How Wrong Were We: The 2008 NFL Season

Here at ASD the loyal readers (all 4 of you) know that we like to be held accountable for how off our predictions are. It's acutally enjoyable for us to look back on what he hit on and what me missed when it comes to a picking games. Before this year's NFL season began Catfish offered up his predictions for the upcoming season and since we are doing this before the Super Bowl, you can already guess his picks were not that dead on but he did get a few right and he opened with a pretty prophetic statement:

"...all it takes is a blown ACL, a nagging hamstring, or one sultry succubus and all my plans are foiled."

See how he did after the break.

Here is a rundown of Cat's picks with my not so harsh commentary:

AFC East (Teams shown in order of projected finish)
NE Patriots - 16-0 last season, they've earned the easiest schedule
NY Jets - Spent the money to be a wildcard team, will their pickups be worth more than the loss of Johnathan Vilma?
Buffalo Bills - Take the under, every week.
Miami Dolphins - 1st round pick on a burner, pickup a QB that can't throw further than 15 yards. Magic.

Ha!, right off the bat, he had Miami to finish last, but who didn't have the Pats winning this division.

AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers - Purely on the strength of Hines Ward being the greatest blocking WR in the history of football. Ever. Period.
Baltimore Ravens - The Joe Flacco / Ray Rice era has begun.
Cleveland Browns - Braylon Edwards, the highest scoring WR in fantasy football, but can the defense stop anyone?
Cincinnati Bengals - Got 85 problems, but Tatum Bell aint one

You were right! Hines Ward is the greatest and he led his team to the division and beyond! He had some great blocks this year, just ask Keith Rivers.


AFC South
Jacksonville Jaguars - This bandwagon is getting a little too full for my liking
Indianapolis Colts - The window for Peyton to be able to carry a team is closing starting this year.
Houston Texans - Opportunistic D, should see Super Mario's Sack total rise. Need Andre Johnson to play a full year, before I push them for the playoffs.
Tennessee Titans - This week Norm Chow showed what a great offensive coordinator he is, and he couldn't make it work with VY.

Faith in the Jags was not yours alone Catfish. Looks like you were right on VY but you forgot about Kerry Collins.

AFC West
San Diego Chargers - Merriman could sit and they'd still be here.
Oakland Raiders - JeMarcus has to have a good year, before he Culpeppers on us, right?
Denver Broncos - Mike Shannahan tans so much his skin has become Teflon, it's the only possible reason why he has avoided any speculation about his job security.
Kansas City Chiefs - They play to win the games, but not this year.

Nice, Merriman did sit and they were there!

NFC East
Dallas Cowboys - If Romo fails this season, it won't be crying TO talking about him.
Philadelphia Eagles - Would love to slot the 1, will anyone complete a pass against them this year? Just don't feel comfortable to bet on DNabb5 and BWest to make it through a whole season, healthy.
New York Giants - They were supposed to lose the Super Bowl, so the loser curse still works.
Washington Redskins - Porn stars don't win Oscars, and Zorn stars don't make playoffs.

That Zorn line was golden, and right. Romo failed and he is getting slammed.

NFC North
Minnesota Vikings - Please AP stay on the field.
Green Bay Packers - Talented D leads the way.
Detroit Lions - Having two great WRs, they benefit from Martz leaving.
Chicago Bears - The Neck Beard doesn't make it past six games. Then it's return of the King.

AP was on the field and you nailed another one but your neckbeard prediction was off. He did not make it past his sixth bottle.

NFC South
Carolina Panthers - A very capable offense, largely overlooked. Will the real Pepp please return to the field?
NO Saints - Still not enough weapons to make Bush an effective RB.
TB Buccaneers - Too many old guys, too many young guys. Wearing the wheels off your draft picks will do this to a team.
Atlanta Falcons - Matt Ryan should pull a Mariah Carey and get his legs insured.

Right again on the winner, wrong again on second place.

NFC West
San Francisco 49ers - The footing is not good.
Seattle Seahawks - Questions at RB and WR, and they still get defaulted to this spot.
Arizona Cardinals - Want to pick them to win, but I don't have the marbles.
St. Louis Rams - Steven Jackson is back, but does it really matter?

You have no marbles!

Playoffs
Round 1
Jacksonville over New York Jets
Indianapolis over San Diego
Philly over Minnesota
New Orleans over 49ers

Philly did beat Minnesota, and well, at least Indy played San Diego.

Round 2
Jacksonville over Pittsburgh
New England over Indianapolis
Carolina over New Orleans
Philadelphia over Dallas

Here's where things turned dicey.

Division Championship
Jacksonville over New England
Carolina over Philadelphia

You're lack of faith in Reid and McNabb was well placed.

Super Bowl
Carolina over Jacksonville

Not while John Fox is at the helm, that's right I said it.