I suspect Philbin should go back to being  coordinator, for his own good. He's not necessarily the worst head coach ever, but he doesn't inspire respect or confidence. That Hard Knocks season was rough!

Based on scuttlebutt, even reaching the playoffs via a wild card may not be enough, if they lose in the first round. That said, it was widely thought he'd be let go after last season, so maybe the Dolpins' ownership just really, really likes Joey.

I don't subscribe to this myself, but generally: Brady being out a quarter of the season opens the division more than it has been in years, the Jets and Bills have no quarterback while Tanehill at least knows which end of a football is up, and... Ace Ventura was a Dolphins' fan?

Reasons why I'm not high on the Dolphins.

Schedule is absolutely awful after the fifth game. Two games against New England, at Buffalo, at Philly, vs. Dallas, vs. Baltimore, vs. NYG, at San Diego, and vs. Indianapolis. The only real break in that nightmare stretch is a game at the Jets. First five games are pretty easy comparatively, but even with Suh (did they really make any other major offseason acquisitions?), I can't see them getting out of that with anything less than 7 losses.

Both of the games against New England would be with Brady even if the four game suspension holds up.

Dolphins also recently lost starting safety Louis Delmas, making an already thin pass defense that much thinner, something that probably doesn't bode well with games against Tom Brady, Andrew Luck, Phillip Rivers, Joe Flacco, Tony Romo (and doesn't that feel weird to say), and Eli Manning/a possibly revamped Giants passing offense on the horizon.

And last but not least, Miami always collapses in the late season. It's tradition.

Have people even been FOLLOWING what's been going on with Brady's court case? The NFL is getting destroyed in court, and unless Brady settles, he will not be serving any suspension. Berman has already found his grounds for vacating the suspension, and has said so to the NFL during proceedings. You'll see Brady all 16 unless he settles with the NFL out of court, or he gets injured.

I wouldn't read that far into it. While it does seem that the judge is leaning against the NFL, the volume of the questions is due in large part to the volume of arguments each side has. Specifically, the NFL is relying on a single, powerful, broad, and by now well-established rule regarding arbitration. Brady has had to be more creative in his arguments as a result. While the NFL does appear to have made a large error in the arbitration process, it's unclear whether that error is fatal: I've seen cases where far worse errors were made, against parties with far less bargaining power to boot, where the decision was nevertheless upheld.

I've also been a part of cases where one party was grilled much worse than this, and still won on some or all grounds, including a baffling case recently where our side was crusing during all of oral arguments and still lost on all points. Long story short, don't read too deeply into it.

sign me up

Much as I'd love to agree with the sentiment that Brady's assured of getting off, it's way too early to be popping champagne (or typing angry messages on ESPN comment sections, depending who you are). The judge has been arguably more pointed with his questions towards the NFL, but that simply means that he wants more clarification on their arguments. As noname said, you can't read too deeply into it.

With that said, even if the 4 game suspension was upheld, I still don't think the Patriots will be in that bad of a position. Garopollo looked iffy in one preseason game without half of the starting offensive line, Gronkowski, Edelman, or just about any other receiver who plays a significant amount. He'll be fine if he's needed when the regular season rolls around. If the Patriots can go 11-5 with Matt Cassel playing the entire season, something tells me they'll be able to withstand losing Brady for just four games.

Didn't read it all but ill say this, Eagles 12-4 Giants 10-6 Cowboys 9-7 Red Skins 6 -10. I'm a die hard Eagles fan though so I say 12-4 every year lol. I think the Eagles will get to the NFC championship game and lose to the Packers.

Can I ask what this massive bracket with the seasonal predictions is and whether its required that we do it without Rol calling me an idiot for not reading the rules on the first page?