The undefeated 2011 New England Patriots will ABSOLUTELY* win more than 11.5 regular season games (invested 1050 to make 1000 at Palms Casino yesterday) and win the AFC East (invested 3000 to make 2000 at Planet Holleywood), unless Living Legend Tom Brady gets hurt.

Unlike August 2007 when I predicted a possible 16-0 in the regular season, this year I predict a possible 19-0 season and a Super Bowl 46 victory over the defending champion Green Bay Packers, which was predicted exactly one year ago at http://www.football.belforti.org/2010/09/10/2010-belforti-bros-pick-of-the-week-1-and-more/

3rd Futures Pick of the Year:
San Diego Chargers to win AFC West (risk 2250 to win 1000 at Planet Holleywood)

*probability of 99% or more unless multiple injuries decimate this Patriots team

Disclaimer: Brother Mark agrees but is concerned about this selection due to quarterback protection issues. I agree that this is main concern and primary reason for three consecutive playoff losses going back to Super Bowl loss to Giants. I also believe that this year will be much improved with additions of linemen Solder, Waters and Cannon.

Of course that is just my prediction, but since it worked in August 2007 when I predicted a 2007 NFL MVP Tom Brady and an undefeated regular season, here we go again. Patriots meet Packers in next Super Bowl as both teams dominate their conferences in 2011. Players voted for best players of 2011, here are my guesses for Top 20 in the comments section. Who’s your Top 20?

Although Mark wanted me to select Green Bay (see his write up unedited in comments section), I decided NOT to make a pick at all given our historically weak Super Bowl record, and the fact that the Guru of New England (Blanchette) liked the Steelers getting 3.

Final Season Records:
Belforti Bros Top 2 NFL Picks YTD vs spread: 22 wins vs 16 losses, 58%
Won both top 2 picks Championship Weekend (Pitts & Packers)
Action Point Picks 2-0 (Won Pitts, Packers) 30 wins vs 22 losses = 58% for Bel40stars Action Picks of Year.

Pittsburgh –3.5 vs Jets - To the untrained eye, the Jets +3.5 look inviting. They are coming off wins vs Manning and Brady and appear to be on a roll. We think now that Ryan exacted revenge vs his rivals, the Jets are ripe for a letdown. The Jets beat Pitt 22-15 last month but in that game, Pitt did not have Heath Miller and Troy Polamalu plus the Jets returned a kickoff for a TD and had a safety. Pitt has injured players back for this game and Miller could be the key in this game opening up room in the middle for Roethlisberger. Both teams have great rush defenses with Pitt #1 and Jets #3 but we give an edge to Mendenhall who had 99 of Pitt’s 146 rush yards in the first game. We have a hunch that this game will not be as close as everyone might think.

Green Bay –3.5 at Chicago – Pack and Rodgers have looked impressive in beating Philly and Atlanta the last 2 weeks while Chicago let Seattle get back into their game last week. GB and Chicago have played 2 close games this year with Chicago winning 20-17 at Chi in Week 3 and GB winning 10-3 in GB in week 17. If you go inside the numbers however, GB could have won the first game if not for 18 penalties and 2 huge fourth quarter mistakes-a punt return for a score and a turnover, GB should have won the first game. In both games, Chic had 21 possessions against GB and scored one offensive TD. Rodgers in cold weather is 8-2 with a QB rating of 106.8 which does not include his last 2 playoff games. In his last 9 games including the playoffs, Rodgers has a QB rating of 125 with 22 TD’s and 2 picks. Cutler is 1-4 vs GB. Both defenses have stepped it up with GB giving up 15.0 pts per game during the reg season ranking 2nd and Chicago ranked 4th giving up 17.9.

Blanchette agrees with the Belforti Bros on our top 2 picks:

Chicago Bears -10 vs Seattle Seahawks - Seattle won their Super Bowl last week by upsetting last year’s champion Saints. Expect them to mail one in here as compared to the hungry and improved Bears. Seattle will lose their 10th game of the season by at least 15 points, UNPRECEDENTED for a playoff team !!

New England Patriots -9 vs New York Jets - My prediction in Week 12 should be correct this Sunday as well, hear archived radio show at http://LeftRightAndCorrect.com.

Belforti Bros Top 2 NFL Picks YTD vs spread: 20 wins vs 16 losses, 55.6%
Won both top 2 picks last week (Ravens & Packers)
Action Point Picks 2-1 (Won Ravens, Packers, Lost on Saints) 28 wins vs 22 losses = 56% for Bel40stars Action Picks of Year.