New England Patriots: Will the Patriots Return to the Super Bowl in 2012?

Every year before the NFL season begins, I predict each of the 256 games on the schedule. From those predictions I come up with the records for each of the 32 teams. Invariably, some of my predictions are way off, but others are hard for people to criticize in early September.

So where did my predictions land the New England Patriots?

The season is going to start great for New England. I predict the Patriots will win their first six games and head into their bye week undefeated.

Though I'd like to predict that the Patriots will win following their bye, I've got the Pittsburgh Steelers winning that game.

Realistically, I don't think any Patriots fans will fault me for predicting that the Jets and Patriots will split their season series.

From there, the only other loss I have on New England's schedule is when they visit the Philadelphia Eagles, who added plenty of weapons in the offseason.

Unfortunately, for the Patriots, I have the New York Jets winning 14 games—with just three total losses. More importantly, this means New England won't be winning the division. That's where things fall apart in the postseason.

Yet again, the New England Patriots won't win a game in the playoffs, as they will stumble against the AFC South divisional champion Indianapolis Colts, due primarily to the fact that the game will be played in Indianapolis.

To see more information on how the entire league shakes out, check out my summary article and share your thoughts on my preseason predictions sure to go wrong.

As the season progresses, GuysNation will pick up with our wildly popular weekly Dueling Predictions articles, where a few football fans get together to give our perspectives on each of the games for that given week.