It’s Gonna Happen: 18 Bold Predictions for 2008:
A Look back: Now with more colons:!
Ok, so we were a bit spotty last year. That won’t stop us from speaking our minds about 2008…
1. The Colts will win the AFC South.
Result: BZZZZ. Very few people correctly picked the Titans to win the South. Vince Young’s injury was the best thing that ever happened to Jeff Fisher. In fairness, if we had known VY wasn’t going to be the starting QB for the Titans, we would have figured on a better year from the Titans.
2. If Dwight Freeney records 8 or more sacks this year, the Colts will win the Super Bowl. If he doesn’t, they won’t.
Result: BZZZZ. Freeney was brilliant and proved he was well worth the huge contract. The rest of the team didn’t hold up its end of the deal. We had no idea the O line would be this bad.
3. Tom Brady’s touchdown production will drop to 28, as defenses take away the deep lob to Randy Moss.
Result: Correct. Well, not really, but we’re counting it.
4. The Chargers won’t be as good as people think as the league starts to realize that Phil Rivers isn’t actually a very good QB.
Result: Half right. The Chargers had a lot of problems during the regular season, but the play of Philip Rivers wasn’t one of them. So we were right about the team, wrong about Rivers.
5. New England’s ‘Eff You’ touchdowns from last season are gone, but not forgotten. Look for opponents to eschew taking an knee when they get a lead in the fourth quarter.
Result: Correct. The Dolphins hadn’t forgotten the classless display in Foxboro last season. They scored twice in the fourth quarter, blowing out the Pats 38 – 13.
6. The Pack will dramatically underperform as Aaron Rodgers finishes with more picks than TD passes.
Result: Half right. The Pack dramatically underperfomed, but the quarterback wasn’t the problem. Rodgers threw for 4000 yards along with 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Again, we got the team struggles right and missed on the QB.
7. Jerry Porter and Troy Williamson won’t combine for as much production as Reggie Wayne.
Result: Correct. And it wasn’t even close. The Jags duo combined for 16 catches on the year. Both were huge busts. Anyone who thought otherwise before the season couldn’t have been paying attention.
8. Tony Dungy will retire from football after this season. We’ll cry like little girls.
Result: Son of a…
9. David Garrard’s QB rating will drop at least 20 points as the Jaguars struggle to finish .500.
Result: Correct. Garrard’s rating dropped 20.5 points and the Jags went 5-11. If there is one team we know it is the Jaguars.
10. Rumors that Wayne Weaver is selling the Jags to owners who plan to move them to LA will get louder.
Result: Correct. They haven’t gotten any quieter that’s for sure.
11. Mario Williams will take a major step backward and fails to reach 10 sacks.
Result: BZZZZ. Williams had 12 sacks. It was his second consecutive year with double-digit sacks. Ok, he’s good. We’ll lay off.
12. Lendale White’s playing time in Tennessee will shrink to almost invisible levels.
Result: BZZZZ (DZ Disagrees). Deshawn Zombie tried to lobby for this one, but I can’t allow it. White may have claimed he wasn’t getting the ball enough, but the stats don’t bear that out. He scored 15 touchdowns and logged 200 carries despite the success of Rookie back Chris Johnson. DZ claims it’s correct because in mid-November White made major headlines after publically whining about…his lack of playing time. He’s so important to the Titans plans that they had him taking major carries in the 3rd quarter of the week 17 game. His carries were down from 300 last year. It’s debatable.
13. Al Davis beats the rush to sign the “Olympic Hero who might wind up in the NFL”. His signing of Michael Phelps has disastrous consequences for everyone involved.
Result: Correct. Al Davis was a total disaster in 2008.
Result: BZZZZ. The Jets won 9 games, but struggled down the stretch as Favre sustained a biceps injury. Not far off, though.
15. At some point early in the season the Indy defenders will motion for the crowd to get loud, only to be let down by the muffled din emitted from the Lucas Oil crowd. Ironically, Bill Polian will respond to this disaster by actually piping in crowd noise; thus the hero lives long enough to see himself become the villain.
Result: Correct. More than a few people have suggested that LOS isn’t as loud as the dome. We disagree. Indy fans behaved as if in a stupor for most of the season because the team wasn’t meeting their expectations. It wasn’t as loud because they didn’t make as much noise.
16. The Colts will outperform their Pythagorean win total by at least 1 game. They will win at least 11 games.
Result: Correct. The preseason prediction was 9.7 games. The regular season number was 10.4. The Colts over-achieved again. This has been their pattern throughout Dungy’s stay.
17. The improvement of Anthony Gonzalez coupled with the revamped running game will have experts declaring by midseason this to be the best Colts offense ever.
Result: BZZZZ. No. The running game was a nightmare due to O line injuries. AG improved visibly almost every week, but still dropped too many passes and ran too many routes short of the sticks. He’s getting there, though.
18. Marvin Lewis will change Chad Ocho Cinco’s jersey number to #86, just to be an ass.
Result: Correct. Lewis randomly deactivated 85 before a game with the Steelers and dramatically cut his playing time, as the Bengals desperately wish they would have taken that trade with the Redskins.
The Final Tally: Right: 10 Wrong: 5 Split: 3
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