{"id":18723,"date":"2021-08-31T04:34:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T04:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=18723"},"modified":"2021-08-31T04:34:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T04:34:08","slug":"7-bold-predictions-for-the-2021-22-nfl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/7-bold-predictions-for-the-2021-22-nfl-season\/","title":{"rendered":"7 BOLD PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2021-22 NFL SEASON"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we get into our division and Super Bowl predictions, it\u2019s time to rattle the very ground beneath our feet with some bold predictions for the upcoming NFL season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I do every year, it\u2019s important to define what a bold prediction actually is. Some people just don\u2019t get it. Saying a team that\u2019s an odds on favorite, even if they aren\u2019t THE favorite, is going to win it all isn\u2019t bold. Predicting a Los Angeles Rams vs Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl LVI doesn\u2019t make the cut. Saying Aaron Rodgers gets his second ring then moves on from Green Bay isn\u2019t bold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same thing with predicting a player like Ben Roethlisbeger is going to retire after the season? All signs are pointing that way. No one would be shocked to see it happen. Now, if Tom Brady hung it up, we would be stunned. But he won\u2019t, so that\u2019s a waste of a bold prediction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bold prediction should be a surprise, it should stir some controversy and, if everyone\u2019s plans and predictions actually come together, it should not happen. Picking a resurgent New England Patriots to win the AFC East isn\u2019t that bold of a prediction. Saying the New York Jets claim it over both the Patriots and Buffalo Bills? That\u2019s bold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t be doing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I have done is lovingly handcrafted especially for you this group of artisinal Seven Bold Predictions for the 2021-21 season and you can use these, if you agree with my Sherlock Holmsian elementary deductions to place some weekly and futures bets accordingly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s boldly predict where no man has predicted before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. THE DETROIT LIONS WON\u2019T WIN A GAME UNTIL HALLOWEEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Detroit Lions cleared house after last season and brought in former Los Angeles Rams Director of College Scouting Brad Holmes as their new general manager, the move put the NFL on notice that this wasn\u2019t the same old Motor City Mercats. Detroit would not be the lackluster, lazy and depressing organization they had been over the last, well, four decades or so. This was a new era for the Lions, marked by aggressive trades and a solid draft and a new head coach. There was a lot of well-deserved optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s all about to come crashing down. This isn\u2019t to take a dump on Holmes or Jared Goff or even Dan Campbell, who is probably the second worst head coaching hire of the offseason. It isn\u2019t because bringing in Anthony Lynn as their offensive coordinator might be the worst assistant coach hire of the offseason. OK, all those things do factor in, but it\u2019s mainly from their schedule, because it is brutal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of Detroit\u2019s first eight games, there\u2019s only one that they might actually be favored in when they host the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 17. Of course, that\u2019s based on the odds now. By the time that game actually rolls around, it could be a completely different story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They host the San Francisco 49ers Week 1. Week 2 is at the Green Bay Packers and in Week 3 they bring in the Baltimore Ravens. That\u2019s 0-3 and I don\u2019t think anyone outside of Dan Campbell would argue with me on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, they\u2019re at the Chicago Bears (Week 4), at Minnesota Vikings (Week 5), hosting the Bengals (Week 6) then at the Los Angeles Rams (Week 7). They\u2019re hosting the Philadelphia Eagles on Halloween and that\u2019s the game I think they might be able to win. But they\u2019ll still probably be underdogs. If Deshaun Watson is an Eagle and actually playing in the game? Forget it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Joe Burrow and the Bengals will be better than people think. Certainly better than the Lions. The rest of these teams, across the board, are all just flat out superior to Detroit in nearly every way (including their coaching staffs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detroit holds the inglorious distinction of being the NFL\u2019s first 0-16 team thanks to their hapless 2008 unit. I do think they\u2019ll win at least one game at some point, probably two or three, if for no other reason than the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers could be playing for nothing and resting starters in Weeks 17 and 18. But this is going to be a rough season, a full on slog. And you want to know what really sucks? Even if the Lions go 2-15, they\u2019ll still not get the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft because\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. THE HOUSTON TEXANS WILL BE THE NFL\u2019S FIRST 0-17 TEAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1978 the NFL expanded the regular season from 14 to 16 games. In spite of that, it took 30 years for an NFL team, the aforementioned Detroit Lions, to go 0-16. They were all alone in that for the next nine seasons until the 2017 Cleveland Browns achieved it as well, the perfect imperfect season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake, losing every game in the NFL is a legitimate feat. It should be impossible. The league has a worst-to-first draft, open free agency, a salary cap and, most importantly, a salary floor. That means a team can\u2019t cheap its way to sucking. Everyone has to give winning a try. Which is why it\u2019s such a big deal to fail so spectacularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That 2017 Browns team had the worst head coach in history, Hue Jackson, and still lost six games by only a single score. They were that close to not going 0-16. A single play. The 2008 Lions? Five of their losses were by a touchdown or less. They were coached by Rod Marinelli, a guy I\u2019m consistently shocked to see show up on NFL staffs. How in the world has he managed to keep an assistant job in the league after that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston is just a perfect storm of garbage dumpster fires. They have a weak roster. They\u2019re going to trade away their best player, Deshaun Watson, because they have no choice. They just traded away one of their best edge rushers<\/a> that they literally traded for and signed to a new contract this past spring. On top of that, they made what was easily the worst head coaching hire of this offseason in David Culley. Culley was the Baltmore Ravens\u2019 passing game coordinator last season. The Ravens finished No. 32 out of 32 NFL teams in passing. The truth is, Culley might be the worst head coaching in the last decade. And that\u2019s counting Mike McCarthy and at least one Rex Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can talk about their schedule, with two shots against the Jacksonville Jaguars, one against the Carolina Panthers and another late one against the New York Jets, but all those rosters, across the board, are stronger than Houston\u2019s with maybe the exception of the Panthers. But if I had to pick that game today, with Tyrod Taylor as the Texans\u2019 starting QB? I\u2019m going Carolina. And if they don\u2019t win that one, where\u2019s the victory coming from? By the time they host the Jets on Nov. 28, I\u2019m betting New York will be significantly better than the Texans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. THE DENVER BRONCOS WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s been a lot of handwringing about the Broncos naming Teddy Bridgewater their starting quarterback after the Carolina Panthers traded him away. The talk is, if he wasn\u2019t good enough for Carolina, if he wasn\u2019t better than Sam Darnold, why would he be the answer in Denver?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because he was better than Sam Darnold. By a mile. And Carolina is hardly a team known for making wise QB choices. This is the same franchise that sent Cam Newton packing last year only to see him start in New England. That fired Ron Rivera, the best coach in their organization\u2019s history. Carolina is not exactly the benchmark on how to run a franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denver\u2019s season was derailed last year in the preseason with stars on both sides of the ball hurt and lost for the year. On offense, Drew Lock was a turnover machine, leading the NFL in interceptions. Bridgewater won\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denver has the schedule to get off to a hot start and if they can knock off the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 3 (and they have the defensive staff and players to do it), they can be 4-0 when they travel to Pittsburgh. I think 10 wins makes the playoffs in the AFC this year and four games against the NFC East and a 17th<\/sup> game against the above mentioned Detroit Lions, could equal nine right there. If they split with the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders, that\u2019s 11 victories and a sure fire Wild Card berth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. TAYLOR HEINICKE WILL REPLACE RYAN FITZPATRICK AS WFT\u2019S STARTING QB BEFORE THE END OF THE SEASON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone in and around the NFL loves Ryan Fitzpatrick, but the only person that was shocked when Brian Flores pulled him for Tua Tagovailoa last season was the former Harvard QB. At this point, you know what you\u2019re going to get with Fitz; a gunslinger who can throw for 500 yards, but might throw five interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heinicke has started two NFL games, but wasn\u2019t bad. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round, he went toe-to-toe with Tom Brady, completing 59.1 percent of his passes for 306 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He\u2019s still an unknown, but the sky\u2019s the limit and Ron Rivera will be tempted to toss him in, especially if Fitzpatrick costs them a couple of games by serving up the ball on a silver platter with a side salad and loaded baked potato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the first rounders that turn into franchise QBs, there\u2019s always a Kurt Warner, Tony Romo or Dak Prescott out there waiting to make the most of his shot. Heinicke could be that guy. We know Fitzpatrick isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. MIKE ZIMMER WILL BE THE FIRST HEAD COACH FIRED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the odds, Mike Zimmer getting fired is currently at +900<\/a> with five guys ahead of him \u2014 Vic Fangio (+500), Mike McCarthy (+600), Kliff Kingsbury (+750), Matt Nagy (+750) and Zac Taylor (+850).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zimmer will bob and weave his way past all of them thanks to his underperforming plague rat-filled team led by the Rat King himself Kirk \u201cCoughin Coffin\u201d Cousins. Not only is Zimmer ripe to be fired, there has to be a part of him begging for it. Just the sweet release of unemployment and never once having to deal with Cousins and the myriad of quarterback issues that would arise if they rightly cut him, ever again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zimmer would walk right into a defensive coordinator job somewhere. He\u2019ll be fine. It would be a palpable feeling of relief to get the pink slip from a meandering, wheel-spinning Vikings organization at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the 17th<\/sup> game on the schedule, it\u2019s just one more way to guarantee Minnesota finishes under .500. The NFC is very stacked and top heavy, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks easily claiming four of the seven playoff spots. One of the other three will go to the NFC East winner and the Vikes will have to outplay the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons to get one of the final two. Frankly, I don\u2019t think this Vikings team is better than the Bears, even with Andy Dalton at quarterback. If Zimmer makes it to Christmas, it\u2019ll just be because the ownership doesn\u2019t want to be stuck with Klint Kubiak as their interim head coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony of the guys with odds worse than Zimmer is, I think McCarthy is the only one in real danger of the chopping block at the end of the season. All the rest will get another year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. A COVID-19 OUTBREAK COSTS A TEAM A PLAYOFF SPOT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season, with no COVID-19 vaccine and all teams in the same leaky, diseased boat, the NFL saw 10 games shuffled around the schedule due to coronavirus outbreaks. This year, with multiple options for a safe and effective vaccine available, the NFL has made it clear that won\u2019t be the case<\/a>. If an outbreak happens amongst unvaccinated players, the game will be forfeited by the team with the most plague victims. They\u2019ll get the loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this rule had been in place last season, the Tennessee Titans wouldn\u2019t have won the AFC South (but would have probably still been a Wild Card) and, thanks to not one, but two forfeits, the Baltimore Ravens would not have made the playoffs at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NFL is, thankfully, at around 90 percent vaccinated for all players and that\u2019s mostly thanks to the league\u2019s COVID protocols being so annoying to deal with. There are teams though, like the aforementioned Vikings, the Washington Football team and certain star players like Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton, who are not. Go ahead and toss Cole Beasley in there too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I don\u2019t feel the Vikings are in danger of making the postseason, the Ravens, WFT, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots all have designs on one of those spots. Either by forfeit or by losing their starting QB (or other key player) to Covid restrictions, one of those teams will drop a winnable game. That one loss (ore more) will be the difference in a postseason berth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And speaking of that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. THE BALTIMORE RAVENS WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season, my best, boldest and most correct prediction was that the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers would not make the playoffs<\/a>. They did not. This year, it\u2019s the Ravens that get the fickle finger of fortune pointed at them, not only because of continual COVID-19 outbreaks in their QB room (Lamar Jackson has now caught it twice<\/a>), but the fact that their offense is so backwards, child-like and pedestrian that any coach that can be duped by it should be fired on the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s this idea out there that \u201cLamar Jackson will be figured out<\/a>\u201d and that\u2019s just dumb. He\u2019s a star player that can do so much more than offensive coordinator Greg Roman is asking of him. Jackson hasn\u2019t and can\u2019t be figured out. Roman absolutely has and was last year, with teams literally yelling out Baltimore\u2019s plays as they lined up to run them<\/a>. It\u2019s a testament to Jackson\u2019s talent, and the offensive talent around him, that they could still score points at all, though they were significantly down from the year before when Jackson was the unanimous league MVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no accident that competent defenses have dominated Jackson and the Ravens in three of their last four playoff games (all losses). The Tennessee Titans had an historically bad defense in 2020 and they still only surrendered 20 points to Baltimore in a game that came down to the wire. The Ravens won 14 games in 2019, 11 in 2020 and I think they\u2019ll be lucky to hit nine in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baltimore is missing the playoffs and will continue to do so until John Harbaugh clears out his inept offensive coaching staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NFL season begins on Thursday, Sep. 9 and the Week 1 Schedule is up and taking bets at BetOnline.AG<\/a>.Follow our BetOnline Twitter accoun<\/a>t for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good informat<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE Before we get into our division and Super Bowl predictions, it\u2019s time to rattle the very ground…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":15287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18731,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18723\/revisions\/18731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}