By Sam Lawler ‘19, Staff Writer

Now that the majority of the NFL season has passed by, which means that fans can now make rational conclusions about their favorite NFL teams. Almost all the current division leaders in both the AFC and NFC seem like playoff locks, but there is still a lot of shuffle that can happen in the wild-card race. Nine out of the sixteen NFC teams have a winning percentage above .500, while there are only seven AFC teams with a winning record. The current division leaders in the AFC are the Patriots, Steelers, Chiefs, and the Jaguars, with the Titans and Bills holding the wild-card spots. The Dolphins (6-8), Ravens (8-6), Raiders (6-8), and Chargers (7-7) all remain in playoff contention. In the NFC, the Eagles, Vikings, Saints and Rams all lead their divisions. Amazingly, each one of them finished in the bottom half of their divisions last season. The Falcons (8-5) and Panthers (10-4) are both in position to be the wild-card teams. But the Seahawks (8-6), Lions (8-6), Packers (7-7) and Cowboys (8-6) remain fierce competitors to come into the playoffs and compete.

There have been many surprises this NFL season. Perhaps the two biggest surprises have been right here in New Jersey, with the Giants at 2-12 and the Jets at 5-9. Media outlets and fans both predicted Big Blue to not only be playoff contenders, but Super Bowl contenders as well. For example, 247Sports predicted the Giants to finish 12-4 and win their division. The Jets, on the other hand, were predicted by multiple experts like Colin Cowherd to finish the season without a win. They haven’t been great, but a 3-2 start was much better than anyone expected..

Another surprise is the breakout of many young quarterbacks. Second-year Eagles QB Carson Wentz has led the team to an NFL-best 8-1 record after finishing last in the NFC East last year, and led the league in passing touchdowns at one point with 23. Of the four Newark Academy students surveyed, three said that Wentz has been the MVP of the league thus far, and junior Ailie Jack said that the Eagles will win the Super Bowl. Another QB who has shined in his second season after struggling his rookie year has been Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams. After a 4-12 record last season, the Rams have shocked everyone by leading the NFC West division and having arguably the best offense in football. The Rams lead the league in points per game, are third in yards per game, and Goff ranks fourth in the league in yards/attempts with 7.98.

Rookie QB Deshaun Watson was remarkable for the Houston Texans before tearing his his ACL in practice on November 2nd, ending his season. Watson was a Rookie of the Year candidate before his injury, and is still tied for 2nd in passing touchdowns with 19, even though he only started six games.

The pool of voters was fairly mixed when asked about who would win the Super Bowl. Ailie Jack and Ian Nazmiyal ‘20 agreed that the frontrunner Eagles would be champions. Senior Brian Robusto said that Drew Brees would deliver New Orleans their second Super Bowl ring, while Anne Capelli ‘18 thought that the Atlanta Falcons would redeem themselves from last year’s Super Bowl collapse and win it this year.

In my mind, the Patriots are going to easily stride into the Super Bowl for the second straight year. Despite falling to the Dolphins in Week 14 after letting up 27 points, their defense bounced back by forcing a goal-line interception off a fake spike by Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers to secure the win in Pittsburgh. At 40, Tom Brady is still the best quarterback in the league, and Bill Belichick is a football genius. Their most likely opponent in the Super Bowl will be the Seattle Seahawks, a team that’s been to the big game twice since 2013. With Russell Wilson having maybe his best year yet, and a defense that has proved it can shut down the best of the best, the Seahawks will meet the Patriots in the Super Bowl again.

It should be interesting to see how the rest of the NFL season pans out, to see what other surprises there are the rest of the way, and to see which NA students are correct about their predictions.