2013 NFL Season Predictions in Review

Happy New Year! In honor of the calendar turning towards another year, I'm doing something I do for every sport I watch with intense eyes... a review of my season predictions that will surely make me look stupid! I eat crow so you don't have to. I have some true head-scratchers this season, but also a few picks that will make me at least a little happy. So, let's look back and see what I did wrong (and right).

I correctly predicted 5 of the 8 division champs this season, and those would be the Patriots, Colts, Broncos, Packers and Seahawks. I whiffed pretty badly on the Ravens, Giants and Falcons, who all missed the playoffs. And yes, I also had the Ravens in the Super Bowl, so more crow for me. I predicted the same 6 teams from the AFC playoffs last year would make it this year, and that clearly didn't happen. I predicted 3 of the 6 NFC teams, missing the Giants, Falcons and Bears. 7 of 12 is at least passable, right?

In the overrated department, I pretty severely overrated the 5 teams that missed the playoffs that I thought would make it, and a few others that I now laugh at. Those include Washington (I said 9-7... 3-13) and Minnesota (I said 8-8, 5-10-1) and Bucs (7-9, 4-12). For those underrated teams, obviously teams like the Eagles, Chargers, Panthers, and Chiefs get the nod. But some other notables were the Cardinals (5-11 to 10-6) and Jets (4-12 to 8-8). I got 3 teams records exactly right, and they would be Miami, Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

In terms of award picks:

MVP- Peyton Manning (Hmm... I wonder...)
OPOY- Calvin Johnson (Not quite a season worthy of this award, even by his own lofty standards)
DPOY- Luke Kuechly (He'd better win this award or everything I watched was moot this season)
OROY- Giovani Bernard (Had a good season, but Keenan Allen and Eddie Lacy had better ones)
DROY- Ziggy Ansah (Sheldon Richardson is the favorite here)
Coach- Pete Carroll (Had an amazing season with the Seahawks, but this likely goes to Chip Kelly or Andy Reid- ironic isn't it?)

So I ate a lot of crow for some of my picks, and redeemed myself in a few places too. Can't wait for my playoff picks, which are bound to be worse.