Wednesday, June 10, 2009

2008 NFL Rewind

There are roughly five weeks to go before NFL training camps open. Organized Team Activities and Mini-camps are wrapping. The NFL is about to go into its rest period (all one month of it).

Before I begin my annual preview, I wanted to revisit my predictions and those of three other sources I used - Pro Football Weekly, The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.

The actual results were as follows (*-denotes playoff teams)
NFC
East - N.Y. Giants*, Philadelphia*, Dallas, Washington
North - Minnesota*, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit
South - Carolina*, Atlanta*, Tampa Bay, New Orleans
West - Arizona*, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis
AFC
East - Miami*, New England, N.Y. Jets, Buffalo
North - Pittsburgh*, Baltimore*, Cincinnati, Cleveland
South - Tennessee*, Indianapolis*, Houston, Jacksonville
West - San Diego*, Denver, Oakland, Kansas City

How did I fare? I hit .500 on playoff teams.
In the NFC I correctly picked three of the six playoff teams (Minnesota, the Giants and Philly) and only one division winner (Minnesota). In the AFC, I also picked three playoff teams (Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and San Diego) and got two division winners correct (the Steelers and Chargers).
Where I missed: I had Dallas, New Orleans and Seattle winning NFC divisions, and New England and Jacksonville winning AFC divisions. Dallas disappointed a lot of prognosticators, the Jaguars had no offense, the Saints no defense, and the Patriots and Seahawks lost their starting QBs for much of the season.
In summary: I played it safe and had an average season.

How did PFW fare? Horrible.
The PFW boys picked just one division winner correctly (San Diego). Like me, they picked Miami and Baltimore last in their divisions, but compounded that by putting AFC top seed Tennesse in last place as well. New England, Indy and Dallas were logical division-winning picks, but Cleveland, Green Bay, New Orleans and Seattle all cratered.

How did the then-new combination of Sporting News and Street and Smith's far? Only slightly better.
The TSN/S&S tag team got two of eight division winners correct (Pittsburgh and San Diego). Their staff had the same four teams winning NFC Divisions (Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans and Seattle) that PFW did, as well as New England and Indy in the AFC. Sensing a trend here?

How did SI fare? Better than their print brethren, hitting three of eight division winners (Pittsburgh, San Diego and Minnesota), same as yours truly.
Minuses for having Atlanta and Miami in last, but they weren't alone in that. But a plus for picking Arizona to finish second in the NFC West.

We've established 2008 was truly an unpredictable season, what will 2009 hold?