Author: Lee Kostroski

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NFC North Prediction | Minnesota Vikings | 9-5-2024

ASA’s NFC NORTH WIN TOTAL PROJECTION

NFC North Prediction – Minnesota Vikings – Under 7.5 Wins (-150)

The Vikings lost 6 of their final 9 games last season after losing QB Cousins for the season with an Achilles injury.  Two of their three wins after Cousins injury came by a FG and they were outgained (YPP) in 6 of their last 7 games. 

Now with Cousins moving on to Atlanta, Minnesota will rely on journeyman QB Sam Darnold, who has a career record of 21-35 as a starter.

Defensively, they were atrocious defending the pass, which is obviously key in today’s NFL, ranking dead last in opponent completion percentage at over 70%.  They didn’t do much to upgrade the defensive backfield as their depth chart looks the same as last season with the exception of CB Griffin, who is expected to start despite playing in only 3 games with Carolina last season and has been on the decline since 2019. 

The struggling secondary won’t get much help from the defensive line which ranks 30th heading into the season per PFF.  This team may have to score in bunches to win games this year and we just don’t see that happening with their QB situation. 

The schedule won’t do them any favors either.  The Vikes will be facing the 5th most difficult schedule and their early slate is brutal.  After facing the NY Giants on the road to start the season (should be a pick-em type game), Minnesota faces San Francisco, Houston, Green Bay, NY Jets, and Detroit in succession and they’ll be underdogs in each of those games. 

The Vikings won 7 games last season and we just don’t see an improvement this year.  Under is the call.   

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AFC West Prediction | Denver Broncos Under 5.5 |

ASA’s AFC WEST WIN TOTAL PROJECTION

ASA AFC West Prediction – Denver Broncos – UNDER 5.5 Wins (-115)

How are the Broncos going to score enough points to keep up in games?  They might have the worst group of skill position players in the NFL and it starts at QB.  Jarred Stidham, Zach Wilson, and rookie Bo Nix are battling it out to see who gets the nod as the starting signal caller.  Stidham and Wilson both have a career passing completion percentage below 60% and they’ve combined to throw more interceptions than TD’s.  Rookie Bo Nix will be the Week #1 starter and we are not overly confident in his ability to lead this Broncos team to 6+ wins.

Denver lost top WR Jerry Jeudy to Cleveland and starting RB Williams dropped off big time last season (just 3.5 YPC) after a serious knee injury in 2022.  Head coach Sean Payton said he wants to run the ball more to protect his inexperienced, and honestly just not very good, QB’s. 

The problem is, they weren’t great at running the ball last year (21st in YPC) and didn’t really do much in the off season to improve on that.  The Denver offense was just 1 of 7 in the NFL that didn’t have a player with 1,000 yards rushing or receiving and they’ll be worse on that side of the ball this year. 

The defense will most likely be improved but that won’t take much as they finished 27th in PPG allowed and 29th in YPG allowed. 

The Broncos face the 8th most difficult schedule this season (per PFF) and have only 8 home games.  They’ve always had a solid home field advantage, but on the road they have not had a winning record since 2015 (16-41 road record the last 7 years) and we project them to be underdogs in all of their road tilts this season. 

Believe it or not, the Broncos have averaged only 6 wins per season over the last 7 years and we project this to be one of their worst teams during that stretch.  5 or fewer wins for Denver this year is likely.

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AFC North Prediction | Steelers Under 8.5 | 9-4-2024

ASA’s AFC NORTH WIN TOTAL PROJECTION

AFC North Prediction – Pittsburgh Steelers – UNDER 8.5 Wins (-140)

We’re going against the grain a bit here as the Steelers have never finished with a losing record under head coach Mike Tomlin.  We think this is the year that streak ends. 

Truth be told, that run really should have ended last season.  Pittsburgh finished with a 10-7 record a year ago but they ended the season with a negative point differential, they were outgained on the year both YPG and YPP, and had fewer rushing and passing yards than their opponents.  They finished 9-2 in games decided by a TD or less and while they went 5-1 in NFC North play, 4 of those 5 wins they faced back up QB’s vs Cincinnati (both games), Baltimore and Cleveland.  Those successes will be very difficult to duplicate in back to back years.  As will their turnover margin of +11 which was the 3rd best in the NFL last year. 

To say they were fortunate to get to 10 wins is an understatement as their projected win total based on point differential and key stats was under 8.  The Steelers did bring in 2 new signal callers in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.  The problem is, Wilson is on the downside of his career (13th year) and wasn’t great the last 2 season in Denver while Fields has never lived up to the hype with just a 10-28 record as a starter. 

The defense allowing just 19.7 PPG last season but their YPG (21st) and YPP (23rd) numbers were not in line with their scoring defense so again, we feel they were fortunate on that side of the ball. 

Pittsburgh just happens to have the most difficult schedule in the NFL this season based on opponents expected win totals.  They better get off to a red hot start if they expect to get to 9 wins this season as they back half of their schedule (final 8 games) is brutal.  A fast start might be tough with a new offensive coordinator, new QB, and they play 4 of their first 6 games on the road.  We think an 8 win season for Pittsburgh would be really solid this year and that still lands them under this total .

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AFC East Prediction | NY Jets Over 9.5 | 9-4-24

ASA’s AFC EAST WIN TOTAL PROJECTION

AFC East Prediction – New York Jets – Over 9.5 Wins (-150)

We went into our research on the Jets thinking we’d be leaning toward the Under on their win total.  After a deep dive into their off-season transactions, schedule, etc… we realized our original thoughts were off and the Over is the play here. 

They should be very good in the trenches on both sides of the ball this year which is a huge key.  Last year they were flat out bad on the offensive line but their off-season transactions, picking up 2 of the top OT’s in the NFL (Smith from Dallas & Moses from Baltimore) have this unit ranked in the top 5 in the league per PFF. 

The defensive line was fantastic last year and is ranked #1 per PFF heading into this season.  The stop unit as a whole for New York is among the best in the NFL and led the league in YPP allowed at 4.6 and #2 in YPG allowed at 292.  If the offense can be average, this team will have a very good record. 

QB Aaron Rodgers is expected to be back and they signed veteran back up Tyrod Taylor, who has started nearly 100 games in his career, just in case.  The weapons are solid with RB Hall returning (1000 yards rushing & 600 yards receiving), along with WR’s Wilson and Williams who they picked up in free agency. 

The Fly Boys face the 4th easiest schedule in the NFL based on opponents win projections and face the league’s worst team, the Patriots (4.5 projected wins) twice.  Outside the AFC East, they also face the Broncos, Titans, Cardinals, Vikings, and Seahawks who are all projected to have losing records this season. 

If Rodgers can stay healthy, we realize that’s a big if, the offense should go from 31st in YPP & YPG to middle of the pack at worst.  That should be enough to get to 10 wins this with their high end defense and easy schedule.      

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AFC South Prediction | Texans Under 9.5 wins | 9-4-24

ASA’s AFC SOUTH WIN TOTAL PROJECTION

Houston Texans – Under 9.5 Wins (+125) We think Houston is a bit overvalued after last year’s 10-7 season.  Their opening win total a year ago was 5.5 and now we’re sitting a full 4 games above that at 9.5 and plus juice on the Under. 

They were a bit fortunate last year to get to 10 wins.  Their point differential was just +24 for the season and they finished 7-3 in one score games so we can probably look for a regression there.  They also played one of the league’s easiest schedules in 2023 and that is being replaced with a much tougher slate in 2024 (7th toughest SOS this season).  They face the NFC North & AFC East so @ Green Bay, vs Detroit, @ NY Jets, vs Buffalo, and vs Miami.  On top of that, their other opponents outside the AFC South include games @ Kansas City, @ Dallas, and home vs Baltimore.  Last year their 3 “swing games” so to speak were NY Jets, Denver and Atlanta so a huge upgrade this season in level of opponents.   

They also play 9 road games this season and they were just .500 away from home last year with tight 2 point wins @ Carolina (2 wins on the season), @ Atlanta (7 wins last season) and Houston was destroyed @ NY Jets with Zach Wilson at the helm. 

QB Stroud and HC Ryans had great first seasons but is the dreaded sophomore slump in store for the 2024 year?  Teams now have had a full season of film on Stroud so he won’t sneak up on anyone.  He’s also operating behind an offensive line that ranks near the bottom of the NFL going into this season per PFF (22nd). 

Defensively Houston’s weak spot last year was vs the pass which is not where you want to be vulnerable in the current NFL.  They allowed 6.9 yards per pass attempt (26th) and opposing QB’s completed over 68% of their attempts on the Texans (30th).  This year that shaky pass defense faces the likes of Mahomes, Prescott, Rodgers, Goff, Allen, Tagovailoa, Jackson, Love, and Lawrence to name a few. 

They were also very fortunate to be +10 in turnover margin last season (5th best in the NFL) which will be very tough to match.  This Houston team won’t catch anyone by surprise this year and we have them tabbed for 9 wins so Under is the side here. 

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