybe 4 years ago. He is not a good QB. Others will say, "but Odell is back, and Evan Engram is in year 2". So what. Odell will either get hurt or demand a trade by week 6, mark it down. And Evan Engram is a glorified wideout masquerading as a tight end. He doesn't block, and isn't that great downfield. Also, Eli Manning is "throwing" them the ball, so it doesn't matter how good they may be when it takes decades to get the ball to them. Also, their O line is so awful. The Giants offense stinks. As far as their defense, now that Jason Pierre Paul is gone, I cannot name a single guy, and I watch a ton of football. This team is flat out bad in every phase of the game. I was kind of excited to see what Barkley could do, but then I remembered his line, and then I heard he was in talks to be a punt and kick returner. That is bad, bad news if true Giants fans. This year will be no fairy tale 9-7 season where you limp into the playoffs and somehow win the Super Bowl. They look a lot more like 3-13 or 4-12 team to me.

At number 30 I have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now first off, I am pissed at myself for believing in them last season. I thought for sure they were going to take the next step. They did not. They regressed hard core. Jameis Winston stinks at football, and is even worse at life. This dude is just a bad person, and a bad football player. I do not understand why he gets chance after chance after chance. The Bucs need to cut bait now, before it just gets worse. He is an infection. Desean Jackson deserves better. Mike Evans prime is being wasted. They have no run game. They love to punt the ball. The defense, while they have Gerald McCoy, they don't really have anything else. Poor McCoy has to spend his prime on a lower tier football team. He is so good, but he is only one player. He needs help, and the Bucs defense provides him with nothing. They also play in a super competitive division too, so playoffs and Super Bowls are very unlikely. And, Dirk Koetter is somehow still employed by this team. Again, kicking myself that I bought into his hype. He is a shitty coach of a shitty football team with a shitty face of the franchise. I despise Tampa, and this is exactly what they deserve.

My final team for today, at number 29, the Indianapolis Colts. And they are only this "high" because Andrew Luck may, finally, be healthy again. He is throwing a real football at least. They also skirted Josh McDaniels, after he cried his way back to New England, which may be a good thing. I don't know much about Frank Reich, he looks, talks and acts like the definition of milquetoast. But, all that sounds better than some crybaby who couldn't hack in in Denver, goes back home, takes another job, and at the last second decides he isn't ready. Josh McDaniels stinks. Maybe Reich won't be so bad. But after that, it is rough. T.Y. Hilton is still there, and while he is effective, he is so much more suited as a second or third option. Frank Gore is gone, and while he is old, he was reliable as hell. That dude never quit. I do not know who their new running back is. Jack Doyle is fine, as long as Luck is the QB. And the O line is a bit below average, but not horrendous anymore. But, that offense all hinges on Luck. If he is healthy, and can throw a real ball, they will be okay. If he is gone, they will be awful. The defense is a lot like the Giants to me. I do not really know anyone on that side of the ball for the Colts. That may be good, but it seems more ominous to me. They also got lit up against not even very good teams last year. The Colts are not the darlings they once were. They are not playoff contenders anymore. They are the worst team in the division they used to own now. But, and it is a very big BUT, if Luck can stay healthy, they will win more games than many think. And by more games, I mean 5, possibly 6. The Colts are bad, and they will be for awhile.

That does it for today. Come back tomorrow for teams 28-25. Football is almost back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He thinks it may be time to move the Browns again. Maybe the team could win a game in a NCAA Division III? 

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It is Already Time to Pump the Brakes on the Baker Mayfield and Saquon Barkley NFL Hype

Last night the number one and two overall picks in the most recent NFL draft faced off. Baker Mayfield and the Browns played Saquon Barkley and the Giants in both teams first preseason game. There was plenty of hype coming into this game. Both teams wanted to see what these guys could do against NFL players.

How did it all go?

Now, it needs to be said that both players did not face most of the other team's first string defense, as is the case in most preseason games. Both guys played well. I believe Barkley took his first carry for a TD, or maybe a long run. Either way, he came out of the gates great. Mayfield played well too. He looked poised, was threading needles and threw 2 touchdowns.

So, how did the sports media treat this nothing game?

The hype this morning grew to an all time high. Everything I saw was headlined with words like, "These guys were worth the risk", or, "Mayfield and Barkley are poised to be super stars", or, "looks like both teams have their new star player to build a team around". There was a lot of other stuff along these same lines. People were going nuts. Social media was even crazier. Giants and Browns fans were obnoxiously claiming that these guys were the future of football. It was intense.

To all this I say, calm the hell down. It was the first preseason game for both teams. Neither guy faced anyone that they will face in a real football game. Both guys are going to have moments like this, but they will also have moments where the game seems much, much to big for them. I know people like to crown guys early and often in football, but when it comes to a Browns QB, and a high first round running back for the Giants, I would think the fans would know better. I would think they would be very cautious with their praise. I think they would be waiting to crown these guys until they did this stuff in the 10th game of the regular season, and had done it all year.

Look, I have very little expectations for Mayfield. I think the Browns reached when they drafted him first overall. They had another pick, number 4, where they could have gotten them. Hell, I think they had another later first round pick where Mayfield may have still been available. But, they jumped at the chance to take him first overall. After all, he was the Heisman winner and had 2 great college seasons. He also dazzled at the combine and at his pro day. I feel like they thought they had no other choice but to pick him number one overall. Well, guys like Jamarcus Russell, David Carr, Joey Harrington, Akili Smith, they all had this same type of hype heading into the draft. Where are all those guys now? How did they fare in their NFL careers? And I don't remember exactly how well they played in their first preseason games, but I'm sure they did just as well as Mayfield. The kid is very short, and he isn't Drew Brees or Russell Wilson. He is also a hard core malcontent, but no one ever mentions that because he is white. Yeah, I said it. Mayfield is like Johnny Manziel 2.0. Yes, he looked good last night, but wake me up when he does this against a real team in a real game. If he wins more than 4 games as a starter this year, I will be absolutely shocked. I have absolutely no faith in him as a quality starter, let alone a player to build around, and who will be in the MVP conversation year after year.

As far as the Barkley hype goes, this is specifically for you Giants fans, wasn't Ron Dayne this good in his first preseason? How did that turn out? Yes, Barkley is more versatile than Dayne was, but the Giants had a better team, and more importantly, a better offensive line when Dayne was there, and he was a total bust. The Giants stink right now, and their offensive line is horrendous. Also, Eli freaking Manning is their starting QB. I also heard that the Giants were flirting with Barkley as a kick and punt returner. What the hell are they thinking. Do they want this kid to get hurt before he can do anything that compares to what he did last night? The Giants are in need of a full rebuild, especially at QB, but they went with the best athlete in the draft, and he just happens to be a running back. Barkley reminds me a lot of Ezekial Elliot, minus all the physical abuse that Elliot has done to woman. The only exception, Elliot had a solid O line in Dallas. The Giants do not have that. You know what else the Cowboys have that the Giants don't? A competent QB. Yeah, Dak Prescott took a step back last season, but he is still much, much, much, much better than Eli Manning. So while Barkley is one hell of an athlete, he has no chance to succeed due to a terrible QB and an O line that will get him murdered by week 3. Someone like Michael Bennett or Jadaveon Clowney, or insert big time defensive player here, will be licking their chops waiting to crush this rookie. And that Giants O line will let that very thing happen.

What I am trying to say is, calm the hell down after one preseason game, especially since they played one another. I'm going to start my preseason NFL countdown next week, and a little sneak behind the curtain for you, the Browns are dead last on my list, and the Giants, they are not much better. I will most likely have them as the second worst team heading into this year. So take last night's game with the biggest grain of salt you can find. I was already skeptical of these 2, and last night did nothing to change my mind. They have a whole season to prove me wrong, but I don't think they will.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He does not know the pain of having pointless hope in NFL draft picks. Come to Cincinnati and see how the Bengals treat a fan's hope.

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Ty Ranks the 2017 NFL Teams: The "Rogue One Final Scene" Edition

We are now on day 7 of my 2017 NFL countdown. There are only 2 days left worth of teams. This is the best of the best. These are teams that have few flaws and could really make some noise in the postseason. These teams all have something great going for them, and if any one of them makes it to the Super Bowl I would not be shocked. Lets go.

At number 8 I have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This team is loaded on offense. They are really, really lethal. A lot of people have been comparing them to the Raiders, a la, a team that makes a very big jump this year. I see that, but I see a lot more of the Falcons in this team. As I already stated, they are lethal offensively. Jameis Winston, for as much as I may not like him, he is turning into a very, very good NFL QB. He is using his arm more, he is becoming a leader, and he is just having fun out there. As long as he can cut down on the turnovers, which I think he will, he is going to jump into that upper echelon of NFL QB's. He is really, really good. They have some of the best wide outs for Winston to throw to also. Mike Evans is amazing. He is tall, fast, can get separation and has excellent hands. The guy is un-guardable at times. He is the Bucs version of Julio Jones. They also went out and signed Desean Jackson this offseason. That was one of the better additions that I have seen in awhile. He is going to stretch the field for the Bucs, and he will also make it nearly impossible to double Evans. Jackson was a tremendous pickup. They also drafted OJ Howard late in the first round, and he was great in college. Go watch last year's title game and he was one of the best players on a field filled with great players. That was a hell of a pick. Doug Martin started to look like the Doug Martin from 2 years ago at the end of last year. If he can be 80 percent of that guy, that will open up things even more for this offense. They also have Jacquizz Rodgers, and he is an excellent change of pace back. The O-Line is legit too. The Bucs also have a decent, albeit inexperienced defense. I love Gerald McCoy. He is a tremendous run stopper and pass rusher. He is also the only reason to watch "Hard Knocks" too. He is great. Vernon Hargreaves can become a decent NFL corner. I know Brent Grimes got a slight injury in preseason, but he will be fine for the start of the year, and he is a solid veteran. Noah Spence has gotten better every year in the league, and now he looks like a legit pass rush specialist. Lavonte David is a solid linebacker. This team is pretty good everywhere, with the exception being the kicking game. The fact that I have to mention it should cause concern. They cut Roberto Aguayo, the guy they moved up to pick in the second round last year, and his replacement, Nick Folk, has not looked consistent at all. That could cost them a game or 2, and that would be brutal. I like this Bucs team, but they need to shore up that kicking game to be a real threat.

At number 7 I have the New York Giants. Odell Beckham Jr is a headache, but he is so talented, he is worth the headache. I know he had a scare in a recent preseason game due to a very dirty hit, but he is going to be okay. He is one of the top 3 or 4 receivers in the league. He is so good with the ball in his hands, and he makes some of the most amazing catches ever. Beckham is great. They also signed Brandon Marshall. I love this almost as much as the Jackson to the Bucs deal. Marshall is as solid as they come, and he will make it impossible for team to double him and Beckham. This was a very good move by both parties. Hell, even Sterling Shepard showed flashes last year. This receiving corps is good. They unfortunately have Eli Manning throwing the ball to them. Yes, he was the QB of 2 Super Bowl champs, but if this team had a solid star QB, they could have won 4 or 5 rings by now. Eli is way too inconsistent and throws way too many picks. He is fine, but these receivers deserve better. The running game is very bland. Shane Vereen is okay, but he is much better at catching the ball out of the backfield and making something happen. The Giants don't want to do that. Paul Perkins is another option, but he didn't do much with his shot last year. I like the pick of Evan Engram, but if they want him to be more than just a glorified tight end, he has excellent hands, but cannot block, they need to coach him up big time. The O-Line is fine. Where the Giants excel is defense. They have a stout defense. People are still joking about what Jason Pierre Paul did to his hand 2 years ago, but that guy is an excellent D-lineman. He is really good. Olivier Vernon is also a very good defensive end. The D-line is good. The secondary is better. Landon Collins is the consummate pro. The guy does everything right, and sometimes, he does it spectacularly. Janoris Jenkins, with all the off field stuff, is a very solid cover corner. Dominique Rodgers Cromartie is great too. Eli Apple is decent. Johnathan Casillas is a pretty good linebacker. Same with BJ Goodson. This defense is good. They can stop teams. What holds the Giants back is Eli and their head coach. They should have beaten Green Bay last year, but the Giants coach got outcoached by Mike McCarthy. That is insane. And Eli, how much does he have left? I don't know. The Giants receivers and defense will be enough o push them towards the playoffs.

At number 6 I have the Kansas City Chiefs. Okay, they do have a QB problem, but give Patrick Mahomes time. He seems like he will be a quality starter in the NFL. And until he is ready, they have Alex Smith. Smith may not be the best QB in the league, but he can manage a game and he will not blow many games for you. He has done that his entire tenure in Kansas City. Sure, they lost Jamaal Charles and Jeremy Maclin this offseason, but those departures will not sting so much. Charles couldn't stay healthy, and Maclin hasn't been the same since his rookie year. They do have Tyreek Hill. Hill is explosive, fast and can catch the ball. He does have off field issues and hopefully that won't rear its head this season because he is their best play maker. They also have Travis Kelce. He is a wannabe Gronk, but he is still solid. He is not Gronk, but he makes plays and is a reliable option at tight end. Don't sleep on Chris Conley either. He was awesome at Georgia, and now, he will get a full chance to start. Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware are more than capable of replacing Charles at running back. They can both run hard and get tough yards. The O-line is solid too. Where the Chiefs are dominant is their defense. Eric Berry is one of the best safeties in football, and one of the best stories too. He came back from cancer and was still an All Pro. That's amazing. Marcus Peters is one of the best young corners in the league. As far as their linebackers, 2 names, Justin Houston and Derrick Johnson. Those 2 guys are incredibly talented and they produce and can be counted on for doing a little bit of everything. Tamba Hali is also pretty good too. The D-line did lose Dontari Poe, but they will be okay. Also, with that line backing core, the D-line doesn't have to be too disruptive. The linebackers can clean up the mess. The Chiefs are a great defensive team and an average offensive team. What separates them from a similar team, the Vikings, their offense is much better. The Chiefs will win double digit games, but that division is really tough.

The final team for today, at number 5, the Atlanta Falcons. The Super Bowl runner uppers. They should have won that game. They led by 25 points in third quarter. What a heart wrenching defeat. How will they recover? I do not know. What I do know, they have a very solid team. Matt Ryan, the MVP last season, is back. He was amazing last year. He will not replicate the numbers he put up last year, but he is still a very, very good QB. He is near that elite level. The still have Julio Jones, the best receiver in the NFL. He is so much better than whoever may be considered the second best receiver. He has been better than advertised. He is so great. And Taylor Gabriel and Mohammed Sanu round out a pretty decent group of receivers. Devonta Freeman is a great running back. I still firmly believe that if they just kept feeding him the ball, they would have easily won the Super Bowl. Tevin Coleman is a solid second option at running back. And this is the type of offense where you could plug in anyone at tight end and they would deliver. The O-line is very good too. They can pass protect and run block. They are solid. The Falcons defense is good too. The secondary is decent, led by Desmond Trufant. The linebackers are stout, led by Deion Jones. The strength of the defense is the line. Adrian Clayborne has been reborn since he signed with the Falcons. He is awesome. I love the Takkarist McKinley pick. He is young and will come at you non stop all game long. Vic Beasley has proved almost everyone wrong and has been great since he was picked. They also got Dontari Poe on a one year deal. He is going to ball out for them this year. The major question is how they respond after last year's Super Bowl loss. That was brutal. Also, they replaced their offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan who left for the 49ers head coach job, with Steve Sarkisian. That may not be as smooth a transition as some expect. The Falcons should be good. Lets hope they don't have the typical Super Bowl hangover.

That's is for today, come back tomorrow for my final four teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once lost a game of Madden when he had a 48 point lead going into the 4th quarter. The head editor had the right cheat code that day.

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Ty's 2016 NFL Playoff Predictions

Ready to tee up with the playoffs

The NFL playoffs are set, and I'm here to tell you who I think will walk away as Super Bowl 51 champs. I was obviously wrong in my preseason predictions. The Panthers, and Cam Newton, had an atrocious season. They looked pretty bad all year long. I was way, way off on that one. I was right about the Patriots though. I did not think Brady's suspension was going to affect them that much, and it didn't. They went 3-1 without him and 11-1 with him, giving the Patriots the best overall record in the league at, 14-2. I was off on the Cowboys though. I thought they would not be good, no matter who the starting QB was, but they have a tremendous offensive line, and Ezekial Elliot and Dak Prescott played like seasoned vets all year. Will it happen in the playoffs? We will have to wait and see. With all that being said, lets get to how I see this playoff playing out.

I'll start with the AFC. From 6 to 1, we have Miami, Oakland, Houston, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and New England. Only 2 of these teams, in my opinion, have a legit shot to go to the Super Bowl. The Wild Card matchups in the AFC will be Miami vs Pittsburgh and Oakland vs Houston.

Miami has had an okay season, but they have not beaten anybody all that decent this season. They might have the shadiest 10 wins in all the NFL. They have a good defense, but not great. Their offense, especially with Ryan Tannehill out, who I do not think is that much better than Blake Bortles anyway, is not very good. They have excellent receivers, but with Matt Moore leading the offense, it doesn't matter. Jay Ajayi exploded in the middle of the year, but since then, he has been average. The Steelers, on the other hand, have a lethal offense. Even though he is a horrible, god awful human being, Ben Roesthelisberger can still sling it, and he always gets help from the refs. He has his whole career. LeVeon Bell is one of the best running backs in the league. Antonio Brown is one of the best receivers in the league. The Steelers have a decent offensive line. Where they struggle is defense. They get gashed a lot. But, with Matt Moore being the QB, and Ajayi coming down to Earth, I do not see the Steelers short comings on defense giving the Dolphins a shot in this game. Steelers win this game fairly easily, 28-14.

The other game would have been a blowout, had Derek Carr not broken his leg 2 weeks ago. I still think the Raiders are better, but that was a crushing loss to this team. The Raiders now have to rely on either Connor Cook or Matt McGloin. Yeesh. They still have Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree and Latavius Murray, but no Derek Carr is brutal. Their defense, while Swiss cheese at times, has played better lately. They did not look great yesterday, but they have stepped up since earlier this season. Houston is a laughingstock. They do not belong in the playoffs at all. They are more bogus than the Dolphins, but since they are in such a crappy division, they get to go to the playoffs with only 9 wins. They have no offense, except DeAndre Hopkins. But, he barely sees the ball since both Osweiler and Tom Savage are mediocre. They also have no running game and their defense is a joke. As I said, the Raiders will win, but this game will be ugly. Final score of 13-3.

So that would pit the Steelers vs the Chiefs and the Raiders vs the Patriots. These should be good matchups. I think the Steelers-Chiefs game could be great. I think the Chiefs will pull out the win, but it will be tough. The Chiefs have a better overall team, and their defense is much better than Pittsburgh's. I also think that the Chiefs will be able to hold onto the ball and run at will against the Steelers, thus making the Steelers strength, their offense, moot. Andy Reid will not blow this chance, and he will pull out a hard fought victory, 21-17.

The other game is going to be a bloodbath. The Patriots, after Brady's suspension, are out for blood. They want to destroy anyone in their way so that Roger Goodell has to hand them the Lombardi trophy. Unfortunately for the Raiders, without Derek Carr, they will be the Patriots first victim. Sure, the Patriots do not have the best defense, but it is serviceable, especially against a team without their star QB. And this Patriots offense is surgical. Brady picks apart secondary's. He has made guys like Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola household names. He's doing the same with Chris Hogan and Malcom Mitchell this year. They also seem to have limitless options at running back. They can go with Legarette Blount for power, James White for speed and Dion Lewis for a bit of everything. And even though they lost Gronk to injury, they have Martellus Bennett, and he is awesome, and very tall. The Patriots are ready to beat the shit out of some people. I have the Patriots winning big, 34-10.

That would give us a Chiefs-Patriots AFC Championship. This will be a good game. The Chiefs are the one team in the AFC that can compete with this Patriots team. They have guys that can shut down the Patriots skill players, but they do not have any real game changers, except maybe Tyreek Hill, on offense to score with the Patriots. I think it will be a very good game, maybe even come down to the wire like last year, but Andy Reid will rear his ugly head at some point, and Belichek will capitalize, as he always does. This will be a low scoring, hard fought Patriots win, 20-13. The Patriots will represent the AFC in Super Bowl 51.

As far as the NFC goes, the seeding from 6 to 1 goes, Detroit, New York, Green Bay, Seattle, Atlanta and Dallas. I legitimately feel like almost any one of these teams can make a run to the Super Bowl, and yes, I am including the Lions in the discussion.

The Wild Card matchups will feature the Lions vs the Seahawks and the Giants vs the Packers. The Lions are an enigma. This team had no business even being competitive this season, especially after Calvin Johnson retired. They had no running game. Stafford had never put it all together. The defense is good, but spends too much time on the field. But, somehow they managed to get 9 wins and make the playoffs. The Seahawks have been incredibly inconsistent all year. At times they look like the clear cut favorites, at other times, they look mediocre at best. They have a good defense, but they are not what they were 2 years ago, and they are missing some key pieces. They also do not get pressure like they used to. The offense is very average. Russell Wilson has not taken that next step towards the upper echelon of starting QB's. He may be hurt, but he just does not look like the guy that many thought he would turn out to be after the Seahawks won 2 years ago. I think he is a better version of Colin Kaepernick, but not by much. Their offensive line stinks. They cannot protect the QB, and they do not open up running lanes. They have good receivers, like Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse, but they lost Tyler Lockett to a broken leg, and now they have no deep threat. They have also never really figured out how to use Jimmy Graham. He has become a mid tier tight end since the trade. With that being said, the game is in Seattle, so I do think the Seahawks will win, but it will be a very ugly game, much like the majority of the NFL this year. It will also be very low scoring, with a final of 10-6.

The other matchup, being a Packers fan, is my nightmare. I hate the Giants, and it is because they always seem to pull out some miraculous win, no matter how bad Eli Manning plays, or where the game is played. My only hope this season though, Tom Coughlin is gone, and Bob McAdoo is the coach, and he is as predictable as they come. Green Bay is also on a roll right now. Aaron Rodgers, after his selfish calling out of his teammates, has played lights out. So has Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams. Ty Montgomery has been a revelation. The offensive line is clicking. Hell, even the defense is playing better during their 6 game win streak. I'm always nervous when the Packers have to play the Giants though. I bad mouthed McAdoo, but Mike McCarthy is just as bad, possibly worse at times, but I do think the Packers will pull out the win. They have a better team, with much better skill players(yes, I think the duo of Nelson/Adams is better than Cruz/Beckham Jr), and I think Eli will make a big mistake. I have the Packers winning 28-23.

So that would give us second round matchups of Seattle-Atlanta and Green Bay-Dallas. Atlanta should easily beat the Seahawks. They have a better QB, better receivers, a better line and a better running game. They also do not have the injuries that Seattle has. I think Matt Ryan should be the regular season MVP. He's been great. So has Julio Jones. He has been un guardable at times. He is so tall and so fast and has great hands and runs great routes. The revolving door at running back works for them, and Devonta Freeman is coming on at the right time. Atlanta is a serious threat in the NFC. I have them beating Seattle fairly easily, 24-10. It will be close for a half, but Atlanta will pull away in the second half.

The other side has Green Bay-Dallas. This is supposed to be Dallas' year, right? They have everything going for them. They have home field throughout the playoffs. They have had a dominating year on the offensive side of the ball. They have the best offensive line in all of football. Ezekial Elliot and Dak Prescott are the future. Dez Bryant is playing better without Romo. This is supposed to be the year for them Cowboys, right? I do not know if it is my blind love for the Packers, or what, but I think the Packers will beat them, and I do not think it will even be close. The Cowboys will come out hot, but this is a team led by rookies, and I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have vets like Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, Julius Peppers, Davante Adams, Clay Matthews, some of which have won a Super Bowl, than rookies leading my team in the playoffs. This is not meant to take away from Dallas' great season, but I think the moment will be a bit too big for them. They have won a lot of games, 13, but some have been very ugly, and I just think their luck is going to run out. Maybe it is my blind love, it totally is, and my hatred for the Cowboys, it is that as well, but I think the Packers will go to Jerry World and win this game. I also think they will win by 2 scores, with a final of 28-17.

So that would give us Atlanta and Green Bay in the NFC Championship. this is where the Packers win streak ends. They have no one that can guard Julio Jones, and Matt Ryan is playing so god damn great right now. This will be a very high scoring game, close to the end, but Atlanta will win, 38-35. This game is going to be filled with offensive fireworks, and Atlanta has the better weapons on offense to do just that.

Super Bowl 51 will pit Atlanta and New England. This is a pretty good matchup, or at least I think so. Both teams have so so defenses, but they each have explosive offenses. The Super Bowl will be very high scoring, but in the end, I think New England puts it away, and Goodell has to hand that trophy over to Belichek and Brady. Atlanta will keep it close for three and a half quarters, but New England, behind Legarette Blount, not Tom Brady, will put this game away in the fourth quarter. I think the Falcons will be so keyed up to stop the Patriots pass game that it will open up the run game for New England. Blount is going to have a big game. He is the best of the three running backs the Patriots use, and they will ride him to a win in the Super Bowl. I expect him to go for over 100 yards and, at least, 2 touchdowns, and win the Super Bowl MVP. Like I said, it will be close for awhile, but New England will put it away early in the fourth, and win 38-28.

There you have it, my 2017 NFL playoff preview and picks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. With the Packers and Wolverines, 2016 saw a lot of sports heartbreak. 2017 will not be a repeat for Ty's teams. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Ranks the 2016 NFL Teams: Cold Beer on a Warm Christmas Morning Edition

Day four of my NFL preview. We finally have, at least one team, that I think will be right at .500, or slightly above. These next four teams are either regressing or taking a big step forward. I have a feeling that one of the teams I mentioned today, a lot of the readers will think I'm nuts, but I have a lot of hope. We are finally getting to some decent teams. Okay, enough preamble, let's get to it.

At number 20, I have my biggest shocker, possibly in my whole countdown, the Jacksonville Jaguars. I don't know what it is about this team, but I think they are on their way to becoming hyper competitive. I have liked what they have done the past couple of years, and I know they had a chance to win their division last year, but that division was a joke. But, I have a feeling they could really become a threat in that division sooner rather than later. First off, I think Blake Bortles is on the verge of becoming an upper level QB. He is never going to be elite (ed note: like Joe Flacco), but he is becoming more than just a game manager. He is starting to throw the long ball, and instead of just managing the game, he is starting to look like he can win some games for this team. He was a huge fantasy pick up for me last year too. I wasted a fourth round pick on Peyton Manning, but I feel like I struck gold with my 12th round pick of Bortles. He is going to become very good this season. Bortles also has 2 up and coming receivers that really blew up last year, and I see more good things from them in the future. Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson are going to become pro bowlers and upper echelon NFL receivers. They are fast, have great hands, run excellent routes and get to the right spot almost every time. Then, if he can stay healthy, Julius Thomas is one of the better tight ends in the league. He's big, has good hands, and since he is a former college basketball player, he is good at "boxing" out defenders and getting to balls other tight ends usually have no chance at. At running back, they have one of the better Alabama products in TJ Yeldon. He has great patience, looks for open holes and runs fast, but more importantly, hard. He could be the one Alabama back that can turn into a formidable pro. Their offensive line in commendable as well. On defense, if they can get some of the young guys they have on the field, they could be halfway decent. The defense will still be the problem for a year or two, but when guys like Dante Fowler, Myles Jack and Jalen Ramsey get their feet wet, they could be very good. I really like what the Jaguars are doing, but they may still be a year or two away, but they are coming. I say they go 7-9 this year, and that would be huge for them. They are going to be highly competitive this season.

At number 19, I have the Baltimore Ravens. Talk about a team that could not catch a break last year. Injuries and poor QB play really did them in. They do have good players at the skill positions, but Joe Flacco is not that good (ed note: not elite?). He's too error prone and makes the worst mistakes at the worst time. But, they do have Steve Smith and Breshad Perriman at receiver. Those guys are both good, and Steve Smith, who is old, has seemed to only have gotten better with age. At running back, after the entire Ray Rice situation, he's a monster, they have Justin Forsett, who I think is very good. He can get to the holes and rack up yardage pretty quick. Dennis Pitta is still there at tight end, so they still have a reliable safety blanket. Their defense is still good, but they have suffered attrition. Terrell Suggs is still there, but he may be the lone holdover from their Super Bowl win on defense. CJ Moseley, Jimmy Smith and Elvis Dumervil are all very good, and they signed Eric Weddle for next to nothing after the Chargers let him walk. Baltimore is bound for a turnaround, they are too good of a team with a very good head coach, but they unfortunately are in a division with the Steelers and Bengals, who I will get to next week, and that will keep them in third place. But, they are my first .500 team, because I think they will finish 8-8.

At number 18, I have the New York Giants. The Giants are one of the most annoying teams in all of football, but they seem to be bad one year, then good the next. This season comes after a very mediocre season from them. Odell Beckham, right behind Julio Jones, may be the next best receiver in all of football. He makes some of the greatest catches in the game, and he is a very hard guy to cover. They also have Victor Cruz, who is still good, despite being hurt almost all of last season. Rashard Jennings is a decent running back, and so is Shane Vereen. The problem with the offense is Eli Manning. He is an interception machine, and he makes so many ill conceived throws. Yeah, he has 2 Super Bowl rings, but it wasn't because of him. Their defense has the ability to be good, but they do make a lot of mistakes. Jason Pierre-Paul is an excellent pass rusher, but he also blew half his hand off playing with fireworks, so who knows if he will ever be the same again. Olivier Vernon is pretty good, so maybe he will become the new and improved version of Pierre-Paul. The linebackers are okay, and the secondary is ho hum. Their d line is where it's at for them. They also mercifully let Tom Coughlin go, but their hire of Ben McaDoo is very uninspired. The Giants play in a terrible division, and they could conceivably win with a 8-8 record, but I think they will finish at 7-9. 

My final team today, coming in at number 17, is the team I dislike the most, the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are so incredibly overrated, it's disgusting. They have a very good team on paper, but they have proven that stuff doesn't matter. Tony Romo is the most overrated QB of all time, hands down. No one has ever been given so much credit for doing nothing other than being the QB of the cowboys. He always chokes in the playoffs, he always makes crucial mistakes, he cannot stay healthy, why do people think he is elite? He is so far from elite, it's preposterous. I'd rather have Eli Manning, Joe Flaco, almost any QB on any team I've already mentioned on this countdown before I'd take Romo. Romo stinks. They do have a good receiver in Dez Bryant, but he is always fighting with coaches and teammates and he can't seem to stay away from trouble off the field. Jason Witten is good, but old, and kind of overrated himself. Their running game in virtually nonexistent since DeMarco Murray left. I also don't buy the Ezekial Elliot hype. He played in a spread offense in college, and those guys don't translate well to the NFL. He may also be a girlfriend abuser with the stories that came out a few weeks ago. The defense played out of their minds two years ago, but they returned to their mediocre form last year. Guys can't stay healthy or out of trouble. Sure, they released that monster Greg Hardy, but they still have head cases like Rolando McClain on their roster. They also have oft injured guys like Sean Lee in their linebacking corp. The Cowboys aren't very good, but they are in the same division as the Giants, Eagles and Washington, so a bad record could very easily win the division. I think the Cowboys will find their way, somehow, to 8-8.

Come back tomorrow for my next four teams and a review of the Louis CK show I'm going to tonight.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He just does not see the little things Romo does to make the Cowboys great. At least that is what the Head Editor thinks. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Millennial Memories From a Decade Plus Worth of Super Bowls

Many of our memories are of the food being better than the game.

With Super Bowl 50 just around the corner, I want to look back at some Super Bowl memories that I have had over the past decade plus. I've watched a lot of football in that period of time and I have some good and not so good memories of Super Bowl's past. I know that I wouldn't get the exact Super Bowl number, so I will just describe some teams and some of the games that I remember and I'm sure that most people would be able to pick the game I'm talking about. First, I want to go back to the early to mid nineties. Those Super Bowl's are some of my very first memories of realizing that this is a big game. I don't so much remember the games, but I remember moments and, more importantly, teams.

First of all, I was a big time band wagon fan when I was a child. Whichever team won the Super Bowl, that was my favorite team and the team I remember being on the bandwagon for the Dallas Cowboys of the mid 90's. Looking back on it now, I despise this team, but when I was a kid, they were the champs, so I rooted for the champs. If I could go back in time, I'd yell at the young me for being a fan of this team. They were so arrogant and so flamboyant, and as I've gotten older, I'm all about "acting like you've been there before". I don't need flash, just score a TD, give the ball to the ref and go to the sideline. That's why I like Barry Sanders so much. That Cowboys team though, save for Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, were all about flash. I loved it as a kid, but as an adult, I don't care for it. But, that Cowboys team, for a young football fan, was so easy to like and say you were a fan.

The team I should have stuck up for back then was the Buffalo Bills. They played the game the way it was supposed to be played, but added that up tempo, no huddle offense. They were a ton of fun to watch and I liked Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas just as much, if not more, than Aikman and Smith. The Bills also had one of my all time favorite players, Bruce Smith. But, they couldn't get over the hump, especially against the Cowboys. The Bills were the only team to make four straight Super Bowls, and they lost all four of them, three via blowouts. Everyone remembers Scott Norwood and wide right, but what I remember most about those Bills-Cowboys Super Bowls, was Don Beebe chasing down Leon Lett and striping the ball out of his hands. That game was an absolute blow out, but Beebe still wouldn't throw in the towel and after chasing Lett down and stripping the ball, John Madden said something that I will never forget, "Don Beebee is the fastest white guy in the NFL". At the time, I thought it was weird and if a commentator said something like that now, it would be a huge deal all over the internets.

Moving on to more modern Super Bowl memories, I remember when the Rams won their Super Bowl while in Saint Louis. They had one of the best offenses in the history of the NFL and I thought that they were going to crush the Tennessee Titans, but that didn't happen. Now, the Rams won, but it was a low scoring slug fest type of game with Mike Jones tackling Kevin Dyson at the one yard line to preserve the win for the Rams. It was their defense, not their historically great offense, that won that game for them. Then, when they played the New England Patriots, led by backup QB Tom Brady, the next year, it was a foregone conclusion that the Rams would win again. They had the much better team and much better players. Then, the game happened and the Patriots won on a last second field goal. People will look back at that game and say that the Patriots only won because of "spygate", but Bill Belichek outcoached Mike Martz and no matter how much "spygate" may have helped them, the Patriots played a much better game and Martz sorely underused his best offensive weapon, Marshall Faulk. That Super Bowl was a great example of one coach being prepared and the other coach being very under prepared. That 's why the Patriots won.

And thus, began the dominating run of the Patriots. Sure, teams like Pittsburgh and my Green Bay Packers and the Seahawks and the Colts have won Super Bowls in this time, but the one consistent team has been the Patriots. They have played in 11 of the last 15 AFC championship games and they've been to 6 Super Bowls, winning four of them. I already talked about them beating the Rams. They've also beaten the Eagles in a Super Bowl. That Eagles team had Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens, but that wasn't enough to beat the Patriots. What I remember most about that Super Bowl was McNabb barfing in the huddle and Owens making great catches and then excuses for why it wasn't his, but everyone else's fault, that the Eagles got beat. I remember their Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers. The Patriots should have won that game going away, but Tom Brady threw one of the worst interceptions I've ever seen with a 14 point lead and the Panthers came all the way back to tie the game. Then, their kicker kicks the ball out of bounds, gives the Patriots excellent field position, and they win by a field goal once again. Then, their two losses to the Giants. One, they were undefeated and favored by 10 plus points. There was no way they were losing that game. But, the Giants constantly harassed Brady and they couldn't get their offense rolling. They still had a chance to win, but Eli Manning chucked the ball up in the air, after evading multiple sack attempts, and David Tyree made the best, and his last, catch I've ever seen. He pinned that ball to his helmet and the Giants went on to win by a field goal. Their second loss to the Giants also came down to one team dropping a pass, the Patriots and Wes Welker, and the other team making a miraculous catch, the Giants and Mario Manningham. That drop that Welker had was crushing. Had he caught that ball, the Patriots could have easily salted the clock away. But, that catch by Manningham, on a terrible throw from Eli Manning, was humongous and that kept the game winning drive alive. The Patriots played in last years Super Bowl, and they should have lost, until Pete Carroll and his offensive staff made the worst play call of all time. Why on earth they did not give that ball to Marshawn Lynch on the one yard line is still extremely baffling. But, Brady did pick apart the "legion of boom" and put his team in position to win, as he always does.

Now, I'm by no means a Patriots fan. I'm indifferent when it comes to them, but they have been the one team that has always been there at the end. Like I said, they've been in 11 AFC title games in 15 years, and they've won more tan half of them. This is why they're so prevalent in my recent Super Bowl memories, I will never forget the Packers win over the Steelers, but I can't help but notice how the Patriots are always in it until the very end. They're the most dominating team I've watched and that is why they are the team and they've played in the Super Bowls games that I remember most.

With all that being said, I hope we get a good, memorable game on Sunday so I can start making new memories about a new team, be it Carolina or Denver.

I think it will be Carolina.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Do you love reading about his memories, well tomorrow you can hear him tell the stories on the X Millennial Man podcast. Read more from Ty by following him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty is not impressed with the undefeated Carolina Panthers

This is how scary the Panters are right now

Yesterday I gave a lot of love to the undefeated Golden State Warriors. Today, I'm going to talk about another undefeated team, this time in the NFL, that hasn't impressed me.

I heaped a ton of praise on the Warriors, rightfully so, but the Carolina Panthers may be the most suspect 10-0 NFL team that I've seen in quite some time. Sure, Cam Newton is playing like an MVP this year. And their defense is about as shut down as they come. But, their run game has been spotty, at best, and they have no real receivers since Kelvin Benjamin went down in the preseason. Devin Funchess has turned it on as of late and Greg Olsen is, right now, the second best tight end in the league behind Rob Gronkowski. But, the main reason they are undefeated is, their schedule has been one of the easiest in the NFL. The ten teams that they've beaten are as follows; the Jaguars(4-6), the Texans(5-5), the Saints(4-6), the Buccaneers(5-5), the Seahawks(5-5), the Eagles(4-6), the Colts(5-5), the Packers(7-3), the Titans(2-8) and the team from Washington(4-6). The rest of their schedule has the Cowboys(3-7), Saints again, the Falcons(6-4), the Giants(5-5), Falcons again and their season ends with the Buccaneers. For those of you keeping track at home, that's 2 teams with a winning record, the Packers are good, but the Falcons are not. That's 4 teams that are at .500. The best of the .500 teams may be the Seahawks, and they've given up big leads at home, Marshawn Lynch is hurt, Russell Wilson is STRUGGLING and they don't know how to effectively use Jimmy Graham. The Buccaneers are shockingly a .500 team, but they're led by a rookie QB. Sure, Jameis Winston has looked good lately, but he's still a rookie. The Texans stink. I don't care that they recently beat the Bengals, they have no offense and, other than JJ Watt and Vince Wilfork, their defense stinks. And the Colts have been the biggest disappointment in the NFL. The rest of the teams they've beaten are all below .500. The Jaguars have won two straight, but it's still the Jaguars. They are about four or five years away from competing for anything important. The Saints play absolutely no defense. None whatsoever. They are awful. The Eagles are just as bad as the Saints, if not worse. They have no clue what to do on offense because Chip Kelly is an idiot and their defense just gave up 45 points, at home, to the Buccaneers. The Titans have nothing. They have a rookie QB, no running game, no receivers and no defense. They will probably end up with the worst record in the NFL this year. And the team from Washington is a joke in every sense of the word. They are an irrelevant franchise at the moment.

So, when you look at who the 10-0 Panthers have beaten, it's by no means a murderers row. We are talking a combined record of 45-55. That's pretty bad. That's really bad actually. They've also had to squeak out victories over the Titans two weeks ago, the Saints in week three without Drew Brees, they needed overtime to beat the Colts in week 8 and they needed a game saving interception to beat the Packers after they squandered a huge fourth quarter lead. The only real blow out came last week when they trashed Washington. A lot of teams have crushed Washington this year.

Now, it's hard to win 10 straight games, and just as I stated yesterday, you need luck and teams to blow games to have streaks that last this long. What the Panthers have done is very good and a bit intriguing, but if I was a team coming to play them in Carolina for a playoff game, I wouldn't be that worried about them. They don't have a very good home field advantage. They don't strike fear in their opponents. Put Cam Newton on any other team, the Panthers would be lucky to be 5-5 right now. For an example, put him on the Titans, and they'd be a 5-5 or 6-4 team right now. That's how good he's been this year. I didn't think he'd make much of a pro, but he's gotten better every year, and he's become an MVP candidate. But, he doesn't scare me when it comes to the playoffs.

This has happened with the Panthers before. Two or three years ago, they were the surprise of the NFL, winning their division with a 12-4 record. They seemed like a lock to get to the conference championship, but they got crushed in their playoff game and became an after thought. They have a real chance to go undefeated this year though. Their schedule the rest of the way is very easy, with their toughest game coming next week at Dallas. They should win that easily. So, let's say they finish the regular season 16-0. They'd be the number one seed and have a first round bye. They'd also have home field advantage. And let's just say they win that second round playoff game to advance to the NFC title. They'd either get the Green Bay Packers or the Arizona Cardinals. Those are the three best teams in the NFC in my opinion. I'd take the Packers, I picked them to win the Super Bowl, or the Cardinals in a second over the Panthers if I were a betting man. I know, the Panthers already beat Green Bay, but the end of that game showed me that the Packers know how to score on the Panthers. And the Cardinals, I think they'd absolutely crush the Panthers in a playoff game. They have an excellent secondary that would shut down their mediocre receivers, and someone will cover Greg Olsen. And the Cardinals offense, if healthy, I could see them scoring 40 by the end of the third quarter. They will beat them with the run, and their receivers are bigger and more physical than the Panthers secondary. It would be a totally lost season for the Panthers.

I will say again, good for you Carolina for being undefeated this late in the year, but until you win some games against quality opponents, I'm not impressed. The Warriors you are not Carolina, sorry. Good luck, and I hope Cam Newton continues to get better because he's fun to watch, but I just don't see them as a viable, fear inducing opponent to whoever they will face in the playoffs. The Panthers will have a very good regular season, possibly an undefeated one, but they will crap out in the playoffs, that's what they do.

They aren't champions yet.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He just recently learned there is a North and South Carolina. What's next, a New Mexico? Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik. 

Ty Needs to Change his Super Bowl Picks: NFL Midseason Redo

Ty made some cookies to apologize about the Colts pick

Much like my blog yesterday, I'm going to tackle the NFL at the midway point.

Week 8 just ended and most teams have played 7 or 8 games. You can definitely get a sense of who is a legit contender, and who are the bottom of the barrel teams. I'll go over my previous division winners and I'll pick who I think will win their division now, and the wild cards from each conference. I'll also pick the MVP, coach of the year, offensive and defensive player of the year and offensive and defensive rookie of the year compared to my season preview.

Let's start with the AFC. The AFC East is being led by the New England Patriots at 7-0. The Jets are 4-3 and the Bills and Dolphins are 3-4. I was wrong about this division, picking the Dolphins. They've kind of gotten back on track, but they were just destroyed by the Patriots and they were a mess before firing Joe Philbin. The Jets and Bills are both middle of the road, but the Jets are playing much better than I thought with Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB. The Bills are a typical Rex Ryan team. They play good defense, have a subpar offense and blow games. The Patriots are clearly the class of this division. They're on a war path since the stupid "deflate gate" bull shit and Tom Brady and Bill Belichek are playing and coaching with anger, and they thrive that way. I don't think they'll go undefeated, but Tom Brady is playing like the MVP and they'll win this division easily. I shouldn't have doubted them. In the AFC North, the Bengals are leading the division with a 7-0 record. They're playing lights out defense right now, but they have to prove it in the playoffs before I trust them. The Steelers are 4-4 and just lost LeVeon Bell for the rest of the season, they're toast. The Browns are exactly what everyone, save for ESPN, thought they'd be. They're mediocre on offense and defense and people still talk about Johnny Manziel like he's an important player. The Browns stink. The Ravens are a shockingly bad 2-6. They've blown games that they should've won, and they look pretty bad on defense without Terrell Suggs. They're the most disappointing team in the NFL in my opinion and they just lost their best receiver for the year with Steve Smith SR tearing his ACL. The Bengals will run away with this division, no problem. The AFC South is a joke and this division made me look like a moron with my preseason preview. The Colts are in first place, but they're tied with the Texans at a dreadful 3-5. Andrew Luck is clearly hurt and their defense stinks. Screw you Indy for making me look like an idiot. The Texans are terrible. Their "vaunted" defense can't stop anyone, and their offense is bad and just got worse with Arian Foster going down with a season ending injury yet again. The Texans stink. Jacksonville and Tennessee have three wins combined. They're playing as everyone thought they would. Blake Bortles may not be that good of an NFL QB and the Jags defense is not good. The Titans are being led by a rookie QB, I know he's missed the last two games, and they may not win another game all season. Mariota is going through growing pains and he has no weapons on offense and their coach is pretty bad, and just got fired. I'm still picking the Colts to win this division, but they may only win 6 or 7 games and they will get crushed in the playoffs. The AFC West has been surprisingly competitive. The Broncos are still the best team and they're undefeated. Something is going on with Peyton Manning, but the Broncos are winning with their league best defense. They're lock down on that side of the ball. The Raiders are 4-3 and in second place. Derek Carr is a star in the making and now he has Amari Cooper to throw to. Their defense is playing halfway decent led by ageless wonder Charles Woodson. The Raiders may actually be good. The Chiefs had a brutal schedule to start the season and started 1-5, but they've won their past two and look better, even with Jamaal Charles out for the year. They have a good tight end in Kelce and a deep threat in Jeremy Maclin. Their defense is good as always. Unfortunately for them, they dug themselves to deep a hole and they won't be able to get out of it. The Chargers are a team in flux. They don't know if they're moving to LA, and they have no fan base. Phillip Rivers is on the back half of his good playing days, and Melvin Gordon hasn't lived up to the hype. The Chargers aren't a threat anymore. So, the playoff teams from the AFC will be division winners, Denver, Indy(UGH!), New England and Cincinnati. The Wild Cards will be the Jets, I can't believe I just wrote that and the Raiders, I really can't believe I just wrote that. I was wrong on Miami and Pittsburgh has suffered some brutal injuries, but other than that, I think I did okay. The Patriots are coming out of the AFC with little push. Denver is the only team that can compete, but they won't be able to beat New England in Foxborough. The Patriots will represent the AFC again in the Super Bowl. 

To the NFC. We will start with the NFC East. This division is a joke. The Giants are leading it with a 4-4 record, and they just gave up 52 points to the Saints. One week they look good, the other they look bad. The Eagles and the Washington professional football team have matching 3-4 records. How they got there is different. The Eagles play awesome defense, but their offense is bad. Chip Kelly is supposed to be an offensive genius, but he doesn't use DeMarco Murray properly, he relies on Sam Bradford too much and he has no real receivers. The Eagles are bad. Washington is lucky to be where they are. Kirk Cousins got way too riled up after a comeback victory over Tampa Bay. He's a terrible NFL QB, but who else do they have? Their defense is not very good either. Basically, they got very lucky three times and that luck is going to run out. The Cowboys have been plagued by injury and stupidity. Tony Romo and Dez Bryant missed multiple games. Joseph Randle is facing punishment for drugs and they're now starting Darren McFadden. Greg Hardy is a lunatic and doesn't belong in the league. And Jerry Jones, boy is he going nuts. The Cowboys may be the best team in this division, but that's not saying much and they are too far behind at 2-5 to win this division. The Giants will win the division and they will probably do it with only 8 wins. The NFC North is led by my beloved Packers at 6-1. They've looked pretty bad on offense the past couple of weeks though and the Broncos just throttled them on Sunday night. They'll fix what ails them, but they need a quick fix. They also need to use Eddie Lacy more, if he's healthy. The Vikings are playing pretty well, with a 5-2 record. But, let us not forget why their star player, Adrian Peterson, was out all of last season for beating a child. Announcers seem to have forgotten this, but I haven't. He's a monster. The Vikings are winning with good defense and the emergence of rookie receiver Stefon Diggs and smart QB play from Teddy Bridgewater, not child abuser Adrian Peterson. The Bears and Lions are equally bad. The Bears are 2-5 and as long as they have Jay Cutler at QB, they'll continue to be mediocre. The Lions are a dreadful 1-7 and they can't catch a break. They're also poorly coached and Matt Stafford is not a franchise QB, he's barely a starting QB. Calvin Johnson deserves better than this. The Packers will win this division. The NFC South has been surprisingly decent. The Panthers are 7-0 and playing awesome defense and Cam Newton is playing fantastic football. They also have a really good run game. The Falcons are 6-2, but they're not that impressive, save for Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman. Those are the catalysts of this team, not Matt Ryan. He's been erratic all season. The defense is serviceable. The Saints are 4-4 and Drew Brees is beginning to look like his old self, but he doesn't have any real weapons. Mark Ingram has been solid, but he's not a star and Ben Watson has been playing good at tight end, but that's it. And their defense, woof, they're bad. The Buccaneers round out this division at 3-4. They've played better than I thought they would and while Jameis Winston has looked bad at times, he's had his moments and Doug Martin may be turning his career around. But, they are still a bad team led by a rookie QB. Carolina will win this division. The NFC West has been as competitive as I thought it would be. The Cardinals lead it with a 6-2 record. Carson Palmer has been lights out and so has Larry Fitzgerald and Chris Johnson. They have a potent offense. Their defense is still really good too. Barring injury, this team should be considered a legit contender. The Rams are 4-3 and they look good one week, but bad the next. The emergence of Todd Gurley should definitely help this team out. He's been awesome. And their defense is still one of the league's best. The Seahawks are 4-4 and they've looked very unimpressive. Russell Wilson is not living up to the contract he got. Marshawn Lynch can't stay healthy and they don't know how to use Jimmy Graham. He's the best tight end in football, save for Rob Gronkowski, and he's only getting 4 or 5 targets a game. Their defense is giving up fourth quarter leads as well. They do not look like the "dynasty" that a lot of people predicted them to be. The 49ers are a total mess. They're benching Kaepernick in favor of Blaine Gabbert. WTF! He's a terrible pro. They have no running game, they traded away Vernon Davis and they can't get the ball to Torrey Smith or Anquan Boldin. Their defense is okay, but when you're on the field for 45 minutes of a 60 minute game, you get tired and when you get tired, you give up points. The 49ers stink. Cardinals win this division. So the NFC playoff teams will be division winners, New York Giants, Green Bay, Carolina and Arizona. The two wild Cards will be Minnesota and Saint Louis. This means I was wrong about the Eagles and the Seahawks. Neither will make the playoffs. I'm torn between Arizona and Green Bay, but Arizona will suffer some kind of injury and the Packers will figure out their offensive problem and they will win the NFC.

So, that gives us a Green Bay and New England Super Bowl. I'm going to stick with the Packers. They're the one team that can beat the Patriots. As far as the awards go, I was wrong on almost all of these. First of all, the MVP is Tom Brady. He's torching this league and he's on a mission. I picked Aaron Rodgers, but he's struggled lately and Tom Brady has not. Brady will also win offensive player of the year. Defensive player of the year will be Charles Woodson, not Ndomakong Suh. Woodson is still playing at an elite level and he makes the Raiders a real threat. Winning this will put him in the conversation as greatest defensive back of all time. Coach of the year is still Jeff Fisher in my opinion. He'll lead this team to a Wild Card spot and that alone gives him the award. I picked Melvin Gordon as offensive rookie of the year. He's been not so good mid way through the season. However, Todd Gurley looks to be a beast. He's setting records and rushing for a lot of yards on a good Rams team. Gurley is, hands down, the offensive rookie of the year. I picked Bud Dupree as defensive rookie of the year, but he has just blended in with the Steeler defense, he hasn't really stood out. Marcus Peters, however, has been a pretty good cornerback for the Chiefs from day one. He's my pick for defensive rookie of the year.

So, there you have it, my mid way NFL picks, Some are the same, some are different. Tell me why I'm wrong and give me your picks in the comment section.

Thanks

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He thinks Tom Brady is over inflating footballs just to screw with the NFL. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik

Ty's NFL Preview 2015: NFC

Game is on, get ready to...why is Ty's drink still green?

The NFC is also made up of four divisions as well, the East, West, North and South. The NFC East is made up of the, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, the team from the region of Washington DC and the New York Giants. The Cowboys completely shocked me last season. I didn't see them playing that well at all, especially on defense. DeMarco Murray was awesome, but he's gone to the Eagles and Dez Bryant is good, but he's got Tony Romo throwing him the ball. That's a bummer. Jason Witten is reliable, but old. The defense will take a step back for sure. The offensive line is good, but as I mentioned before, DeMarco Murray is gone and Darren McFadden won't ease the loss. The Cowboys are going to take a big step back this season and probably only win 9 games. That may be enough to win this division. The Eagles have had a very odd offseason. Chip Kelly traded away a lot of great players like, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin and Nick Foles. The only one he really "replaced" was McCoy by signing Murray. Sam Bradford seems to be their starting QB, but he CANNOT stay healthy (I am from St. Louis, I know this). He's a liability. They also brought in Tim Freakin Tebow. That guy is not an NFL quarterback, he's just not good. The Eagles defense is pretty good and should keep them in games. They will either win 11 or 5 games, who knows. I will split the difference and say they get to 10 wins, but barely. The New York Giants aren't a very good football team, and the recent news that Eli Manning wants to be the highest paid player in football is laughable. Sure, he's won two super bowls, but what have you done for me lately besides lead the league in interceptions and stupid faces. They have no running game. They do have Odell Beckham JR and Victor Ortiz, but that doesn't matter when Eli is throwing it to the other team. Their defense is not good either. They will be lucky to get to 7 wins this year. Until they are willing to change their name, the team from Washington will get no love from me. They stink anyway and 4 wins would be a shocker. The Eagles will win this division and get the pleasure of being blown out by whoever they play in the first round of the playoffs.

The NFC West is one of the best, if not the best, divisions in the NFL. First, you have the Seattle Seahawks. They have the best defense in the league and it's not even close. All three phases are lights out, and while I may not like the players in the secondary, they are shut down corners and the safeties are heavy hitters. The offense is run by the overrated Russel Wilson. That offense is truly run by Marshawn Lynch. He's the current best running back in the league. He's truly a beast. They don't have great receivers, but they traded for Jimmy Graham this offseason and that will only make them better. They will easily get to 11 wins this year. The St.Louis Rams are up and coming, but I don't know how they'll play with expectations. They also have a great defense and one of the best defensive lines in the league. They drafted a great running back in Todd Gurley and replaced the oft injured Sam Bradford with Nick Foles. He's an upgrade at QB. The receivers are small, but explosive. If they can put it all together, they won't be able to challenge the Seahawks yet, but they could win 9 or 10 games. The Arizona Cardinals are another good team in this division. If Carson Palmer can stay healthy, they should be good on offense with him throwing to Michael Floyd and Larry Fitzgerald. The running game was in flux, but they just signed Chris Johnson to a one year deal. If he can do half as good as when he was with the Titans, they should be set. Their defense is awesome led by cornerback Patrick Peterson. They are really good, but they seem to get bitten by the injury bug every season. They should win 10 games, barring any big injury, but someone will inevitably get hurt, so they'll probably only get 8 or 9 wins. The San Francisco 49ers round out the division. This team seems to have gone into rebuild mode. They changed coaches, lost Frank Gore, Patrick Willis retired along with a lot of players on defense and Michael Crabtree left in free agency. They still have Anquan Boldin and Colin Kaepernick, but this team is going to take a huge step back. They will only get 5 or 6 wins this year. This division will be won by the Seahawks again, but it will be very tough.

The NFC South is the exact opposite of the West. This division could be won by a team with 8 or fewer wins. The teams are, the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons, the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Saints still have Drew Brees, but he's old and they got rid of his best weapons. Their defense is terrible as well. 6 or 7 wins would be ideal for them. The Falcons have Matt Ryan,  Roddy White and Julio Jones, but they have no running game and they don't even try to run the ball and this is a team with another pretty bad defense. If Matt Ryan plays well and gets the ball to either White or Jones, they could outscore teams on their way to 8 wins, but 6 wins seems more likely. The Panthers do have Cam Newton and while he's inaccurate, he has a big arm and he's hard to tackle when he's in the open field. They have a so so running game led by DeAngelo Williams and they have upgraded at receiver with Kelvin Benjamin and rookie Devin Funchess. They do have a decent defense led by linebacker Luke Kuechly. They could win 9 games this year. The Buccaneers are still in rebuild mode and will be led by rookie QB Jameis Winston. Rookie QB's struggle and while he does have Vincent Jackson and the big receiver from Texas A&M, they have no run game and a god awful defense. 3 or 4 wins is the bar for the Bucs. The Panthers will win this division with only 9 wins this year.

The final NFC division, the NFC North should and will be won by the Green Bay Packers. The defense improved last season and will take another step in the right direction this season. They have the best QB in the league in Aaron Rodgers and he has weapons on offense like Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. They also have a good running game led by Eddie Lacy. The Packers should win 12 games and the division easily. The Minnesota Vikings will be better. They get child abuser Adrian Peterson back and, while he hits little children, he's a good running back. But, he's a terrible person. Teddy Bridgewater looks like he's going to be good and if he can get some help from receivers the offense could look good. The defense is decent, but nothing to write home about. They could get to 9 wins this season. The Detroit Lions will continue to baffle me. Matthew Stafford is so inconsistent, but when you have a receiver like Calvin Johnson, he'll make you look good. They got a great running back in the draft in Ameer Abdullah. He'll immediately be better for them than Reggie Bush was. The defense lost Suh and Nick Fairley, so they'll take a step back. 8 or 9 wins seems like their destiny. The Chicago Bears round out the division and they're a total mess. They did hire John Fox, but he won't be able to fix the mess that is the Bears in one season. They have no defense, no receivers, a shitty QB in Jay Cutler and poor Matt Forte can only do so much. The Bears are like a worse version of the Chiefs. At least the Chiefs are competitive. The Bears will be lucky to get 5 wins this year.

So, the NFC playoff teams will be the Seahawks, the Packers, the Panthers and the Eagles, the four division winners. The two wild card teams will be, I'm going to go out on a big limb here, and pick the Rams and the Vikings. I even see the Vikings beating the Eagles in the first round and the Rams fighting, but losing late to the Panthers in the playoffs. The Vikings will see their season end at the hands of the Seahawks and the Panthers will get mercy killed by the Packers. This sets up a rematch of the NFC title game from last year, and the Packers will avenge their loss with a big win and advance to face the Colts in Super Bowl 50. 

Coming up next, Super Bowl and awards.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The editor appreciates his hopes for the Vikings. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.