Gman Takes (On) Stock(ers): 2009 NFL Season Predictions
Play-offs, Awards and More
by Chris Brophy & Ben Stockwell
17/8/2009
 
In the last of this preview prediction series our pickers gather up all the information offered so far and try and put it down in a way that makes sense. Read on for a summing up of their predicted play-off pictures as well as who will walk off with the major NFL awards come the end of the '09 season.

I fully admit the top three in the AFC show little imagination but they all possess outstanding talent and in the Chargers case, a walk over of a division. I like the Bengals to be the AFC team that really turns things around from last season and I base a lot of that on the return of Carson Palmer. The NFC proves a lot trickier, so many teams can yo-yo and my predictions involve four teams who failed to make the play-offs last year getting in meaning I'm kicking out the Giants, Panthers, Falcons and Vikings. I half expect to get shown up badly but it is a far more open conference than the AFC in my opinion.
 

AFC Champions:	New England Patriots
NFC Champions:	Chicago Bears
Super Bowl Champions:	New England Patriots
2010 #1 pick in the draft:	Seattle Seahawks
NFL MVP:	Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals)
Defensive MVP:	Patrick Willis (49ers)
Rookie of the Year:	Brian Robiskie (Browns)
Comeback Player of the Year:	Carson Palmer (Bengals)
Coach of the Year:	Mike Singletary (49ers)
Bonus Prediction:	This will be the first NFL season where we see two passers break the 5000 yard passing barrier in the same season

 
In another attempt to be completely unoriginal I'm going for the Patriots to crown their decade of dominance with another Super Bowl. They beat off the young upstart Bears and as you can guess by this prediction, I'm a fan of the moves they have made. I think Larry Fitzgerald takes his post season form and becomes arguably the most dominant player offensive skill player in the NFL. 120+ catches, over 1700 yards and over 20TD's almost single-handedly drags the Cardinals back into post season. Mike Singletary gets my predictive nod as head coach of the year as I mentioned in the West predictions article and one of his big influences will be to make Patrick Willis even better (which is not an easy task, he's rather good already!). Carson Palmer's return from injury in which I have him helping to guide the Bengals to post season sees Chad Ochocinco launch a Twitter campaign to get him the NFL MVP Award. Unfortunately he has to settle for the Comeback Player award. In Cleveland, the Browns find a new hero in the consistent and productive rookie wide receiver from Ohio State by the name of Brian Robiskie. This kid has an NFL pedigree and in a position where contributing straight away can be tricky, he shines from the get go.
 
Sorry 'Hawk fans, I'm predicting disaster in the North West. If it makes you feel any better, I'm not convinced my Redskins will be too far away from the top pick either.

A turnover of two in the AFC and NFC respectively, probably smaller than in recent years but most of these teams (Eagles, Steelers, Patriots, Chargers) are the clear class of their division in my opinion. I really like the Jaguars as the worst to first team this year, they lost too many close games last year in my opinion for the improvements made on offence combined with David Garrard maintaining his good form from the last two seasons not to lead the Jaguars back to the playoffs. In the NFC the Seahawks are the team to return to form, too much is made of last year's injury ravaged season in my opinion and their division is really not a great deal to overcome.

Much as I don't want to admit it and it makes me sick to make this prediction, the Steelers are quite simply built to win in the playoffs. Persistence with their running game, a QB who makes clutch plays and a stifling defence, it's a seemingly simple recipe but when you add in a defensive scheme that offences just seem not to be able to cope with well and the Steelers just seem to me to be too good in January for most teams to cope with. The Patriots are a threat and could come good at the right time of year, but that's slightly too tenuous a projection for me to go with it. The AFC North will host both worst and first as well, the Browns have no direction, an unnecessary QB battle and the urgency with which they hired such a poor head coach as Mangini was utter insanity. The loser of the Browns-Lions game takes the #1 pick for my money. Rodgers was outstanding last year on a team that fell off from 2007; a return to form and Rodgers is right in the running for the MVP award. The NFC North holds all the aces in my predictions for individual accolades as I hope that the voters finally come to the realisation that Kevin Williams is the single best and most dominant defender in the league. Tom Brady should waltz to the comeback crown, not even a question about it. Finally Maclin simply adds more depth and quality to the Eagles receiver corps and allows the Eagles to spread the field and simply ask teams to cover all of their receivers, a tough task and Maclin has the ability to lead what looks like a mediocre rookie class in terms of voting weight for rookie of the year.