FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 5th, 2022

PETER KING PREDICTS BILLS-PACKERS SUPER BOWL MATCHUP AND MORE IN THIS WEEK’S “FMIA” COLUMN

“I’m picking the Bills to get off the 0-4, three-decades-old, wide-right schneid to win the first Super Bowl in franchise history.” – Peter King on predicting the Bills to win Super Bowl LVII

“This year’s AFC West is the toughest division I remember since the NFL went to eight four-team divisions in 2002…I picked the Chargers and Kansas City to make the post-season, but nothing will shock me.” – King on the competitive AFC West

“If the Rams win the NFC, however it’d happen, it would be one of the great accomplishments by a team in years.” – King on the Rams

“A fourth Defensive Player of the Year [Award] would ensure his spot on the Mount Rushmore of defensive players in modern NFL history.” – King on Aaron Donald

2022 NFL Season Kicks off This Thursday, Sept. 8 with NFL Kickoff Game (Bills vs. Rams) on NBC, Peacock and Universo; Coverage Begins with Special Edition of Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET

STAMFORD, Conn. – September 5, 2022 – Peter King predicts a Buffalo Bills-Green Bay Packers Super Bowl matchup and makes his 2022 NFL predictions for this year’s playoff teams  and individual awards in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses Russell Wilson’s contract with the Broncos, the 49ers deciding to keep Jimmy Garoppolo, and more.

For more NFL coverage, Peacock offers daily programming on the NBC Sports channel for free, including Pro Football Talk at 7 a.m. ET, The Dan Patrick Show at 9 a.m. ET, Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry at Noon ET, Brother from Another at 3 p.m. ET, plus Chris Simms Unbuttoned on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and the weekly The Peter King Podcast. To learn more about the NBC Sports on Peacock channel and how to sign up, click here.

The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King – including his interviews with players and coaches at training camps – Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all of these videos and more, click here to subscribe.

The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:

KING’S 2022 NFL PREDICTIONS

King on his Super Bowl LVII prediction: “I’m picking an Arctic Circle Super Bowl: Buffalo-Green Bay. I’m picking the Packers to make their first Super Bowl in 12 years by—isn’t it ironic?—going on the road to get there. Man, wouldn’t that be sweet for Aaron Rodgers. And I’m picking the Bills to get off the 0-4, three-decades-old, wide-right schneid to win the first Super Bowl in franchise history.”

King’s AFC playoff seeds: “1. Buffalo, 2. Baltimore, 3. LA Chargers, 4. Tennessee, 5. Kansas City, 6. Cincinnati, 7. Miami.”

King’s NFC playoff seeds: “1. New Orleans, 2. Green Bay, 3. Philadelphia, 4. LA Rams, 5. Minnesota, 6. Tampa Bay, 7. San Francisco.”

King on the competition in the AFC: “The AFC is absolutely loaded. All four AFC West teams are serious contenders. Baltimore and Cincinnati are. Tennessee is. Indianapolis and Miami could be. Add Buffalo, and that’s 10 teams that wake up this morning thinking they could play into late January. When Matt Ryan might be the ninth-best quarterback in the conference, you know you’ve got a very deep pool of teams that could win on any given Sunday.”

King on Bills QB Josh Allen: “Allen’s got enough firepower to be the best version of himself. He could be a different version, though. The Bills don’t talk about this openly, but the sense I got is they want Allen to throttle down on running the ball… If that costs a few first downs in September and October, and if Allen’s fresher in January and February, it’s a wise change in his game.”

King on the Rams’ chances to make the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season: “If the Rams win the NFC, however it’d happen, it would be one of the great accomplishments by a team in years.”

King on the Packers: “I think a purported weakness, the post-Davante Adams receiver room, won’t be as bad as most think. Green Bay has a cadre of young prove-it receivers who I believe will be mentally whipped into shape by Rodgers as the year progresses, and who will respond well to the patient coaching of Matt LaFleur.”

King on the Chargers: “Doing enough to seal weaknesses, and having a worker-bee sponge with a great right arm … to me, that’s enough for this talented team to take a big step and end Kansas City’s six-year run as AFC West champs.”

King on the Saints: “I love how they turned a weak wide receiver corps in 2021 into the biggest strength on the roster…All in all, I like the team that’s 4-1 against the Bucs since the arrival of Tom Brady to unseat Tampa in the NFC South.”

    • Watch Now: Click here to watch King and Florio break down their expectations for Brady and the Buccaneers

 

King on the Ravens: “I think the Ravens have a lot going for them, which is why I’m picking them to win the AFC North…Of course, the key will be [Lamar] Jackson. It sounds dubious that he’ll get a contract done before opening day, but I doubt it will affect his performance much.”

King on the Broncos and the AFC West: “I didn’t pick the Broncos to make the playoffs, which I’ll probably live to regret. This year’s AFC West is the toughest division I remember since the NFL went to eight four-team divisions in 2002…I picked the Chargers and Kansas City to make the post-season, but nothing will shock me.”

KING’S 2022 NFL AWARDS

MVP: “1. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo, 2. Justin Herbert, QB, LA Chargers, 3. Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore…Quarterbacks have won the MVP nine straight years and 14 of the past 15 years. Thus QBs going 1-2-3. Recently, MVP has traditionally gone to a quarterback on a top seed. That, plus Allen’s going to have a killer year.”

Coach of the Year: “1. John Harbaugh, Baltimore, 2. Dennis Allen, New Orleans, 3. Brandon Staley, LA Chargers…Harbaugh could do it if the Ravens are the only team to go from worst (in the AFC North) to first in 2022.”

Offensive Player of the Year: “1. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis, 2. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo, 3. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota…I’m projecting Taylor to win the rushing title, and if so, he’d be the third back-to-back rushing champ in the last 20 years (Tomlinson 2006, ’07; Henry 2019, ’20). I think he’ll come very close to matching his 1,811-yard season from last year.”

Defensive Player of the Year: “1. Aaron Donald, DT, LA Rams, 2. Odafe Oweh, edge rusher, Baltimore, 3. T.J. Watt, edge rusher, Pittsburgh…This award, 51 years old, has had three three-time winners: Lawrence TaylorJ.J. Watt and Aaron Donald. No one’s won it four times. Donald, while not dwelling on history, appreciates it, and a fourth DPOY would ensure his spot on the Mount Rushmore of defensive players in modern NFL history.”

Offensive Rookie of the Year: “1. Chris Olave, WR, New Orleans, 2. Dameon Pierce, RB, Houston, 3. Evan Neal, T, N.Y. Giants…Olave’s targets entering the season depend on the health and productivity of Michael Thomas and perhaps Jarvis Landry, but I think he’ll be right on their level by mid-October.”

Defensive Rookie of the Year: “1. Sauce Gardner, CB, N.Y. Jets, 2. Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Detroit, 3. Jordan Davis, DL, Philadelphia…Gardner will have some high-profile matchups, with the Jets facing Stefon Diggs, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill and whoever Aaron Rodgers is throwing to a total of seven games.”

Comeback Player of the Year: “1. Christian McCaffrey, RB, Carolina, 2. JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Kansas City, 3. QB Jameis Winston, QB, New Orleans…McCaffrey’s a heavy favorite in my book, because when you’ve missed 13 and 10 games the past two years after playing your first 48 without injury, and you were a sensation in those 48, pretty much all you’ve got to do in year six is stay healthy for 17 weeks.”

NEWS & NOTES

King on the 49ers’ quarterback situation after bringing back Jimmy Garoppolo: “How will George Kittle and Fred Warner and Arik Armstead and Deebo Samuel, all good team guys, react privately if Trey Lance struggles the first month of the season? Will the Niners’ leadership council go to Kyle Shanahan and say, ‘Come on. We gotta win these games?’”

    • Watch Now: Click here to watch King and Florio discuss the 49ers’ decision to bring back Garoppolo

 

King on Russell Wilson’s contract extension with the Broncos: “In Denver, Wilson feels he has a bit of authorship with someone he considers a football savant, [head coach Nathaniel] Hackett. It’s the kind of relationship he’s wanted with his play-caller and play-author. That’s why Wilson thinks this is the perfect place to spend the second half of his career.”

    • Watch Now: Click here to watch King and Florio break down Wilson’s contract extension with the Broncos

 

King on Odell Beckham Jr.: “Good on Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic for pointing out this nugget: The Rams have kept Odell Beckham Jr.’s locker intact at the team’s practice facility. That jives with just what I heard in August—the Rams think they’ve got a great chance of re-signing Beckham when he’s ready to play late this regular season.”

King on Patriots head coach Bill Belichick being on the cusp of passing George Halas for second place on the all-time coaching wins list: “To think of someone in the modern era coaching on and off for nearly a half-century and continuing in the job till his seventies, as Halas did, is absolutely amazing. Belichick will deserve the kudos when he passes the monster of the Midway.”

Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.

The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:

    • PFT Live with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio (Mondays) and Florio and Chris Simms (Tuesday-Thursday) streams on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays & is available on-demand. The Dan Patrick Show streams at 9 a.m. ET, Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry at Noon ET, Brother From Another at 3 p.m. ET, PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. At 6 p.m. ET, Chris Simms Unbuttoned streams Tuesday-Friday.
    • ProFootballTalk.com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
    • NBC Sports EDGE’s A Good Football Show continues the NFL discussion and Bet The Edge Podcast provides daily betting insights.
    • The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King – including his interviews with players and coaches at training camps – Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all of these videos and more, click here to subscribe

A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May 2019 that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

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