Still, with the NFL playoffs beginning this weekend, it's as good a time as any to look back on my predictions from the beginning of the year. As has so often been the story, I was right on a few, and wrong on many more. My pick for Super Bowl winner this year indeed made the playoffs, but my predicted big game loser did not. I had no divisions this season in which I got all four finishes correct. So on, so forth.
I don't really know how much of the playoffs I'll actually be able to watch, but I will say that very early on in the young daughter's life, it has seemed as though she's perhaps more spellbound by football than any other sport I've had on in the bedroom while holding her. Maybe it's the uniforms, the maybe it's the bright colors. Maybe it was just all a matter of timing (I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that hockey ultimately appeals most to her). I'll probably be getting a few more chances to test the football theory over the next month though.
I wasn't right about much this NFL season, and I'm not terribly optimistic about how I'll fare in predicting games over the next few weeks either. I'll flat out admit that I could really pick any of the eight teams playing this weekend to win, and I won't be the least bit surprised if I get all four of the following predictions wrong.
Nonetheless, here's a few guesses just to humor myself. I suppose.
Instead of posting screencaps of everybody else's picks, here's a link to a site that actually tracks more experts than I ever bothered with. Needless to say, I don't expect to be added there. The following picks are in a sort of descending order of confidence, although the first three would be pretty much interchangeable. It's only really the last prediction that I know is totally against the odds:
I had much higher expectations for Indy this season, and I apparently did not give Cincy enough credit. The Bengals are bound to finally get that elusive postseason win one of these years, but I simply don't see it happening this weekend. I'm willing to guess that Cincinnati jumps out to an early lead, but Andy Dalton ultimately does the Bengals in while Andrew Luck thoroughly dominates the second half of this game.
These are both teams that nobody is expecting much going forward in the playoffs, but I'm liking the spoiler potential of each club. The Panthers have vastly improved over the final months of the season despite all types of injuries, and the Cardinals defense has made up for their third/fourth/fifth-string QB weakness. In this game though, I've got to go with my first inclination which was that Carolina was going to beat whomever thy played in the same way that the 7-9 Seattle team of a few years ago upset the heavily favored Saints. This won't be the same type of upset, but you get the idea behind the logic.
Le'Veon Bell being out certainly changes things here, but I've been finding myself liking the Steelers more and more as the season wore on. So many weapons on that offense. This was the first-round playoff matchup I had originally predicted (albeit with different seeding), so I'm figuring this is now a can't lose option. If Baltimore wins, then my original prediction was right. But by picking Pittsburgh now, then I can still say I was right.
I believe I'm the only person I've seen giving Detroit a chance here. But we all know Romo's playoff history, and Dallas was only a .500 team at home despite winning all eight road games this year. If anybody can shut down DeMarco Murray, it's probably that Lions line. I'm probably giving Matthew Stafford way too much credit, but I just think this is bound to be the biggest surprise of the weekend.
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