overrated and underrated nfl teams heading into the 2012 season.
 

Teams that are overrated or underrated.

Overrated:
Eagles
Panthers
Texans

Underrated:
Raiders
Buccaneers
Titans

Your Turn!

Overrated:

Eagles
49ers
Bengals
Saints

Underrated:

Titans
Raiders
Ravens
Bills

We go from the dead lock to win the Andrew Luck Sweeps to overrated in one year!!!! YAY!

To be fair, when was the last time that Cincy sustained success?

Dude Im happy just to be overrated at this point.
You have to accept small victories.
Plus, I like not being the favorite. We do better those years.

LOL remember when Corey Dillon said he would rather flip burgers than be a Bengal?

Yeahh...I don't think the Bengals quite qualify as overrated. 9-7 last year, 0-7 vs. teams with winning records, 0-8 if you count the playoff game.

Plus:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...reaks-in-2012/

I think they're properly rated as a likely middle of the pack team who could sneak into the playoffs again.

The reason I think the Bengals see overrated is because there are a lot of people putting them down as locks for the playoffs. Some people are even calling them Super Bowl contenders. I think they'll take a step back to seven wins this year. That's three wins short of what most expect. Thus, they are overrated in my eyes.

Is this from a 13 year old Bengals homer or something? I'm not even sure ESPN would stoop that low.

It was probably some goober on ESPN who said it once (hoping to pick the random middle of the pack team to be a shocker) and now he is running with it.

dam haters on the 49ers .

Overrated-
Packers
Lions
Patriots
Broncos

Underrated -
49ers
Jets
Titans

I don't know if the Bengals are really overrated, I think people expect them to be a 6 or 7 win team hinging on Andy Dalton... If he really makes strides going into next year they could easily be a 9 or 10 win team, also will be harder for them in the AFC North because the Browns shouldn't be a complete pushover this year.

Damn homer for the 49ers. How is the Patriots overrated? They went to the SB last season and have improved significantly (at least on paper) on both offense and defense. This makes no sense what so ever.

The reason why many people (my self included) believe that the 49ers are overrated is that they didn't have a strong schedule last year and their defense was so good that it falls into the "perfect storm" category along with the '07 Patriots offense, the '04 Colts offense, the '85-'86 Bears defense and others. And with Smith under center there will be a lot of skepticism towards the 49ers since he hasn't been able to perform at a constant, high level yet. Now, I know that you and other 49er fans will come at me guns blazing and all shouting that Smith never had any good receiver etc etc before you go on to call Crabtree a top 10 receiver, but a good QB isn't supposed to rely on receivers making him look good. He's supposed to make other players around him better, and I seriously doubt that he or Kapernick is able to do that. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the 9ers are demoted to second, third or even fourth in their division. Last year they were lucky with injuries, and they aren't a deep team - especially on offense. However, if they go out and prove that last year wasn't a fluke perception will change. But I've seen waaay to many one-year wonder teams to get excited about the 49ers.

The Pats make the play offs mostly every year and fail beasically in a one game or more and can't make it the super bowl . Almost like the Yankees of NFL . So much and talent and can never make it the show. Well at least in the last 4 years or so .

I'm so confused by this post.

Me too... However, it does fall well in line with the rest of his nonsensical posts.

Green Bay is overrated but SF is underrated? What the ****? How is GB overrated?

The 49ers are going to go from top dog to possibly fourth in the division? Yeah I don't see that happening. It didn't even happen when we had Singletary and hasn't happened since 2005, when we were terrible. Our defense will be good for quite some time (like the Buccaneers of the late 90's and early 2000's) I believe, especially when every single starter from last season is returning on defense, the entire coaching staff is back, and there is finally a full off season to further develop the same offense with the majority of the same players in that department plus two new notable additions at receiver. A bunch of continuity going on there. I'll agree to a point that our schedule wasn't that strong last season, but the 49ers did defeat 5 playoff teams that year and the closest loss to any opponent was by 10 points on the road. The only team in my personal opinion that has a chance to take the crown is Seattle, and that is if Matt Flynn becomes the savior a lot of people think he will.

lucky with injuries

Seattle is absolutely loaded on defense, their OL has enormous potential and their running game is going to be very effective. The biggest detractor in Seattle is Pete Carroll, who is an absolutely horrible HC.

Zona has a lot of talent, and their defense is very underrated. Their season depends entirely on their OL and their QB(s). If they get going they can be good. The biggest question mark in that division is the Rams. They've been consistently terrible for the last five years or so and have accumulated a lot of talent via the draft. With Fisher running the show I think they can become a pretty good team. Not a powerhouse yet, but there's potential. So the 49ers have their work cut out for them if they want to stay on top in the NFCW. What you're saying is that all the starters on defense is back basically means that you haven't improved on defense either. And if there's one thing we know as fans is that you need to evolve to stay on top. It's basic Darwinism: Evolve or die. I don't see much evolution with the 49ers. Sure, you've added some receivers with questionable prospects for this season which theoretically should help Smith improve his game. But is that something you want to rely on? I'm not saying that the 49ers are a bad team, quite the contrary actually. I'm just saying that your position as top dog in the NFCW is far from a given at this point.

I think Matt Maiocco or Matt Barrows had an article a couple of months ago denoting how well the 49ers actually are with injuries. Personally I can't remember a season where a bunch of starters and or notable players were just injured. One thing the 49ers have been good at, even in the bad years, is the health and conditioning department.

so you're willing to rank the NFC West champion (who's core is relatively the same) lower than unproven teams that have talent on paper? and in the same post say nothing is a given in football?

i'm sorry but i'm gonna need to see more than a few games outta matt flynn to label him the savior of seattle. hes being considered an upgrade after a few sample games but alex smith, who led his team to the NFC championship still has something to prove. im not saying he has nothing to prove but i think flynn should be judged by the same criteria.

i just think its highly hypocritical to judge our off-season additions as non-improvements while every other team in the division has seemed to "improved" on paper and anything they may be lacking is chalked down as "potential" or a group that has "something to prove".

Overrated:
Lions
Bengals
Broncos

Underrated:
Titans
Raiders
Cardinals

What I got out of this post: "I'm a homer who's crying because everyone thinks the 49ers aren't as good as I do. Now I'm gonna call their favorite teams overrated. That'll show them."

Okay buddy, you are kind of putting words into my mouth now, which is quite obnoxious. No, "what you're saying is that all the starters on defense is back basically means that you haven't improved on defense either." isn't what I was saying at all. I was implying that continuity on defense is a good thing and a luxury to have in this day and age of the NFL. That doesn't mean you can't improve on defense either with that said luxury. The 49ers loaded up on defense with a few players in the draft and already have a few guys on their roster with potential like Larry Grant (who filled in nicely when Willis was hurt) and my personal favorite Demarcus Dobbs at DE. And now they have an entire offseason to get better on D, unlike last season because of the lockout.

And you are kind of playing the glass half full approach while listing all of the potentially positive traits of the other teams in the division, but forgetting the issues that prevented them from getting to the playoffs last year in the first place. And the 49ers won five of six division games the previous year too. Obviously this is a new season, but building a new team takes time and for just as much "potential" that Seattle, St.Louis, and Arizona has on paper there are still huge questions that linger and/or issues that were apparent from 2011. Sure they've "improved", but so have the 49ers. No, I'm not saying the 49ers have a free ride to the playoffs. What my initial point was that going from 1st last year in the NFC West to suddenly being 4th in the division, and it not being a surprise is kind or ridiculous to me. That would be like me saying I wouldn't be shocked if the Patriots fell to last place in their division because of listing all of the "potential" things that could go right for the Jets, Dolphins, and Bills while focusing on all of the "potential" things that could go wrong for the Patriots.