Bold Predictions For Second Half of 2022 NFL Season

Prognostication is tricky business in the NFL. The 2022 season has been a perfect example.

If someone had told you that the Raiders would be sitting at 2-5 after trading for Davante Adams and signing Chandler Jones, they'd likely have been laughed and scoffed at. The same could be said for any ardent Giants fans that predicted a 6-2 start in Brian Daboll's first season at the helm.

The point is that wild things happen in the league all the time and even the most bold predictions sometimes fail to predict how narratives will develop in 2022.

Based on what we've seen so far, upcoming schedule and the potential for teams and players to get hot or go cold, here are some bold predictions for how the rest of the season is going to shake out.

The Las Vegas Raiders signed Derek Carr to a three-year $121.5 million contract extension in the spring but it hasn't taken long for the bloom to come off that rose.

When the Raiders brought in head coach Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler as well as Davante Adams, everything was supposed to be in place for Carr and the Raiders offense to flourish.

That's been far from reality, though.

Just about everything that could go wrong for the Raiders has. They are 2-5. They are 0-4 in one-score games and last in an AFC West that is not nearly as scary as it looked on paper.

Then there was last week's 24-0 drubbing by the New Orleans Saints. The offense was at its worst and Carr had just over 101 yards with no touchdowns and one interception while taking three sacks.

He was pulled for Jarrett Stidham who proceeded to lead the offense past midfield for the first time all game and went eight-of-13 for 72 yards.

After the game, McDaniels noted that Carr was pulled because the outcome was decided. He has admitted he's playing through a back injury right now.

“I just think that at that point, the game, the score and the time remaining in the game kind of dictated being smart with that situation,” McDaniels said, per Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

However, the Raiders are going to be in an interesting situation with Carr this offseason. He just signed an extension but he only carries a dead cap charge of $5.6 million, making him an ideal trade or cut candidate if the Raiders want to go in another direction.

That could mean handing over the keys to see what Stidham can do over the final stretch of the season.

Matt Rhule was the first head coach to be shown the door in 2022. Kliff Kingsbury won't be far behind.

The Cardinals just signed him—and general manager Steve Keim—to a contract extension this offseason that goes through 2027. They were apparently looking at the team's overall record of 11-6 and the fact they made the playoffs instead of the 4-7 record they had over their final 11 games, including a 34-11 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Now, they find themselves in the midst of a 3-5 start that looks a lot like the end of last year's campaign.

The team doesn't have a ton of options right to shake things up right now. They just signed Kyler Murray to a lucrative extension worth $230.5 million that goes through 2028.

Given the faith in both Murray and Kingsbury, it's safe to assume the organization thought they were headed toward big things in 2022.

Yet, the Cardinals are off to a bad start and it could get even worse. The Seahawks and Rams are up next and both have beaten the Cardinals once this season, then it's on to a Chargers team that is still dangerous with Justin Herbert at the helm.

If the Cardinals only win one of those four going into their Week 13 bye week they would be 4-8 and 3-9 is on the table. Ownership can't stand idly by if that's the case.

It's safe to say the Miami Dolphins are feeling good about their decision to trade for Tyreek Hill this season. The former Kansas City Chiefs star has been as advertised and better in South Beach.

The burner has turned 92 targets in the Dolphins offense into 69 receptions for 961 yards, leading the league in both categories. It also puts him on pace to end the season with 147 receptions and 2,042 yards.

The single season record for most receiving yards in a season is currently 1,964 by Calvin Johnson in 2012.

The duo of Hill and Jaylen Waddle has proven to be too much for other teams to handle so far this season. Hill and Waddle are ranked No. 1 and 2 in catches of throws more than 10 yards, per PFF.

It's that duo and the context of the Dolphins offense that makes it believable that he'll re-write the record book. Tua Tagovailoa currently leads the league in QBR and Waddle is a big enough threat to force secondaries to stay honest in how they defend Hill.

The thing is Hill isn't doing much more than he was doing in Kansas City. He's averaging 10.4 yards per target, which is actually lower than his figures in 2017 and 2018 when he first broke out with the Chiefs.

It's just that he's keeping the same efficiency with a much larger workload and there is not a lot opposing defenses can do about it.

It's wild that this is even considered a bold take in 2022. The Green Bay Packers are the franchise that won 13 games for three consecutive regular seasons heading into this year.

But as it stands right now, the Packers are a below average team with a 3-5 record and a 17 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight's projections.

It's easy to write Matt LaFleur's team off right now. They are on a four-game losing streak and the last time we saw them they were getting beat 27-17 by the Buffalo Bills. But even that game should offer a glimmer of hope.

The Bills have blown the doors off teams that are clearly inferior. They beat the Steelers 38-3, the Titans 41-7 and the Rams 31-10. This was not on that level. The Green Bay defense held Josh Allen to 218 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. It was his least productive game since the Ravens held him to 213 yards in Week 4.

Offensively, the Packers have suffered from an offensive line that has been dinged up. David Bakhtiari is still working his way back from the knee injury that ended his 2021 season. Elgton Jenkins has been out with a knee/foot ailment.

When the line is healthy, it is capable of leaning on the run game to wear down defenses with Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon.

Despite their struggles, the Packers are ninth in ESPN's FPI rankings. They also face the 29th-ranked schedule by their metrics for the rest of the season.

Don't count out the Packers quite yet.

In the offseason there was a good case to be made the AFC North was the best division outside of the AFC West. Halfway through the 2022 season and both of them have fallen short of expectations.

The Cincinnati Bengals represented the AFC in the Super Bowl last year, but are reminding everyone they went 10-7 before making their postseason run last year. They can't run the ball (3.5 yards per game), still take way too many sacks (30 so far) and are currently without Ja'Marr Chase who is recovering from a hip injury.

If the performance against the Browns on Monday Night Football is any indication things could get ugly with Chase out of the lineup. The Bengals put up just 12 points against a Browns team that was on a four-game losing streak.

The Browns shouldn't just assume that things are back on track after beating the Bengals. There's a good chance the 32-13 win was just the latest example that Cincinnati happens to be a good matchup for them. They've won eight of the last nine meetings with their Ohio neighbors.

Even the return of Deshaun Watson might not be enough to save the 3-5 Browns. Jacoby Brissett is far from the problem as he has posted a 60.7 QBR, good for ninth in the league.

The 2-6 Steelers are practically eliminated from having a winning season already.

That leaves the Baltimore Ravens as the lone team that has the look of a contender.

Lamar Jackson is ranked fifth in the league in QBR. The defense just added Roquan Smith at the trade deadline and their three losses have come by a combined 11 points. They are the only team in the division you can be confident in week after week.

The Philadelphia Eagles' two-game advantage in the NFC East race over the Dallas Cowboys might be too much to overcome, but it's the Cowboys who will get the last laugh come playoff time.

The Cowboys have had every reason to struggle this season. They lost several key contributors this offseason including Amari Cooper, Randy Gregory, Connor Williams and Cedrick Wilson. They lost Dak Prescott for two games and have missed others with major injuries including Tyron Smith, Michael Gallup and now Ezekiel Elliott.

Yet, the Cowboys have still found a way to go 6-2. The mark of a great team is one that can win even when conditions don't favor them. Based on ESPN's football power index, the Cowboys have faced the 14th-toughest schedule in the league so it isn't as though the schedule has helped them out.

By contrast, the Eagles have seen the league's easiest-ranked schedule so far. That doesn't mean they are fraudulent by any stretch. It just means they may be a little riper for a playoff upset than their record would indicate.

Dak Prescott hasn't had the most success in the playoffs. He's 1-3 as the starter. But when you look at the other potential quarterbacks in the NFC playoffs there aren't many better options.

Tom Brady and the Bucs are going to have to fight just to get in. Jalen Hurts only has one playoff start to his name. If the playoffs started today the other quarterbacks in the postseason would be Hurts, Kirk Cousins, Geno Smith, Marcus Mariota, Daniel Jones and Jimmy Garoppolo.

This could be the year Dallas lives up to the hype.