My expectations for this year were completely opposite from what actually happened… At one point, before the season had started, I thought the New York Giants would perform extremely well with all the new additions to the team. Realistically the Giants were plagued by injury, bad coaching, and so on proving for a really bad 2-11 record. As for the rest of the NFL…

Week 15 update: As opposed to last year’s standings, the standings of the NFL in week 15 this year are somewhat in variance. Currently, Tom Brady (quarterback of the New England Patriots) and his team rank the top of the AFC East. With a 10-3 record his team is doing extremely well, but not as good as “Big” Ben Roethlisberger and his Pittsburgh Steelers who place at the top of the AFC North with an 11-2 record. Other teams placing at the top of their AFC region include the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars. While Kansas City has been somewhat disappointing recently (starting with a 5-0 record and then losers of four of their last five games), the Jacksonville Jaguars have been a pleasant surprise with a lockdown defense that leads the league in scoring defense (15.5 PPG), sacks (47), and takeaways (30). Should they finish with the lead in these three categories, they will be compared to the great defenses of the 1985 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens.

Now let’s move on to the NFC where the Philadelphia Eagles, have climbed to the top of the NFC East with an 11-2 record. However, their wins stemming off of Carson Wentz (one of the young QB’s in the NFL), may be coming to an end due to his severe tearing of the ACL. Although a devastating blow to the team and the franchise as a whole, this may provide opportunity for teams like the 10-3 Minnesota Vikings to climb to the top of the NFC conference in its entirety. The Vikings, previously on an eight-game winning streak, had their streak snapped by Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers being tied with the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams make for tough competition throughout the conference.

Issues: For all Giants fans, the recent news about Eli Manning might have been saddening. Eli Manning having 210 consecutive starts under center (the second longest streak for a QB) was benched by (now previous coach) Ben McAdoo. In a Tuesday press conference, Ben McAdoo explained why he started quarterback Geno Smith over Eli. He simply stated: “We’re confident that we can put a plan together to put Geno in a position to be successful and go win the game.” Although a sad moment for the Giants, there are many issues throughout the NFL. This includes issues with kneeling for the National Anthem. Receiving a lot of backlash from the President of the United States alone, it’s starting to raise more and more issues throughout the NFL. Owners like Jerry Jones threaten to bench any players who do kneel for the National Anthem while the 49ers Jed York supports the players. All in all, owners are split and so is the rest of the nation.

Playoffs: For 2017, here is the likeliness for some of the teams to make it into the playoffs: Eagles- already clinched, Steelers- already clinched, Patriots- 100%, Vikings-99.9%, Jaguars-98.2%, Saints-93.6%, Rams-89.3%, Panthers-78.1%, Titans-76.3%

NFL Week 15 -- Which two teams do you predict to make it to the Super Bowl?

• Eagles (NFC)
• Vikings (NFC)
• Saints (NFC)
• Patriots (AFC)
• Steelers (AFC)
• Jaguars (AFC)

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Prediction: Although it is too early to statistically and legitimately make a prediction for who may be in the Super Bowl, there are some teams that are currently looking “Super Bowl worthy” in my opinion. Although suffering the loss of their quarterback for the season, the Eagles are still looking really good as a team along with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even though many of the teams eligible for the playoffs this year have never won a Super Bowl, I would like to see the Jacksonville Jaguars due to them never even seeing a Super Bowl and the Minnesota Vikings who lost all four of their Super Bowl appearances to compete against each other.