Review of the NFC, 2012

NFC East
My prediction for Philly was really awful and the rest of the NFC East division predictions were somewhat iffy.  +- of 3  D-

Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins showed, just like the Colts this year and the Broncos last year, that the quarterback is the most important position on the field.  RG3 was their main signal-caller through the year and he did a good to, at times, great job. A couple decent performances by Kirk Cousins also helped to solidify a playoff berth.  Five of their last 7 games were against the NFC East and they won each game, so that certainly helped them overcome their 3-5 start.  They put up a fair performance against the Seahawks, but not deciding to bench RGIII due to his injury proved to be their downfall.  They reached the playoffs around a year earlier than I thought they would.  B+

New York Giants

In a surprising finish the Giants finished with a 9-7 record this year..  Yeah..  That's some real parody right there.  Six of the last seven seasons the Giants have either finished 9-7 or within a game of 9-7.  They were a fairly decent team, they just faced a really tough schedule. C+

Dallas Cowboys

Looking back on their schedule the Cowboys were actually surprisingly predictable.  They really didn't beat any great teams and they didn't lose to any bad teams.  The Cowboys also had to deal with a tough schedule.  D+

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles disappointed in their play throughout the season.  I couldn’t really get a grasp on their team all year.  Each week I thought they would finally come through, and they would proceed to lose and lose again.

The Saints proved to me that in some cases coaching matters in the NFL roughly as much as your QB does (depending on the situation).  It was quite surprising to see the Eagles finish with a losing record.  I'm still wondering as to how the Eagles lost 11 of their last 12 games. F+

NFC North
The Lions and the Vikings basically switched places and thus ruined this division.  +- of 2.75  D+

Green Bay Packers

Did what they needed to in the regular season, but they got ran over by Kaepernick who dominated their D in the divisional round.  Surprisingly good against QB's in the regular season.  The difference for the Packer's playoff chances may have flipped in their Fail Mary loss to the Seahawks. There is a huge difference in playing @SF as opposed to the 49er's coming to Lambeau.  C-

Minnesota Vikings

AP carried them out of the cellar and to the playoffs.  After the first 13 weeks the Vikings had absolutely nothing in the way of quality wins except for the 49er's game.  But in weeks 14-17 the Vikings beat Chicago, St. Louis, Houston and Green Bay.  I really didn't understand all the hate directed at Christian Ponder throughout the season.  Did he have a great season?  Of course not.  But, he really was not all that horrible. B+

Chicago Bears

The Bears probably won all the games they were supposed to except for possibly their home games against the Packers and Seahawks.  The difference in the division did end up being decided by the Bears and Packers games.  Instead of winning both games though, the Bears lost each game. C-

Detroit Lions

Despite all of their talent the Lions could not really defeat anyone noteworthy and went on an eight game losing streak to end the season. D-

NFC South
My main miss was that I didn't think the Saints would miss Coach Payton so much.  +- of 1.75  B+

Atlanta Falcons

Other than their Giants 34-0 victory in week 15 the Falcons didn't really have any impressive victories.  The Falcons simply perpetually snuck past mediocre competition in the last few minutes. In the playoffs they continued the same type of formula, in that they tried to sneak by the competition in the last few minutes..  It didn't work quite as well against superior competition.  B+

New Orleans Saints

Honestly, I thought the Saint's offense disappointed at times during the season, but they still managed to be the third best scoring team in the NFL.  The defense returned to the type of defenses the Saints had a few years ago, in that the defense was a sieve all season and gave up the second most points in the NFL.  

The Saints provided one of the classic case examples of a team being 'written off'.  They went 0-4 got completely written off by the media, then they won 5 of 6 and everyone jumped on to their bandwagon and thought they would make the playoffs.  I really dislike 'Monday Meltdowns' and 'Magnificent Monday', where fans and the media overreact to what each team did that week and can't seem to see the bigger picture.  D

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

While the Buccaneers did face a tough schedule, I didn't like that they once again crumbled late season.  Other than their Eagles loss, they never lost to a bad team.  But, the Buc's problem was that they only beat two teams with a winning record, and one of those (the Falcons in week 17) effectively let them win the game. C+

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers basically did exactly what was expected. Cam Newton improved, but the team continued to struggle. I was a bit disappointed by their offense, and their team was a bit random. For instance, they lost @KC one week and beat the Falcons by 10 the next week. C+

NFC West
My perpetual dislike of the 49ers bit me again and the Seahawks were a decent team.  +- of 2 C-

San Francisco 49ers

I expected Kaepernick to be a good QB,
 but in his limited playing time he has
so far proven to be an elite QB.

Other than their game @Seattle the 49er's defense was extremely good throughout the season. I will admit that I was one of the people who was against Coach Harbaugh switching Alex Smith out for Kaepernick.  Why? 1. I dislike the 49ers and I thought that Kaepernick would be a more dangerous QB. 2. Smith was having a career year and putting up top 5 type numbers. 3. The timing of the situation didn't make a lot of sense, I thought the 49er's should have gone with Kaepernick a couple weeks earlier or not at all.

However, all of those things basically proved to be irrelevant, so I am willing to admit that I was 'wrong'.  However, I don't know if I would say that I was explicitly wrong..  If the Niners wouldn't have been able to come back from 17 down or 10 down against the Falcons, then switching for Kaepernick would have been viewed as the 'wrong' thing. I would have said then and (obviously) say now that credit should be given to Coach Harbaugh for having the guts to make a significant decision that goes against the grain. Even without the power outage at the SB I think the 49er's would have come back anyways.  However, that likely caused their comeback to be even more ferocious.  I disliked their play-calling on the final drive.  Why would you throw 3 balls in a row to Crabtree?  I definitely thought they should have run a read-option play with Gore and Kaepernick.  Anyways though, it was a great season for the 49ers. A+

Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks were another team with a dominating defense.  They only gave up 15.3 points per game, which was around 8 points better than the league average.  I still think that Matt Flynn is a good quarterback, but kudos to Coach Carroll for putting in Russell Wilson.  B+

St. Louis Rams

The Rams were dominating against their division 4-1-1, but 3-7 against everyone else.  Not to be a broken record, but the Rams also had a great defense.  C

Arizona Cardinals

Their defense usually wasn't that bad, but their offense left a lot to be desired.  Horrible performances by their QBs week in and week out.  Kevin Kolb was the only so-so QB of the group.  C

For whatever reason I once again had a lot more difficulty picking the NFC then I did picking the AFC.  A fairly ugly +- of 2.375.  C- 

86.9% correct in terms of relativity.   Overall for the NFL I had a +- of 2.125. B-