Author Topic: NFL Prediction Challenge (Read 21198 times)

Professoralstad · « **Reply #25 on:** October 07, 2013, 04:25:05 PM »

Quote from: Nameless on October 05, 2013, 08:06:01 PM

With it being a few week in to the season would there be any changes to what people picked?

I'd probably change about half of my answers:

Division Winners I'd still pick: Colts, 49ers, Broncos, Patriots
Division Winners I'd change: Saints, Ravens, Cowboys...and Bears, just because I have to put a team down, I don't think the Lions success thus far is sustainable, and I'd rather be wrong than pick the Packers. Also, I have to be realistic: The Vikes are the fourth best team in the NFC North.

AFC Champion and SB winner would still be the Broncos
NFC Champion would be the 49ers

Best record would be Broncos, worst would remain Jaguars.
QBR and MVP would go to Manning.
RB w/ most yards would remain AP, WR with most yds would go to DeSean Jackson
Most points would go to Broncos, most turnovers would stay with Bears
Rookies of the year would probably change to The Guardian's picks (Manuel and Mingo), just because I can't think of any other rookie standouts. Maybe Kenbrell Thompkins, but he's been a bit too inconsistent.
First fired coach would probably go to either Ron Rivera or stay with Rex Ryan. Though I could honestly see no coaches being fired this season, due to most of the worst teams thus far being coached by guys that would be hard to fire (like Tomlin or Coughlin because of past success, and Gus Bradley and Greg Schiano not having been around long enough to bear the burdens of their teams' failures).

jbeers285 · « **Reply #26 on:** October 07, 2013, 04:45:36 PM »

Selling out on the Seahawks tisk tisk tisk

YourMathTeacher · « **Reply #27 on:** October 07, 2013, 04:50:45 PM »

Quote from: Professoralstad on October 07, 2013, 04:25:05 PM

Though I could honestly see no coaches being fired this season, due to most of the worst teams thus far being coached by guys that would be hard to fire (like Tomlin or Coughlin because of past success, and Gus Bradley and Greg Schiano not having been around long enough to bear the burdens of their teams' failures).

Clearly you have not heard the whole story in Tampa....

I think UConn fired their coach to make room for Schiano once he has had enough of NFL players. Schiano used to coach for Rutgers in the former Big East, and UConn is getting desperate. Schiano already has a recruiting history in the region.

lp670sv · « **Reply #28 on:** October 07, 2013, 05:11:08 PM »

Schiano has also show that he's an ego maniac. Most people, if they don't want a guy on their team anymore, would just bench and cut him. Not start an elaborate smear campaign against him.

Professoralstad · « **Reply #29 on:** October 07, 2013, 05:26:23 PM »

Quote from: jbeers285 on October 07, 2013, 04:45:36 PM

Selling out on the Seahawks tisk tisk tisk

Not sure if that was intended for me or not, but I picked the 49ers to begin with. Seattle has been a bit overrated this season IMO. And while their signature win did come against the 49ers, I think that the game in SF will have just the opposite result. Of course, if Percy comes back and returns to his last season pre-injury form, Seattle could be the class of the NFC. But any team that can put up the amount of points the 49ers have the past couple of games in spite of mediocre QB performance is in pretty good shape in my book. And considering we have seen that same QB be great, it is scary what they are capable of this season. Their two losses happen to be against what I would say are 2 out of the 5 best NFL teams so far, and I think SF has a decent chance of winning out (with maybe a loss against the Saints at the Superdome).

Quote from: YourMathTeacher on October 07, 2013, 04:50:45 PM

Clearly you have not heard the whole story in Tampa....

I haven't been following it too closely as of yet, though I'm sure I'll be hearing about it quite a bit more in the coming days, since the situation has a pretty significant local impact now...

But I'd still wager that he'll remain the coach through the end of the season, though I wouldn't be surprised if they parted ways following the season.

Quote from: lp670sv on October 07, 2013, 05:11:08 PM

Schiano has also show that he's an ego maniac. Most people, if they don't want a guy on their team anymore, would just bench and cut him. Not start an elaborate smear campaign against him.

I guess I haven't heard all the details of the story, but it does seem that based on Frazier's statements this morning, he is unconcerned with Freeman's alleged issues. And Frazier has definitely been the most level-headed coach the Vikings have had since Denny Green, so I tend to think that the rumors are not necessarily true (or at least not to the degree that has been alleged). Still, egomaniac doesn't necessarily translate to bad coach (perhaps in this case it does). One only needs to look at the NFC West for a few examples of that.

YourMathTeacher · « **Reply #30 on:** October 07, 2013, 05:34:39 PM »

Quote from: lp670sv on October 07, 2013, 05:11:08 PM

Not start an elaborate smear campaign against him.

Who's smearing who? There is definitely more to the story. "Leaked" information can come from any side.

With that said, though, Schiano was a known disciplinarian, so when he was facing a mutiny (ironic really, since it's the Buccaneers), his options were limited. College teams are better suited for his style, since discipline is what most non-SEC teams want from their athletes. You never heard anything bad come out of Rutgers off the field while Schiano was there, and they were always a challenge on the field for teams from any conference. I sincerely hope that UConn lands him if he indeed leaves the NFL divas.

Alex_Olijar · « **Reply #31 on:** October 07, 2013, 06:00:04 PM »

Kiki Alonso for DROY

lp670sv · « **Reply #32 on:** October 07, 2013, 06:38:02 PM »

Quote from: YourMathTeacher on October 07, 2013, 05:34:39 PM

Quote from: lp670sv on October 07, 2013, 05:11:08 PM
Not start an elaborate smear campaign against him.

Who's smearing who? There is definitely more to the story. "Leaked" information can come from any side.

With that said, though, Schiano was a known disciplinarian, so when he was facing a mutiny (ironic really, since it's the Buccaneers), his options were limited. College teams are better suited for his style, since discipline is what most non-SEC teams want from their athletes. You never heard anything bad come out of Rutgers off the field while Schiano was there, and they were always a challenge on the field for teams from any conference. I sincerely hope that UConn lands him if he indeed leaves the NFL divas.

There isn't more to the story, schiano tried to get public support for benching Freeman by "leaking" Freeman's supposed PED use, when he has an exemption from the NFL for the medicine he's taking and takes more drug tests than nearly anyone else as part of that exemption.

Quote from: Alex_Olijar on October 07, 2013, 06:00:04 PM

Kiki Alonso for DROY

*Kiko. Agreed.

Alex_Olijar · « **Reply #33 on:** October 07, 2013, 07:18:21 PM »

Schiano mishandles quarterbacks.

Nameless · « **Reply #34 on:** October 07, 2013, 07:18:45 PM »

Quote from: Nameless on September 05, 2013, 05:23:28 PM

Winner of the AFC North: Ravens
Winner of the AFC East: Patriots
Winner of the AFC West: Broncs
Winner of the AFC South: Texans Colts
Winner of the NFC North: Vikings
Winner of the NFC East: Skins Cowboys
Winner of the NFC West: 49ers Seahawks
Winner of the NFC South: falcons Saints

Winner of the AFC Championship game: Broncs
Winner of the NFC Championship game: 49ers Seahawks

Winner of the Super Bowl: 49ers Broncos

Team with overall best record 49ers Broncos
Team with the overall worst record Raiders Jaguars
QB with the highest passer rating: Rogers
RB with the most rushing yards: AP
WR with the most receiving yards: Calvin Johnson
Team with the most points scored: Seahawks Broncos
Defense with the most turnovers: Bears
Offensive Rookie of the Year: no idea
Defensive Rookie of the Year: no idea
League MVP: Payton Manning
First head coach to be fired during the season none

Tiebreaker: 45

If I had the choice again, thats what I would do.

YourMathTeacher · « **Reply #35 on:** October 07, 2013, 07:29:58 PM »

Quote from: lp670sv on October 07, 2013, 06:38:02 PM

There isn't more to the story, schiano tried to get public support for benching Freeman by "leaking" Freeman's supposed PED use...

Reliable source, please?

jbeers285 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 07, 2013, 08:20:04 PM »

Quote from: Professoralstad on October 07, 2013, 05:26:23 PM

Quote from: jbeers285 on October 07, 2013, 04:45:36 PM
Selling out on the Seahawks tisk tisk tisk

Not sure if that was intended for me or not, but I picked the 49ers to begin with. Seattle has been a bit overrated this season IMO. And while their signature win did come against the 49ers, I think that the game in SF will have just the opposite result. Of course, if Percy comes back and returns to his last season pre-injury form, Seattle could be the class of the NFC. But any team that can put up the amount of points the 49ers have the past couple of games in spite of mediocre QB performance is in pretty good shape in my book. And considering we have seen that same QB be great, it is scary what they are capable of this season. Their two losses happen to be against what I would say are 2 out of the 5 best NFL teams so far, and I think SF has a decent chance of winning out (with maybe a loss against the Saints at the Superdome).

Every argument you made can made fire the Seahawks as well. I'd take lynch over gore any day. Wilson hasn't played his best ball yet this season. The Seahawks defense is lights out and it travels. Specials teams for Seattle has been stellar. I personally think have a match edge against the bronco's bc of the option to play bump and run with huge corners. Just my thoughts

Professoralstad · « **Reply #37 on:** October 07, 2013, 11:51:03 PM »

Honestly, I'm not sure what would be a good match vs the Broncos. As entertaining as the shootout in Dallas was, I was thinking through the entire game that despite Romo's unbelievable day, the Broncos had the advantage the whole way. I guess its hard to say thus far what the Broncos would look like vs a top rated defense, because so far no team that has played them can be rated as a top defense just due to the numbers they put up. But it should be fun to watch. Kind of crazy to think that the best team on the Broncos remaining opponent schedule may be the Chiefs...though I personally think the Colts are actually better. That will be a fun game to watch.

Jmbeers · « **Reply #38 on:** October 08, 2013, 03:20:47 AM »

Lost in all of this is Alex Smith and the Chiefs. No one saw them coming and it reinforces my unpopular opinion that the 49's biggest mistake in the recent past was not starting Alex and then trading him. Don't get me wrong, Kap is a great quarter back, I just think Smith is really showing his worth right now.

Oh and he has more rushing yards than Kap at the moment.

YourMathTeacher · « **Reply #39 on:** October 08, 2013, 09:09:49 AM »

Quote from: Jmbeers on October 08, 2013, 03:20:47 AM

Lost in all of this is Alex Smith and the Chiefs.

I agree, but remember also that Andy Reid is part of that equation.

Professoralstad · « **Reply #40 on:** October 08, 2013, 10:11:36 AM »

Quote from: Jmbeers on October 08, 2013, 03:20:47 AM

Lost in all of this is Alex Smith and the Chiefs. No one saw them coming and it reinforces my unpopular opinion that the 49's biggest mistake in the recent past was not starting Alex and then trading him. Don't get me wrong, Kap is a great quarter back, I just think Smith is really showing his worth right now.

Oh and he has more rushing yards than Kap at the moment.

I'd love to see the Chiefs keep doing well, but I wouldn't attribute their success to Alex Smith as much as their defense (and also probably their coach). Alex Smith has been efficient, with no turnovers until this past Sunday, but he hasn't been great (currently 16th in QBR). Maybe all the Chiefs need to do to keep winning is for their QB to make few mistakes and their defense to keep playing well. But I think that eventually teams will be able to figure them out, and expose some vulnerabilities. It would be really interesting if the Chiefs and the Broncos are both undefeated when they first meet on Nov. 17.

I thought that benching Smith was a mistake originally as well, but you can't argue with the results. Smith may have been able to take them to the Super Bowl, but I don't think the result would have been different.

Alex_Olijar · « **Reply #41 on:** October 08, 2013, 11:22:41 AM »

You play quarterbacks like Alex Smith because they don't have a ton of variance. You know what you are getting and generally he won't lose the game. For a team like KC who needs to establish an identity, let a good defense control games, and mostly just wants to be better than last year, Alex Smith is a perfect quarterback. The system he is in thrives on his strengths - quick short and intermediate passes rather than lots of long bombs. Meanwhile, SF is trying to win the Super Bowl today. Kaepernick has higher variability - much more likely to do crazy well and win the Super Bowl, but he's also more likely to lose you the game with a bad interception. However, for a team like the 49ers who needs to win now, the risk can be accepted (also, with an arguably better defense they can theoretically naturally accept more risk).

It's the same reason that Terrelle Pryor is starting in Oakland actually. His high variance could make the team just good enough to compete and maybe steal a playoff spot (if he could run the read option super well, etc), or he will be super bad and Oakland gets a lottery pick. They would have gained nothing from starting Matt Flynn (in the best case scenario where he's a competent pocket passer, which maybe he's not apparently) and winning the 5-6 games he would get them.

lp670sv · « **Reply #42 on:** October 08, 2013, 03:00:04 PM »

The chiefs had 6 pro bowlers last year, their terrible-ness last year was a lot more surprising to me than their record this year. Always have had playmakers just couldnt seem to pull it together

Alex_Olijar · « **Reply #43 on:** October 08, 2013, 03:46:28 PM »

Quote from: lp670sv on October 08, 2013, 03:00:04 PM

The chiefs had 6 pro bowlers last year, their terrible-ness last year was a lot more surprising to me than their record this year. Always have had playmakers just couldnt seem to pull it together

It starts with quarterbacks who had high variance playing poorly, which was hurt more because even the top end of the variance for those quarterbacks was maybe league average.

Master KChief · « **Reply #44 on:** October 08, 2013, 11:38:47 PM »

Quote from: Professoralstad on October 08, 2013, 10:11:36 AM

It would be really interesting if the Chiefs and the Broncos are both undefeated when they first meet on Nov. 17.

I'm hoping for this as well. Got tickets for both Nov. 17 @ Denver and Dec. 1 here in Kansas City.

TheHobbit13 · « **Reply #45 on:** October 19, 2013, 08:28:31 PM »

You should run onto the field and throw redemption cards everywhere.

lp670sv · « **Reply #46 on:** October 19, 2013, 11:17:27 PM »

I would like to formally changed my DROY pick to Kiko Alonso because KIIIIIIKKKOOOOO

Professoralstad · « **Reply #47 on:** December 06, 2013, 12:27:14 PM »

Well, we finally have the resolution to one of the categories, with the Houston Texans firing head coach Gary Kubiak. Not surprisingly, no one guessed that would happen for this challenge, though I'm sure that many people were probably thinking it would happen now that the Texans now seem to have a pretty good lock on the first pick in the draft next year. Which is a bummer for those of us in the frozen tundra, as the Texans are much more likely to be interested in a QB than Clowney, thus they will probably be taking one of the Vikings' options off of the board. Though noting the Vikings' track record with QBs, it's also possible that we would trade for Schaub...

Drrek · « **Reply #48 on:** December 06, 2013, 04:38:19 PM »

Quote from: Professoralstad on December 06, 2013, 12:27:14 PM

Well, we finally have the resolution to one of the categories, with the Houston Texans firing head coach Gary Kubiak. Not surprisingly, no one guessed that would happen for this challenge, though I'm sure that many people were probably thinking it would happen now that the Texans now seem to have a pretty good lock on the first pick in the draft next year. Which is a bummer for those of us in the frozen tundra, as the Texans are much more likely to be interested in a QB than Clowney, thus they will probably be taking one of the Vikings' options off of the board. Though noting the Vikings' track record with QBs, it's also possible that we would trade for Schaub...

I mean yeah, the Texans probably want a QB, but could you imagine Watt and Clowney together?

Professoralstad · « **Reply #49 on:** December 06, 2013, 05:37:38 PM »

Quote from: Drrek on December 06, 2013, 04:38:19 PM

I mean yeah, the Texans probably want a QB, but could you imagine Watt and Clowney together?

It'd be pretty scary, sure, but QB has to be their highest priority (other than coach, of course). Who knows, Tom Coughlin, Mike Tomlin, or Mike Smith might end up getting fired, and and the Texans could pick up one of those guys along with Michael Vick and they could become next year's Chiefs.

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Author Topic: NFL Prediction Challenge (Read 21198 times)

TheHobbit13