# Bradley Locker: An unsigned PFF piece previewing the 10 most important games of the 2026 season suggests the Seahawks-Rams Week 18 game could decide the NFC West and the No. 1 overall seed, that the Lions-Packers Week 18 game could decide the NFC North, that Bills-Broncos could determine AFC home-field advantage, and that the Rams are Super Bowl 61 favorites. **Claimed:** Aug 21, 2026 **Pundit:** Bradley Locker — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/pundits/bradley-locker **Outlet:** Pro Football Focus — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/outlets/pro-football-focus **How it reached us:** published in writing **Original:** https://www.pff.com/news/10-games-that-will-define-the-2026-nfl-season/ 3 checkable claims — 2 seeding, byes and home field and 1 surprise team call — each graded on its own rather than as one all-or-nothing bet. It names 3 players and teams, each linked to their own record. None of them have settled yet — they grade once their results are in. > There's a serious chance this Monday night gem serves as a Super Bowl preview, with Los Angeles and Buffalo holding two of the three highest spots in PFF's Power Ratings. *(their words, quoted for attribution)* ## The claims - **Buffalo Bills to take the top seed** - Kind: Seeding, Byes and Home Field · About: Buffalo Bills - Verdict: not settled yet - **Los Angeles Rams to take the top seed** - Kind: Seeding, Byes and Home Field · About: Los Angeles Rams - Verdict: not settled yet - **New Orleans Saints to beat expectations** - Kind: Surprise Team Calls · About: New Orleans Saints - Verdict: not settled yet ## Who this take is about - Buffalo Bills — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/nfl/teams/bills - Los Angeles Rams — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/nfl/teams/rams - New Orleans Saints — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/nfl/teams/saints ## What others said about the same people - Nick Shook on Aaron Donald: Shook unveiled his first NFL power rankings of the year, putting the Rams first, the Broncos second and the defending champion Seahawks only third, with the Dolphins last. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/ea18c6ec-7662-4e66-91ed-4d0ef9d7d97d (scored 100) - Danny Parkins on Buffalo Bills: Parkins picked the Giants to upset Dallas, the Steelers to beat Atlanta by two scores, the Bears to beat Carolina, the Bills to beat Houston and Denver to beat Kansas City outright; he also said Justin Herbert will win an MVP and had the Bengals as AFC North champs. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/36c480cc-6b54-4cea-8204-3fc00ea6493c (scored 100) - Kirk Herbstreit on Buffalo Bills: Herbstreit made a full slate of Week 1 picks — Lions, Ravens, Bears, Bills, Buccaneers, Jaguars, Titans, Eagles, Packers and Cowboys — and also said he still thinks Seattle is the team to beat in the NFC West. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/5bc3755c-9b84-484f-b8f2-b18d51a12261 (scored 100) - AJ Hawk on Buffalo Bills: AJ Hawk picked the Ravens over the Colts, Carolina to beat Chicago outright, the Bills at Houston, the Bengals over Tampa Bay, the Titans over the Jets, the Raiders over Miami, the Packers at Minnesota and the Cowboys over the Giants. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/74f9146c-d27f-4851-b8a4-4103d043308f (scored 100) - Richard Sherman on Buffalo Bills: Sherman picked Seattle to beat New England 28-17 in the opener, ran through score picks for the rest of the week one slate (49ers, Cowboys, Bills, Bears, Vikings, Colts, Broncos), said the Seahawks would also beat the Cardinals, Commanders and Chargers, backed Dallas to win its division, and predicted Christian Gonzalez's deal would come in barely above Devon Witherspoon's. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/3b4f1960-4810-4136-8023-c9a76a0598a3 (scored 97.62) - Mike Kadlick on Buffalo Bills: Kadlick's Week 1 straight-up picks for all 16 games. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/934613ff-97e3-4894-a383-faa755bdfc35 (scored 100) ## More seeding, byes and home field The same kind of call, about other players and teams. - Nick Wright on Seattle Seahawks: Wright argues Matt Stafford deserves MVP but predicts Drake Maye will win the award; he also picks Kyle Shanahan for Coach of the Year and Christian McCaffrey for Offensive Player of the Year over JSN. He makes several Week 18 game calls and thinks Seattle beats San Francisco to take the NFC's one seed, while the Raiders' loss scenario yields the No. 1 overall pick. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/8fe4099d-27ce-4dd0-9e0a-d4f2940e2e73 (scored 100) - Kevin Wildes on New England Patriots: Wildes' upset alert is the Chargers beating the Broncos straight up, which he says would hand the No. 1 seed to New England. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/2c697d6f-6069-4aaa-8d7b-ecdecd6893bc (scored 0) - Rich Eisen on Chicago Bears: Eisen forecast the Week 18 results and the entire wild-card field: Buccaneers over Panthers but Carolina still gets in as the 5 seed when Atlanta beats New Orleans, 49ers over Seahawks, Ravens over Steelers, Jaguars beating Tennessee to win the AFC South, and six wild-card matchups (Seahawks-Panthers, Bills-Jaguars, Texans-Ravens, Packers-Bears, Chargers-Patriots, Rams-Eagles), with Houston upsetting Baltimore. He also tabbed Saints rookie Tyler Shough as a possible Offensive Rookie of the Year. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/34345186-876a-4c4b-9567-9c289a6cbace (scored 100) - JP Acosta on New England Patriots: JP picked Carolina, Seattle, Baltimore, Denver, Jacksonville, New England, Detroit, the Rams and Kansas City in Week 18, and said the Patriots will likely end up with the AFC's No. 2 seed. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/e84ab242-8758-43af-b850-d5651a0d7890 (scored 100) - Nick Wright on Seattle Seahawks: Nick Wright made five Week 18 picks against the spread: Tampa Bay over Carolina, Seattle over San Francisco (and to take the No. 1 seed), Las Vegas to cover against Kansas City, Miami to cover 12 at New England, and Pittsburgh to cover at home against Baltimore. He also predicted Seattle wins the No. 1 seed and Mike Evans scores a touchdown. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/5b8d3261-b400-493b-aef5-edc07e2d4c0a (scored 100) - Rich Eisen on Los Angeles Chargers: Eisen called the 49ers-as-NFC-favorites take an overreaction, picked the Jaguars to beat the Titans and win their division, leaned Ravens over the Steelers in the Week 18 Sunday night game, expects the Bills to beat the Jets even without Josh Allen, sees the Chargers as the AFC's seventh seed, agreed Tyler Shough could win Offensive Rookie of the Year with a good Saints 2026, said Malik Willis will be a starter somewhere next season, and insisted Detroit goes into 2026 with Goff. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/15192136-24b9-4127-ac9d-69dc69aab3d5 (scored 100) --- Accuracy is 0-100 against what actually happened. The naive guess is what a strategy requiring no knowledge would have scored on the same call — the difference is the skill, and it is what the MissedTakes Score averages. Full method: https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/methodology We summarize what a pundit said and quote a short span for attribution; we never republish their article. If this is wrong, tell us: https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/corrections?pundit=bradley-locker