2024 NFL Stat Oddity: Super Bowl LIX

February 10, 2025 ~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

Fool me twice, shame on me.

While I undoubtedly picked the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIX, I said clear as day in my final preview “But I think the No. 1 issue to watch for the Chiefs is the offensive line.”

I also made this foreboding note:

But you never want to feel too confident about a Super Bowl, because I think the last time I did that, Tampa Bay beat the Chiefs 31-9. Sure, there was the LOAT factor, but I misjudged the OL shuffle the Chiefs did that night.

I won’t make that mistake a third time going forward. The Chiefs have lost the benefit of doubt again, because this was a pathetic performance in every way on a night where they could have made important history. They built the three-peat up for 52 weeks and it came crashing down in about 1.5 quarters. You could even just take what I tweeted after the first quarter ended and it summed up the rest of the game too:

https://twitter.com/ScottKacsmar/status/1888745031625851109

Couldn’t block them. Couldn’t get to Jalen Hurts without blitzing, and even then, the game’s MVP did what he wanted with his arm and legs as he improved to 10-0 this season when passing for over 200 yards.

But make no mistakes about it. The Chiefs lost this game in the trenches, and that area is the driving force behind these three Philadelphia Super Bowl teams since 2017. They’ve built great offensive lines, they replaced Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox without losing a step on either side of the ball, and they just outworked and outsmarted the Chiefs for four quarters (or 3.5 before some garbage time) in a way we haven’t seen any team do.

Blowouts in Super Bowls used to be common, then it became an outlier in the 21st century. But it’s not a good look that the Chiefs are on the losing end of two of the four Super Bowl blowouts in the last 24 years as this game was most comparable to the 2013 Broncos against the Seahawks.

Defense wins championships. Football games are decided in the trenches. Overhyped quarterback matchups tend to disappoint.

That all applies again as that’s the way I started my Super Bowl 55 recap after the Chiefs lost 31-9 to the Buccaneers. Same shit, different year. Who knew the 2024 Chiefs would become a carbon copy of the 2020 Chiefs?

https://twitter.com/ScottKacsmar/status/1888823897044210169

That’s eerie. Mahomes was 25-1 in his previous 26 starts going into Super Bowl LV with a chance to repeat. He was 22-1 in his last 23 starts going into Sunday night with a chance to three-peat. The Chiefs were playing offensive linemen out of position in both games and were blown out by 18-to-22 points with Mahomes running for his life.

You can’t say there wasn’t precedent for this happening to Kansas City. But it’s hard to believe the Chiefs played the 2024 Eagles far worse than the Deshaun Watson-led Browns, the Jaguars despite trailing 22-0, and the Bryce Young-led Panthers did. Hell, they played them worse than anybody, because even Cooper Rush was only down 7-6 and 14-7 after the two-minute warning for Dallas in two games.

Also, can we put the Chiefs’ referee conspiracy bullshit to bed? After the first call of the night went Kansas City’s way, almost everything else was pro-Eagles, so enough about the NFL rigging things for one team. The whole thing was an overreaction by the collective fanbases whining about the Chiefs winning close games that a ton of people watched. No one cares about officiating in blowouts or calls that go against the Chiefs when that doesn’t fit the narrative. Let’s hope that bullshit quiets down in 2025, but you know how people are.

Anyways, the nicest thing about a Super Bowl rout is I don’t need to stay up until 8 AM recapping it. There’s only so much you can say about one team kicking another team’s ass on the biggest stage.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

The First Quarter Tea Leaves

We’ll see how long I get through the game in sequential order before I start going off on tangents about how bad the Chiefs played. But you could see in the first quarter that this was shaping up to be a bad night for Kansas City.

Let’s start with the lone thing the Chiefs did well. On the first play from scrimmage, Saquon Barkley had a nice run where he looked hard to tackle, yet it only produced a 4-yard gain. That would be one consistent theme for the night. The Chiefs actually shut Barkley down cold as a runner, holding him to 57 yards on 25 carries (2.3 YPC) with a long of 10 yards.

According to Next Gen Stats, Barkley’s minus-48 rushing yards over expected was the lowest game of his career. Great. You sold out to stop the run, and what did that really get you? It reminds me of the Super Bowl 48 blowout where the Broncos only did one thing very well, and that was run defense. The Broncos held Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch to 39 yards on 15 carries. They just did everything else poorly and lost 43-8.

The Eagles ended up punting on their opening drive after a 4th-and-2 conversion to A.J. Brown for 32 yards was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty for Brown pushing off. I didn’t like the call for OPI, but he clearly did push the defender’s face before making the catch, so something was worth a flag there to negate that pay. But you already opened a can of worms with the officiating conspiracy on the first drive.

However, that would be short-lived. The Chiefs gained 11 yards on their first play with a quick pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, but the Chiefs wouldn’t gain another first down until the first minute of the third quarter if you can believe that.

On a 2nd-and-9, Mahomes threw what looked to be a fine pass to Travis Kelce for a first-down gain, but the tight end dropped it. That brought up 3rd-and-9, and the pursuit of Mahomes was on in the first big test of the game, and he held the ball for a long time before nearly throwing a pick, a sign of things to come.

The officiating battle evened out quickly when the Eagles’ second drive was extended by a weak call for a late hit by Trent McDuffie on a high throw to Dallas Goedert, who didn’t even need to break 30 yards for the Eagles to have a big night. That could have led to a punt or maybe the Eagles go for it, but they ended up beating the blitz with a 27-yard throw to Jahan Dotson down to the 1 where Hurts carried it in for the Tush Push touchdown.

I think that was the only Tush Push of the night too, and he showed up Josh Allen how to run his play against the Chiefs. With the Eagles up 7-0, the Chiefs went three-and-out with edge pressure by Nolan Smith getting to Mahomes to affect a throw to Hollywood Brown, who came running back to the quarterback and may have even given up the first down had he caught the ball. I thought if Brown sat in the zone he’d be an easy target for a first, but the play didn’t work out and again it was quick edge pressure.

The Super Bowl 48 comp. intensifies.

The Chiefs added to their legacy of being the worst team at lining up properly on crucial downs as Charles Omenihu was lined up offsides (Dee Ford special) on a 3rd-and-4 play where they sacked Hurts out of field goal range. Alas, that play didn’t count, and the drive continued, ending a pretty bad first quarter for the Chiefs.

The Second Quarter Faceplant

The defense had its best moment of the night when Steve Spagnuolo’s blitz on 3rd-and-10 worked as Hurts made a poor decision on a deep ball that was intercepted, making sure the Chiefs wouldn’t go four games without a takeaway for the first time in franchise history. They also wouldn’t join those 2013 Broncos as the only Super Bowl participant to go an entire postseason without a takeaway.

But they had the 2013 Broncos’ back in other ways. The only thing bad about the pick of Hurts is it was caught at the Kansas City 2, so the offense was 98 yards away from the end zone, meaning the Eagles were still more likely to get the game’s next score.

Sure enough, the Chiefs went three-and-out after Mahomes’ pass on 3rd-and-3 was low and away from Kelce on a throw they usually connect with. I don’t call that a drop and that’s more on Mahomes. The Eagles ended up getting good field position (own 43) and did indeed get the game’s next score with a 48-yard field goal by Jake Elliott, who redeemed himself with a fine night.

The Chiefs were down 10-0 for the fifth Super Bowl in a row, but we’ve seen them crawl out of holes like this before. Things were looking poor, but to this point, it was only a few pressures on third downs and Mahomes trying to compensate with a quick throw on the third drive. They can get things moving, right?

Nope. The fourth possession moved this one into blowout territory.

On first down, I’m not sure what the Chiefs were trying to do with a play-action pass, but the Eagles blew it up immediately with Josh Sweat going right past Kelce (whiffed) and getting the first sack of the night. On 2nd-and-14, Mahomes has Xavier Worthy near the right sideline for a gain of 5-6 yards if he wants it, but he’d need to take it immediately. Instead, he tried to climb the pocket and was sacked again by a pair of Eagles despite the Chiefs having 7 blockers against 4 rushers.

https://twitter.com/ScottKacsmar/status/1888873409846616449

Then on 3rd-and-16, the gamebreaker, Mahomes threw his worst interception since…ever? At least since the play he accidentally injured Rashee Rice on in Week 4. I don’t know if he just never saw Cooper DeJean jumping the route, but the worst thing about this is it wasn’t even high reward enough. On 3rd-and-16, I’d much rather see him throw a 40-yard bomb and if it gets picked, then that’s the definition of an arm punt – not the fixed CBS version they use for Josh Allen.

https://twitter.com/LordSnowXRP/status/1888834469131608537

All the hype for Saquon Barkley’s birthday and not enough for Cooper DeJean turning 22 and turning in his first NFL interception for a huge 38-yard touchdown and 17-0 lead. It was the first time all year the Chiefs’ starters trailed by more than 11 points. It’s the first time Mahomes trailed by 17 points since a 2022 game against the Raiders that they came back to win 30-29 on a Monday night.

But this was going to be a daunting task. To this point, the Chiefs had 12 passes and 1 run (that gained 2 yards). Somewhere, Donovan McNabb is saying, “See, it’s not easy to win like that, is it?” in reference to Andy Reid’s career-long criticism of not running the ball in big games. Where were the screens and moving pockets to get away from that pressure?

The Chiefs then picked a curious time to call consecutive runs for the first time all night, down 17-0, and all it did was lead to 3rd-and-9. Mahomes tried to make something happen, but after running into the waiting arms of left guard Mike Caliendo (The Weakest Link), he took his third sack in his last four dropbacks.

https://twitter.com/ScottKacsmar/status/1888878242330775557

The left side of the line was the problematic side, and at that point, I would have made the switch. I tweeted this during the game at this time too. Put Joe Thuney back at left guard where he belongs, and bring in veteran left tackle D.J. Humphries, who was active, to play tackle like he knows how to do.

This Thuney-Caliendo thing was cute for the last month, but the Eagles are embarrassing you without even sending heat. But the change never came. On defense, the Eagles got lucky when they avoided a 3rd-and-26 situation after a horribly soft penalty call on the Chiefs for a late hit.

https://twitter.com/Rate_the_Refs/status/1888754342053978506

We can say that didn’t end up mattering since the Eagles punted 36 seconds later, but it did likely change field position. The Chiefs took over at their own 6 with 1:49 and two timeouts left. If they could get a field goal, they’d get the ball first in the third quarter, so getting back into a 17-10 game actually wasn’t out of the realm of possibility if they could get something going in a hurry-up situation.

But any shot at a competitive game ended when Josh Sweat pushed Thuney right into Mahomes as he was throwing the ball on the first play of the drive, and Zack Baun made this diving interception to set the Eagles up at the Kansas City 14. Two plays later, A.J. Brown walked into the end zone on a touchdown catch to make it 24-0. Game over.

https://twitter.com/ShaneHaffNFL/status/1888756766151749843

Mahomes’ second interception in the second quarter.

Now we absolutely had the Super Bowl 48 comparison. A quick edge pressure is sometimes all it takes, and this is why I think Sweat (2.5 sacks) had a real argument for Super Bowl MVP as he won’t get credit for a sack there, but that pressure of pushing Thuney into Mahomes created that big interception.

And again, the Chiefs deserve what they got for sticking with their best guard at tackle instead of trying to work in a real tackle with plenty of experience. In a span of 5 dropbacks in the second quarter, Mahomes took three sacks and threw two picks and there’s your ballgame.

Any shot for a score before halftime basically ended with a holding penalty on first down to negate a good scramble by Mahomes, something that he should have been doing earlier too. Actually, I take that back. They had the 3rd-and-11 on this last drive converted, but DeAndre Hopkins decided to do this with his big opportunity in a Super Bowl:

https://twitter.com/NFL_DF/status/1888758885403546070

The Chiefs had 23 yards of offense and 1 first down on 7 drives in the first half. They usually surpass those numbers by the first or second drive of a game.

The Second Half Just Delays the Inevitable

If you thought the Chiefs had any answers for a competitive second half, you’d be wrong. No offensive line changes. Even with trying to chip with a running back, the Chiefs continued giving up sacks to 4-man rushes. Back-to-back sacks led to a 3rd-and-17 for Mahomes where he was only able to scramble for half of it before the Chiefs punted.

Hurts made a few key scrambles, Barkley made his most impactful play on a bobbled 22-yard catch, but the Eagles were held to a field goal. Still, it was 27-0 and that drive consumed 6:42, which is exactly what you want if you’re the Eagles.

Like I said, Andy Reid had no answers before or during the game. After a Jawaan Taylor holding penalty (redundant) wiped out a first-down scramble by Mahomes, you knew the Chiefs were cooked when they’re trying to run for 1 yard with Kareem Hunt on 2nd-and-14. Mahomes ended up leading the team with 25 rushing yards as his backs had 7 carries for 24 yards.

Going for it on 4th-and-4, I thought Mahomes made his 2nd-biggest mistake of the night when he didn’t see Justin Watson open over the middle and seemed to predetermined a throw to the right to Hopkins, which wasn’t close. The Chefs turned it over on downs, and the Eagles went for the kill shot immediately with a 46-yard touchdown strike to DeVonta Smith, which probably clinched the MVP for Hurts since you can’t give it to the whole defense.

Just like that, Mahomes was down 34-0 for the first time in his career. The team’s previous biggest deficit with him was 27-0 in a 27-3 loss in Tennessee in 2021.

At 34-0, we knew it was all over. Mahomes and Worthy (the only Kansas City player who showed up) connected a couple of times to quickly lead a 90-yard touchdown drive so there wouldn’t be a shutout. But the Eagles had another time-consuming field goal drive (5:43) to make it 37-6, then with just under 10:00 left, Mahomes was sacked for a career-high sixth time and fumbled. The officials didn’t even bother flagging the hit to Mahomes’ face on the play, and no one cared because it was a blowout and the missed call didn’t help the Chiefs.

https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1888781212736483455

By taking a sixth sack, that ends Mahomes’ streak of 132 games to start his career without taking more than 5 sacks in any game. Only Peyton Manning (293), Dan Marino (260), and Joe Flacco (180) had longer streaks to begin their careers.

The Eagles won the turnover battle 3-1 and finished the postseason +12 in turnover margin, including an absurd +7 in fumbles.

They added a field goal after the Mahomes fumble to get to 40 points, and then Mahomes threw two touchdowns to Hopkins and Worthy down the stretch to get some garbage-time stats for the 40-22 final with Kenny Pickett (oh, for fuck’s sake) kneeling it out for the Philadelphia win.

With the way people are reacting to those late touchdowns, it just proves I was right that Mahomes would get killed for “garbage-time stat padding” in Super Bowl 55 had he thrown a late touchdown to make it 31-16 and get a touchdown on the board instead of throwing his second interception in a 31-9 game that was long decided. Can’t win either way with the cult out there.

The Chiefs gained 11 yards on their first play of the night and didn’t have a longer gain until 2:33 remained in the third quarter with Worthy making a pair of 50-yard catches in this game.

For the reputation Andy Reid has as a great coach following bye weeks, he is 1-2 after a bye against Nick Sirianni, who I struggle to give credit to as it feels like he goes as his coordinators go.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio won his first Super Bowl and his first game against Mahomes, who he was 0-8 against. But Fangio had the right idea all night. He didn’t blitz once and still generated 16 pressures and 6 sacks. Reportedly that’s just the fourth time since 2018 that a defense didn’t blitz in a game, and I believe one of those games was Buffalo in 2020 against the Chiefs.

The Eagles played Cover 4 at the third-highest rate (59.5%) of any game since 2018.

https://twitter.com/NextGenStats/status/1888791032118030640

I don’t think that becomes the new “blueprint” to beat the Chiefs, because not everyone can get pressure like this just by rushing four. Compare how the Eagles looked and how the Bills looked two weeks ago, and it’s like night and day.

But Kansas City’s offense has had major struggles in what I would say is four of their five Super Bowls against these NFC teams. They found a way to come back and finish strong in three of those games for rings, but they’re always playing an elite unit, and they just never seem to struggle this much in big games when they play those AFC rivals like the Ravens and Bills.

It’s definitely an interesting dynamic, but it’s why you can’t give this team the benefit of the doubt anymore. Nineteen of the last 21 Super Bowls had been within one score in the fourth quarter, but this is now the second time the Chiefs lost by three scores, and this one wasn’t even that close if we’re just keeping it real.

The Chiefs got their asses kicked, something only a handful of teams can say they’ve done to them over the last seven seasons. Hats off to the Eagles for coming back strong after last year’s collapse and getting their revenge for Super Bowl 57.

I know which game I enjoyed more of the two, but sometimes you need a good ass kicking to get your priorities right. I still have to write two articles tomorrow about where the Chiefs and Eagles go from here, so I’m not going to get into that here.

But it’s pretty clear the Chiefs need to find a real left tackle who can stick around for the next decade with Mahomes. Starting five Super Bowls with five different left tackles is a cool footnote but not ideal at all. It reminds me of Peyton Manning going to four Super Bowls with four different head coaches.

They’re the only two quarterbacks who can do these things, but it’s not likely going to lead to great results when you’re going up against more complete teams.

Conclusion: The GOAT Case Is Closed

Many are using this game to say the GOAT case is closed, and I have to say I agree with that. Obviously, I was never on board with it anyway.

I mean, Andy Reid is simply not the greatest coach of his era, let alone all time. Now his 3-3 Super Bowl record with his team getting dominated twice largely because he didn’t have a real plan for the offensive line is an eyesore.

Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if they started D.J. Humphries or gave Donovan Smith a call in December – the Eagles played that well. But I can’t see someone like Bill Belichick ever watch his team get crushed in all phases like this with so much on the line.

Sure, the 2007 Patriots blew the perfect season to the Giants, but it was a 17-14 game they led late in. This was another rout for Reid, and that’s very disappointing. Almost like the Chiefs don’t do well in the role of a favorite and villain. Just showing up as the defending champs doesn’t mean you’re supposed to win. The Eagles kicked their ass.

But yeah, people are going to use this game against Mahomes, and I get it. He’ll need some big Super Bowl moments in the future to offset the sting of these losses. It would be a really tough look if he never made it back as Brady is the only quarterback to start more than five Super Bowls. But I’d also be utterly shocked if Mahomes doesn’t get back.

And I still believe his best and most complete rosters can be in his future. The success he’s already created after starting for seven seasons is historically unmatched.

How quickly people forget Brady was 3-2 in Super Bowls, and a yard away from going 3-3 in Year 15 before Malcolm Butler happened. I don’t expect Mahomes to do what Brady did in his 40s, and I think this was his only good shot at the three-peat, and it hurts to not make that happen.

But no one knows where things go from here. Mahomes is only going into Year 9 and he’s already 3-2 in Super Bowls. He has time on his side, and the dynasty isn’t over until someone actually dethrones them with their own 3+ ring run. But they are going to have to play better when they get this far again. This was unacceptable, and it’s not about any one person.

The Chiefs will take a breather and start the process all over again for the 2025 season. I’ll do the same, and I have to admit I’ve been looking forward to the offseason and a little more down time as this has been a year from hell. The three-peat was actually a great source of escapism for me and something to follow along with throughout this season.

Going back to last April:

I’ve lost one of my oldest friends to suicide after an online mob used cancel culture against him much like one tried to do to me, so that made it hit even harder.
My neighbor was murdered (along with her friend) in her house by her own son after weeks of shooting incidents and threats from him that the police knew and did nothing about.
I lost my only uncle to cancer in December.
Just this week, my mom’s best friend and someone I always imagined would be there for me was found dead in her apartment from a very sudden illness.
I don’t expect my two oldest cats to see 2026 (maybe not even the spring) as they’re both struggling with their health.

There’s something else I never got closure from that happened in 2023, but I’ve probably overshared enough as is.

I just feel like I’m stuck in a Charlie Kaufman screenplay, and my world keeps getting smaller, darker, and has been surrounded by death for the last year. Throw in Trump and President Elon trying to destroy the country right in front of our eyes on a daily basis, and I don’t see much reason for optimism or hope about the future.

But I got a 15th season in me, and who knows, maybe there’s a Malcolm Butler out there who will save it in the end. I’ll have some offseason projects, basketball coverage, and will be catching up on movies.

This might even be the week for me to watch Emilia Perez, because it’d only be the second-shittiest thing I’ve watched this week after last night’s game.

Until next time, enjoy your loved ones while you still can.

NFL Super Bowl LIX Preview

February 9, 2025 ~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

It’s been years since I’ve grinded away for hours on a Saturday to do a final big preview for the Super Bowl that I posted here. I get that done during the week at other sites now, but after sending in about 30 different pieces across four sites this week, I am wore out and ready for the game. I don’t know how much more I can say about Chiefs vs. Eagles.

I just want to see it already as I think it’s a fascinating matchup and obviously a ton of history/legacy at stake with the three-peat. It’s also historic with these teams meeting for the 4th year in a row, something that’s never been done in any AFC vs. NFC matchup.

Here are the key links to articles I’ve already done about Super Bowl LIX, so if you need to pass the time Sunday before kickoff, here you go:

NFL Super Bowl LIX Preview: Kansas City Three-Peat or Philly Special 2.0? – My near-6,000 word epic preview for the big game going over all the key matchups and what to watch for.
Scott’s Seven NFL Picks: Super Bowl 59 – My final betting picks of the season, including 2024’s best bet (with + odds) that’s hit 15 times in the 18 games Kansas City’s starters have played.
A Three-Peat in Super Bowl 59 Would Make the Kansas City Chiefs the NFL’s Best Dynasty – Simply put, a three-peat would give the Chiefs claim to the NFL’s best dynasty ever. A detailed look at how they stack up to past dynasties going back to the 1950s Browns.
Will Saquon Barkley End the 26-Year Super Bowl MVP Drought for Running Backs? – A look at Saquon’s historic season, the lack of quality running backs in recent Super Bowls, and how the Chiefs can slow him down.
NFL Fraud Alert Rating Explained and Why It Favors the Chiefs Over Eagles in Super Bowl 59 – I finally put together my write-up for my Fraud Alert Rating (FAR) metric, and it’s definitely leaning towards the Chiefs being the better pick in this game.
The Ultimate Guide to Super Bowl LIX (2025): Everything You Need to Know – General info on the big game, but I did write about each team’s journey to New Orleans this season.
Super Bowl LIX MVP Odds – Breaking down the best MVP picks (Mahomes, Hurts, and a +30000 defender).

Super Bowl LIX Final Prediction

It goes without saying I want the Chiefs to win this game. I only root for the Eagles when they played the Patriots. Going into these games, I usually find it very easy to doubt the Chiefs because they usually are playing a team that’s built better than they are, and I think that’s the case again.

In fact, I wanted to see if I could dig out something from my Super Bowl LIV preview (Chiefs vs. 49ers) from the first Super Bowl in the Patrick Mahomes era to see if anything applies here to Sunday night. Sure enough, there’s this:

There are a lot of areas that favor the 49ers, and I think historically the 49ers are the type of team more likely to win this game than a team like the Chiefs. There are just more ways for the 49ers to win while practically every positive outcome for Kansas City involves Mahomes playing really well. Then again, Mahomes is 9-0 in his career when his passer rating is under 90.0 because he’s the best at doing what the coach who succeeded Reid and preceded Shanahan used to say: f***ing score points.

But in doing the research the last two weeks, I was legitimately concerned at how much seemed to favor the Chiefs over the Eagles. You want to talk about turnovers? The Chiefs still win games when they lose the turnover battle, and if anyone’s due for a bad turnover night, it should be the Eagles (no giveaways in 5 games combined with +10 this postseason and the fact the Chiefs have never gone 4 straight games without one). No SB winner has ever failed to force at least 3 takeaways in the playoffs, so what are the Chiefs doing here? Get some turnovers Sunday night.

Then the Chiefs haven’t allowed a 90-yard rusher in 18 playoff games under Spagnuolo. They’re still 10-3 the last 13 times they’ve allowed a 100-yard rusher, which is a fantastic record in that split.

Then you look it up and the Chiefs have actually outrushed the Eagles head-to-head in 3 straight years. Who would have guessed that? Mahomes is 8-0 against Vic Fangio, he’s never lost indoors in the NFL, he’s 45-2 when he gets the ball out in under 2.8 seconds (which he’s done so well for the last month), the Eagles don’t make quarterbacks hold it that long, the Chiefs are better on special teams, they’re the more battle tested team, etc.

But you never want to feel too confident about a Super Bowl, because I think the last time I did that, Tampa Bay beat the Chiefs 31-9. Sure, there was the LOAT factor, but I misjudged the OL shuffle the Chiefs did that night.

Because when you look at the Chiefs’ 20 playoff games under Mahomes, they’re 17-3 with two losses in overtime. That Tampa Bay rout sticks out like a sore thumb, and if the Eagles win this game, you feel better about it being a blowout than a close game.

So, as the week wore on, I did start to doubt the Chiefs more.

I could see Barkley hitting a homerun in the first quarter again, maybe even the first play. Like as inevitable as Devin Hester taking the opening kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl 41 against the Colts. He’s just had that kind of season. But I don’t think the Chiefs are giving up 150+ yards to him on the ground and they can survive the long play touchdown. You’d rather give that up than consistent gains all night, which the Eagles haven’t been doing in the playoffs as Barkley’s success rate has dropped 9 points from the reg. season.

Then you start thinking the Chiefs have this 17-game winning streak in one-score games. When does that stop? The Eagles love to punch the ball out. Does someone like Kelce fumble in scoring range late in the game to end the three-peat? I had that vision, or maybe I was just thinking of the red-zone fumble he had last year against Philly earlier in the fourth quarter of a game the Eagles came back to win.

But I think the No. 1 issue to watch for the Chiefs is the offensive line. Does moving Joe Thuney to tackle weaken them too much at guard when the strength of the Eagles’ front seven is the interior line? If I’m Vic Fangio, I am moving Jalen Carter over to face new left guard Mike Caliendo, who is struggling. Don’t just leave him on Trey Smith all game. Own the Carter-Caliendo matchup to the point where maybe Andy Reid has to slide Thuney back to LG and play D.J. Humphries at LT. Shuffling the OL like this in a Super Bowl might cause some PTSD for Mahomes and the Chiefs. That’s what I’d do if I was the Eagles. You have to change things up in the Super Bowl. Make use of that extra week of prep work.

But I will say the numbers just aren’t that flattering for this pass rush of the Eagles. It’s not like 2022. But if the Chiefs can handle them up front, I think they play well. Then it’s the chess match on the other side with Spags likely blitzing Hurts, and likely sending corner blitzes. I thought that was interesting that Trent McDuffie has 15 blitzes in his last two games against the Eagles. That’s way above average for him. We’ll see if they do that again.

I looked at my old previews and I picked the Eagles two years ago (27-20) because I think I legitimately felt worried about that pass rush going up against Mahomes on the high-ankle sprain, and of course the Eagles offense had the edge against a young, middling KC defense. But I picked the Chiefs outright (by 4 points each time) against the 49ers in 2019 and 2023, so I didn’t do a reverse jinx or anything.

I’m not going to do one here either, because I don’t have any strong negative feelings about the 2024 Eagles like I did for say Buffalo, the No. 1 team on my Fraud Alert Rating metric. Eagles fans haven’t even given me any shit this postseason, and I’ve said this game is pretty much a coin flip and they have a very fair shot to win it. They are the team more likely to win it by multiple scores if it’s not a one-score game.

But the numbers I trust say the Chiefs (-1.5) usually win these matchups. They’re 6-0 in playoff games with spreads this small. They just find a way to win, and to come this close to a three-peat, I think they find a way to do it one more time. But I don’t expect it to be as high scoring as two years ago because I think both defenses are better and the game won’t have a ton of possessions.

Final: Chiefs 24, Eagles 21 (MVP: Patrick Mahomes)

2024 NFL Stat Oddity: Conference Championship Games

January 27, 2025 ~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

I said Sunday was going to be a history-making day in the NFL and it absolutely was. We’re already seeing history in the Super Bowl as Chiefs vs. Eagles will be the first ever AFC vs. NFC matchup to happen in four consecutive seasons (2021-24) thanks to two Super Bowl matchups.

But how about the other history we were tracking?

The Chiefs are the first team to reach the Super Bowl after repeating, replacing the 1990 49ers as the closest to ever complete a Super Bowl three-peat.
After an early fumble, the Chiefs’ record streak of games without a turnover was snapped at eight.
The Chiefs have won 17 straight one-score games now (NFL record).
Even though the Bills started the game with two near interceptions and fumbled the ball four times, they finished with no giveaways, meaning they had just 8 turnovers in a 20-game season (NFL record for any season and any 20-game span).
The Bills now hold the NFL record for 22 straight games without losing the turnover battle. They were previously tied with the 1950s Rams at 21 games.
The Five-Year Rule lives on as Sean McDermott and Josh Allen will not be winning a Super Bowl in Year 7 together, and now Allen will have to try matching Peyton Manning as the only Super Bowl-winning quarterback who needed more than five postseasons to reach a Super Bowl.
Jayden Daniels did not become the first rookie quarterback to reach the Super Bowl, but the 2024 Commanders are the only team to ever score at least 18 points in 20 consecutive games in one season.

I would have loved a Daniels vs. Mahomes Super Bowl, but all things considered, Chiefs vs. Eagles is the best possible matchup this season could have produced in Super Bowl LIX. You get the three-peat against the team the title reign started against two years ago in Super Bowl LVII. These have been the best teams in their respective conference over the last three years, and there’s the added twist of Saquon Barkley, who will have his 28th birthday on Super Bowl Sunday.

I’m pleased with the outcome, but I sure as hell wanted a better game early in Philly. At least we got a classic in Kansas City again.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Bills at Chiefs: Four Falls of Buffalo Gets a Sequel

It has to be frustrating to have a great team and still come up short because there’s always someone that is a little better. This happened to the Buffalo Bills when they lost four straight Super Bowls in 1990-93 with the NFC teams easily getting the best of them in the last three games before the salary cap was implemented in 1994.

They did a documentary on those losses called Four Falls of Buffalo for 30 for 30. But we might actually need a sequel as Buffalo’s 0-4 mark in the playoffs against the Kansas City Chiefs is arguably more infuriating since the games were usually closer than those Super Bowl losses. Sure, they haven’t been Super Bowls, but Buffalo damn well may have gone the distance in 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024 had it not been for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

How do you top a team that’s won 17 straight one-score games? How do you overcome a quarterback who is 17-3 in the playoffs and always seems to shred your defense no matter how well you do in the regular season? Remember, the Bills have won four years in a row in the regular season against the Chiefs, including multiple games in Arrowhead.

Yet, here we are again with the Bills coming up short in a 32-29 classic that again went down to the wire. I think I’ll jump around some different storylines instead of doing a sequential recap.

Chiefs Save Their Best for the Playoffs Again

The Chiefs hadn’t scored 21 points in any half all season, and yet they did it in this game. The Chiefs hadn’t scored more than 30 points in any of their last 28 games. They hadn’t topped 31 points in their last 36 games, and yet they scored 32 in this game on just nine drives, and they ran out the clock on that final possession.

It just seems like no matter what the Chiefs do against Buffalo in the regular season, they’re able to turn it on in the playoffs against Sean McDermott’s defense.

The versatility of this team is key. In Week 11 in Buffalo, Mahomes never ran the ball once. In this game, his mobility was apparent from the opening drive, and the Chiefs had great success with RPOs – save for one fumbled exchange between Mahomes and Pacheco that broke the team’s record streak without a giveaway – as Mahomes read the field well the whole game with quick decisions.

But his legs were key again with over 40 rushing yards, two touchdowns scored, and he made it look effortless. Kansas City was all in on Travis Kelce against Houston, but he only had 2 catches for 19 yards in this game, shades of what the Bills did to him in Week 11. Instead, Mahomes found JuJu for 60 yards on the offense’s two longest plays that were both quick decisions over the middle. Even Samaje Perine had the game’s fifth-longest gain (17 yards) to put the game away on third-and-long in the 4-minute offense.

The Chiefs just do whatever is necessary to win the style of game they find themselves in. The people who said this team couldn’t win a shootout with Buffalo this year were wrong again. The Chiefs tend to dictate how these games go. Not Buffalo.

Can’t Ever Have Enough Good Corners

Injuries will probably come up as an excuse again for why McDermott’s defense failed and made the Chiefs look greater than usual. They were without safety Taylor Rapp, but I don’t remember when he turned into Ed Reed incarnate.

Then there’s the case of corner Christian Benford. He was carted off with a concussion in last week’s game. You know what the NFL is like in the post-2022 Tua Tagovailoa concussion protocol era. If you see a player that bad off after a concussion on a Sunday, he shouldn’t be playing the next Sunday.

But the Bills somehow got him on the field for this game, and they may have jeopardized his chances to get back on one any time soon. He took a hit to the head (friendly fire) early in the game and had to be carted off again, even strapped down with the seatbelt in the cart. It was a scary sight and something that should get a third-party investigation into the handling of clearing him.

With Benford out early, the Bills were stuck playing Kaiir Elam for more snaps, and the Chiefs attacked him frequently as teams often do when this happens to a secondary.

But I’m not going to feel bad for Buffalo here, because it’s a lesson that you can never have enough good corners. Elam is not a street free agent they signed a week ago for depth either. They used a 2022 first-round pick on this guy just two picks after the Chiefs drafted Trent McDuffie. Advantage Chiefs. Elam hasn’t been good and he didn’t help this game when they needed him to come up big.

Xavier Worthy: My Bad

Speaking of Kansas City draft wins over Buffalo, I have to eat some crow on Xavier Worthy. While I still believe Ladd McConkey would have been more unstoppable in this offense, Worthy has developed into a solid player who is more than just a gimmicky speed and gadget player. He attacks the ball down the field now, and he showed his skills on a 26-yard grab in the second quarter to prevent an interception and he also scored a touchdown on a very fine night where the veterans (Kelce, Hopkins, Hollywood) didn’t do much.

Of course, people called the 26-yard catch a controversial call for the Chiefs. First, there was a holding penalty on the Bills, so it would have been a first down anyway. Second, I think they got the call right with the rule change years ago that the ball is allowed to touch the ground as long as you maintain control. I don’t see where Worthy ever lost control of it as he gained possession from the DB, and in that situation, the offense gets the catch. Legit call.

But let’s say they called it incomplete. Then the Chiefs still have a first down at the Buffalo 24 with under 3:00 left in the half. Who’s to say they still don’t score a touchdown on that drive with the way they were going up and down the field all night? They may have even scored it with less than 1:55 left like they did, and that would leave less time for the touchdown that the Bills got to make it 21-16 going into halftime.

That sequence was also amusing as the Bills took the extra point off the board to go for a 2-point conversion from the 1-yard line. I don’t mind the decision to go after the penalty. But the Chiefs plugged the gap on the left where they knew Allen was going to run, and they stopped the play.

Erratic Allen Not So Automatic on the Sneak

I don’t think the game does much of anything to change the legacy for Josh Allen. He came in winless against the Chiefs in the playoffs with some close calls, and he went out winless with another close call in a game he briefly had a fourth-quarter lead in.

There were enough good plays to say he battled and gave them a chance, and he didn’t make a huge mistake with the game on the line. But it was far from his best game against the Chiefs, and he started it poorly with two throws that could have been intercepted on the opening drive alone.

Allen also fumbled 3 times on the night, but somehow the Bills recovered all 5 fumbles in this game (4 of their own, one unforced error by the Chiefs on the RPO). They’ll finish the season +17 in fumbles, an absurd number that has to regress next year.

But I did get the sense early that Allen was nervous in the biggest game of his career. There was a three-and-out in the second quarter before the big Worthy catch where Allen threw a poor 2nd-and-10 pass to Curis Samuel, which was dropped as he had to reach down to get it. He should have caught it, but if Allen threw it in stride, that’s a huge gain. Big miss there.

But Allen’s bread and butter on the short-yardage run was gone in this game. In fact, he was stuffed 3 times on crucial sneak plays, the most in any game since 2016.

Josh Allen has been stuffed short of the line to gain by the Chiefs on three QB sneaks so far tonight, the most run stuffs by a defense against sneaks in a game in the NGS era (since 2016). https://t.co/osz8m69VUi
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 27, 2025

Remember, the Ravens stuffed him last week on a big third down when he considered pitching the ball back on the play. Buffalo fans assured me Allen was automatic in these spots, but this postseason paints a different story. Incredible job by the Chiefs on defense on those plays.

The big one came on 4th-and-1 at the Kansas City 41 with the Bills up 22-21 with 13:01 left to play. Allen tried to go left on the Tush Push, but the Chiefs stood him up and it was ruled short on the field. The ruling on the field stood after video review with a turnover on downs.

I think what happened here is the Chiefs were saved by Chris Jones obstructing the view of the ball by standing right down the camera line from the key angle. You might be able to reasonably conclude that Allen probably had the ball to the 40, but there’s no visual evidence that he had the ball break that line. You see Allen but not the ball on the most shared shot of this.

WOW: THE REFS RULES JOSH ALLEN SHORT ON THIS PLAY.

Turnover on downs, and #Chiefs ball.

The broadcast disagrees with the refs, saying that Buffalo converted it.

👀
pic.twitter.com/77NrcwZjt5
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 27, 2025

Tough break for the Bills, but they were terrible on those short-yardage runs all night. I’m also not sure if James Cook was injured or what, but he deserved more than 13 carries after looking good in the second half.

The Chiefs Are Closers

After taking over on the 4th-and-1 stop, the Chiefs were surgical on another touchdown drive to regain a 29-22 lead after converting their first 2-point conversion of the season if I heard correctly.

But the Chiefs had some defensive lapses in this one despite playing well at times. They let Mack Hollins beat them deep a few times, and that led to another touchdown on a 4th-down play where Samuel was left wide open in the end zone to tie the game at 29.

The Chiefs were marching right into a first-and-goal, and just when you thought we’d see a flurry of a finish like the 13 Second Game, the Bills sacked Mahomes immediately on a first-and-goal, causing a failure on that revamped left side of the line.

Was that finally going to catch up to the Chiefs? Then with Harrison Butker coming out for a 35-yard field goal with 3:37 left, I jokingly predicted the other day he’d miss a 35-yard field goal. That was in my head for sure at the time as I could see him missing and the Bills making on the other end with 0:00 left to win 32-29.

But Butker was perfect on the kick, right down the middle. While this would have been a great time for the Chiefs to force the first non-QB fumble of the season for Buffalo (or any turnover), they instead cranked up the heat on 4th-and-5. Spagnuolo brought a blitz and Allen did his best to throw up a pass for Dalton Kincaid. He absolutely had a shot at a diving catch that could have lived in playoff lore, but instead he couldn’t make this play:

The refs called this incomplete. #rigged pic.twitter.com/rrbamm9dcW
— Andy Holloway (@andyholloway) January 27, 2025

There was still 1:54 left, and Pacheco ran out of bounds to stop the clock on a nice 2nd-down pass from the Chiefs for a first down. But it got to 3rd-and-9 at the Buffalo 35, which is no man’s land in this situation with 1:35 left. Do you risk an incompletion to stop the clock? Risk a sack to lose the FG opportunity? Do you even want to kick the FG and go up 6 with that much time left?

Tough call, but the Chiefs made the right call, and Mahomes found Samaje Perine for a 17-yard gain out in the flat to send the Chiefs right back to the Super Bowl for an unprecedented three-peat opportunity.

That whole drive I was waiting for a running back to fumble to recreate the 1990 Roger Craig fumble moment in San Francisco that led to New York’s upset win. With the way Buffalo’s fumble luck was in 2024, you never know. But the Chiefs didn’t stumble, and they again put a team away in a one-score game for the 17th time in a row.

Unbelievable stuff from a historic team that is one win away from the ultimate history. Season on the line, there’s no quarterback you want more than Mahomes.

Highest QBR in a Conference Championship Game or Super Bowl since 2018

1. Patrick Mahomes – 97.7 vs. 2019 TEN
2. Patrick Mahomes – 96.3 vs. 2022 PHI 🏆
3. Patrick Mahomes – 94.3 vs. 2020 BUF
4. Patrick Mahomes – 91.3 vs. 2023 BAL
5. Brock Purdy – 88.5 vs. 2023 DET
6. Patrick…
— Scott Kacsmar (@ScottKacsmar) January 27, 2025

Final Thoughts

We’ve reached the end of our show where I guess I’m supposed to jump into my Bill Maher-style monologue (less smarmy about it) where I pat myself on the back for being right about Buffalo still not having what it takes to get over the Kansas City hump in the AFC.

And you’re probably wondering how I could say that when I picked the Bills to win 27-24 the night before. Yeah, but if you look closely, I also spelled out “THREEPEAT” with the first letter of each paragraph.

I did a reverse jinx on Buffalo, something I’ve been doing for 18 years (ever since it worked for the 2006 AFC Championship Game) because I grew tired of picking the team I wanted to win and seeing them lose the game. So, I get to either enjoy a correct prediction or enjoy the actual outcome to games like this.

I also said this was a coin-flip game, and it basically was – tied at 29 with 6:15 left. As usual, the Chiefs closed, and the Bills didn’t make the plays to win the game or force overtime.

Buffalo had a very good year, but I trust my eyes, and I trust my numbers. Earlier this week, I introduced some numbers on my Fraud Alert metric, which I’ll be sharing more of before the Super Bowl. It had the Bills as by far the No. 1 misleading team this year based on turnover margin, field position, and strength of schedule. The Chiefs were only 17th, producing one of the biggest mismatches in my Fraud Alert Rating (FAR) system since 2002.

Well, I can tell you now that the teams with the higher FAR in the 11 biggest mismatches since 2002 are now 2-9 in the playoff meetings. Even better, I can tell you that in the 21 playoff games since 2002 with a spread of 0-to-2 points, the team with the higher FAR is now 6-15 (.286). That’s right. The team with the higher fraud alert won just 28.6% of the playoff games with the tiniest spreads, and you better believe this applies to Super Bowl LIX too.

When Bills fans tried to pump up Josh Allen by telling me that Mack Hollins is his WR1 (he wasn’t but he was better than Amari Cooper and Keon Coleman on Sunday)), I laughed it off, thinking maybe that’s a bad thing if you’re relying on Mack Hollins to be a big producer in your offense. Maybe it’s a bad thing that Dalton Kincaid’s numbers regressed so badly in his second year, or that Cooper hasn’t really done much since the trade.

Maybe “beating both No. 1 seeds” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when you’re only 2-3 against playoff teams in the regular season.

Maybe “scoring 30 in regulation” as they liked to bring up as a shot at the Chiefs doesn’t mean much if you can’t keep most good teams under 30 points. Maybe it doesn’t mean much if you’re scoring 30+ against the likes of the Titans, Jaguars, Jets, Colts, and Dolphins.

Maybe it’s not a good thing if your team doesn’t have a single fourth-quarter comeback win this season, nor is it a bad thing that the Chiefs now have six of them as Mahomes tied the single-season record with his eighth game-winning drive Sunday. Still think they’re the 2022 Vikings?

Your quarterback didn’t win MVP, your team didn’t get the top seed, and you didn’t beat the Chiefs again in the playoffs. Close but no cigar. Only Brady and Burrow have smoked that one for getting past the Chiefs in the playoffs.

I’ve said it would be statistically improbable for the likes of Allen and Lamar to never at least reach a Super Bowl. I stand by that. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Allen and McDermott blew their best shot in 2021 because of 13 Seconds, and that should have been their Super Bowl year.

Instead, it’s set the AFC on this butterfly effect where we pretend the Bengals are the team to beat only to see them be irrelevant unless Lamar gets hurt, the Ravens always choke in the playoffs, and the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill, built up the defense, and keep winning one-score playoff games because Mahomes gets big moments out of JuJu, MVS, and some rookies.

Allen had his moment in 13 Seconds by finding Gabe Davis again, but the Bills still found a way to lose, and they frankly haven’t topped that moment in the playoffs ever since.

But that’s why Mahomes and the Chiefs are in their own tier, and the Bills are just the best-looking, ringless bridesmaid in the AFC.

Commanders at Eagles: Double Nickel Boys Run Wild on Washington

I’ll start by saying it’s almost impossible to beat these Eagles if the good version of Jalen Hurts shows up. I saw the knee bend against the Rams last week, and I thought that’d actually be problematic this week. Silly me. Hurts looked mobile and was as good as he’s been in any game this season.

Then when you throw in his receivers getting early production, Saquon Barkley hitting another 60-yard homerun on the first snap, and the Commanders fumbling it three times again just like they did in Week 16 to screw over their rookie quarterback, you end up with a 55-23 smackdown, the most points ever scored in a Conference Championship Game by one team.

I thought Jayden Daniels could be the one rookie who would get to a Super Bowl by producing a different outcome. In a way, he did stand out as he played better than any other rookie has in a conference championship game where rookies are now 0-6 since 1970. I hope he has more deep playoff runs in his future, because it would be insane if the closest he ever came was this year in a game where his defense allowed 7 rushing touchdowns and his skill guys put the ball on the ground three times early.

Daniels didn’t turn it over until he was down 25 points with 5:00 left. But the other Washington turnovers were very costly. Dyami Brown coughed up a fumble trying to get centimeters more YAC, leading to a short field and 14-3 lead for the Eagles. The Commanders could have scored before halftime to make it 20-20 or at least 20-15, but a fumbled kickoff led to another touchdown and 27-15 deficit at the half.

The real killer was the final minute of the third quarter. Washington was down 34-23 and driving at midfield with a first down. Austin Ekeler became the third skill player to put the ball on the ground for Washington as the Eagles are really good at forcing those fumbles. That led to the absurd sequence to start the fourth quarter of six straight attempts to do the Tush Push from the 1-yard line finally resulted in a touchdown run for Hurts, who scored three times just like Barkley on the day.

But it was the announcement that the refs could award a touchdown to Philadelphia if the Commanders kept jumping over the line before the snap in their effort to go all Troy Polamalu and stop the Tush Push.

I mean, that’s probably not a bad rule to have in case of emergency, but the whole thing looked ridiculous and I have really come to despite the Tush Push. Just get rid of it already and go back to normal quarterback sneaks. Washington should have called the refs’ bluff too — go figure, it was Ed Hochuli’s son – and made them award the Eagles a touchdown. I’d love to see that in the stat sheet and how that dynamic works.

But yeah, it was a rough outing for the Commanders in a 55-23 loss. I think the only way they win the game is if they were +4 in turnovers (or just +3 in fumbles lost). Even without the turnovers, they still never showed a real answer to stopping Philadelphia’s offense. Even Will Shipley came in for Saquon and ripped off a 57-yard run before scoring a touchdown.

The Eagles had 11 drives, scored 8 touchdowns, missed one early field goal, and punted twice in the third quarter. Yeah, it wasn’t just about the turnovers even if that definitely made things worse for Washington’s chances.

So, that one was a dud but still an incredible turnaround season for the Commanders. I’m sure Daniels will be a trendy MVP pick for 2025, and I may even drink some of the Kool-Aid if they make some free-agent splash signings to give him stronger weapons and build up that defense.

But the Eagles are still the class of the NFC East, and they really have been the best NFC team over the last three years despite having a caricature of a head coach. We’ll see if they can solve the Chiefs in two weeks.

Next two weeks: Two weeks of hyping up the final game of the season. I’ll have plenty of Super Bowl articles next week. This week, I’m continuing with Part 5 of my LOAT series, looking at the playoff luck for Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. I’m also going to do a bigger presentation on my Fraud Alert Rating metric. The Chiefs just have to win one more game for that to look as solid as possible.

NFL 2024 Week 1 Predictions: Home Favorites Edition

September 7, 2024 ~ Scott ~ 1 Comment

It’s always one of the longest weeks of my year to get ready for Week 1 of a new NFL season. I thought I put together some well-reasoned 2024 season predictions with the Green Bay Packers becoming the latest NFC flash in the pan to reach the big game.

After one game last night in Brazil, I fear my vision might be cooked. Nothing’s getting me out of bed Saturday until I can get at least 6 hours of sleep after this long week, but I hate the thought of waking up to see “Jordan Love out for season”. He was injured (ankle or worse) in the final seconds of a 34-29 loss that didn’t make the Packers look ready for the next level.

It didn’t make the Eagles, my NFC East pick, look like much either. But I like to think the poor field conditions caused a lot of the bad plays by both teams. But even before he was injured, Love looked erratic and inaccurate like he did early in 2023. Hurts made some really boneheaded plays all night, and even the Tush Push failed multiple times as he struggled with his new center. I guess Jason Kelce was pretty damn important.

But again, you like to think both teams can move on and will play on better fields going forward. Just a sloppy Week 1 game on a soccer field in South America. But in Green Bay’s case, we don’t know if they have to move on with signing Ryan Tannehill or something like that, because they sure as shit aren’t going anywhere with Malik Willis starting games. I just hope it’s a high-ankle sprain and Love can be back in a couple of weeks.

Guess I’ll just have to wake up and face the dread of what the news will be there. Is this what happens when I finally pick the Packers for the first time in 14 years to win the Super Bowl? Yikes.

This Week’s Articles

Again, be sure to read my final predictions and records here on the blog.
I also made a bunch of 2024 picks for awards, division winners, wild card teams, and Super Bowl teams at 365Scores, which also has links to all 32 of my detailed team previews, concluding with 7300 words on the Chiefs’ 3-peat quest.
Scott’s Seven NFL Picks – Week 1: Hurts’ failure on the Tush Push late in the game already blew my PHI-GB pick, but I have six more picks and parlays in here, including an upset winner, an over, an interception parlay, and the Houston receiver I like.

NFL Week 1 Predictions

I’ve been doing this so many years that I should have been adding the year in the title as to not create so many dupes with the URL. Whoops. But here’s where I’m at for Week 1.

Remember, Week 1 is not the time to go crazy. So much uncertainty and new things to learn.

One thing I love this year is the overs, and they’re already 2-0. We’ve had unders being profitable 3 years in a row, and I think we see more scoring this year. It’ll help if teams are just going to do touchbacks on the dynamic kickoff and give up the 30-yard line to start most drives.

But what stood out to me with this schedule in Week 1 is that 14 of the 16 games have a home favorite. Granted, Packers-Eagles was played on a (shitty) neutral field, but the only road favorites are the Texans and Vikings, and I like the Giants to upset the Vikings since I’m not sure when else they’ll be able to win this year.

But this is a ton of home favorites in Week 1. The 2021 season only had 9 home favorites and they were 2-7 ATS. I wanted to pick more underdogs ATS, but here’s why I struggled to do so:

Justin Fields might start for the Steelers since Russell Wilson’s calf is acting up, and you know I think the worst of Fields. The Steelers may still lose by 3 points and cover, but I’m not trusting them this week in Atlanta to score enough.

I think Miami plays its best under Mike McDaniel in September, and they have better weapons than the Jaguars and I just expect them to cover 3.5.

I wanted to go Patriots +7.5 since I think Jacoby Brissett could surprise people with competitiveness, the Bengals are a bit overrated as usual, and they have injuries at WR. However, I also have my narrative that the Patriots are going to be terrible under Jerod Mayo this year, so even if the Bengals stumble to a 24-16 win, that’s good enough to cover.

Carolina is another team I’d like to pull the trigger on at +3.5 in New Orleans, but I need to see it first from Bryce Young and Dave Canales.

I absolutely can see the Cardinals upsetting Buffalo (-6.5) with the takes going wild about trading Diggs, letting the Chiefs get Worthy, leaving Josh Allen without weapons, etc. I can see it. But on the other hand, I see a weak Arizona roster on defense, the Bills should still play good defense, and we know Buffalo wins a lot of games in blowout fashion. So I can’t trust Arizona on the road yet.

A statement win for Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers instead of choking or barely hanging on against the Chargers is my expectation this week. Couldn’t go there even though we know the Chargers are always up for some Chargering. But hopefully that’s a new era starting.

Then I think the other rookie QBs are in tough spots on the road with Bo Nix facing a new Mike Macdonald defense and Jayden Daniels on the road against Todd Bowles. Not liking those matchups even if I don’t think either game is necessarily a blowout.

Can the Rams win in Detroit? Sure, it was 24-23 in January. But this is just my narrative that I think Detroit looks better defensively, they force Stafford into some mistakes, and they are up 5-8 late to get the cover.

Then on Monday night, who knows what to expect from Aaron Rodgers with the Jets? Try lasting a full drive for starters. But we know the 49ers have been a real nemesis in his career, especially when the 49ers are a great team, which they still should be this year. So, I just can’t trust the Jets in that one right now.

Definitely excited to see what happens this week. Not a ton of great games on Sunday, but a lot of interesting matchups to start figuring out what we’re going to see this year.

I’ll be posting a grid of picks for the last 14 games on Twitter late Saturday night.

2024 NFL Predictions

September 4, 2024 ~ Scott ~ 3 Comments

Going into my 14th season of NFL coverage, I would just once like to say I predicted that year’s Super Bowl winner correctly before the season. Seven times I ended up getting a Super Bowl team right, but all seven times I managed to have the wrong game outcome.

Just my luck. I probably couldn’t predict seven coin flips in a row but I managed that.

But I’m on a three-year drought of not getting any Super Bowl teams right. Last year, I thought I had something cooking with Ravens over Cowboys as it was a year set up beautifully for Baltimore with the No. 1 seed and the best defense. Even Dak Prescott had arguably his best year and the Cowboys were blowing out scrubs left and right. The Ravens were blowing out a lot of good teams, so maybe it’d work out.

But we know what happened in January. The same thing that always seems to happen for the Cowboys (since 1996) and for the Ravens with Lamar Jackson. I won’t be revisiting that matchup anytime soon.

Is 2024 a layup with the Kansas City Chiefs going for a historic three-peat with a roster that’s quite arguably better than their last two teams? Are they just inevitable as long as their core is intact? We’ll see.

The three-peat is clearly the No. 1 story this season. But my vision for this year’s narrative has been on my mind since February. One fanbase will be happy to see I’m picking them for the first time here, but don’t get too excited when you look back at my track record of picking the ultimate winner.

Right Super Bowl team, wrong Super Bowl outcome.

2023 NFL Predictions: Ravens over Cowboys
2022 NFL Predictions: Bills over Buccaneers
2021 NFL Predictions: Buccaneers over Chiefs
2020 NFL Predictions: Chiefs over Cowboys
2019 NFL Predictions: Rams over Chiefs
2018 NFL Predictions: Falcons over Steelers
2017 NFL Predictions: Patriots over Seahawks
2016 NFL Predictions: Seahawks over Patriots
2015 NFL Predictions: Seahawks over Colts
2014 NFL Predictions: Seahawks over Broncos
2013 NFL Predictions: Broncos over Falcons
2012 NFL Predictions: Cowboys over Ravens

My 2023 NFL predictions were the second-most accurate I’ve done since 2013. I’m proud of what I came up with for the AFC where I nailed the Ravens as a 13-4 No. 1 seed, nailed the Bills finishing No. 2 ahead of No. 3 Kansas City, and also had the No. 7 Steelers with a 10-7 record. A perfect 4-for-4 on those picks even if I had no clue Mason Rudolph would be leading the playoff charge for the Steelers at the end there.

Of course, my other picks flopped in the AFC as 2023 was just a brutal year for quarterback injuries. Trevor Lawrence got a little banged up late in the season and never won another start after that. The Jets lost Aaron Rodgers on opening night to a torn Achilles, and Joe Burrow neither started (calf) nor ended (wrist) the season healthy. That killed those picks, and I really didn’t see Houston coming so fast. Much more on them later.

My theme for 2023 was uncertainty. This year, it’s MOGA: Make Offense Great Again.

We can blame 2023 on a quarter of the league’s starting quarterbacks going down with a season-ending injury (shades of 2017). Hopefully, that means regression to the mean in 2024, and we see fewer serious injuries. We already lost rookie J.J. McCarthy in the preseason and are stuck with Sam Darnold in Minnesota, but they never really factored into the big picture of 2024 anyway.

But for as much as people try to pretend the NFL has turned into the (classic) Pac-12 with offense, that’s simply not the case. Ever since the 2020 COVID year with the empty stadiums led to record-setting offensive numbers, we continue to see a decline.

In fact, points and yards have decreased 3 years in a row in the NFL, which has only happened one other time since the 1970 merger. Since 2022, teams are scoring just under 22.0 points per game, which hasn’t happened in consecutive years since 2006-07.

If you bet the under in every NFL game, you would have been profitable (better than 52.38%) in each of the last three seasons. So, let’s look for more points this year, more touchdowns, and more comebacks.

After a historic 2022 season for comeback wins, things regressed to the rates we’ve seen in recent seasons. But we still went from 85 comebacks in the fourth quarter to 68 last year. More games were early runaways as 73.7% of the teams who led after the first quarter in 2023 won the game, up from about 60% in previous seasons.

Besides regression and better quarterback health, what else could facilitate more scoring? Let’s see what this new dynamic kickoff does. I was skeptical of it from the preseason, but when I crunched the numbers, 26.0 yards per kick return would be the highest season in NFL history. Touchbacks in the end zone can still happen, but the ball will go to the 30 instead of the 25. There should also be about triple the number of returnable kicks from 2023’s touchback fest.

Add that together and you get better starting field position for the league, which should improve scoring. May not help with the yardage numbers, but we’ll see what happens.

More offense, fewer blowouts. That’s what I’m looking for this year. I also am taking a bold approach in counting on two teams with quarterbacks who have only been a starter for one season to move into the elite class this year. If they got an early start on their success last year, I’m just trying to get there early in 2024 for what could be the start of something great.

But it’s definitely adding more risk than usual to my picks as things could always go badly there with disappointment. If all else fails, I’ll just back the three-peat as we all wait to see if the Chiefs make history.

This summer, I only did one full preview per team at 365Scores, but that project was heavy work night after night going back to July. I only finished with the Chiefs on Tuesday, and that ended up being a 7,300-word epic. Then I also wrote out 5,000 words on my NFL betting picks for the season (award winners, playoff teams, Super Bowl teams), so I’m not exactly looking to jump into 8,000 words here for this annual blog post of my final record predictions.

But I have a standard to uphold for myself, and this is still the only place where I post my final record predictions for each team. So, let’s get into it, and again, if you want more detailed analysis and writing about these teams rather than my 25th hour thoughts below, you have to go read the linked previews at 365Scores.

Note: Some of the over/under picks in these articles were subject to change as I only made my final record predictions over the weekend after going through the schedule. My final, official picks are as presented below.

AFC WEST

1. Kansas City Chiefs (13-4)

365Scores Preview: I looked at just how historic the Super Bowl three-peat would be, the new flaws the Chiefs had to deal with in 2023 that led to their most difficult regular season yet, and the subtle changes they made to emerge on top once again in the playoffs. I also tackled the myth that they’re beating up weak competition when the reality is they’ve done the best job of limiting their rivals from having championship success. The Chiefs only have the No. 4 scoring differential since 2019, but they are 6-0 in the playoffs against the teams (49ers, Ravens, Bills) ranked ahead of them. That’s how you end up with a dynasty and keep those teams ringless.

But another thing I talked about in the preview is the chances we haven’t seen the best Kansas City teams yet around Patrick Mahomes. If you make the offense faster and more efficient than last year, and if the defense can stay in the top 8 or so, then you might be looking at the 2024 Chiefs as their best team yet.

However, it’s still a team held together by its core pieces of Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and Steve Spagnuolo. That core covers up a lot of the flaws, and we’ll just have to see if letting L’Jarius Sneed go at corner comes back to haunt them if they face a team with better receiving talent that has a quarterback who can duel with Mahomes.

There are a couple out there I think, and they’re not the usual suspects. It’s time for some new rivals for the Chiefs to vanquish if they want to keep the throne for another year. This is probably the only great shot Mahomes will have at a three-peat, which would give him an edge as the first to do it in the hardest era to do it. It took 19 years just for a team to repeat, the longest drought in history. A three-peat is insane in this game.

So, that way even if Mahomes never wins a certain number of rings, he’d still have the three-peat as his ace in the hole. It’s such a huge opportunity for Kansas City.

2. Los Angeles Chargers (10-7)

365Scores Preview: Of the 8 new head coach hirings this season, Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers is my top pick. He makes history with Sean Payton and Andy Reid in the AFC West this week as this becomes a division where three coaches have won over 60% of their games. That’s never happened since the merger. He doesn’t have a roster as talented as the one he took over in 2011 in San Francisco, but he knows he has the quarterback in place with Justin Herbert.

I obviously think highly of Herbert, and more people would if they ever saw him get a legitimate defense. The 2023 Chargers had 5 lost comebacks, which I believe to be a single-season record in all of NFL history. That’s five games (three with Herbert) where they trailed in the fourth quarter, took the lead, and still lost. That’s maddening and so on brand for the Chargers.

I liked the draft picks of Joe Alt and Ladd McConkey instead of taking Malik Nabers at No. 5. But it sure would have been nice to keep Keenan Allen around. Definitely some young receivers to deal with, but I think Harbaugh and Herbert are going to figure it out and they should have a winning record this year.

3. Denver Broncos (6-11)

365Scores Preview: I am excited to see how Sean Payton fares with a rookie quarterback he can mold from Day 1 in Bo Nix. Go figure, he drafted someone who set a NCAA single-season record for completion percentage at Oregon. That was Drew Brees’ money stat in the NFL, but it would be hard for Nix to ever come close to the legacy of Brees in the NFL. Still, I think there’s some potential here and at least he looked confident in the preseason and led some scoring drives.

But still a lot of roster flaws here. A 6-11 record would actually be the worst of Payton’s career as he’s never done worse than 7-9 before. But I had to find wins for other teams and Denver just didn’t stand out enough on defense to give them the benefit of the doubt. The preview goes into how the 2023 Broncos had three different identities in one season.

We’ll see what Payton can cook up with Nix in a fresh direction after they swallowed $85 million in dead cap money to get rid of Russell Wilson. I still can’t believe how poorly that went these last two years.

4. Las Vegas Raiders (4-13)

365Scores Preview: I spent much of this preview questioning the hiring of Antonio Pierce, who was never a defensive coordinator in the NFL, lost a 3-0 home game indoors to the Vikings, relied on two defensive touchdowns in 7 seconds to upset the Chiefs in a game where they couldn’t complete a pass after the opening quarter, and then the Broncos gave up in Week 18 when they beat him. The 63-21 win over the Chargers was the team giving up on Brandon Staley after Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen were lost for the season.

I just don’t see it with Pierce, and it’s even worse when you saddle him with the least impressive quarterback situation in the NFL in 2024. Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell? What’s the plan there? Getting Deion Sanders’ son in 2025?

I hope Brock Bowers is legit at tight end, because elite tight ends are fun to watch. Don’t expect to see much this year though given the quarterback situation and Pierce’s likely one-sided coaching that will cater to the defense.

Yeah, they’ll probably win a few more games than this, but I’ll be damned if I could find them on the schedule. I already have them getting wins over the Rams and Jaguars.

NFC WEST

1. San Francisco 49ers (12-5)

365Scores Preview: What more can you even say at this point? They should have gone last in overtime on offense. Guess they’ll know better next time, but this team has to be close to running out of chances after not turning four recent NFC Championship Game appearances into a ring. They might get passed over by Green Bay this year in the NFC if they’re not careful. At least Brock Purdy showed his rookie season wasn’t a fluke. He didn’t lose that Super Bowl for them either. He just didn’t win it.

The division and their talent should keep them near the top again. But it’s getting a little stale and tiring with this team. Glad they finally ended the Brandon Aiyuk saga, the most annoying story of the offseason. Should have just paid him months ago. He’s their best weapon for the long term.

2. Los Angeles Rams (9-8)

365Scores Preview: I definitely missed on this team last year, but that’s because I had no expectations for Puka Nacua looking more like Cooper Kupp than Kupp did. Incredible rookie season for a fifth-round pick. I’d sneakily pick him for OPOY if I knew I could trust him to stay healthy and that Stafford wouldn’t still rely on Kupp so much.

But you lose Aaron Donald and that’s tough to replace. They also beat up on some not-so-great teams down the stretch last year after a poor start despite Puka’s hot start. I’m still not fully sold on this team and could see them finish 9-8 and have to see if the tie-breakers work in their favor or not. Remember, that 10th win last year was against San Francisco’s backups in a battle of backups where Carson Wentz of all people led a comeback win.

3. Seattle Seahawks (8-9)

365Scores Preview: A little dark horse team if rookie coach Mike Macdonald can get the defense up to par right away. But I think that’ll take at least a second season. Still, a better defense is exactly what Geno Smith and a talented offense needed the last two years to do better than 9-8 records that don’t always qualify for a playoff spot.

I’m not picking them to get it done, but I can at least understand what they’re cooking in Seattle if they do pull off a playoff year.

4. Arizona Cardinals (6-11)

365Scores Preview: I’m all for staying put at No. 4 and drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. I’m also down with the Cardinals winning a few more games than last year with what will hopefully be a full season from Kyler Murray, but the lack of defensive stars still bothers me here. In going through the schedule, the Cardinals became an easy choice for a loss when I felt they had to play a team with a better quarterback as I just didn’t trust that defense to win a shootout with Murray.

But I’m not against Jonathan Gannon yet or anything. Just don’t think the defensive rebuild is going that great.

AFC EAST

1. Buffalo Bills (11-6)

365Scores Preview: This could be one of the best division races we’ve ever seen as it’s legitimately between three teams. Everyone but New England, which is music to my ears.

In the end, I still put the Bills on top as I just trust Josh Allen more than I do a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers coming off a torn Achilles, an of course over Tua Tagovailoa. The Bills likely moved on from Stefon Diggs at the right time. But the receivers are young and raw, and I think you’re going to see the Bills struggle in some of those bigger showdowns with the Ravens, Chiefs, Texans, and more this year.

But I still think they are balanced enough and know how to win and won’t get swept by the Jets. They’re still capable of sweeping Miami too.

2. New York Jets (11-6)

365Scores Preview: Yeah, “This should be fun” he said last year. Aaron Rodgers lasted 4 snaps and we were treated to a ton of island games with Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle at quarterback. Real fun.

But I recycled a lot of the 2023 preview for 2024 since it feels like the same situation and questions, just a year older and more concerned about Rodgers’ health. We haven’t seen him play at a high level since 2021.

Yet, I find myself going with the optimistic approach that Rodgers will be good and the defense will still be great. They also upgraded the offensive line and should run the ball better. That combo sounds like enough to win 11 games against a schedule that is more balanced and forgiving than last year.

But the Jets are definitely one of the biggest wild cards in 2024 as you can see anything from 12-loss disaster to a No. 1 seed. Shit, maybe we’ll even see a Mahomes vs. Rodgers playoff game. About damn time.

3. Miami Dolphins (9-8)

365Scores Preview: My paper tiger team. Sure, they might have the fastest offense in history, but where does it go when they go on the road and play a good team? That’s 10 straight losses for Mike McDaniel on the road against a playoff team.

The Dolphins swept the Jets last year. With Rodgers back, I have that turning around, which is a big reason why I only have the Dolphins at 9-8. Is that enough for the wild card? We’ll see below.

4. New England Patriots (3-14)

365Scores Preview: I’ll be shocked if they’re not starting Drake Maye by Week 5. Jerod Mayo is in over his head, and yes, Bill Belichick the GM has a lot to do with the poor state of this team right now.

I have 3-14 as the worst record this year too, by the way. Should be fun to hear what Belichick has to say as a media member when this team comes up. Hard to be too critical, Bill. You left these cupboards bare.

NFC EAST

1. Philadelphia Eagles (11-6)

365Scores Preview: It’s one of my favorite stats that the NFC East has not had a repeat winner since the 2001-04 Eagles. Meanwhile, every other division has had at least two repeat winners in that time. I go through it in here why this has happened to the East, and it’s usually because of the shared quarterback talent in the division (no alpha for a long time), and injuries to those quarterbacks.

But you can also argue the 2023 Eagles had the greatest collapse in NFL history after a 10-1 start. No division title and no playoff win after a 10-1 start. But I go into why that was always fishy, why I was right to compare them to the 2022 Vikings when they were 10-1, and why I still think the streak continues as they steal the division back from Dallas this year with better coordinators.

The key is the home game late in the year against Dallas. These teams have been splitting home games with each other, and the Eagles get the big one late.

Also, I am curious to see that Tush Push without Jason Kelce at center, but something tells me it will still work well.

2. Dallas Cowboys (10-7)

365Scores Preview: The Cowboys more or less did what you expected them to do last year. Smashed the bad teams, split with the Eagles at home, and got smashed by teams like the 49ers and Bills. Lost a close one on the road to their paper tiger doppelganger from the AFC in Miami.

But everything was going fine until the playoffs when they fell behind 27-0 in the blink of an eye against Green Bay. That one floored me, and it’s a bad sign for this team that they’ve turned three straight 12-win seasons into a playoff win over a lousy Tampa Bay team in 2022 and that’s it.

So, I am soured on Dallas, but the preview has some interesting facts about why 2024 might be the last chance for Dak Prescott if he’s ever going to win a Super Bowl for Dallas. Either he or the coach should probably go if they fail this year.

3. Washington Commanders (4-13)

365Scores Preview: This would probably be more shocking than the RGIII year in 2012 if this team was good. But I just don’t see it this year with Dan Quinn and Kliff Kingsbury as the retread coaches getting another shot. Jayden Daniels had incredible numbers in 2023, but not so much in his first four college seasons. He’ll also have to prove he can stay healthy after taking some comically bad hits in college.

4. New York Giants (3-14)

365Scores Preview: What is the most shocking outcome possible for the 2024 NFL season? I might have to go with a legitimate breakout season from Daniel Jones. It’s Year 6 and I’m out. He had one of the worst Year 5 seasons ever in 2023, and he’s a quarterback coming off a torn ACL where his mobility is his best feature. It’s not a good fit, it’s not going to get fixed with Brian Daboll, and they should just admit a mistake (like Russ in Denver) and cut bait after this year.

Good draft pick of Nabers though. The next quarterback should love him.

AFC SOUTH

1. Houston Texans (13-4)

365Scores Preview: Yeah, I went big at 13-4. I think the Texans have the right stuff this year and their preview was one I was very much looking forward to writing. C.J. Stroud is my MVP pick as I loved his ability to lead the league in INT% and passing yards per game (first time that’s happened since 1970 John Brodie) as a rookie. Now you give him Stefon Diggs and possibly the best group of weapons in the league if Tank Dell stays healthy and takes a second-year leap. Stroud could spread the ball around and lead a No. 1 offense here if everything goes well.

But I also loved the move of Danielle Hunter for the pass rush. Don’t just settle with Will Anderson Jr. doing well as a rookie. He’ll get better too, giving them bookends to rush the passer with.

As I detailed in the preview, so many NFL teams that go to Super Bowls do it early in their runs. It only took two seasons for Don Shula and Dan Marino, Bill Cowher and Ben Roethlisberger, Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.

Stroud had one of the best rookie seasons ever. I think he has one of the best sophomore seasons ever, and he can wrap up MVP and possibly a No. 1 seed in December in those island games against the Chiefs and Ravens, the most important part of the NFL schedule this year with those teams playing 3 games in 10 days.

But just read the linked preview to fully understand why I’m high on Houston in 2024. They were only scratching the surface in 2023.

2. Jacksonville Jaguars (9-8)

365Scores Preview: I struggle with this team since I think they rode improbable comebacks and the Titans’ collapse to a division title in 2022. Then last year, they were 9-8 again and probably a better team had Trevor Lawrence not gotten injured against the Bengals. But I’m not a big Lawrence fan, and this preview goes into some interesting numbers that show how absurdly important completion percentage has been to him, and why throwing short might be the key to his success. It could also explain why Calvin Ridley just wasn’t his guy but he loves Christian Kirk and Evan Engram. That also could contradict giving him Gabe Davis and the rookie from LSU.

In the end, I landed on 9-8 again as I clearly have bigger plans for Houston in this division. But I do acknowledge the AFC South is a division where anyone could win this year. Nothing would surprise me on that front.

3. Indianapolis Colts (8-9)

365Scores Preview: Speaking of why anyone could win the AFC South, imagine if the Colts go from 9-8 and a red zone touchdown shy of the division title to hopefully getting a full, healthy season from Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor. They also drafted possibly the best edge rusher in the draft and a favorite for DROY (Laiatu Latu).

However, I’m not sold that Richardson can stay healthy as he was knocked out of three games with injuries on runs last year, and he’s going to probably run 100+ times this season if he can. At least they have Joe Flacco as the backup. But I also think Richardson is going to be an inconsistent player with a great highlight reel who misses some easy plays.

It should be a grind for the Colts, who haven’t won the division since 2014.

4. Tennessee Titans (7-10)

365Scores Preview: I like the table in this preview that looks at what happens when you get a second-year quarterback (Will Levis) and pair him with a rookie coach (Brian Callahan). Some good turnaround stories have happened this way, especially if the quarterback needs a boost after a struggle last year. The Titans fit that mold, and they really upgraded the offense around Levis. Not saying I love the additions of Tony Pollard and Calvin Ridley, but it’s more than just an aging DeAndre Hopkins and Derrick Henry like they had last year. They also got Tyler Boyd, so you’re talking about one of the better WR trios in the league, a key component for a Callahan offense coming from Cincy.

But I’m also curious to see if Levis dramatically brings down his ADOT, which led the league last year while Callahan’s quarterbacks had the two lowest figures for the Bengals. Not going crazy to pick a worst-to-first team here, but it’s one of the few chances of that happening this year if Levis were to have that 2017 Jared Goff type of Year 2 leap.

NFC SOUTH

1. Atlanta Falcons (10-7)

365Scores Preview: I hated the Michael Penix Jr. draft pick and still don’t understand it when you’re paying Kirk Cousins this much money in a winnable division. They should have gave him Rome Odunze, a new left tackle for the long term, or Dallas Turner/Latu instead. Having said that, I think the Falcons have a great schedule with an easy finish that will allow them to clinch the division title after a slow start to the year with Cousins coming off a torn Achilles.

Expecting big things from Bijan Robinson in this offense since I’m still not sold that much on Kyle Pitts or the receivers after Drake London. I also think hiring Raheem Morris over Bill Belichick was a mistake, but we’ll see what he does given another chance.

2. New Orleans Saints (9-8)

365Scores Preview: I spent this preview thinking we are overlooking the Saints, who became an afterthought after missing the playoffs last year despite giving Derek Carr the best defense of his career and the easy schedule living up to the hype. But the Saints finished strong in a way that usually bodes well for playoff success the next season. They’re basically the same team as last year, but a year older, and inching further to real cap hell.

But that still might be good enough for 9-8 again, and hopefully this time that’s enough for the playoffs. As I mentioned in the preview, it was really a blown 17-0 lead and missed clutch field goal in Week 3 in Green Bay that ruined the team’s season. Otherwise, we would be viewing the Packers and Saints very differently going into this year.

Also, the Saints were the only team in the NFL to not have a 4th-quarter comeback win in 2023 (playoffs included). Remember when that was Carr’s specialty? Let’s see some positive regression in that department this year to get to 9-8 again. More close wins should make up for any shortcomings they have as an aging roster.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-10)

365Scores Preview: Remember when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and basically brought the whole team back? That almost worked out for them in 2021. But I think doing it again in 2024 is a mistake when that roster has declined to the point where barely getting to 9-8 is all they can do to win the division title, and the division should be stronger this year.

Even if they get to 8-9 or 9-8 again, I think Tampa’s reign at the top of the NFC South ends this year.

4. Carolina Panthers (6-11)

365Scores Preview: This is the Tennessee team in the NFC this year. A second-year quarterback (Bryce Young) who really struggled with a rookie coach (Dave Canales) and better weapons beyond just Adam Thielen. Yet, while I loved the over 5.5 wins for Carolina, I initially gave them 5-12 as their final record. It was the last change I made to the picks to get them to 6-11.

I want to believe in the turnaround and that Young will be okay, but I need to see more first.

AFC NORTH

1. Baltimore Ravens (12-5)

365Scores Preview: Just once it’d be sweet to see a full, healthy season from both Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow so we can put this nonsense to rest. I’ve said the Bengals won the division in 2021 and 2022 because Jackson was injured in both Decembers and never played again those years. At the time of his injury, the Ravens were in first place both years. That’s just a fact.

That’s also my motivation for why I picked the Ravens to be a 13-4 No. 1 seed last year, which is exactly what they did. Now for this year, I’m not as optimistic about them going to the Super Bowl, but I can at least understand why it’d happen if it does. I think Derrick Henry is a perfect fit for what they do, but I’m very skeptical you can ride a back who will be 31 in January to a Super Bowl in this era. He’s also led the league in carries in 4-of-5 seasons, so the injury risk is higher.

Having said that, I think the Ravens, Chiefs, Texans, and Packers are the four most important previews I wrote this year. Definitely read this one if you want to see why the Ravens have struggled in the playoffs with Lamar. They try to be something they’re not in the playoffs. They can’t fall into that trap again if they’re ever going to get to a Super Bowl with Jackson and Harbaugh.

2. Cincinnati Bengals (11-6)

365Scores Preview: I had the Bengals at 11-6 last year and of course they started poorly and were never a real threat in the AFC. Joe Burrow needs to prove he can stay healthy, and he needs to increase his level of play. Show me more clutch moments in those tight games. Show me fewer sacks. He also has to get it done without Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd, though I agree it was time to cut bait with both. We’ll see how the in-house promotion goes with offensive coordinator, but I always say good quarterbacks get their OCs hired, bad quarterbacks get their coaches fired. Most do just fine with a coordinator change.

Still have one of the best wide receiver duos in the game as I expect Ja’Marr Chase will get a payday soon. But I am hesitantly picking 11 wins for a team that was 9-8 last year and was swept by Pittsburgh as that defense was kryptonite for Jake Browning, who led the league in completion percentage in Burrow’s absence.

But the return of Burrow and reversing that Pittsburgh sweep could essentially be the difference in these teams’ records this year.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (8-9)

365Scores Preview: I knew all offseason I’d likely have the Steelers straddling the line between 8-9 and 9-8 with history on the line as they try to tie the record with 21 non-losing seasons. But when it came time to go through the schedule, I have the Chiefs in Week 17 putting the nail in the coffin for the streak as they hand the Steelers their 9th loss, guaranteeing a losing record.

In the end, I just can’t buy the Diontae Johnson trade being a good idea, I don’t care for the hiring of Arthur Smith, and Russell Wilson just might be washed. He could end up getting benched in October a la Donovan McNabb as the Steelers see what they have with Justin Fields instead.

But I know Fields is in the running for the worst clutch quarterback of the 21st century, so those close wins the Steelers rely on to keep their streak going? Kiss them goodbye. At least Wilson can deliver some of those and keep the .500 record in striking distance.

But it’s just too hard to think this team rises above mediocrity this year. At the very least, we won’t be fooled again by the preseason like last year. The Steelers’ starting offense looked awful in August this time. Something tells me they aren’t holding back. Expect a ton of sacks no matter which quarterback plays.

4. Cleveland Browns (7-10)

365Scores Preview: I’ve said Deshaun Watson is the worst trade in NFL history, but he still has a chance to refute that. However, I’m not convinced he will with a team that lost some linemen, a good OL coach, and Nick Chubb is still on PUP. It didn’t take Baker Mayfield, Jacoby Brissett, or Joe Flacco this long to figure out Kevin Stefanski’s offense. What’s the holdup with Watson? I think he’s just washed, and I think his teammates are losing confidence in him.

There’s enough talent here to still flirt with the wild card, but I don’t think the Browns are anywhere near as successful as last season.

NFC NORTH

1. Green Bay Packers (13-4)

365Scores Preview: The youngest team to make the playoffs since 1977 will build on their hot finish and look like a top-tier team in 2024. We’ve already seen Matt LaFleur become the only coach to win 13 games in three straight seasons in 2019-21. He knows what he’s doing, and Jordan Love played at an MVP level down the stretch. I’m not fading a team that already beat Detroit in Detroit, beat the Chiefs, beat the Cowboys in the playoffs, and should have won in San Francisco if not for the rare 7-point comeback in the fourth quarter by the 49ers (rare for Kyle Shanahan teams).

I expect big things from the Packers this year, so definitely check that preview out for the full reasons why.

2. Detroit Lions (10-7)

365Scores Preview: I expressed my doubt in this preview of Detroit finishing the job it started last year. I just think 2023 set up perfectly for them with home games against the Rams and Buccaneers in the playoffs, then a San Francisco team that was a little vulnerable down the stretch with Deebo’s health and the defense not looking as elite. But to blow that 17-point lead the way they did, that was brutal, and a lot of it goes on Josh Reynolds’ drops and their inability to trust their kicker to make a field goal.

Reynolds is gone, but the kicking situation is still iffy, and I don’t think they have a great WR2 ready. Not that they really need one with all the other weapons they have. But I don’t see the offense getting even better this year, and that will be up to the defense for the team to move up a tier.

However, the Packers are my pick and I think that knocks Detroit down a peg to the wild card. I’m just not ready to crown the Lions as back-to-back division champs. They need to tighten things up defensively.

3. Chicago Bears (8-9)

365Scores Preview: Did a lot of research on Chicago again this offseason, concluding that Caleb Williams is walking into the best situation ever for a No. 1 quarterback pick. That’s why he’s my favorite pick for any award as he has the best odds to win OROY, but will it lead to a winning record as the Bears are favored for at over 8.5 wins?

I couldn’t quite get there as I still see the Packers and Lions as better teams in the division. I’m also not sold on Matt Eberflus as a coach, and while the offense should be better, I don’t expect the defense to be elite.

Remember, Andrew Luck is the only No. 1 pick at quarterback to win more than 7 games his rookie year. I think Caleb will be the second, but it’s an 8-9 record. Still, I’m excited about seeing him after how good he looked in the preseason.

But we’ve been fooled before with August football. Just look at Kenny Pickett and Sam Howell in 2023. But I really do believe the Bears finally landed on their franchise quarterback, and my preview goes to great lengths to explain the few chances they’ve had to replace Sid Luckman since the 1950s.

4. Minnesota Vikings (4-13)

365Scores Preview: I was already sour on the 2024 Vikings before J.J. McCarthy required season-ending surgery after one preseason game. I am not looking forward to Sam Darnold for a year, and thankfully the early schedule is so brutal that I doubt we’ll be talking up any Minnesota fool’s gold with a 3-1 start like the Panthers experienced a few years ago with Darnold before they finished 5-11.

But sure, it should be better for Justin Jefferson’s stats this year. Just keep feeding him the ball while you’re playing from behind most of the year. But it is a good opportunity for Kevin O’Connell to flex his coaching muscles if the offense can look semi-decent with Darnold in what should be his last chance to show he can start in the NFL.

PLAYOFFS

I was happy with most of my initial run through the schedule and getting things to add up to 272 wins. But after seeing I didn’t have many new playoff teams in the AFC, I made a change to drop Miami a game and move the Chargers up. I also happened to redo some of my 2023 picks with the Jets and Bengals winning 11 games as wild card teams.

AFC

1. Houston (13-4)
2. Kansas City (13-4)
3. Baltimore (12-5)
4. Buffalo (11-6)
5. NY Jets (11-6)
6. Cincinnati (11-6)
7. LA Chargers (10-7)

For those wondering, yes, I have Houston getting the No. 1 seed by virtue of beating the Chiefs at Arrowhead in Week 16, setting up some interesting dynamics for the playoffs.

I think this would be a fantastic bracket in January. You get a wild card round with all division rematches with Chiefs-Chargers, Ravens-Bengals, and Bills-Jets. How incredible would that be? I think that sets up a rematch of Ravens-Chiefs in the divisional round, but this time in Kansas City where the Chiefs do it again to Lamar.

While I did give the Bills the AFC East title, I’m going to pick Rodgers and his defense to win in the playoffs in the wild card round, setting up a Jets-Texans game. I have the Jets being some kryptonite to C.J. Stroud, the team he had the concussion against last year, and they use Sauce Gardner and that defense to complete a season sweep of the young Texans. Defense still wins in January. Another MVP crashes and burns.

But this sets up a Jets-Chiefs AFC Championship Game in Arrowhead. We finally get to see Rodgers vs. Mahomes, but like usual in this round, Rodgers doesn’t get it done on the road. Mahomes helps the Chiefs to a record fifth Super Bowl in the last six seasons and the three-peat is one game away.

NFC

1. Green Bay (13-4)
2. San Francisco (12-5)
3. Philadelphia (11-6)
4. Atlanta (10-7)
5. Dallas (10-7)
6. Detroit (10-7)
7. New Orleans (9-8)

The Saints sneak in at 9-8 this year, but don’t worry, they won’t be going on an epic run to host the Super Bowl. They’re going to lose in San Francisco, which loses out on the No. 1 seed thanks to a loss in Green Bay in Week 12.

Lions-Eagles could be a fun shootout, and I think I’ll back the Eagles at home. The Cowboys actually can win a road playoff game against the Falcons. I have some faith in that one.

That means the Eagles in San Francisco (BIG DOM REVENGE GAME) and Cowboys in Green Bay. Jordan Love shows he has that Rodgers way of owning the Cowboys in the postseason again. The Eagles come up short in San Francisco, setting up a rematch from last year but this time at Green Bay. LaFleur has struggled with Shanahan’s team so much, but I think the Packers get their revenge this time and complete a sweep of the 49ers to get to a Super Bowl.

SUPER BOWL LIX

It’s a rematch of Super Bowl I, a game where the 1966 Packers beat the Chiefs and won their second championship in a row. They followed it up with a third in Super Bowl II, completing the only official three-peat in NFL playoff history. Now it’s up to the 2024 Packers to defend that and stop the Chiefs in New Orleans.

You go back to 2021, Jordan Love actually made his first NFL start against the Chiefs when Rodgers was out with COVID. It didn’t go well, but the 13-7 final is the lowest-scoring game of Mahomes’ career with the Chiefs. Then when they met last year in Green Bay, Love outplayed Mahomes and was the only quarterback to score more than 24 points against the Chiefs. We know LaFleur got a 31-24 win over Reid’s Chiefs in 2019 too in a game Mahomes missed for injury.

What if the Packers just have the right stuff for beating the Chiefs? They have several talented receivers who can step up and attack that Kansas City secondary that is now just Trent McDuffie and some guys. You don’t know where the ball is going in any given matchup, and that’s the 2001-06 Patriots-like beauty of the Green Bay offense right now. Defenses don’t know who to double and Love can just pick his spots and expect the guys to produce.

But I’m not going to spend any more time talking about such a hypothetical. Let’s see if it happens, because it certainly makes the most sense of any matchup this year to me. The champs going for a three-peat against a team that beat them last year and nearly knocked out the 49ers last year too. It’s their time to move up a class, and beating the Chiefs in such a historic game would be one hell of an achievement for these Packers.

Love accomplishes what Rodgers couldn’t two weeks ago and beats Mahomes in this one with a late field goal as the kick finally goes in this time for Green Bay. Hell, maybe Harrison Butker will get so pissed on Kamala’s Inauguration Day that he makes a disparaging rant about women that even turns the Swifties against him so bad that he ends up choking on a game-tying field goal to the loudest boos you’ve ever heard just when you thought we were going to overtime for the second year in a row in the Super Bowl.

At least I’d have my angle for why the three-peat didn’t happen, and it wouldn’t be the real GOAT’s fault.

Packers 27, Chiefs 24 (Super Bowl MVP: Jordan Love)

TL;DR Version: The Chiefs want the three-peat about as much as I want the three-peat. But I know that statistically the odds should be against it, and I just have this vision for Green Bay being the latest flash-in-the-pan NFC team. The story would be incredible of them preventing the three-peat to save the legacy of the 1965-67 team the way Don Shula’s Dolphins protected the perfect season from the 85 Bears.

If the three-peat doesn’t happen, I already know who I hope I can lay it at the feet of…

Harrison Butker sees a woman on the chain gang instead of in the kitchen = shank GW FG, 3-peat over.
— Scott Kacsmar (@ScottKacsmar) July 9, 2024

Also, my predictions might be totally fvcked if the Texans and Packers both flop this year. But at least one should deliver for me. Emphasis on should.