The 2023 National Football League is less than two weeks away and fans of the popular sport will be able to watch regular season matchups beginning Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, with the Detroit Lions taking on the Kansas City Chiefs.
A popular NFL video game was used to simulate the season to come up with predictions for the playoffs, Super Bowl LVIII and award winners.
Here’s a look at the predictions and the current betting odds for anyone who believes they will come true.
What Happened: The popular Madden 24 video game, released by Electronic Arts Inc EA, was used in a simulation of the entire 2023 NFL season, as reported by CBS Sports.
The simulations also followed Benzinga’s report on the FIFA video game from Electronic Arts being used to correctly predict the winner of four straight World Cups, including Argentina in 2022.
Related Link: 5 Stocks For 2023 NFL Season
NFL Playoffs: Let’s start with the NFL Playoffs. The simulation identifies the 14 teams that make the 2023 NFL Playoffs. Here’s a look at the teams broken down by seed across the AFC and NFC.
AFC: 1. Cincinnati Bengals, 2. Indianapolis Colts, 3. Kansas City Chiefs, 4. Buffalo Bills, 5. Cleveland Browns, 6. Jacksonville Jaguars and 7. Denver Broncos
NFC: 1. Dallas Cowboys, 2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 3. Seattle Seahawks, 4. Green Bay Packers, 5. New Orleans Saints, 6. Philadelphia Eagles, 7. Carolina Panthers
Several storylines emerge in the simulation with the Packers making the playoffs without Aaron Rodgers and his new team, the New York Jets, missing out and continuing their streak of not getting into the postseason.
The simulation also has three NFC South teams make the playoffs, which would be a sharp turnaround from a division that saw all four teams post a losing record in the 2022 NFL season.
Based on the simulation, here’s are some sports betting props from DraftKings Inc DKNG bettors could consider:
NFC North winner: Packers +400, listed to finish fourth of the four teams
NFC South winner: Buccaneers +1000
Buccaneers to make playoffs: +400
Surprisingly enough, the simulation has many popular Super Bowl contenders miss out on the NFL Playoffs, also offering bettors a chance to bet on playoff misses by teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Lions and Miami Dolphins. Only five of the top 10 Super Bowl contenders make the playoffs in the simulation.
The simulation has the Chiefs beating the Broncos and the Buccaneers beating the Packers in the Conference Championship matches.
Super Bowl: The 2024 Super Bowl will be aired on CBS and Nickelodeon and streamed on Paramount+, all units of Paramount Global PARAPARAA.
The simulation is a rematch of the Chiefs and Buccaneers that saw Tom Brady lead the Buccaneers to a victory over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
This time, Brady will be watching from home or the stands after retiring for a second time in the offseason. Taking his place as the starting quarterback for the Buccaneers is Baker Mayfield, a former first-overall draft pick.
The simulation sees Mayfield putting up 4,529 passing yards and 36 passing touchdowns during the regular season.
In the end, the Chiefs take care of business and beat the Buccaneers winning back-to-back Super Bowls, the first team to accomplish the feat since 2004.
Mahomes wins the Super Bowl MVP, his third, in the simulation with 234 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.
Betting on this exact matchup of the Chiefs beating the Buccaneers pays out +35,000, netting a bettor a profit of $350 on a $1 bet. Betting on the two teams to make the Super Bowl with either team winning pays +20,000.
The Chiefs are listed as the Super Bowl favorite at odds of +600.
Award Winners: The full-season simulation predicts the award winners for many categories. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott takes home the MVP with 5,208 passing yards and 43 passing touchdowns and helping his team get the number one seed in the NFC.
Prescott is listed with odds of +2,200 to win the MVP, tied for ninth best at DraftKings.
Coach of the Year honors go to Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who is listed at odds of +3,000.
Madden gives out Offensive Player of the Year for both AFC and NFC with the Bengals' Joe Mixon and the Los Angeles Rams' Cooper Kupp, winning respectively. Only one can win the actual award, with Mixon listed at odds of +10,000 and Kupp at +3,000.
Defensive Player of the Year awards go to the Bills' Von Miller (AFC) and the Cowboys' Micah Parsons (NFC) in the simulation. The two defensive players are listed at odds of +6,000 and +500, respectively, with Parsons the betting favorite.
Offensive Rookie of the Year goes to the Colts' Anthony Richardson for the AFC and the Packers' Jayden Reed for the NFC. The simulation sees Richardson, the fourth overall pick, passing for 4,189 yards and having 35 passing touchdowns, along with 1,999 rushing yards. Richardson is +600 to win the award, the third-highest favorite. Reed gets 105 receptions for 1,250 yards and nine touchdowns in the simulation and is listed at odds of +10,000 to win.
Defensive Rookie of the Year goes to the Houston Texans' Will Anderson (AFC) and the Lions' Jack Campbell (NFC) in the simulation. Anderson, the third overall pick, is the favorite at odds of +400. Campbell is listed with odds of +1,400.
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Photo: Madden 24 screenshot courtesy Electronic Arts
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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