Predictions and Results

Well, the NFL regular season is officially over and for yours truly, it’s time to reflect. For those of you who read my blog in August, I wrote 8 columns before the season that previewed and predicted each of the eight divisions. I believe that every columnist or blogger that does predictions during the preseason should be held accountable for his or her predictions after the season has concluded. I really have no problem admitting when I’m wrong (as I did earlier in the week when I said that Ohio State wasn’t overrated) but however, I will announce loudly and proudly when I was correct with something that I said. So without further adieu, here are my predictions in August compared to what actually happened during the NFL regular season.

                        Giff’s Take (In August)           Actual Record                Diff

NFC East

Cowboys                    7-9                                 11-5                        4 games

Eagles                        10-6                                11-5                        1

Giants                         9-7                                  8-8                         1

Redskins                     8-8                                  4-12                       4

NFC North

Vikings                      11-5                                 12-4                        1

Packers                     11-5                                 11-5                        0

Bears                         8-8                                   7-9                          1

Lions                          3-13                                 2-14                       1

NFC South

Saints                        10-6                                  13-3                        3

Falcons                      9-7                                    9-7                         0

Panthers                     6-10                                  8-8                         2

Bucs                          8-8                                    4-12                        4

NFC West

Cardinals                   9-7                                    10-6                        1

49ers                         7-9                                     8-8                         1

Seahawks                  8-8                                     5-11                       3

Rams                        6-10                                    1-15                       5

AFC East

Patriots                    13-3                                    10-6                        3

Jets                          8-8                                       9-7                         1

Dolphins                   7-9                                      7-9                          0

Bills                         4-12                                     6-10                        2

AFC North

Bengals                    7-9                                      10-6                         3

Ravens                    10-6                                      9-7                          1

Steelers                   11-5                                      9-7                          2

Browns                    5-11                                      5-11                        0

AFC South

Colts                        12-4                                     14-2                        2

Texans                      9-7                                        9-7                        0

Titans                        7-9                                        8-8                        1

Jaguars                      6-10                                      7-9                        1

AFC West

Chargers                    9-7                                      13-3                         4

Broncos                     4-12                                     8-8                          4

Chiefs                        6-10                                     4-12                         2

Raiders                      3-13                                     5-11                         2

In seeing my predictions against their actual outcomes, I have come up with three categories that I feel best represent my picks:

Dead Nuts- These predictions were as spot on as Frank Caliendo’s impersonation of  John Madden

Dolphins (7-9)- Didn’t think the wildcat would work as effectively as last year and the injuries to Ronnie Brown and Chad Pennington didn’t help matters.

Texans (9-7)-   I actually think I should get “Mad Props” for this one because the Texans can’t even figure themselves out on an annual basis and I pegged em’ for 9-7.

Packers (11-5)- If I don’t know my own team, how the hell can I comment on any other team?

Falcons (9-7)-  Figured Matty Ice would come back down to earth and Michael Turner would not be as effective, too bad I didn’t use the “Curse of 370” reason.

Browns (5-11)- No real surprise here, I thought that Browns were going to suck, and,shocker, they sucked. Will say though I was impressed with them coming down the stretch. They could have very well saved Mangina’s job.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades- I almost predicted the records of the following teams. The qualifier for this category was that I was 1 game off.

Eagles (11-5)- Figured the Eagles season would be really good, but with a couple of Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb duds thrown in between, i.e. Sunday against the Cowboys.

Giants (8-8)- Pretty sure that team meetings in New York last week were discussion about what their offseason plans would be instead of game planning against the Vikings.

Vikings (12-4)- F-ing Brett Favre

Bears (7-9)- Different quarterback, same results for Chicago. Mediocre.

Lions (2-14)- Scrappy in a couple of games. But still a long way from being decent.

Cardinals (10-6)- A couple of great performances. A couple of nuclear stink bombs. Beat up on a terrible division. Typical Arizona year.

49ers (8-8)- Mike “New Moon” Singletary has these guys playing hard. Up and coming team.

Jets (9-7)- I was going to use this joke if the Jets were playing the Pats in the first round. Over/Under on the amount of the Rex Ryan crying jokes that’ll be used by Patriots fans leading up to the game.

Ravens (9-7)- A guy I know is going to the game between the Pats and Ravens on Sunday and he wanted to know how he could get on the big screen. I said he should bring a sign with him that says “Hey Ray, I know you did it.” 

Titans (8-8)- Great finish after going 0-6. Called the Kerry Collins collapse but I didn’t see the Vince Young rebirth coming. And do I have to say anything about Chris Johnson. Amazing.

Jags (7-9)- Might be a more schizophrenic team than Houston. Tim Tebow might not have to travel far to play in the pros.

Speed 2: Just like Speed 2 was to the orrginal movie, my predictions for these teams were way off. 

Cowboys (11-5)- Thought that they wouldn’t have a receiver to throw to (enter Miles Austin) and also thought they would fold in November and December (they didn’t). Even got a home game in the Playoffs. Kudos to Jerry’s team.

Bucs (4-12)- For some reason I thought that this team would go 8-8. And no, I don’t do drugs.

Broncos (8-8)- Definitely didn’t see Kyle Orton becoming a decent NFL Quarterback. Also didn’t see the defense playing the way it did. Good first year for McDaniels. Even if he did alienate his best player, again.

Seattle (5-11)- Seattle is the alcoholic that we hope is going to change their ways. Turn the corner in their franchise and stop underachieving. Whenever we think they’ll change, we find them passed out with a bottle of Jack in their hand.

I will say that all in all, I’m pretty happy with the predictions that I made. I ended up picking 6 out of the 8 division champions. Pretty good for a guy just writing a little ol’ sports blog. First round playoff predictions coming later on in the week. Check out my original columns at www.giffstake.com, go to the archives and look up "NFL Picks Sure To Go Wrong."