Rob's Always Fearless, Always Wrong NFL Predictions: 2025 Edition

Here we go again. The annual exercise in futility. Sneaking this in after the opening two games and before the now-ruined NFL RedZone experience returns (the thrill is gone!).

NFC:

NFC EAST:

1) Philadelphia Eagles (11-6): They lost a lot of their defense to bigger paydays, but they also know in recent years how to replace them. Now, if they can stop them from spitting on opposing quarterbacks when everyone is looking.....

2) Washington Commanders (8-9): And back to earth. There will be a second year slump, in part because I'm perplexed by their running back room. Has there really been anything done methodically to ensure an improved defense?

3) Dallas Cowboys (6-11): I think it's time to consider that, even though he has shown his talent, Dax Prescott may be challenging Tony Romo to be the most underperforming quarterback in the franchise's 65 year history when it comes to the bottom line: winning. At least Don Meredith had them yards away from vanquishing the Packers and Danny White played in three NFC Championship games in a row.

4) New York Giants (5-12): Don't let the record fool you. Jaxson Dart will get a chance to prove himself worthy of being the future. Malik Nabers is for real. The defense will not be, and, probably two years too late, there will be a coaching change.

NFC NORTH:

1) Detroit Lions (14-3): The beat (or roar?) goes on. Everyone is jumping on the Packers' bandwagon, and, while they'll be good, I've never seen national pundits leave a team so fast because their coordinators left to become head coaches elsewhere. Dan Campbell is still there (when he's not at Applebee's). Aidan Hutchinson is back. The Lions aren't going anywhere.

2) Green Bay Packers (13-4): But the Pack will be hot on their heels. The Micah Parsons trade only pays dividends if he can stay healthy and he's already in need of back injections for Week 1. Now, my back injection from January, 2024 is still providing wonderful relief, but, I also don't go out and try to tackle grown men, either. 

3) Minnesota Vikings (9-8): J.J. McCarthy finally gets to play a down that matters Monday night. He's got unrealistic expectations surrounding him. I just hope he doesn't let that implode him. He seems confident, he's got talent, but man, if you start 0-3, don't ride him out of town!

4) Chicago Bears (6-11): Not yet. It will take Ben Johnson some time, which includes continuing to get his type of players on the roster. I think Caleb Williams take a big step up this season, but several one-score losses do in the young Cubs.

NFC SOUTH:

1) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-6): This is my oldest grandson's favorite team. Need I say more?  :) :)

2) Carolina Panthers (9-8): My surprise NFC team in 2025. Bryce Young was quite an intriguing watch last year, especially after Thanksgiving. If they can get back to doing what this franchise does best, keep pounding, a good running game and defense is just the ticket for Young to be in position to do what he needs to do to facilitate wins.

3) Atlanta Falcons (7-10): Does anyone know why the Falcons have won exactly seven games in five of the last seven seasons? Is it because Home Depot is open daily from 7 to 10 or something?

4) New Orleans Saints (2-15): Nearing the deadline, Alvin Kamara has been traded to....and with the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft......

NFC WEST:

1) San Francisco 49ers (10-7): What a muddled division! I'm taking the Niners because I think Brock Purdy can stay more healthy than Matthew Stafford can. And because they are my son and my granddaughter's favorite team.  :)

2) Los Angeles Rams (10-7): However, I do think the Rams can sneak into the postseason in what will unfold as a "parity year" across the league. Even without Cooper Kupp.

3) Seattle Seahawks (8-9): The Sam Darnold experiment comes tantalizingly close to success, but losses to the Rams and Niners in the division do them in.

4) Arizona Cardinals (6-11): I love the Cardinals strictly from an outside looking in point of view. I'm always rooting for Greg Dortch. But, after sticking with him for years, I have to admit I think Kyler Murray peaked a few years ago.

NFC PLAYOFF SEEDS:

1 -- Detroit (Bye)

2 -- Philadelphia

3 -- Tampa Bay

4 -- San Francisco

5 -- Green Bay

6 -- LA Rams

7 -- Carolina

WILD CARD ROUND:

Philadelphia d. Carolina

Tampa Bay d. L.A. Rams

San Francisco d. Green Bay

DIVISIONAL ROUND:

Detroit d. San Francisco

Tampa Bay d. Philadelphia

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP:

Detroit d. Tampa Bay

************************

AFC:

AFC EAST:

1) Buffalo Bills (13-4): I mean, who else is there in this division? But if Josh Allen gets hurt, this division goes haywire. No team risks losing more than the Bills do if, for some reason, Allen is lost for the season.

2) New England Patriots (7-10): I'm not going crazy about Mike Vrabel like some national pundits are, but he knows how to coach up a football team (see what Tennessee has done since they let him go....). I'm not sold on Drake Maye, however. I hope Treyveon Henderson battles Tyler Warren for AFC Offensive Player of The Year!

3) New York Jets (6-11): Quarterback?

4) Miami Dolphins (4-13): The implosion goes nuclear on South Beach and Mike McDaniel is the first coaching casualty of 2025.

AFC NORTH:

1) Baltimore Ravens (12-5): We're getting to the point where Lamar Jackson needs to finally stamp his legacy with a season that doesn't end disappointingly sometime in January. Derrick Henry isn't getting any younger, either, but, unlike the Bills, if the Ravens lost Jackson, they have a better backup situation as well as, well, Henry. 

2) Cincinnati Bengals (10-7): Track meets anyone? If you like 45-38 football games, order Sunday Ticket and select Cincinnati. They have generational talent locked up on offense, and better lock in Trey Hendrickson long term. Soon. Show the people of Cincinnati, Mr. Brown, that you'll finally spend money! This defense last year should have been arrested and charged with impersonating a defense. Remember the 1981 San Francisco 49ers? It was their third season under former Cincinnati assistant coach Bill Walsh. Other than the highly touted Ronnie Lott out of USC, could you name the rest of their secondary? Nope. But that team found talent, and won a Super Bowl, kicking off their run as the team of the 1980's.

Why do I bring this up? Because if the Bengals can't scour the earth and find some young defensive studs on the cheap like Walsh (and others) have, get some new scouts! They have a new defensive coordinator. I hope it helps.....my daughter's favorite team.  :)

3) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8-1): This is it. Somehow, Mike Tomlin will avoid a losing season, but it will be his last with the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers is washed. DK Metcalf will be screaming he doesn't get the ball enough by Week 4. The defense can't do everything. After being such a horrible franchise up until 1970, Pittsburgh has a model of winning and consistency now for 55 years. But it's time for a change. They're spinning their wheels. That's not good enough in a town who has to suffer through the Pirates all summer. But, YES, they'll make the postseason. And lose again.

4) Cleveland Browns (3-13-1): Oh, boy. At least they'll tie the Steelers.

AFC SOUTH:

1) Houston Texans (9-8): Well, we're going to find out how good, and the height of the possible ceiling of, C.J. Stroud. They need a big season in the running game. Put the Texans in the AFC North of West and they are lucky to win six or seven.

2) Jacksonville Jaguars (8-9): Trevor Lawrence. This is the year we fully discover he's no Mark Brunell. Or David Garrard. Or Byron Leftwich. 

3) Indianapolis Colts (5-12): Tough first season for my man Tyler Warren. This team will look so different in 2026 under Mike Tomlin....

4) Tennessee Titans (4-13): Cam Ward will be under pressure all season. By that, I mean running for his life.

AFC WEST:

1) Kansas City Chiefs (12-5): I don't care that they lost in Brazil. The Chiefs reign in this division until they are knocked off. Now, the Chargers are halfway there, but I think KC gets their comeuppance December 14th, sweeps the Broncos and Raiders, and wins the division again.

2) Los Angeles Chargers (10-7): Nice performance out of the gate. Can they keep doing it? Can they avoid the injury bug which has plagued them so much more than, say, the Chiefs, over the past couple of seasons?

3) Denver Broncos (8-9): Just like Jayden Daniels, I think year two for Bo Nix will be a sophomore slump. I don't buy the Sean Payton hype. He's a great coach! But I don't think he's got the roster quite yet. Maybe 2026.

4) Las Vegas Raiders (4-13): Seattle 2.0 is a bust in Sin City. And this is MY favorite team. :(

AFC PLAYOFF SEEDS:

1 -- Buffalo (Bye)

2 -- Baltimore

3 -- Kansas City

4 -- Houston

5 -- LA Chargers

6 -- Cincinnati

7 -- Pittsburgh

AFC WILD CARD ROUND:

Baltimore d. Pittsburgh (how appropriate)

Kansas City d. Cincinnati

L.A. Chargers d. Houston

AFC DIVISIONAL ROUND:

Buffalo d. L.A. Chargers

Baltimore d. Kansas City

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP:

Baltimore d. Buffalo

**********************

SUPER BOWL LX:

Jackson gets revenge two weeks prior over Allen from last postseason, then finally gets his moment to shine, outlasting Jared Goff, who makes the Big Game a second time but falls short.

Baltimore 28, Detroit 19

Enjoy the season, everyone!!!

Full Circle: Answers, And What Comes Next

Well, it's certainly been a long and winding road.....

...but now we've finally reached a point where I can at least understand what in the world has been going on with my mobility.

The saga began innocently enough while walking into the football stadium at Washington & Lee University in Lexington on October 29, 2022. After finally arriving inside the press box, I had to "take five" and catch my breath. I was just three and half weeks removed from my second bout of COVID-19, so I didn't read much into it.

The symptoms? Other than being out of breath, an unusual feeling in my legs. My back would hurt, yes, but my legs couldn't be necessarily described as "painful". The terms "heavy" and "hollow" were better descriptors.

Over several months, the symptoms were only occasional. By March, 2023, I started to notice more regularity of symptoms. After 100 steps or so, they would begin. A year into the journey, it became 50-75 steps. Some may have noticed I abruptly stopped broadcasting high school football games that October. I realized that body was telling me I had the goods to do one game a weekend, not two. So Randolph-Macon College won out.

All this time, I'm discussing with my PCP, and we're discussing specialists. First, OrthoVirginia, where I had a steroid injection in my lower back on January 9, 2024. It could work three months, a year.....and, thank God, after almost 18 months, it still has done miracles for my back.

It, subsequently, should have improved my legs. The procedure did not. From early to mid 2024, it was a gradual decline. 30 to 50 steps were needed before "it" set in. It was making it difficult to stand for long periods of time. My sister-in-law's funeral and graveside service a year ago was a battle, but she took care of me.  ;)

Again in 2024, I was MIA from the high school scene on site, reporting and watching from as close as I could. Just before the year, my doctor asked how long I had been on statins, the widely used drugs for cholesterol control, especially for heart attack survivors like myself.

She had read cases where prolonged statin use could cause leg pain. I came off of them and began using Repatha, shooting myself in the tummy every two weeks. Repatha is the commercial with the talking heart pillow.  :D

We hoped for leg improvement. It only got worse. Enter my second neurologist, Dr. Mary Beth Ramsey, whom I met for an EMG on my legs. I passed with flying colors.

So, over two years of feeling like I could fall at any time, EKG's, a cardiac cath, MRI's, EIEIO's, you name it. 

Dr. Ramsey took over as my main neurologist and ordered a muscle biopsy, which I had performed on May 27th. I have pretty much healed from it, save the scar, of course. They took my "tiny slivers of muscle" and sent them to Louisiana State University, and to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The report came back two weeks later, and, on June 19, we met.

***PAUSE STORY***

To understand the title of this post, I take you back to some of the earliest memories of my childhood. Until very, very recently, I never understood its appeal, but one of my favorite events every year was the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. 

I watched it religiously. For many years, I tried to stay up for the entire 21 1/2 event. I never did. But I tried! And, whether raising money with the "milk carton piggy bank" you could get at 7-Eleven to fill up with donations, to take it back to the store to give, or, a not-so-simple long distance phone call from Beaverdam to make a pledge, I was always happy when the MDA mail would arrive a few days later so I could send my money.

The glitz, the emotion, the final hour. It was enthralling. And, I get it! Some of you deplored it, for a myriad of reasons. But, personally, I never thought there was an issue. How do I learn about people who have it so much worse than I, save to "meet" them on television as I sat in my home in the middle of nowhere?

***RETURN STORY***

We tested my blood, now my muscles, for so many things, from myasthenia gravis to heart issues, vascular disease, you name it. And now, we finally knew.

I have "Immune-Mediated Necrotizing Myopathy", or, "IMNM" for short. You can read the gory details HERE from, yes, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, but the short answer is that it is one of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM's), a group of muscle disease that involves inflammation of the muscles or associated tissues."

IMNM's "severe weakness" is usually in the proximal muscles, i.e. close to shoulders or pelvic girdle, usually with little effect on other parts of the body.

That's very true. My arms haven't suffered. My feet are good for a 58-year old. It's all about the legs, especially above the knees, left leg a bit more affected than right.

And, YES, years of taking those statins either gets complete, or at most, partial blame for all this.

So, if you take STATINS, talk to your doctor at your next visit and feel free to share my story, ESPECIALLY if you are experiencing any muscle pain or weakness!! IMNM falls into the umbrella of diseases fought by my lifelong friends at MDA. 

My deepest thanks to Dr. Arpita Aggarwal, my primary care physician, Dr. Bradley Stovall at OrthoVirginia, Dr. Schulmann and Dr. Ramsey at Neurological Associates, my cardiologist, vascular team, every nurse, every human who has patiently walked with me during part of all of this process.

*****

What's next? I have begun a regimen of two medications, one for 3-4 months, and one until further notice. One must be taken with food, the other cannot. It took a week for me to get my head around it all. 

Can it be healed? Yes! Can it at least improve? Of course! The next 4-6 months will tell. 

As for my passionate dealings with high school sports? I'll fight to be where I can be, as I gladly continue my passion of broadcasting for Randolph-Macon College. 

Your prayers and support over this long journey has never, ever been taken for granted. They won't be as I, finally, enter and tackle the next leg of the adventure (pun intended). 

And, as surreal as this is, I guess I'm now officially known as one of "Jerry's Kids".  :)