This Years Surprise Team
 

It is that time of the year again. It is time to predict which team will surprise everyone this year. My pick last year (Panthers) held true and my pick for this year is the Jaguars. Last year they were 5-11 just like the Skins but this year I believe they will step it up big time. If they muster 11 wins, I wouldn't be surprised. Fred Taylor is still one of the best running backs in the league and I believe Leftwich will show why he's as good of a QB as advertised.

I completely agree with the Jags, I really like what they're doing. On the flipside, I think the Titans will be this year's disappointment, somwehere between 6-10 and 9-7. Not easy for me to say because the Titans are my second fave team but I think they're due for a let down

The Cardinals! That's right, you heard it here 1st :food-smil !!!

I doubt if anyone will get onboard with this one!

[QUOTE=redrock-skins]The Cardinals! That's right, you heard it here 1st :food-smil !!!

I doubt if anyone will get onboard with this one![/QUOTE]

I see them breaking .500 - The Niners are in the toilet, Bulger is not as good as advertised for the Rams, and Seattle seems to lose games they shouldn't. Why not Arizona?

I think teams like the Cardinals and Lions (maybe even the Texans) are a year or two away from really being a threat.

Through our Skins goggles we don't necessarily see them as a surprise team but I think most of us expect them to improve significantly on last year's record. So if that's the case then I guess we have to put them in as a surprise team right?

I think Seattle has a nice thing going, Hasselbeck really matured last year into the guy they thought he would be when he first came over. They have a nice offensive nucleus and in a relatively weak division they should at least match last years' 10 wins.

The Cardinals! That's right, you heard it here 1st :food-smil !!!

I doubt if anyone will get onboard with this one!

Cardinals, and Bears. Grossman is the first QB they have had in a while, thomas jones is coming into his own, and Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson will be a force to reckon with. Charles Tillman is going to be a top corner, and the bears will be battling for supremacy in the NFC North i believe.

Josh McCown is a very interesting prospect, he can move around in the pocket and has a solid arm. With a good young crop of recievers, the passing offense will thrive. The O-line is solid, but the running backs are a concern. The defense is weak at the corners, but deep at LB. should be fun watching them for a change.

I agree with the Texans, possibly an incredible, young defense in the making and Dominque Davis was a great draft choice last year. I also have to believe the Falcons will expirience an incredible turn around with a healthy Vick and a more balanced offense with Duckett stepping up big time this year. My ultimate sleeper is the chargers. I don't care who laughs but both sides of the ball last year were predominantly made up of rookies and second year players and while I don't see them making the playoffs or anything that crazy, I could see them going 7-9 or 8-8 and that would be a huge improvement over last years results and they'll be getting a good high 1st round pick from the giants to help their progression next year. Anytme you have a rb like Tomlinson u give yourself a decent chance to perform well and Rivers will fit in very well into Marty's offensive schemes.

Texans and Detroit were my two picks for suprises. I also think that the Saints will march out of obscurity. Great talent, great coach, they'll get therer soon!

Vikings
They've got the number one offense and really improved a really poor defense. I'm looking for them to go deep in the playoffs.

My only concern with the Vikings is what will happen at RB. They have a ton of talent and a ton of guys who want to play. That could cause problems. Vikes will definitely be interesting.

Vikings wouldnt be a surprise team tho, since they were 9-7 last year and are expected to do well

[QUOTE=Big C]Vikings wouldnt be a surprise team tho, since they were 9-7 last year and are expected to do well[/QUOTE]

thats the same thought I kinda had about the seahawks cuz they were really close to making it to the 2nd round of the playoffs last year. they were definitely a suprise last year especially Hasselback(matt).

yeah the seahawks also. u think surprise team has to be a losing team last season at least. Wouoldnt really be a surprise if the vikings or seahawks make the playoffs, since they were there or were very close last year.

you cant discount a team with a healthy vick or LT, falcons will be doing much better this year... chargers too, but not playoff caliber. I could see the cards pulling something off.

My surprise team pick for 2004-2005 season is the Washington Redskins. To hell with all the rest!
:dallas: :dallas: :dallas: :httr:

Like jbcjr14 said the skins 5-11 last year to division winners this year.

Ever the optimist, I'm going with the 'Skins. I think they'll finish 2nd in the NFC East, with a 10-6 mark. A five game turnaround is pretty remarkable, but I think that's the kind of immediate impact this coaching staff will have.

Outside of the homer pick, I'll have to go with the Steelers in the AFC and the Falcons in the NFC. Both of those teams were major disappointments last season, but I think the Steelers' addition of Duce Staley, plus a healthy Kendrell Bell and Joey Porter; and the Falcons' having a healthy Vick will turn those teams around pretty quickly.

THe steelers dont have an oline right now though, and they also dont have a secondary. Troy Palamalu will start this year, he should be good. But they corners are hurting. Terry Cousin might end up being their number one guy... Plus, ive always thought Staley was a bum that was never a good rusher, but could kill any team with a screen pass. Probably with that is the steelers dont run thta type of offense.

My surprise picks this year are goign to be the Jets and the Raiders. The Jets lost pennington last year but came back strong when he returned. And I think Santana Moss is going to light up the scoreboard next year. The Raiders just got a stud olinemen. Gannon is back, Collins is backup. ANd their defense could quite possibly be the scariest defense in the leauge next year. It surprises me that peopel dotn talk about the Raiders D more. Who is going to run on Sapp and Washington?!?!? And with Charles Woodson, Ray Buchanan and Philip Buchanan at CB theya re going to be good in the secondary as well, not to mention Rod Woodson. Plus the two Buchanans are great special team returners.

There ya have it, the Jets and Raiders are my two picks for the AFC, and of course the SKINS!! in the NFC.

Other than the Redskins I'm going with the Bengals.

[QUOTE=SKINSnCANES]THe steelers dont have an oline right now though, and they also dont have a secondary. Troy Palamalu will start this year, he should be good. But they corners are hurting. Terry Cousin might end up being their number one guy... Plus, ive always thought Staley was a bum that was never a good rusher, but could kill any team with a screen pass. Probably with that is the steelers dont run thta type of offense.

My surprise picks this year are goign to be the Jets and the Raiders. The Jets lost pennington last year but came back strong when he returned. And I think Santana Moss is going to light up the scoreboard next year. The Raiders just got a stud olinemen. Gannon is back, Collins is backup. ANd their defense could quite possibly be the scariest defense in the leauge next year. It surprises me that peopel dotn talk about the Raiders D more. Who is going to run on Sapp and Washington?!?!? And with Charles Woodson, Ray Buchanan and Philip Buchanan at CB theya re going to be good in the secondary as well, not to mention Rod Woodson. Plus the two Buchanans are great special team returners.

There ya have it, the Jets and Raiders are my two picks for the AFC, and of course the SKINS!! in the NFC.[/QUOTE]


I think the reason most people don't talk about the raiders is because while sapp and washington were solid pickups, they are both near the end of their careers and have had a solid decline in their productivity and once again the raiders just got older players instead of much young new talent. Plus the raiders had those guys as their secondary last year and got torched. I do think their offense will be improved (watch out for their 2nd year rb Fargas) but they didn't really do anything to improve their very old wr group. With Gallery and Grove, they have two cornerstones of their oline in place for the next 5-6 years atleast. Plus with KC and Denver in their division I don't see them being able to improve a whole lot this year, but next year with the right adjustments I could see them in the playoffs again.
and the jets with a healthy pettington and a santana moss finally living up to his potential, the jets could suprise some people this year but their d went through a pretty big overall and still has a few question marks.

I also think the browns could do something this year. their not exactly in the strongest division in the nfl and they made some good aquisitions to their offense and some decent pick ups on the defensive side as well. Suggs is going to have a very good year if he Butch Davis does the smart thing and starts him. And Winslow is probably going to have a pretty good year as the safety valve for the offense and a key red zone target.

[QUOTE=SKINSnCANES]THe steelers dont have an oline right now though, and they also dont have a secondary. Troy Palamalu will start this year, he should be good. But they corners are hurting. Terry Cousin might end up being their number one guy... Plus, ive always thought Staley was a bum that was never a good rusher, but could kill any team with a screen pass. Probably with that is the steelers dont run thta type of offense.

My surprise picks this year are goign to be the Jets and the Raiders. The Jets lost pennington last year but came back strong when he returned. And I think Santana Moss is going to light up the scoreboard next year. The Raiders just got a stud olinemen. Gannon is back, Collins is backup. ANd their defense could quite possibly be the scariest defense in the leauge next year. It surprises me that peopel dotn talk about the Raiders D more. Who is going to run on Sapp and Washington?!?!? And with Charles Woodson, Ray Buchanan and Philip Buchanan at CB theya re going to be good in the secondary as well, not to mention Rod Woodson. Plus the two Buchanans are great special team returners.

There ya have it, the Jets and Raiders are my two picks for the AFC, and of course the SKINS!! in the NFC.[/QUOTE]

sooner or later though, production will drop off for the raiders. Gannon is about to be a grandpa, and so is rod woodson. rice and brown are ancient, and they dont have much of a running game. They also lost one of their best young players in eric barton. This team will wear down as the season goes on and drop off i think.

I'm gonna discount the skins' for objective pourposes. Although, I think anything less than playoffs will be dissapointing for them.

From the AFC , I'm going with the Jaguars as well. Leftiwtch is going to be absoultey huge for them this year. They have a exellent reciving threat in Jimmy Smith, which should help them open up the passing game to the rookie, Reggie Williams as well. Of course, It dosent hurt to have Fred Taylor back there, who is proboly the must underated back in the league.

In the NFC, I'm going with the Detriot Lions. I still think they are a year away from being a playoff team, but I think they will come in 2nd in the NFC North, and be a 8-8, 9-7 type of club. This is Joey Harringtons year to prove he was worth the #3 pick, and I'm a huge fan of the kid, so I hope he does. There reciving core should be good with Charels Rogers and Roy Williams. Kevin Jones wont make a huge impact this year, but should be a sufficent runner for them, if James Stewart cant stay healthy.

As always, the hell with the Lions and the Jaguars, cause its all about the Skins' in 2004.

skinsfanthru... just so you know ray buchanan was a pick up this year, and shoudl help their secondary a lot.
Yea, Sapp and Washington are getting old, and the decline in stats came in teh form of less sacks. No one ran on washington last year, and adding sapp next to him wont hurt.
I picked the raiders becasue they had four wins last year and shoudl greatly improve on that, making them a surprise team. HOWEVER, and im surprised no one mentioned this, they do have norv as their coach, heheheh

[QUOTE=SKINSnCANES]skinsfanthru... just so you know ray buchanan was a pick up this year, and shoudl help their secondary a lot.
Yea, Sapp and Washington are getting old, and the decline in stats came in teh form of less sacks. No one ran on washington last year, and adding sapp next to him wont hurt.
I picked the raiders becasue they had four wins last year and shoudl greatly improve on that, making them a surprise team. HOWEVER, and im surprised no one mentioned this, they do have norv as their coach, heheheh[/QUOTE]

ray buchanon got benched on a team that had the worst secondary defense in the league so that says something about how much he's declined the past couple seasons. and with sapp and washington they've both had a decline in not only sacks but tackles as well. the raiders could make a turn around this year but with their team being ancient by nfl standards in key positions as well as being in a division with 2 contenders for the AFC crown, and having a new head coach who hasn;t had much success since we was with Dallas all those years ago doesn't help their chances much in my opinion.

I'm also gonna go with the Bengals and the Cards. I truly think that at least the Bengals should be a playoff calibur team this season.

Seems like we have a nice range of opinions here. I'm looking forward to next month when we have the official NFL predictions thread

this year so many teams seem capable of competing atleast in their respective divisions so it should be a very good year for football this season with division titles not being clinched until the last game of the year. Who do u all see as the team with the best chance to last the longest undefeated? I gotta go with the pats even though i don't know their schedule.

Seahawks in AFC,
 

Eagles in NFC. Skins improve by 4 games to 9-7.

I'm going to pick the Saints. Their D-Line is much improved over last year's squad with the additions of Brian Young and young Will Smith. On offense, Deuce McAllister will put up another 1500 yards and score like he did in 2002. Donte Stallworth will have a breakout year opposite Joe Horn.

Aaron Brooks doesn't have to shine like his cousin in Atlanta for the Saints to win. All he has to do is not be the reason they lose... the coaching staff knows that, and he knows that. They'll be in the playoffs this year.

But the Redskins will use their skins to make soup and squeeze the jelly from their eyes in the Conference Championship come January 2005.

I predicted the Panthers last year as well, and I like that division again. This year I'm going with the Falcons. Vick was hurt last year, but with him healthy and in the West Coast offense he should be able to get the ball out of his hand early. If he's able to pass efficiently, then he becomes even more dangerous on scrambles and rollouts because you have to respect his running ability. And I like Mora to come in and re-tool that defense as the Falcons make the playoffs.

I think the Skins will win the division.

Seahawks, and Bengals. I seriously believe that the Bengals can win their division. They have a good QB, a couple of decent RB's and good receivers. Their defense will have to step up though.

I'm still not totally sold on Carson Palmer. I need to see a couple of preseason Bengals games before I pass judgement on them.

[QUOTE=redrock-skins]The Cardinals! That's right, you heard it here 1st :food-smil !!!

I doubt if anyone will get onboard with this one![/QUOTE]

:laughing- :laughing- Yea and a donkey just flew out of my ass! :laughing-