To me, if you can predict a team within a one game buffer, then that's pretty decent.
I predicted Actual results
NY Jets 7-9 Miami
Maybe a little lenient, but I’m going to give myself an A- for the AFC East.
Patriots- Tom Brady and the Patriots had another great year making the playoffs, stomping the Broncos, barely beating the Ravens, and finishing it off with a toss-up SB loss to the Giants. Since it was obviously the most recent game and Brady did have, at least for him, a sup-par game, some people are kind of ripping him and a couple even said he shouldn't be in the HOF
NY Jets- I was a little off the beaten path by predicting the Jets not to make the Playoffs, and it came through. I had the Jets starting 4-4 and finishing 3-5, which is basically what happened. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought they were extremely predictable, and I don’t understand why people think that Coach Ryan is a great coach.. As the season kind of proved he might, might be the 3rd best coach in the AFC East, much less the league. I guess I’ll mostly base my grade off of my expectations so, C.
Miami- Miami basically had a tale of two seasons, starting 0-7 and finishing 6-3. And before the season started I expected them to start slow 3-6 and finish somewhat strong with 5-2. Even though they were slightly below .500 and finished with 9 losses; other then the first game against the Jets, I don't really think they were ever blown out. So they might be a contender for 'surprise' team next year. While they technically had a bad year and were worse than what I predicted, they at least had some things to build on, C+.
Buffalo- Buffalo also kind of had a tale of two seasons, starting a very respectable 5-2 but finishing 1-8. And for future reference, I don’t think the Bills should extend their QB's contract until AFTER the season ends, just saying. While they had some close games to be sure, they also had a ton of blowouts. It would have been interesting to see Buffalo
I predicted Actual results
Since both the Colts and the Jags lost their starting QBs to injury I’ll give myself a little bit of a pass on this division, but still D.
Tennessee- Tennessee had a pretty decent rebuilding year, and if they had just swept either the Jags or Colts (instead of splitting each series) they quite possibly could have made the playoffs. This was one of my predictions for them 'They decided to pick up Hasselbeck to try and remain competitive'. And no offense to Hasselbeck, (and actually I'm a fan of his) but I think Hasselbeck’s season was kind of the definition of trying to be competitive in a rebuilding year. To me at least they remained relevant B+.
Colts- Well, before the season started I said that if the Colts were to lose Manning they might be as bad as 4-12, but they lost Manning and their record turned out to be even worse, going 2-14. Very disappointing season for the Colts, who are used to being the flipside of their 2-14 record. But, on the bright side for the Colts though, they tanked the right season since with the first pick in the draft, they can pick either Robert Griffin the 3rd or Andrew Luck, imho, they are both likely to be franchise QBs. So at least when the Colts part ways with Peyton, they’ll likely have another franchise quarterback. Hate to give it to a team and classy management that I like so much, but F.
AFC North
I predicted Actual results
Fairly amazing Defenses in the AFC North, all of them in the top 10, but each teams record was kind of padded by facing the AFC South and NFC West. Well if I had only predicted the top half of the division, then I did pretty well. However, I don’t think it works that way so, C.
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| Baltimore played up to their potential. |
Cincinnati - Andy Dalton did a great job managing games and their run game and defense did the rest. Don't really have anything to say about them, but they definitely exceeded my expectations. B+
Cleveland - Yeah, I was too high on Cleveland. One bright side of their season was that their pass defense gave up the 2nd fewest yards.. Of course, the main reason they were ranked so highly was that their opponents were just running the ball and eating clock. So Cleveland was ranked 30th in Run yards. But, for a real bright-side, Cleveland only gave up 19.2 ppg, good for 5th in the NFL. Though their offense put up 13.6 ppg, good enough for 30th. Colt McCoy didn't have very much to work with, but most of the blame probably falls on him. They were a young, improving team, but they should have been better. D-
Cleveland - Yeah, I was too high on Cleveland. One bright side of their season was that their pass defense gave up the 2nd fewest yards.. Of course, the main reason they were ranked so highly was that their opponents were just running the ball and eating clock. So Cleveland was ranked 30th in Run yards. But, for a real bright-side, Cleveland only gave up 19.2 ppg, good for 5th in the NFL. Though their offense put up 13.6 ppg, good enough for 30th. Colt McCoy didn't have very much to work with, but most of the blame probably falls on him. They were a young, improving team, but they should have been better. D-
Well I won't be getting my 2012 NFL preview out before the first game, but I plan on having it out before next Sunday. The NFL has a tradition of making the Super bowl winner play on opening night the following year, and in the last eight years the SB winner is 8-0. But, I have the Cowboys bucking that trend tonight, winning 27-23.
AFC WEST
My predictions Actual results
Denver 8-8 Denver 8-8
San Diego 8-8 San Diego 8-8
Oakland 6-10 Oakland 8-8
Kansas City 5-11 Kansas City 7-9
Please raise your hand if you did not have Denver finishing as a lottery team. And again raise your hand if you had the Broncos not finishing with a losing record. And again if you didn't have the Denver Broncos finishing with a winning record. And again if you had the Broncs reaching the playoffs. And again if you had them tied with San Diego, but beating the Chargers do to tie-breakers. And again if you had them winning the division. And again if you had the Broncos winning the division with an 8-8 record.. HAHAHAHA. That is hilariously insane. I'm guessing not too many people can raise their hands for all of those. So my prediction was probably either my sheer brilliance, or just plain 'luck'. I think I'll lean towards a combination of the two, but certainly weighted towards the latter.
TheAFC West was probably the most volatile division in the NFL. I would also say this was my most accurate
division, I'll be a little lenient and say I get an A+.
The
Denver - Tebow. Well they had a decent season this year, with
plenty of ups and downs, and since they were my favorite team last year I'll quickly
go through their schedule. Most of this is based on my memory so I apologize if I get anything ludicrously wrong. And also, up front, I think that the Broncos management made the position for Orton and Tebow unfair to both..
(The Broncos did not cave to popular sentiment to begin the season, and started Kyle Orton for the first 4 games. And while I didn't agree with the move, I also understand that you can't just cave to the people every time. So the Broncos lost by three to the Raiders, beat the Bengals by two, lost to the Titans by three, and suffered a thumping from the Packers 49-23.
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| Management thought that Tebow surely could not be a decent NFL QB. |
(The Broncos did not cave to popular sentiment to begin the season, and started Kyle Orton for the first 4 games. And while I didn't agree with the move, I also understand that you can't just cave to the people every time. So the Broncos lost by three to the Raiders, beat the Bengals by two, lost to the Titans by three, and suffered a thumping from the Packers 49-23.
Then they played the Chargers, and after falling behind 23-10 at
halftime they decided to put in Timmy Tebow for the second half. He
and the Broncs put up a big 0 in the third quarter, partially because they were
being ultra conservative with him. But in the 4th it was a different
story. After the Chargers hit a field goal, he led the Broncs on
two touchdowns, and two 2 pt attempts - one being successful and the other
a dropped pass by Brandon Lloyd. After another Chargers field goal it
was 29-24 SD Chargers, with 24 seconds remaining. Somehow the Broncos end
up past midfield with a chance to throw a Hail-Mary for the win. After
scrambling in the pocket and making a couple Chargers miss, Tebow threw up
a prayer which was almost answered.) (I ended up kind of rehashing this portion of the season in a little bit, but I'll leave these two paragraphs anyways.)
Coach McDaniels, Elway, and the rest of the Broncos organization draft Tebow in the first round with the 23 overall pick. Tebow outplayed Orton and Quinn in the preseason, but they give the starting job to Orton. While Tebow is given constrained use of the Wildcat throughout the season. The Broncos proceed to give him very limited playing through their 4-12 season, until wk 15.
And while Tebow starts the Broncos play the Raiders, Chargers, and Texans. Not powerhouses, but also definitely not laughing stocks. He puts up very decent numbers, and keeps the Broncos competitive in each game, but is only able to post a 1-2 record.
Trying to be objective, I don’t really have a problem with any of that, though I might have started him around wk 13 instead. (As a side note, I don’t understand why these three starts are often forgotten by people at ESPN, whatever..)
Year 2.. Elway declares him the starter heading into training camp. (I think this is how it went) Ahead of Orton and Quinn. But, at some points in training camp he is demoted to 4th string, behind the aforementioned and Adam Weber. And once again in the preseason, Tebow outplayed both Orton and Quinn, though, to be honest, he and Weber played about evenly. So again Orton gets the job. And he proceeds to do about as well as the previous season. After Orton led the Broncs to a 1-3 start against fair competition, management succumbs to pressure and lets Timmy Tebow start in the second half against the SD Chargers. And for one quarter (the third) it looked that Elway could escape his predicament. But then in the fourth quarter Tebow Time starts to happen, and almost leads the Broncos back from a 23-10 deficit, but Tebow's Hail Mary pass from the 30 falls incomplete. But the harm had been done and the world had seen Tebow play, and he wasn’t quite as bad as they thought he would be. The Broncos management shuddered because the theoretical genie was out of its lamp.
So during the bye week the Broncos kind of tried to help Tebow by implementing a singleback/power I/Read option offense. I say kind of tried to help, because I think Tebow needs to be put into a hurry-up shotgun spread offense. And they also tried to teach him that an interception is worth negative 2 touchdowns and to always be cautious in his throws. This resulted in Tebow often under throwing his receivers in the first 3 ½ quarters in the Miami game and many of his following games.
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| Von Miller and the defense helped the Broncs win 7 of 8. |
I and others were not very impressed with Tebow’s performance, but he got out of Miami with a W so he was allowed to start against Detroit the following week. (Side note, after facing the Broncos the Dolphins won 7 of their next 8) Not a lot to tell for the Lions game, Tebow was allowed to go hurry-up the first drive and led the Broncs to a dropped touchdown, so the Broncos settled for an early field goal. After which the Lions proceed to outscore Denver 45-7, during which Tebow threw a pick 6. Tebow Time, was Ndamakong Suhed.
Management and Teblow detractors celebrated once again. And management gave him what I’m guessing they hoped would be his last start against the Raiders. They wanted to see whether they could be rid of the Tebow phenomenon once and for all, and start building for a conventional quarterback. But, Tebow, the running back committee of McGahee and Ball, the wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Erik Decker, and the defense proved Management wrong.
Tebow put up 38 points and nearly 300 yards of offense, and Mcgahee rushed for over 100, while the D held the Raiders to 24 points and forced 2 turnovers. Entering the 4th quarter it was tied 24-24, but during the fourth quarter the Broncs outscored the Raiders 14-0. Elway and Tebow critics everywhere cringed, but surely it was just a one time event, right?
The Broncs were forced to play another road game against a divisional opponent the next week, when they played the Chiefs. What followed was not the most exciting football game ever, but once again the Broncos won. Tebow completed a whopping 2 of 7 for 93 yards and a TD. Management, Coach Fox, the OC, or all three must have thought that a ground and pound style would be to Tebow’s best use….
But even with a shotgun spread hurry-up offense, if you want to, then all you really need to accomplish is to keep the defense tired and off balance, and then if you wished to you could ground and pound to your hearts content. Tebow critics and fans alike were unsure what to think, but both sides threw their arguments at one another, while being sure they were the ones who were in the right.
The Broncos next game was against the NY Jets on a Thursday night. Tebow was limited again by the game plan and struggled, but thankfully the Defense bailed out the Broncos with a pick 6 of Sanchez. Which set up a thrilling finish, with Denver being down 13-10 needing a game tying field goal or GW touchdown with 2 minutes to go. They drove down the field with ease against New Yorks 'acclaimed' defense, and Tebow ran 20 yards for the GW touchdown. Pandemonium ensued, to say the least.
More or less, the game was repeated on the road against the Chargers the next week. In this game it almost appeared that neither side wanted to win, though that obviously wasn’t the case, and Prater kicked a 50 yarder with 20 seconds left in overtime.
Tebow critics continued to harp on the Broncos lack of offense and Tebow’s completion %, while the fans pointed to his 4th quarter numbers and the Broncos wins. I would say that much of what Tebow faced was the middle of the league. He didn’t have to face many Green Bay’s of the league, but he also didn’t get to play the St. Louis’s of the NFL.
I really dislike the term ‘believer’ being thrown around with regards to Tebow. While I kind of understand their point, and they’re generally not actually saying he is believed in as some sort of god, but only believed in as a quarterback. I use the term ‘believe’ very hesitantly.. Even as nice and great a guy as Tebow is, he is still a sinner and I’m sure he would be the first to tell you that. I just kind of wonder if some people (an extreme minority to be sure) have Tebow as their Idol. And even though (to reiterate) Tebow would point them to Christ, and they would likely at least kind of agree with that, at the same time they think a bit too ridiculously highly of Tebow. And, despite the word of warning said by Tebow against doing so, they are in a sense worshiping him.. In other words.. They can’t see the forest, because of all the trees.
Especially since Tebow is constantly pointing to Christ, I’m guessing that the number of people who have him as an Idol is particularly low. However, even one person thinking of him exceptionally highly is one person too many. American culture is an extremely celebrity driven society. And Americans (like any other culture) often put their faith (trust, love, devotion, etc) into money, the government, fame, material things/houses/cars /etc, sex, power and even into other fallible humans. Instead of trusting in some sort of higher being, they think that they are god and trust in themselves.
This is the point where I basically stopped blogging on this post a few months ago, so since I'm short on time I'll try and make the next few games a bit quicker.. The next week Tebow and the Broncs won a shootout against the Vikings and Christian Ponder. Then the Bears were Tebowed in OT, though the Bears kind of helped in their own defeat. Either God was giving some divine intervention, or the Bears were just suffering from brain static. Tebow is handcuffed through much of the game and the Broncs put up 0 pts through 3, but in the 4th they score a touchdown. And then Marion Barber steps out of bounce with 1:00 to go, and the Broncs get the ball back. And Tebow leads them down the field for a quick, long FG. And in OT the Broncos win again for their third OT win in eight games.
The Patriots ended the Tebow Train the next week winning 41-23, Tebow played well in that game. But the next two he struggled mightily, helping the Broncos lose 40-14 against the Bills, and 7-3 against the Chiefs to wrap-up the season.
The next week, the Broncos got to face the #1 defense in the league Pittsburgh.. And Tebow and company shredded them. Tebow threw for, uhhh, 316 yards.. Huh. Weird. That of course must be a Biblical reference to Leviticus 3:16: "And the priest will burn them on the altar. It is a special gift of food, a pleasing aroma to theLord. All the fat belongs to the Lord."
Either that or John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting."
Kidding aside, I do think that it is kind of curious that Tebow just 'happened' to throw for 316 yards. And I do kind of wonder if God intervened.
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| Tebow struggled against the Chiefs, but the next week he threw for 316. |
There were only two games (going week to week) that I really expected the Broncos to lose all season.. And both of them were against the Patriots. When the Broncos faced the Pats the first time. Tebow outscored Brady for a quarter 17-10, but Brady and the Pats came roaring back and won by almost 3 touchdowns.
The second time Tebow played the Pats, he played with a rib injury and the Broncs got stomped, 45-10.
I would say Tebow was only ‘unleashed’ for more than just the last 5:00 minutes of the 4th quarter in the Oakland game, most of the Vikings game, the first half of the 1st New England game, and most of the Steelers game. And the Broncos record during those games? 3-1. And the Broncs record with Tebow when they played ridiculously conservatarion? 5-4.
Overall on the season I would give Tebow a B+. and while I admit that he’s based maybe 15% on a different standard, he is seriously imho a top 16 qb. (And I’ll probably get to posting my rankings of the QBs vaguely soon.) His running attack adds a dimension only a few players have in the game, and his leadership skills are also some the best in the league, his short passing I admit is, for now, barely below average, but to counter that, he has one of the best deep balls in the league.
Some credit should go to the coaches who helped to put Tebow into the slowed down ground and pound offense, but I don't think it's what they should have done. Also credit to the RB's for taking a pounding most of the year, the WR's for having to block for a greater amount then they would normally be accustomed to, the kicker/punter for having some great games, and of course the defense for holding opponents to less than 13 points 5 times.
And not to rip the defense, but something that is kind of overlooked is that the defense also helped to give up, 49, 45, 45, 41, 40, and 32. For those 6 games the points allowed statistic doe snot exactly show a 'great' defense.. Just sayin'.
All in all a very good job by Tim Tebow and the Broncs. Tebow helped to lead a lottery-bound team to the Divisional round of the playoffs. A-
San Diego - Now a slightly shorter review.. Phillip Rivers struggled, and the offense failed to make key plays. So even though they had a top 10 offense, defense, and special teams, all of that only led to an 8-8 record. They started better then I thought they would, but they continued their string of late season collapses. And why Coach Turner is $till there, I have no idea. If this grade was given entirely based on their talent then they should probably get at least a D-, however since it’s mostly based on my preseason estimates, C-.
Oakland – They had a fairly decent season (for them). Carson Palmer got the starting QB reins mid-season, and he did a fairly good job. C+
Kansas City – I understand that apparently management thinks that KC should be in the playoffs each year, and while that is obviously a good thing for management to wish for, it doesn’t mean they have to fire coach Todd Haley. Maybe there were locker room issues or something, but I thought considering their injuries, the Chiefs actually had a decent season. C+.
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