A review: The AFC and predictions made by me

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I am not ashamed that I should never gamble on professional sports. Here's proof. A look at my pre-season NFL predictions, team by team, and my explanations for sucking.

Prediction
Actual

AFC South
Tennessee Titans -- 10-6 -- 9-7
I harped on the Titans signing Matt Hasselbeck and I do admit that I think he had a positive effect on this team. Granted, he wasn't healthy for part of the season, but I think they had four games that Vince Young would have lost otherwise. If Chris Johnson has 75 percent of a season that he's capable of, then the Titans probably get to 11 wins. Losses to Jacksonville and Indianapolis killed them.

Houston Texans -- 10-6 -- 10-6
"I have no doubt he'll turn this defense around."I wrote that about Wade Phillips. Damned if he didn't turn them into a top five defense in the NFL. This is a salty team that doesn't get enough credit, probably. They lost Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, Mario Williams and Phillips himself for long periods of time this season and they put together a seven-game run amidst all of this that put them completely over the edge. A really good team that came together.

Indianapolis Colts -- 7-9 -- 2-14
And it's not like they weren't trying. Somehow as a fan of Peyton Manning, I completely underestimated him. Now they're about to watch a once-in-a-lifetime quarterback fade into the sunset only to get, potentially, the next once-in-a-lifetime quarterback in Andy Luck. Luck. Horseshoe. Delicious marketing opportunities.

Jacksonville Jaguars -- 3-13 -- 5-11
Bastard fantasy experts. Steered me away from Maurice Jones-Drew in the pre-season saying he had some leg issue that would eventually pop up. Instead, he leads the league in rushing. I thought the Jags were feisty: A bad team that did pretty well at home.

AFC East
New York Jets -- 12-4 -- 8-8
Some hard facts: Rex Ryan is probably not any good if he didn't notice and address the apparent turbulence among his offensive players. Mark Sanchez might not be as good as we think. Then again, having watched him, if he's scrambling he'll have four receivers standing there watching. I think this team is in such chaos that it supercedes coaching or personnel. Much bigger-picture issues at hand.

New England Patriots -- 11-5 -- 13-3
I should never, ever doubt the most well-run franchise in the NFL. Bad secondary? Screw it, let's throw a wide receiver back there. Massive injuries up and down the defense? No problem. Tom Brady will throw for 5,000 yards and carry this thing. A sneaky good run game, Hall of Fame quarterback and the

Buffalo Bills -- 6-10 -- 6-10
I think that Stevie Johnson is a head case and I think Fred Jackson is an absolute hoss. You go into next year building your offense around him. This protects Ryan Fitzpatrick and allows you to develop a little. Although, they could be in Toronto or Quebec by then. Was in serious peril in missing this prediction badly ... until the Bills happened.

Miami Dolphins -- 4-12 -- 6-10
Looked terrible the first quarter of the season and then they turned into probably the best worst team in the NFL. A team that could take any team to the mat on any weekend. Matt Moore has something, they turned Reggie Bush into a real running back and they reminded us that Brandon Marshall is, indeed, still in the league.

AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers -- 13-3 -- 12-4
Such a fun team to watch and they have to be a pretty cool team to root for. Family-run and always so good in making decisions and running a franchise like it should be run. Found Antonio Brown and now they have a vaunted pass offense for the next six years. Losses: Baltimore (x2), San Francisco, Houston.

Baltimore Ravens -- 11-5 -- 12-4
I don't trust them. That doesn't mean that they're not any good. Much more prone to the goofy win than, say, the Steelers or Green Bay Packers, but they've given notice to the Steelers and the league as a whole: They can win a big game. Losses: Tennessee, Seattle, San Diego, Jacksonville. The opposite of Pittsburgh in that every loss came to non-playoff teams and they won every big game on the schedule.

Cleveland Browns -- 7-9 -- 4-12
Everything I thought would be good was not good at all. Peyton Hillis disappeared. Colt McCoy, as it turns out, is not a good professional football player. The defense was not awful, which gives the Browns a little hope (fifth in points, 10th in yards per game).

Cincinnati Bengals -- 2-14 -- 9-7
Tickled that I was completely wrong because I hope for the best for Andy Dalton. Cedric Benson's jail term was not nearly as detrimental as I thought. Granted, the Bengals might be a team that took advantage of an easy schedule to get into the playoffs. Nonetheless, getting there is getting there. And finding a franchise quarterback and receiver in the same draft is absolutely nothing to sneeze at.

AFC West
San Diego Chargers -- 11-5 -- 8-8
I thought they could fart and win the AFC West. Apparently, a fart is worth eight wins, which is what the Chargers did for the last three months. Fart. As much as I think it'd be fun to root for the Steelers, I think the opposite of the Chargers. Seems like you could have found nine or 10 wins in that schedule.

Kansas City Chiefs -- 9-7 -- 7-9
In my defense, the Chiefs get nine wins with Jamaal Charles. I think. They didn't look very good with him, so I could very well be wrong here. No Charles resulted in teams forcing Matt Cassel to attempt to beat you with no pass catchers. He winds up getting injured and the season was only bailed out by some ugly wins along the way.

Oakland Raiders -- 7-9 -- 8-8
Again, you could point to injury (Darren McFadden) as to why the Raiders didn't do a little better. Looked good for the first quarter of the season. I think they found some things out in the passing game. Darrius Heyward-Bey and Denarius Moore turned in actual NFL-level seasons at receiver. If they ever play a little D, they could compete for a long while in this division.

Denver Broncos -- 3-13 -- 8-8
"A franchise in turmoil." Maybe not. I don't know how their defense went from being one of the worst in the league to, at times, one of the best or at least pretty good. Clearly, Tim Tebow had an effect on this team and not just scoring touchdowns. I watched an early game of his, when the Broncos were completely out of it early in the season (I think it was the comeback against Miami that set this mania off), and there was a play where Tebow ran with the ball and lunged for a first down, head first. Five Broncos players came over to help him up: Offensive linemen, receivers, running backs, tight ends. Teammates see that and realize that they have a guy that doesn't care about a contract, money or his career. He was willing to go all out for that one play, that one first down. They fed off that. We all know "it can't work." That doesn't matter. The same people that know "it can't work" also find themselves watching Denver Broncos football every week, waiting for the Jesus magic.

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