Recapping my awesome (awful) NFL predictions

A look back at my preseason NFL predictions, because everyone needs more reasons to laugh at my expense.

Before the season began, the staff here at 12th Man Rising submitted NFL predictions for the 2015 season. It was just for fun, but a lot of thought went into all of our predictions.

Unfortunately, my crystal ball was too cloudy to read clearly, or at all. And by “crystal ball” I really mean the bottom of a pint of beer. Basically, my beer sucked at predicting the NFL season.

Here were my (awful) picks:

"NFL PredictionsAFCE: DolphinsAFCN: RavensAFCS: ColtsAFCW: BroncosNFCE: EaglesNFCN: PackersNFCS: PanthersNFCW: SeahawksAFC winner: RavensNFC winner: SeahawksSuper Bowl winner: SeahawksSeahawks PredictionsRegular season wins: 12Lynch rushing yards: 1080Wilson passing yards: 3800Wilson rushing yards: 380Graham receiving yards: 960Random NFL Prediction: Jay Gruden is fired by Week 10."

The best word to describe my division picks would probably be “atrocious.” I only got one division winner correct in each conference.

That AFC winner came down to the final game. If Manning hadn’t rescued Denver in that one, I would have ended up with a measly 12.5% accuracy rate. That’s like Tim Tebow bad.

Picking the Ravens as the Super Bowl participant from the AFC looks especially bad given that they finished the year 5-11. I stand by that pick though. They lost to injuries just about every player on offense with any talent. I believe they would have been a playoff team if those players had stayed healthy.

The NFC picks were slightly better. The Eagles crashed and burned, but my other too “misses” still made the playoffs as wild card teams. I was also on the record elsewhere as having Arizona and Minnesota to be the wild card teams.

One pick (that missed horribly) that needs a bit of explanation is my pick of Miami over New England as the AFC East winner. It was reasonable to suspect the Patriots defense to take a step back after losing both of their starting CBs. Plus, the offense was going to be without their best RBs from last year.

With Suh on defense, improved receivers and (hopefully) an improved offensive line, there was optimism that the Dolphins would take a big leap forward. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the impending implosion by the coaching staff.

To my credit, I knew that predictions tenuous, and said so in the article’s introduction:

"It might be a good idea to bookmark this page so you can come back to point and laugh. This is especially true for Keith and his ridiculous Miami pick for the AFC East."

I’m not trying to make excuses here. Those picks were mostly terrible, and anyone who can read can see that.

Hopefully Seattle will win the Super Bowl and make me look brilliant in the end. I mean, getting the other picks wrong doesn’t matter if you pick the camp correct, right?

You know what, forget me looking brilliant (an impossibility). Just win the Super Bowl and we’ll all be happy.