Happy 2009 everyone! I hope you had a safe and healthy 2008 holiday season. Another NFL regular season is in the books, and what a season it was. I've always said the NFL is hard to predict and this year was no different. The salary cap keeps teams from buying championships like the Yankees are attempting to do in 2009. So it all comes down to drafting the right players, signing the right free agents, building a well-balanced team that has good chemistry and of course, staying healthy. A little bit of luck comes in handy, as well. You could do all the right things, have a good season, finish with a great record, but still miss the playoffs while an inferior team in a weaker division gets in (sorry Pats fans). That's why, when you go back and look at anyone's preseason predictions for the upcoming NFL season, they are almost always completely way off from the actual final results. It doesn't matter how much of an expert you are.
It's always funny for me to go back and look at my predictions to see how far off I was. Some of my "forecasts" were spot on (Bills, Jets, Colts, Broncos, Chiefs, Eagles, Vikings, Bucs, Cardinals). Some of them were not even close (Dolphins, Jaguars, Titans, Cowboys, Lions, Panthers, Falcons, Seahawks, Rams). Most were somewhere in between. Only 5 of my 12 playoff teams and only 1 out of the 4 teams I had in Conference Championships actually made it to the postseason. On the bright side, the one team I had correct (San Diego) is also the team I had winning the Super Bowl. "So, I got that going for me, which is nice."
Anyway, congrats to the Dolphins for exceeding my expectations and making the playoffs. I was hoping they would be a little more competitive against the Ravens, but I can't complain. They still won 7 more games than I had predicted and 10 more than they won last year. If they can continue that trend, then I'll be looking forward to them competing for years to come.
Now...bring on the baseball season!!!
