Five teams who will make the playoffs in 2023 after missing out in 2022
The NFL is a competitive and ever evolving sport, in many ways unpredictable with many fans entering the season with the belief that this year is their year to make the holy grail in their sport; the playoffs.
Some of the teams that missed out on last season’s play-offs, have used the off season to rebuild their roster, change their coaching staff to inject a new lease of life into their franchises. The future hall of fame head coach Sean Payton going to Denver, and four times league MVP Aaron Rodgers, heading to New York to name but a few.
This article explores five of those teams that missed out last year…
Detroit Lions
The most obvious and easiest pick of the bunch is the Detroit Lions, and let’s face it after last year’s hard knocks we all have a soft spot for the lions. Having only just missing out on the play offs last season by one game, it has shown how far they have come under head coach Dan Campbell.
The former tight end has put fire in his teams’ bellies and has them firing on both sides of the ball, with an explosive season from last season rookies Aiden Hutchinson and Malcolm Rodriguez and bolstering further this year with the addition of Brian Branch. This will give the Detroit defence the chance to be a top 10 defence in the league this season.
On the offensive side of the ball Jared Goff is starting to look like a championship winning QB and has started to prove why he was taken as the number one overall pick in the 2016 draft by the LA Rams. His stats last season were impressive going for 4438 yards, 29 touchdowns and finishing the season as the 5th best QB in the league.
Amon-Ra St. Brown is my sleeper pick for your fantasy teams with his 1161 yards last season, 6 TDs and his ability to run the JET-sweep makes him a double threat. When Jameson Williams returns from his gambling suspension, Detroit will have a genuine 1-2 punch in the WR positions.
My prediction – They won’t only just make the play offs this season; they are my pick to win the NFC North for the first time in 30 years with a 12-5 record.
Carolina Panthers
The NFC South could be this season’s NFC East, where a team with a losing record makes the play-offs. But if any of the teams has a chance to make it, it’s the Carolina Panthers.
With the former Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich taking over from the disastrous tenure of Matt Rhule, they now have a head coach with a winning record of 40/33/1 (0.547). Aside from the head coach they have also been busy this offseason, drafting the former Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, alongside veteran weapons Adam Thielen, Miles Sanders, DJ Chalk and Hayden Hurst.
They also have Andy Dalton who will provide some safe hands and wise words for when Bryce undoubtedly hits the “rookie wall” he will be able to advise him and coach him through, and that extra coaching that will do the rookie signal caller the world of good.
With them able to keep pass rusher Brian Burns (who came 38th in the Third and Long Podcast‘s top 50 NFL players of the 2022 season) is massive for them. He is a true talent and leader on that side of the ball, and explosive and impressive stars such as Jaycee Horn, Vonn Bell and Xavier Woods in the secondary will give them a chance to make turn overs and key stops in the most games.
My prediction – Carolina will scrap into the post season with a 9-8 record, the lowest record of the play-off teams.
Las Vegas Raiders
Let’s face it the AFC South (for a few years at least) is going to be owned by the Kansas City Chiefs as we are in the depths of their dynasty, which means second place in that division is well and truly up for grabs. So out of what could be a very tight race for second in this division why have I have chosen the Raiders you ask?
Well, it is simple it’s the fact that Josh McDaniels has added more pieces to his offence from his Patriots days, including the likes of signal caller Jimmy Garoppolo and Brain Hoyer as well as pass catcher Jakobi Meyers. They are players who understand a McDaniels offence and how it works, even if it is a screen pass on a third down.
Last year the offence rushed for over 2,000 yards, most of it by Josh Jacobs with the offence having a total of 4,185 receiving yards, stats I can only see going up with the addition of Meyers who is better than any of their WR core (bar Adams, and a returning to full fitness Renfrew).
This can easily put them near the 5,000 yard receiving mark this season, with the explosion that we can expect from a McDaniels offense. The real weakness of this team is in the secondary, as there is no real stand out stars that can change the game, and their D-Line only really has Maxx Crosby and an aging Chandler Jones. They will need the offense to put the numbers up that I believe they will be able to.
My prediction – Las Vegas offense will power them to a 10-7 record scraping a wildcard spot.
New York Jets
Most people are of the opinion that Aaron Rodgers going to the Jets makes them an immediate super bowl contender, but arguably they sit within the toughest division in football right now. You can still see why people are saying that the team with the longest post-season drought will finally end that drought in 2023, but they face stiff competition from a stacked division.
At one point the team was 7-4 last season and top of the AFC East, but with Zack Wilson failing to develop as they hoped, Mike White being that guy that didn’t work out and Joe Flacco not being able to turn back the clock, the Jets had to rely heavily on a defence which was top-five in the league. So, adding the four-time MVP to the roster surely fixes that play caller on the field issues, are New York expecting the same result that Tom Brady had in Tampa?
Probably, but what are the chances that it will happen? It feel Likely, and why? because Aaron has manged to influence some of the recruitment, they brought in a trusted lieutenant Allan Lazard and experienced WR Mecole Hardman and there is the exciting second year receiver Garrett Wilson who even with the issues at QB still put-up impressive numbers.
Rodgers is also a fan of Garrett Wilson and most have him set up as WR1 in New York. Last season’s demise coincided at the same time as rookie sensation running back Breece Hall went down with a season ending injury for me he could have been rookie of the season last season.
My prediction – In a tough division Jets will end up 11-6 record grabbing a play-off spot.
New England Patriots
You are going to tell me to take my rose-tinted Patriots glasses off here and take a proper look, but people seem to forget that New England had the 7th best defence in the league last season, with Matt Judon and Josh Uche both racking up over 11 sacks each (only the eagles could boast a team that had multiple players with at least 10 sacks on their roaster).
The big improvement is on the offense side of the ball gone are the shocking play calls of Matt Patricia, to be replaced by the experienced offensive play calls of Bill O’Brien.
O’Brien returns to Foxboro after 12 years away and has new weapons through the addition of the skilful hands and sharp route running of Juju Smith-Schuster and the brilliant option at tight end in Mike Gesicki.
This gives New England that 2 tight offense that they ran so effectively in the mid 00s. Last season wasn’t down to Mac Jones being ineffective, but more down to the play calling and lack of unity with Patricia. We all saw the images where he waved off the play calls and lost it numerous time on the field during the season, but I believe we will get a better Mac Jones then the one we saw in his Rookie season, where he lead the team to the play offs including a seven game win streak which took him to the Pro Bowl.
My prediction Don’t sleep on the Patriots they will make the play offs with a 11-6 record.
And, yes, I do know that means that three AFC East teams will make the play offs this upcoming season.
Ollie is one of four hosts of ‘The Third and Long Podcast’ a franchise wide UK based podcast, which airs live very Thursday at 8:30pm on Facebook Live and YouTube, and 8:30pm every Monday and Thursday during the season. Follow them on Twitter: @3rdandlongukpod.
