Posted by mike in Predictions,Sports at 1:24 pm on September 6, 2008
The past month has been really busy for me at work, so I’ve gotten quite behind with the movie reviews and everything else 1000 Monkeys-related. With the NFL season finally starting, though, I find myself unable to combat the desire to take the time to lay down some predictions for the upcoming year. Last year I fared pretty poorly, so I’ve only got room to improve this year. So here are my calls for each division (teams in bold make the playoffs). Note that unlike last year, I did not take the time to actually go through and pick every game, so the win/loss totals might not exactly add up in a way that’s consistent with the overall schedule.
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|
|---|---|
| North | South |
| Pittsburgh 12-4 | Indianapolis 12-4 |
| Cleveland 10-6 | Jacksonville 11-5 |
| Baltimore 7-9 | Tennessee 7-9 |
| Cincinnati 4-12 | Houston 5-11 |
| West | East |
| San Diego 14-2 | New England 13-3 |
| Denver 10-6 | Miami 7-9 |
| Oakland 9-7 | Buffalo 7-9 |
| Kansas City 2-14 | New York 3-13 |
 |
|
| North | South |
| Minnesota 11-5 | New Orleans 12-4 |
| Detroit 10-6 | Carolina 7-9 |
| Chicago 6-10 | Tampa Bay 6-10 |
| Green Bay 4-12 | Atlanta 1-15 |
| West | East |
| Seattle 10-6 | Philadelphia 13-3 |
| San Francisco 9-7 | Dallas 11-5 |
| Arizona 9-7 | New York 9-7 |
| Saint Louis 8-8 | Washington 2-14 |
And here are my predictions for the playoffs (winners in bold):
| Indianapolis Cleveland |
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| San Diego Indianapolis |
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| San Diego Pittsburgh |
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| New England Pittsburgh |
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| Pittsburgh Jacksonville |
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| Wild Card |
Divisional Playoffs |
Conference Championships |
 San Diego New Orleans |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Detroit |
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| Philadelphia Minnesota |
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| Philadelphia New Orleans |
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| New Orleans Seattle |
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| Seattle Dallas |
Please, Mike. Pittsburgh over New England? The Pats only blow the Big Game.
I knew that’d get you… The one driving factor I usually have in my predictions is the knowledge that this year will not be the same as last year, so the Pats probably aren’t going to go 18-0 before blowing the biggest game in the history of the NFL again. :P
God, I hope they don’t go 18-0 again. In fact, I won’t mind if they lose the first game just to eliminate any chance of “perfect season” talk.
Well Mike, the Lions lost to a horrible Falcons team. You rethinkin’ about that playoff pick? Dr. Phil would say ‘you’d been drinkin’!”
All bets on the Pats are off until the extent of Brady’s injury is known. Maybe they should have grabbed Favre after all. ;-)
Well, it’s official. Brady’s out for the season. You might want to revise those numbers for NE, Mike. Maybe just reverse them?
That certainly changes everything, not just in the AFC East but in the entire conference. I suppose if forced to make a call, I’d say count me on the Favre-as-a-Jet bandwagon as of now. It’s still a long season, of course, and NE has a ton of talent other than Brady, but this is the kind of thing that has even bigger psychological implications than it does personnel ones.
Nice job, Keith Olbermann ;) Your two NFC North playoff picks are a combined 0-4! So far your playoff teams are 9-14, pending tonight’s Dallas game. I didn’t make any picks this year because all I know is: ‘I know nothing about football’ and ‘Beat Green Bay!!!!”
I didn’t say I was predicting how the first two weeks of the season would go. There’s a noticeable similarity between the above comment and the one you made on my baseball predictions this year (you know, where you told me how silly I was to think that the NL wild card would come out of the Central this year, and talked about how strong the NL West would be… although it does seem like you and I should both stick to only talking about our respective leagues, since my AL picks were pretty far off).
My new sleeper pick of the week: Watch out for Buffalo in the AFC.
That’s “Buffler,” pal. ;-)
Wow… looking back… we both had some really horrible picks… It’s on my blog’s archive page, April 2nd entry.
You have to admit there were key (and very unusual) amount of playoff-bound teams making trades that greatly benefitted them, especially the Dodgers, tho the West became a total whipping post. I really didn’t put a lot of effort into the N.L. Central, ’cause I considered it a two-team race all the way, and the other 4’s finish irrelevant. I can’t believe what Ryan Dumpster did, after not starting in forever, nobody could have predicted that. And if the Pirates were any good, even somewhat not-awful, the N.L. Central would be a lot tighter. The Devil Rays were really not a surprise, people have been saying they were finally due, tho apparently I didn’t take that into account either.
I think anybody who claims to have predicted (or even come anywhere close to having the slightest inkling of) the season the Rays would have this year is completely full of shit.
There was always talk of their highly stocked farm system, young talent and to finally get a .500 record or have their 1st winning season. 1st place was just from a lousy Yankees team and a battered Red Sox team. I still think their inexperience will prevent them from making the playoffs.
That’s a fair assessment.
So you think the wild card will come from the Central? Seems like time’s running out. I still think the Red Sox and Rays have the inside track on the postseason, and whoever doesn’t win the Central can start booking tee times.
I just checked the Wild Card standings, the Wild Card is definitely coming from the A.L. East, no doubt about it. I didn’t realize the lead was that big, I never check Wild Card standings. Which kinda ruins the East’s race, because the Red Sox (magic number is at 4) lead the Wild Card by 6.5 games over the Twins who have only 9 games left (including 3 against the White Sox). The White Sox actually have 10 games left, one of them rained out home games against the Tigers. They may or may not need it.
lol wow, some of your predictions were WAY off. 4-for-12 in playoff teams. Looks like Atlanta and Detroit were your biggest mistakes, 10 wins or losses each.