Archive for the ‘San Diego will miss the playoffs because Rivers is a do’ Category

2007 Predictions Revisited; 2008 Predictions Revealed

Sep 2, 2008 2008 Season, Colts Shmolts, Cooper Manning gently weeps, Predictions Guaranteed To Go Wrong, San Diego will miss the playoffs because Rivers is a do, Teams that aren't the Texans

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve surely noticed that bfd and I have yet to do any predictions regarding the upcoming NFL season.  The reason?  Well, we are lazy.  Beyond that, however, we also wanted to wait as long as possible to see how some stuff shook out in camps and whatnot.

Before I get into my prognosticatin’, however, I thought I would take a look back at my season-long predictions from last year, both good (my weekly picks) and bad (my preseason picks).  Last things first, here were my NFL predictions for 2007:

Thursday night’s game was all well and good in that it was real football that mattered beginning to end. Football is back, yada yada yada. However, for all of us not living in Indianapolis (thankfully) or New Orleans, there is one day left until we kick off the season for real.

For fans of the Juggernaut, of course, tomorrow’s game against the Chiefs is full of storylines. Will Schaub keep making us forget about Zoolander? Is Ahman Green as much of an upgrade as we think? Are the Chiefs going to be worse than the Raiders this year? [Author's note: The answer to all of those questions is "yes."]

Now, I am on record as counting this game as one of our nine wins. I still believe that and, other than laughing about the Chiefs failures to win a playoff game since Bill Clinton’s first year in office, I have little to add.

I do think, however, that this is as good a place as any to throw out the official DGDB&D 2007 Predictions. Let’s rock. (# denotes first round bye, * denotes wild card)

AFC East
New England #
New York
Buffalo
Miami

AFC South
Indianapolis #
Jacksonville *
Houston (9-7)
Tennessee

AFC West
San Diego
Denver
Oakland
Kansas City

AFC North
Baltimore
Pittsburgh*
Cincinnati
Cleveland

NFC East
Philadelphia
Washington
Dallas
New York

NFC South
Carolina #
New Orleans*
Atlanta
Tampa Bay

NFC West
Seattle #
St. Louis*
San Francisco
Arizona

NFC North
Chicago
Green Bay
Detroit
Minnesota

AFC Championship Game
San Diego def. New England

NFC Championship Game
Seattle def. Carolina

Super Bowl
San Diego def. Seattle

Wow.  Those are–what’s the word?  BAD.  Yeah, that’s it.  Did I really have Chicago winning the North over Green Bay?  Was I high or something?  Christ.

NOW, when I was allowed to pick week-by-week, thereby incorporating what we knew about teams as the year went forward, I did much better.  I went 156-91 in the regular season and 8-3 in the playoffs.  I rocked shit.  (Let this be fair warning to the rest of you taking part in Chris’s Pick’em League, bitches.)

With all that out of the way, let’s get into the 2008 season.  Like last year, I am predicting order of finish, but not records, because I hate it when people predict overall records without checking to see if they are logistically possible based on the matchups.

Also, one last side note before I start.  Another pet peeve of mine is writers and other experts who pick the same teams to win the divisions as last season and pick nearly all the same playoff teams.  The former has never happened in the current setup and the historical rate of playoff team turnover is about 50%.  So, off the bat, I’m tabbing Jacksonville, Tennessee, San Diego, Washington, Tampa Bay, and Green Bay as the teams from last year who won’t get in this year.

AFC North
Cleveland
Pittsburgh*
Baltimore
Cincinnati

AFC East
New England
Buffalo*
New York
Miami

AFC South
Indianapolis
Houston (9-7)
Jacksonville (Yes, I still have a post forthcoming explaining this.  Damn you, stop pressuring me!)
Tennessee (6-10)

AFC West
Denver
San Diego
Kansas City
Oakland

NFC North
Minnesota
Detroit
Green Bay
Chicago

NFC East
Philadelphia
Dallas*
New York*
Washington

NFC South
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Atlanta (on the clock)

NFC West
Seattle
St. Louis
San Francisco
Arizona

AFC Championship Game
Indianapolis over Cleveland

NFC Championship Game
Philadelphia over Seattle

Super Bowl
Philadelphia over Indianapolis

So, there you have it.  Now, if these are anything like last year’s, they’ll be moot by week 3.