Sheil Kapadia of The Ringer offered some “boldish” predictions for the NFL, and he’s quite high on the AFC North.
First, Kapadia predicts that the Cincinnati Bengals will win the Super Bowl.
“What I like most about the Bengals is that they’ve shown the willingness and ability to evolve on both sides of the ball. The 2021 Super Bowl run was fun, but that was a flawed team. We all could see it. Joe Burrow was sacked an NFL-high 51 times that regular season, and he took 19 more sacks during the Bengals’ four-game postseason run. Since that Super Bowl loss, the Bengals have used free agency to completely revamp their offensive line over a two-year span. This year’s group, on paper, is the best and deepest that Burrow has played behind.”
The Bengals aren’t that bold of a prediction, as they went to the Super Bowl two years ago and the AFC Championship game last season. They’re also the favorites to win the AFC North and among the favorites in the AFC to reach the Super Bowl.
Burrow got help with the addition of Orlando Brown Jr. on the offensive line, and the team remained relatively stable during the offseason, with their biggest loss being S Jessie Bates. With offensive weapons like Burrow, WRs Tee Higgins and JaMarr Chase and RB Joe Mixon along with guys like Trey Hendrickson, D.J. Reader and Logan Wilson on defense, the Bengals are going to be a threat. Any time you stick your nose out and pick a Super Bowl winner it can be considered bold, but the Bengals aren’t all that crazy of a pick by Kapadia.
This next pick is one that could get Steelers fans blood boiling a little, as Kapadia has Cleveland Browns EDGE breaking the single-season sack record, jointly held by Pittsburgh Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt and former New York Giants DE Michael Strahan.
“I think Garrett’s going to have a monster year. I think he’s one of the best defensive players of this era. And I think he’s in his prime. So I’m going big and predicting that Garrett will break the sack record! Over the past three seasons, Garrett’s 44 sacks are tops in the league. He’s been one of the most consistent pass rushers in the NFL, and what’s even more impressive is that Garrett’s done so despite being the most double-teamed player in the league last year,” Kapadia writes.
T.J. Watt broke the single-season sack record two years ago and then partially tore his pectoral in Week One last season, missing seven games. Watt was never fully healthy last season, but had he played a full season, Garrett’s 44 sacks would be second in the league over that span behind Watt. With Watt healthy, he’s the better player, as much as lists generated by analysts around the league might try and tell you otherwise.
Garrett did get help this season with the additions of Za’Darius Smith and Ogbo Okoronwko, and while those two will free up blockers for Garrett, they’re good pass rushers in their own right. It’s not as if Garrett is just going to get all the sacks with better pass rushers in the fold. There’s also an argument to be made that his numbers will go down. Garrett has never exceeded 16 sacks in a season. To all of a sudden expect him to get 23 is a little bit of a stretch. It’s a prediction that’s certainly bold, and one that I really doubt will come to fruition. We’ll see if Garrett is even the NFL’s sack leader this season, with breaking the record seeming like a serious stretch.
When the season kicks off on Sunday, we’ll get a better idea obviously of how these predictions look, but we won’t know until the end of the season. I doubt either will happen, but the Bengals winning the Super Bowl is a much higher likelihood than Garrett breaking the sack record.
There were no predictions involving the Steelers, but they’re a team that should push for a playoff spot and make some noise in 2023. While they aren’t getting a lot of love as far as being legitimate AFC contenders, they’re a team that’s expected to compete for a wild card spot in the loaded AFC. Pittsburgh’s offense will determine just how far they can go, but it wouldn’t be shocking if this was the year the Steelers won a playoff game for the first time since 2016.
It’s going to be a fun season to watch, and the AFC North is going to be absolutely loaded, as these predictions foretell. No matter how good everyone else around them looks, the Steelers are just going to need to focus on winning games week in and week out.
