Did you think that the Los Angeles Chargers were going to start the NFL season on an eight-game losing streak? Did you think that the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to have an absolute stranglehold on the AFC South? Did you think that Chase Young was going to turn the clock back six years and have eight sacks through the first half of the season? No. Because that’s crazy.
But crazy is what we need in times like these. So let’s make some bold predictions for the second half of the season. We’re looking at individual performances to final division standings.
Carson Beck’s Cardinals get more wins than Fernando Mendoza’s Raiders
The Cardinals and the Raiders have gone down two very different paths to get to where they are right now, but they’re in the same spot: starting their rookie quarterbacks. For the Cardinals, it was Jacoby Brissett stinking and being benched for Gardner Minshew, and then Minshew getting hurt. For the Raiders, it was Kirk Cousins playing well and then being traded to the Vikings.
The fun (?) thing about all of this is that these two quarterbacks are kind of in the same situation. Their offenses are largely devoid of talent besides their all-world tight ends, and their defenses are pretty stinky.
To make it even more interesting, the last time we saw both of these two guys play meaningful football was against each other in the National Championship back in January. That’s pretty neat.
Then in the draft, Mendoza was the first overall pick. Beck ended up being the 65th. These two dudes are pretty far from the same.
Anyway, the reason this is going to happen is purely based on the schedule (duh). In the second half of the season, the Raiders get the Seahawks (loss), the Broncos (loss), the Browns (loss), the Chargers (win), the Broncos (loss), the Titans (win), the Cardinals (?), and the Chiefs (loss). That’s at least a 2-5 record.
At the same time, the Cardinals get the Rams (win), the Chiefs (loss), the Commanders (loss), the Eagles (win), the Jets (loss), the Saints (loss), the Raiders (?), and the 49ers (loss). That’s also a 2-5 record.
That means it comes down to that Week 16 game in Arizona, and I’m going to take the team that’s been infinitely more feisty.
The Browns win their first division title since 1989
The Browns are in a pretty solid spot right now. Yeah, they’re on a two-game losing streak, but one of those games was against another AFC North team (the Steelers) and they lost the other one with a backup quarterback. That’s not too bad, all things considered.
Let’s make an educated guess that the Bengals, Steelers and Browns all split games with each other. The Bengals have three games left against the other two, the Browns have two games left and the Steelers have one left.
That means that the Browns just have to play clean ball, win the games they should win and they should be in the conversation at the end of the season.
Luckily, the games that they are supposed to win are pretty winnable, even for a cursed franchise. They get a Texans team that has been far from perfect, a bye week before the Fernando Mendoza-led Raiders, Michael Penix and the Falcons in Cleveland in December, the Ravens, and the very dead Colts. That’s not too bad … like, at all.
Then all they have to do is bank on Aaron Rodgers crumbling and the bipolar Bengals to slip up. I can definitely see that happening.
The Cowboys win two games as underdogs
That’s not really a bold prediction, so I’ll get specific:
The Cowboys will beat the Seahawks Monday night in Week 13. Then people will talk about them as a contender in a sad NFC East. They’ll go into their bye week with manufactured good vibes. They’ll play the Rams in Week 15 and get boatraced. They’ll squeak out another win against the Jaguars on Sunday night in Week 16. Then they’ll get wrecked by the Giants and the Commanders in Weeks 17 and 18. We’ll all laugh at them for being cannon fodder for whichever of those teams wins the division.
That still doesn’t feel all that bold.
No midseason firings for the Chargers
This is a quick one: They haven’t done anything yet, so why would they now?
The Chargers went into the Week 7 bye with an 0-6 record, and nothing changed. At all. They came out in Week 8 and got bullied the same way that they had been getting bullied since September. In Week 9? Yep, same thing.
They’re just going to keep rolling with it. At some point, the hits on Justin Herbert are going to add up, and he’s going to miss time. Then, the coaches will be able to say (publicly or privately) that it’s not fair to judge them because of the injuries on the team.
That’s obviously nonsense because they are generationally bad regardless of starting talent … but the powers that be are going to eat it up, and we’re all going to be confused.
Josh Downs will win the Chiefs a postseason game
Twenty minutes before the NFL Trade Deadline, the Chiefs traded for Josh Downs, the wide receiver from Indianapolis. Kansas City desperately needed pass-catching help, so trading for one was a good idea, but they really needed a big/fast guy.
Downs is 5-foot-9 and 175-ish pounds, and he’s not really much of a burner as much as he is a separator. So yes, the Chiefs traded for a guy at a position where they needed help, and this guy is going to walk into the room and be the best receiver on the team; that’s great because not every team does that.
That being said, he is a pipsqueak. Now there’s a 100 percent chance that he climbs a defensive back and catches a ball for a touchdown in the postseason, making every loser like me eat crow for acknowledging his teensy frame.
The Myles Garrett trade will be the best trade of the year
Jessie Bates and Jordan Davis to the Jags? Kirk Cousins to the Vikings? Jeffery Simmons to the Bears? Nope.
When the Rams traded for Myles Garrett, it was the rich getting richer. They already had a great defensive line, and then they went out and got the most effective pass rusher in the NFL. And then, Aaron Donald, who is the best defensive player in my lifetime, came out of retirement to play with him. How could this go wrong?
Well, Garrett got hurt and missed almost the entire first half of the season, the superstar playmakers are on IR, their reigning NFL MVP at quarterback finally looks old, and now they’re going to have to fight tooth and nail just to get into the playoffs …
And what did this trade cost them? Eh, not much. Just their future.
The Browns sent Garrett to the Rams, and received L.A.’s 2027 first-round pick, 2028 second-round pick, and 2029 third-round pick … AND the 2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year, Jared Verse.
Initially, I thought it would’ve been smarter for the Browns to get the Rams 2028 first-round pick because this 2027 pick was going to be in the mid-20s at a minimum … But boy was I wrong. That sucker might end up being in the top 15.
Kudos to Andrew Berry and the Browns for sniffing this one out.
Makai Lemon wins Offensive Rookie of the Year
Right now, Mendoza is the favorite to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Behind him is some combination of Jonah Coleman, Denzel Boston, and Carnell Tate. And then Makai Lemon is six or seven spots behind them.
Up until this week, Boston had been the favorite; he’s definitely good, but he’s not lighting the world on fire. My point is, there’s still a lot of season left, and the OROY is still anyone’s game.
So why not Lemon? We all know that the Eagles offense is broken structurally and physically, and it’s only a matter of time until they are mathematically eliminated from contention. When that happens, there’s a real chance guys like DeVonta Smith and/or Dontayvion Wicks (who have been dealing with long-term hamstring injury things) get put on the shelf for the rest of the season.
With Hollywood Brown getting waived/released, that means the wide receiver group is Lemon, Darius Cooper, and Elijah Moore. Even if one of the two studs come back, that’s a light receiver room and Lemon should be getting a good chunk of the targets.
Listen: these are bold predictions and assuming the Eagles offense can function on a basic level is incredibly bold.
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