NFL 2015 season Thread

Thirteen teams have never won a superbowl:

Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Minnesota Vikings
Philadelphia Eagles
San Diego Chargers
Tennessee Titans

Which one will remove their name from the list first (I'm including the London Jaguars if that happens as part of the Jacksonville Jaguars)?

Let's draw a line through Atlanta, Tennessee and Cleveland. No one can seriously think they're building for anything but stormy weather ahead. Jacksonville have more gaps than Las Vegas has casinos, even though they're on the up. Houston can't get past Indy and are short on offense (Hoyer or Mallett? Arian Foster fitness issues. No depth at WR).

The obvious choice is the Eagles. Sacrilege alert: I am not convinced by Chip Kelly in the big league. He'll be given a year to try things his way and will, I suspect, be allowed to fall short this year, but then questions will be asked. He has only 13 players (or something similar) from the Andy Reid roster, so he's had everything his own way. He's replaced LeSean McCoy with DeMarco Murray in the backfield, who will offer more direct than lateral motion, but the offensive line is a step down, however good it is, from what Murray had in Dallas. They have a deep wide receiver corps but no Dez Bryant. While the Cowboys have Tony Romo, the Eagles are torn between a barely jogging Sam Bradford and a journeyman-in-waiting in Mark Sanchez. The comparison to Dallas is all the more pertinent because they are direct rivals in the NFC East. Dallas, if Dez puts pen to paper, will retain an elite offense and their upsettingly sensible draft choices suggest Jerry appreciates what it takes to win. Then there's the Giants, who I firmly believe will challenge for the division this year, thanks to one of the most impressive post-seasons in the league. They are the future of this division and the Eagles could find themselves wishing they hadn't gambled on Chip. Prediction: Won't win a superbowl before 2025.

Arizona has the quarterback in Carson Palmer, who would be far better than his stats suggest if he had some fat blokes in front of him and a running game to open up the secondary. They have, therefore, spent their main draft picks on defensive linemen. Go figure. He's now 35 and has a dodgy knee. Andre Ellington is a talented running back, but you have to worry when a player so young gets serious injuries. He has great upside as a third down receiver option, but the offense needs to be special to topple the Seahawks and the Rams. My view is, for a team that ranked 24th in points and yards per game, the Cardinals massively overachieved last season. Unless they keep everyone fit - which they won't - they will finish behind Seattle and possibly St Louis. Neither of those two teams will be short-term successes, either. Seattle are just too good and St Louis are building for the future (wherever that is). Prediction: Missing the playoffs in 2015 will continue their barren run and they won't win a superbowl this side of 2025.

The other team that has threatened of late is down the road in San Diego. Mike McCoy is one of the handful of excellent coaches in the NFL, having made good progress with a pretty rubbish defense over the last couple of seasons. Their problems have really been injuries, with Ryan Matthews and Danny Woodhead both spending more time on the physio table than the field. They were 30th in rushing last season. Matthews has gone, but Melvin Gordon is exciting and the acquisitions in the off season have beefed up their OL massively, so Woodhead and Oliver will have some space made for them straight ahead. On the outside, Keenan Allen is in the second tier of wideouts, only just behind the very best. Antonio Gates is the same at Tight End. The team is neither Arthur nor Martha, though; the defense is a few years from being championship level but the offense doesn't have long left at its peak. In a division where Denver dominate, Kansas City are tough to beat at home and Oakland are building a serious franchise, you can see why the line for the Chargers this year in Vegas is 8.5. Prediction: The Chargers will threaten but fail for years to come. It could be a generation of disappointment.

My team, Buffalo, has done something it hasn't done for a long time: do sensible stuff. A new head coach (the last one has now moved on to the dizzy heights of being the Jacksonville QB coach), a new offensive coordinator (who masterminded the 49ers superbowl run) and a number of excellent new faces brought into the roster. LeSean McCoy is the obvious highlight and an upgrade on the injury-prone CJ Spiller. With Fred Jackson as good a number two as any in the NFL, the rock is getting pounded in upstate New York this season. Sammy Watkins will get a little more attention from opposing cornerbacks but Percy Harvin is a proven WR2, having managed well in Seattle and the young WR corps has a real upside. There are two big concerns. Firstly, who's under centre? Every day, there's a report that a different QB has outperformed the others. EJ Manuel is most people's expected starter, but Matt Cassel has been brought in to provide cover. Tyrod Taylor is touted as the fastest QB in the league and the notion of having a scrambling QB might play out well with the good OL and the blocking Tight Ends that a Greg Roman offense demands. The second problem is the AFC East has suddenly got very competitive and toppling the Patriots is going to take some work. The DL is as good as any in the NFL, with all four of the players making the league's top 100. Prediction: It can't happen before a QB arrives, but a Manning and Brady-less AFC will open up a spot for someone and 2018 will be timescale Rex Ryan is working to, you would think.

Minnesota Vikings do offer an interesting spot. They have a talented QB in Teddy Bridgewater, who I believe will have a breakout season in the next couple of years. They have a strengthening defense with a head coach who has massively improved them there and they have drafted two physical linebackers to boot. Their division has Green Bay and Detroit in it, but the former has maybe two more seasons at the top and the latter seems to have no desire whatsoever to win the superbowl, bringing in average players for the big offensive and defensive positional gaps. Then there's Adrian Peterson, who does his best work on gridiron, rather than off it. Long may that continue. Prediction: things may go their way in the coming years. I can see them being in a superbowl before 2020.

In Atlanta's division are the Carolina Panthers. It's the worst division around and eminently winnable. Not just that, if you can put a few wins together, there might be some home field advantage to be garnered. I mentioned about New York Giants having an exciting receiving corps, well the Panthers now have two six foot five speedsters outside in Benjamin and Funchess and one of the most mobile QBs in Cam Newton to throw to them. Greg Olsen is a top five Tight End, all of which makes you wonder why they're a run-first offense. Their real strength is on the other side of the ball with one of the most fearsome defenses in the NFL. They are in a division with Atlanta, who have an awful lot of problems, and New Orleans, who are mid-slide. The Buccaneers will not be challenging for a few years and that is only if they start doing sensible things, which might be something of an ask. This team is not the finished article, but defences win Championships and they could have something really special going with a few recruits in their OL, a deep threat and an elite running back. They believe in Cam Newton and the former number one pick has bags of potential. Prediction: This team is knocking on the door and a superbowl win before 2020 is entirely possible.

What do you reckon?