2012 NFL Preview: NFL's Most Underrated and Overrated Teams

Jamaal Charles

     The NFL's most underrated team heading into 2012 is the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have everything in place to have a huge year. They return all the key starters that were out last year due to injury. Yet, despite those injuries, the Chiefs were stellar defensively when Romeo Crennel took over as head coach, defeating the then undefeated Green Bay Packers and holding the Pittsburgh Steelers to 13 points in another. The defense will be elite this season and the Chiefs backfield is as good as any team in the NFL. 12 wins and an AFC West championship for them in 2012.

     As for some of the other underrated teams in the league, the Atlanta Falcons will be one team that floats under the radar this year. They have made the playoffs three of the last four seasons, so I may be throwing the term underrated around too loosely, but Matt Ryan has many weapons on the offensive side of the ball. In a quarterback driven league, Matt Ryan is good enough to lead the Falcons to an NFC South championship and a deep playoff run. The Seattle Seahawks as well could be an underrated team this year. They play in one of the league's weaker divisions and they have a very good defense that forces turnovers. We'll see who ends up quarterbacking the Seahawks, but I believe they have a better chance to make the playoffs with Matt Flynn under center, at least to start the season.

     As for the league's overrated teams, the New Orleans Saints will top this years list. We all know about the whole Bountygate scandal, but I don't believe that will have a huge impact on this season. From watching the Saints defense this preseason, they look worse than last years defense. Remember, this defense allowed 36 points to Alex Smith and the San Francisco 49ers and in their last preseason game against Jacksonville, they missed a ton of tackles and allowed Blaine Gabbert (Blaine Gabbert!) to slice them up. The Saints will be reliant solely on their offense, an offense that lost Carl Nicks on the offensive line and will not be able to protect Drew Brees quite as well this season. The Saints are destined for an up and down, 9-7 season in which they miss the playoffs by a slim margin.

     Another team that I believe is overrated is the Detroit Lions. Sure, the Matthew Stafford/Calvin Johnson connection may be the best in the league right now, but I'm worried about their defense. No matter how dynamic the Lions are offensively, they cannot consistently outscore the opposition when their defenses let teams score 30, 40+ plus points a game. And no, it isn't just against the Packers and Saints that this happened, the Panthers, Bears, Raiders and Vikings all scored at least 27 points or more against the Lions last year and until I see otherwise, the defense is the only thing holding the Lions back from advancing past the Wild Card round.