Week 9 is upon us and, as crazy as this may sound, that means we are halfway through the 2022 NFL regular season. With the second half on the horizon, we'll now take a step back and look over what we saw through the first nine weeks and try to come up with some bold predictions for what may happen in the weeks to come. It's important to remember that these are bold predictions, so we're going out on a limb for some of these, but will make the case for why they are plausible.Coming into the year, and had mixed results. We feel good about our predictions that Philadelphia will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC as well as silencing his doubters, but we'd certainly like a mulligan predicting that was going to win MVP.Below, you'll find an unlikely Super Bowl champion, a surprise team rolling deep into the playoffs in the AFC and a young quarterback emerging as a true franchise centerpiece.Out of the many surprising things to come out of the first half of the 2022 season, the Seattle Seahawks' 5-3 record that has them in first place in the NFC West may be the most shocking of them all. That, in large part, is thanks to the superb play by Geno Smith. He has not only kept his offense afloat in the aftermath of the Ru sell Wilson trade, but it's become better in comparison to the final years of Wilson's tenure in Seattle. Smith leads the NFL with a completion percentage of 73% and is third in the league with a 107.2 pa ser rating entering Week 9. Those numbers are impre sive on their own, but they vault into the eye-popping category when you consider how Smith has been operating in the offense. He's Albert Pujols Jersey not dinking and dunking his way down the field with high-percentage throws; he's attempting difficult pa ses and thriving. Smith is top three in pa ser rating on throws 15-plus yards down the field, throws outside the numbers and on pa ses when he's pre sured. SEA QB #7 CMP%72.7YDs1924TD13INT3YD/Att7.73 This run also doesn't feel like a fluke either just by the naked eye. And if Smith keeps this up, he'll have the Seahawks in a position to win the division and get at least some votes for MVP, which is hilarious considering his predece sor's inability to catch a single vote during his tenure. With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the last big transaction still remaining is where Odell Beckham Jr. will ultimately end up. After suffering a torn ACL in the Super Bowl last year, it was going to take the veteran wideout some time to recover, so mid-November and December were circled as po sible times for him to latch on with a new team. When he does put pen to paper on a contract, it'll be with the Dallas Cowboys.Throughout the year, the and have been the two favorites to land Beckham, but we'll go out on a limb to say the opportunity to put a star on the side of his helmet will be enticing for him. The Cowboys have also already shown us that they are in the market for a wide receiver as theyto acquire at the deadline, but ultimately couldn't get the money to work.To keep pace with Philadelphia and the rest of the playoff hopefuls, Jerry Jones will add Beckham to give Dallas' offense a boost in a similar fashion the wideout gave the Rams in the second half of last year.George Pickens is currently 30/1 to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, so you could make a case for this to be the boldest prediction of the bunch. With traded to Chicago at the deadline, that opens up an additional 6.25 targets per game for any pa s-catcher in Pittsburgh's offense to take. We'll predict that Pickens will be the main beneficiary of Claypool's absence and a sert himself as arguably the best young receiver lex Reyes Jersey in his rookie cla s. Pickens has already shown a solid rapport with fellow rookie . Since Pickett became the starter in Week 5, Pickens has averaged 5.8 targets per game, and even that number is skewed a bit, thanks to a three-target game in Week 8 against Philadelphia (Claypool had six targets that week). PIT WR #14 TAR43REC26REC YDs338REC TD1FL0 Not only will Pickens see an uptick in targets, but five of the Steelers' remaining nine opponents are currently ranked outside the top 15 in DVOA against the pa s, meaning that he'll also have some favorable matchups on the horizon to coincide with more looks from his QB.Justin Fields has already started to emerge over the last few weeks and it does seem like the Chicago coaching staff has finally unlocked something with their 2021 first-rounder. Fields is utilizing his legs more effectively, thanks to the offense calling more designed runs. Now that he has that key piece to his game humming, the next step for Fields is to refine his pa sing ability. The Bears believe that's po sible by adding more pieces around him, as evidenced by the club trading for Chase Claypool at the deadline, giving Fields another elite athlete to work with. Starting with that last-second lo s to the in Week 5, Fields has a 97.6 pa ser rating over the last month and has been completing 64.1% of his pa ses.With more weapons at his disposal and the offensive play-callers crafting things around his skill set, Fields looks to be on the verge of going on a run that will put him at the forefront of the conversation of being the best quarterback from his draft cla s. It also helps that Fields will only be on the road three more times this season as six of Chicago's final nine games are at Soldier Field.Despite still sitting as the betting favorite to win the NFC South, the have already been buried by some, which makes this prediction worthy of being bold in my eyes. So far, Tampa Bay hasn't given you much belief that it'll reach the postseason. Entering Week 9, the Bucs are two games under .500, rank 25th in the NFL in points per game and sit dead-last in rushing yards per game and yards per carry. It hasn't been pretty. All that said, we've come to learn that it's never wise to count out Tom Brady. Throughout the first half of the year, Brady had to balance football with marital i sues. With the former couple , you would think that a heavy weight has been lifted for all parties involved. Does that mean Brady is immediately going to start playing better? Who knows? But it can't hurt, right?It's also worth pointing out that the Buccaneers' wide receiver room was banged up through the first half and are now healthy. If Brady and the offense can get back to where they were a year ago and couple it with a defense that is still a top-five unit in the NFL, Tampa Bay will go on a run that has them in the playoffs when the dust settles on the regular season.While there is some optimism with the Bucs, the same can't be said for the defending Super Bowl champs, who we predict will go from first to worst and finish last in the NFC West. At 3-4, they already sit in third in the division looking up to both the Seahawks and . Meanwhile, Matt Wieters Jersey they enter Week 9 as an underdog, while the -- the only team below them in the NFC West at 3-5 -- are currently a favorite, so we could see a shift in the standings as early as this week. The offense is averaging just 16.9 points per game this season, which is the fewest by a defending champion through seven games since the 1991 . While their offense was able to carve up any unit a year ago, they've struggled mightily against some of the upper-echelon defenses in the league this year. Against top-10 scoring defenses this season, L.A. is 0-4 and has lost each game by 12 or more points.As we look at their remaining schedule, they have more games on the road than they do at home, which includes three of their final four games coming away from SoFi Stadium. Another way to look at that is the Rams will likely be an underdog the majority of the time in the second half. As an underdog this season already, the Rams are 0-3.And that's not even mentioning 's ankle injury that could limit him. Don't look now, but the Baltimore Ravens are in a position to go on a run. After beating the Buccaneers last Thursday to begin Week 8, they now sit at 5-3 on the season and in sole po se sion of first place in the AFC North. Not only is this team positioned to win its division, but the Ravens have a ceiling that stops with them sitting as the top seed in the entire AFC.Baltimore has the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL as each of their remaining opponents is currently either at or below .500 on the year.On top of that, they are currently in the midst of a soft cushion in their schedule, which allows them to get healthy. After playing the Bucs on "Thursday Night Football," they had their mini-bye extended, thanks to playing the on "Monday Night Football" to end Week 9 and will then have their actual bye week in Week 10. So, that means between after the Bucs game and before they host the in Week 11, the Ravens will have played just one game over the span of 24 days. That is an absurd amount of time off in-season and is much needed for a Ravens squad that has the likes of and banged up currently. This stretch should allow them enough time to get healthy before they face an easy string of opponents to pile up wins and stun the and Bills out of contention for the No. 1 seed in the conference.For just the third time in NFL history, we'll have a team go undefeated in the regular season. The Philadelphia Eagles have been a juggernaut throughout the first half of the season and have shown no signs of slowing down. They are currently the No. 2-ranked team in DVOA, and has been able to gash opposing defenses and finds himself in the MVP conversation. When you look at their remaining schedule, it's hard to really pencil in a definitive lo s, especially when you simply break it down to the quarterback matchups they'll face. PHI QB #1 CMP%67.0YDs1799TD10INT2YD/Att8.49 Here's a quick rundown of the quarterbacks Philly will face the rest of the way:Week 9: , HoustonWeek 10: , WashingtonWeek 11: , IndianapolisWeek 12: , Green BayWeek 13: , Tenne seeWeek 14: , New YorkWeek 15: Justin Fields, ChicagoWeek 16: , DallasWeek 17: , New OrleansWeek 18: Daniel Jones, New YorkWith the exception of Prescott -- when the Eagles go into Dallas in Week 16 -- and po sibly Rodgers, no quarterback is going to strike much fear into Philadelphia at this stage, and you could argue that it'll be Tim McCarver Jersey favored in every game for the remainder of the season. While everyone seems to think we're destined for a Bills-Chiefs AFC Championship, the Dolphins are going to crash the party with a conference title run of their own.When healthy, Tua Tagovailoa has checked off e sentially all of the boxes of being a quarterback the Dolphins can build around. The team is 5-0 when he plays a full game and their offense averages 26 points per game. Tagovailoa leads the NFL in yards per attempt and pa ser rating this season while ranking third in completion percentage. That elite level of play under center has Miami as a legit sleeper in the AFC, and it should only get better after the addition of pa s-rusher at the deadline.The Dolphins already were able to stop opponents' ground game, ranking ninth in the NFL in DVOA against the run, but it's stopping the pa s that has plagued them. They rank 29th in the NFL in DVOA. Chubb's ability to pre sure the quarterback should help alleviate those i sues in the secondary, and there's also the po sibility that starting cornerback (PUP) finds his way back to the team at some point in the second half after undergoing offseason surgery on his lower leg. Pre suring the quarterback and having two game-breaking talents like and on offense gives Miami the ability to hang with any team in the playoffs and will result in a couple of big-time upsets en route to an AFC title game appearance.The 49ers currently own the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl this season, so this isn't exactly the boldest of predictions, but there is definitely a tier drop after the Bills, Eagles and Chiefs, so we'll allow it.The addition of has the ability to be a Super Bowl-winning move for San Francisco as it gives it another game-wrecker on the offensive side of the ball and should take more pre sure off as he can continue to simply game-manage and distribute to his wide array of skill position players.The combination of being able to run the football as well as any team in the NFL and owning a defense that is top 10 in the league against both the run and pa s is as lethal as it can get when it comes to finding succe s in the postseason.Their biggest challenger will be taking down the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Kyle Shanahan will cook up a game plan that dilutes Jalen Hurts' impact and bottles up their pa sing attack. Meanwhile, one of the ways you can move the ball on Philly is on the ground as they rank 22nd in the NFL in DVOA against the run. That plays right into Shanahan's hand and will be an area they'll look to exploit.Then, in the Super Bowl, they'll gash the dreams of the Buffalo Bills en route to their sixth Super Bowl title in Trevor Rosenthal Jersey franchise history.
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