NFL Review 2013

Somehow it appears that I never managed to post my 2013 NFL review, so even though it happens to be 2015, I suppose that I should move it out of my drafts and into an actual post.  Thanks for reading.

Standings courtesy of ESPN.

AFC 

AFC	Wins	Losses
NE	12	4	Brady and Belichick provide victories in clutch situations.
NYJ	5	11	The Jets impressively managed .500.
Buffalo	4	12	No quarterback, then no consistency.
Miami	4	12	Dolphins overachieve.
Pittsburgh	11	5	Steelers struggle at stopping opponents.
Baltimore	8	8	Ravens rushing attack falls apart.
Cincinnati	6	10	The Bengals D was dominant.
Cleveland	5	11	Usually competitive, but not enough in the end.

Unimportant random thoughts and statistics on various teams:
The Jets averaged nearly .4 points 'less' than their opponents per drive.  While their point differential put them at a 5.4 win team. The Bengals averaged close to 5 yards more per average drive and .5 points.  Colts, 9.4 win team.  Despite allowing .3 yards more per play, the Colts scored .25 points more per drive.  The Jaguars allowed a whopping extra yard per play and nearly an extra point per drive for opponents.
The Texans averaged about the same net yards per play as opponents and more yards per drive, but they scored .62 less per drive than opponents.. Having the 32nd best net TO ratio in the NFL will do that to you.  On the year the Texans finished with -20 net TOs.The Ravens averaged 0.7 less per play than opponents.The Broncos averaged an entire point more than opponents per drive, 2.83 to 1.83.  A full yard better per play and an entire 10 yards better per drive. The Chargers were out-gained each play, but they made up by having the league's best third down conversion.

Whishenhunt would be a near perfect coach for the Lions. The Chiefs were actually out-gained by opponents each play by an average of .3 yards, but they made up for that difference by scoring .3 points more per drive, and by starting at their own 34 as opposed to the opponents starting at their own 23. The Cowboys average 6 yards fewer per drive than opponents. NYG 5.6 point differential.  2nd worst net TO margin in the league. Washington averaged slightly more yards and plays per drive, but gave up a semi-staggering .64 points per drive.

Lions expected win-loss record was 8.5 and 7.5. The Panthers overwhelmed opponents in most statistics. According to point differential the Seahawks were a fairly legit 13-3 team as opposed to the somewhat fraudulent Broncos.  The Seahawks nearly got 6 yards and 1 point per drive. Flacco, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, finished 32nd in passer rating (73.1).

AFC EAST

The Patriots were right on despite their injuries.  But, the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins were all rated much too lowly by me and consequently each finished with better records than I predicted.  Off by an average of 2.25 games.  C+

New England

The Patriots were a bad good team all year.  Consistently they struggled with poor teams, but would generally still beat them in the end.  Against good teams the Patriots would raise their level of play to around the level of their opponents and then generally pull through in the end.  They had two somewhat impressive come-from-behind victories against the Saints and Broncos at home.  Except when facing elite defenses they would score more than 20 points each game.  Their defense is probably still very underrated, despite giving up effectively many yards as their offense produced, they held opponents to almost .4 points fewer than the Patriots offense would score each possession.  Overall the defense was probably solidly in the top 10.

A below average year for Brady, but he had to deal with a dearth of weapons, at least for him anyways.   Amendola was indeed able to supplement the loss of Welker somewhat effectively, but the losses of Gronkowski and Hernandez were fairly detrimental to the Patriots offense.  I suppose what I said about Tebow can be forgotten, the 'haters' now seem to have the upper-hand.  No team seems willing to risk the media exposure and 'risk' implementing Tebow as a starting QB.  

The losses on offense didn't derail the Patriots too much, still a top 5 offense.  I'm not certain why other teams didn't look into Blount, he was a good pick-up for the Pats.  Brady was, impressively enough, able to lead five 4th quarter comebacks on the year and lift the Patriots from mediocrity into a quality football team.  A few of the comebacks were somewhat remarkable, such as in the Saints and Broncos games.  New England technically only matched my predicted record for their season, but since they did have to overcome so many injuries I will go ahead and bump their grade up to a B-.

NY Jets  The Jest had a fairly decent season, considering their less than stellar quarterbacking.  Their offense was one of the worst in the league.  New York was a very erratic team, pulling a surprising upset one week and getting dominated the next week.  I would guess that they were one of the worst 8-8 teams that have ever been, but still their record is what their record is.  The Jest finished with the 7th worst point differential in the league. It's a little harder to know where to put NY's grade, again I"ll be a bit lenient and  give them extra credit for their close victories, yet blowout losses, B-.

Miami It was kind of amazing how consistent both the offense and defense was for the Dolphins.  Very consistently the offense would score in the mid 20s while the defense would tend to hold opponents in the mid teens to mid 20s.  As such they had a bunch of one possession games.  After they beat NE in week 15 the Dolphins practically had a playoff spot locked up until they failed to capitalize on beating either the Bills or Jets.

Buffalo The Bills were not quite as consistent as the Dolphins, but still managed to be a fairly consistent and have a fair number of close games.  In general their defense was vaguely dominant, but their offense consistently let the team down.  

AFC North

The Steelers didn't find their no-huddle offense until after their bye week, which put a great damper on them making the playoffs.  The Ravens were a fairly predicable team and didn't surprise in many of their games.  I passed on the Bengals and lost once again.  The Browns looked lost at times, about the only partially good thing out of the season is that they got draft picks for Richardson who apparently may be a bust.  +/- an average of 2.25 games again.  C-

Cincinnati 

The Bengals may not have played many top offenses, but their defense dominated the less than stellar competition and held every opponent to 30 points or less.  I am not entirely certain what it is, but the Bengals have the ability to make their opponents look very silly at times.  Cincinnati's defense was probably the second best in football.  My reason behind not buying the Bengals this year was because I thought Dalton would have a step back year, instead the Bengals defense frustrated opponents and Dalton and the offense was generally able to create enough plays to win.   B+

Baltimore The Raven's defense probably overachieved and did a good job of keeping the Ravens in games.  Baltimore rolled for part of their second half schedule, but then crashed against the Patriots and Bengals.  The Ravens  had 11 one possession games.(I don't know the official numbers for this, but it seems like there were a fair number more than the average of games within one possession.)  Baltimore's point differential pegged them closer to a 7-9 team.  The decisions on defense did prove to be the correct ones while Flacco's anchor contract did hurt since the Ravens had a lack of wide receivers.  They only needed one more victory to reach the playoffs and their record matched what I predicted, hence the Ravens get a C-.

The difference between winner and loser in the NFL can
sometimes be the difference of a couple of centimeters. (link)

Pittsburgh 

After the Steelers had their bye week they were a decent team and more like what I expected them to look like, but before their bye week they had 4 somewhat unacceptable losses.  Roethlisberger very rarely looked like he was completely comfortable.  The Steel Curtain wasn't horrible, but it wasn't up to Steelers standards.  The Steelers missed the playoff by centimeters.  Troy Polamalu was finally healthy and did make his occasional game changing plays, such as the forced fumble against Flynn and the Packers.  Whether it was a missed penalty by the refs in the Chargers-Chiefs game, a missed field goal in the same game, or the  the Steeler's Antonio Brown stepping out of bounds in an important game against the  could have easily made the playoffs.  D+

Cleveland

I partially bought into the Browns being a competent team in the first half of the season, but in the second half they completely fell apart and while they managed to keep games close they lost to such great teams as the Jaguars, Jets, and Bears, etc.  The Browns defense took a bit of a step back, right now the Browns look like an organization without a concrete plan.  D+

Houston	11	5	Terrific Texans torpedo tired division opponents, #3 seed.
Tennessee	5	11	Titans can't tighten ship, get trampled.
Indianapolis	7	9	Cerebral Luck can't quite come through for the Colts.
Jacksonville	3	13	Jealous Jaguars act as juniors in the division.
Denver	11	5	Barefooted Broncos better brawny division, #2 seed.
San Diego	10	6	Chargers charge past challenging schedule to grab the 1st Wildcard.
Oakland	9	7	Resurgent Raiders run to the 2nd Wildcard.
Kansas City	8	8	Competency makes Chiefs content to be competitive.

AFC South

The Texans completely ruined this division, while the Colts remained 'lucky', and the Jags and Titans continued their relative incompetency.  +/- of 4.  D-

Indianapolis

I guess I should have been the one who was disturbed.. Since apparently the Colts weren't doing everything through smoke and mirrors..  The Colts were blown out a couple times by mediocre teams, but they also managed to beat a handful of top 10 teams.  Indianapolis likely had the most impressive victories in the NFL.  They played with fire a handful of times, such as the Raiders, Titans, Texans, but Andrew Luck was able to lead the Colts to late victories.  Luck continues to improve.  The Colts had a healthier point differential this season, but still should have finished closer to 10-6 or 9-7 instead of 11-5.  B+

Tennessee

If the Titans would have been able to win two one possession games against the Colts, then the season could have been a lot more exciting in Titans-land.  I should have pointed to the signs that pointed to the Titans being a decent team, Locker helped the Titans to be a competent team.   The Titans should be an interesting team next season.  B-

Jacksonville

The Jaguars were a historically bad team for the first half of the season.  But, in the second half of the season they apparently flipped a switched and were able to take 4 victories from non-quality opponents, which in turn cost them the #1 draft pick.  The Jags manage to lose even when they win.  They were just good enough to win enough to lose the lottery crown.  If I had  to only give a failed management vote to one franchise in the NFL, then I believe that the Jaguars would get my vote this season.  D  

Houston

Apparently I should have thought more about the AFC South.  Houston wasn't even close to a top 10 defense or offense.  The Texans did manage to have a better point differential then the Jaguars, but that was the only team.  2nd worst point differential in the league after a year in which they were one of the best teams in the AFC.  Houston lost 10 of their 12 one possession games, so certainly unsustainable, but, at the same time, disturbingly poor clutch power.  F-

AFC West

2.75 differential C

Denver

Somehow the best scoring NFL team ever seems a bit underrated..  Odd.  The Broncos destroyed over half of their opponents, which is unreal in today's NFL.  The Broncos finished with 606 points, the next closest team?  The Bears, with 445 points scored.  The bust potential didn't happen with the Broncos.  Julius Thomas was a big boon for Denver.  Even with setting so many records in the regular season, this season will be viewed by-in-large by what happens with the Broncos and Manning in the playoffs.  A+

Kansas City

It's amazing what competency at QB and greatness at HC will do for teams..  KC may not have any extremely impressive victories, but you can only play the schedule that is placed in front of you.  Decent season for the Chiefs.  Offense managed games well, while the defense generally shut-down opponents.

San Diego 

Except for victories over the Jaguars and Giants (possibly the Colts as well), the Chargers had no game that couldn't have easily gone to the other team.  The Chargers liked to play to the level of their opponent.  Rivers was back to his more normal elite self and the Chargers was able to do just enough to help the Chargers to the playoffs.  Some of the best coaches in the league were just enough to help the Chargers to the playoffs.  The Chargers were one of the teams this year that the media and populace declared as 'eliminated' too early.  I fail to see why some outlets can continue to think that teams are out, when a third of the season is yet to be played.  The chiefs improved their net turnovers by 42 from last season.

Oakland 

While I'll count my breakout guess for Raiders as an incorrect pick, I don't think that I was very wrong on the Raiders, if they had only been able to hold Luck and the Colts in Week 1, then I think the entire season could have been different.  But, as it happened, they weren't able to hold him and as a result losses and poor coaching decisions snowballed the season into a 4-12 season.  The Raiders had about 10 games that could have easily gone to either team, but they were only 2-8 in those games.  The defense was horrible at times, such as allowing Foles to score 7 touchdowns, but overall, didn't actually have a half-bad season.  The Raiders just needed one more game-changing play from the offense each game and the season could have been vastly different.

1. Incorrect. The losing culture was not shaken.

2. Correct. They had their struggles, but I think that the defense improved.

3. Neither.  The OL struggled, but it had a fair amount of competency at times.

4. Mostly incorrect.  The receiving corps was certainly lacking, but for what was there it wasn't horrible.  The rushing attack with McFadden usually struggled, but it improved when Jennings got the nod.

5 and 6. Both were partially correct. This was based mostly on how Flynn would play and he didn't play too poorly, considering that he was largely set up to fail.

NFC

Philadelphia	10	6	Foles proved to be a somewhat needed revelation for Philly.
Dallas	10	6	While the Cowboys fell short, it largely was not because of Romo.
NY Giants	8	8	Giants provide middling competition.
Washington	7	9	Hard schedule aside, the Redskins never were good enough to make the playoffs
Green Bay	12	4	One incomplete pass away from missing the playoffs
Detroit	8	8	The Lions were close, but finally choked their chances away.
Chicago	7	9	Improved passing attack thanks to Jeffry.
Minnesota	5	11	Still no plan for the Vikings.

NFC EAST

1.75 differential A-

Philadelphia (Sorry that there is so much space between the team name and the text following the team, I have tried to correct the problem, but it keeps creating further spacing problems at other points in the post so I will just leave it as it is.)

In week 8 Philly fell to 3-5 and Kelly and the Eagles were looked at as disappointments with no chance at the playoffs other than possibly due to the division's ineptitude.  But, the real reason behind those struggles was the instability at QB.  After Foles was inserted fully, by the end of the season, after winning 7 of 8, the Eagles and their high-flying offense were one of the best sights in the league.  The Eagles played a lot of mediocre teams, and managed a respectable 10-6 record.  Third highest QB rating combined with the best TD to INT ratio and the most yards per completion with a yard to spare.

NY Giants

The Giants did indeed hang around .500, but they decided to flip the script this season and finish 7-9 this year instead of 9-7.  New York was obliterated by a few teams this season and never seemed to be able to get their usual swagger going.  

Dallas 

The Cowboy's defense was fairly erratic, in general it was slightly poor.  The Cowboys impressively, or not so impressively, had 5 losses decided by a total of only 8 points.  The Cowboys are the definition of mediocrity over the last decade and the last couple season.  C-

Washington

The tough schedule all-but doomed Washington from making the playoffs.  While they did have a fair amount of close games,  they also had a few blowout losses.  At 3-13, a HC firing, and RG3 suffering another injury, this season was certainly a disappointment for Washington.  F

NFC North

It wasn't quite as impressive as I like my most impressive division to be, but the NFC North was my most impressive division with an average miss of 1.5 games. A-

Green Bay 

The Packer's defense didn't do a great job this season, but they also weren't awful.  The defense usually did enough to keep the Packers in the game.  Rodger's injury endangered the Packer's playoff chances, but a Rodger's bomb ended up saving the season.  The injuries to key Packers personal leave the Packer's season as average.  C

Detroit

The Lions improved, but not enough to reach the playoffs.  The Lions had a semi impressive ability to lose close games.  They finished with a positive point differential, yet finished the year with a 7-9 record.

Chicago

Alshon Jeffery was a great wide receiver on the other side of Marshall.  McCown and Cutler helped to lead the Bears to one of the top offenses in the NFL.  The Bears were a bit erratic, but overall they were still a decent team.  Only a half-step by Peppers away from making the playoffs.  C+

Minnesota

The Vikings suffered a fair number of bad losses and they were a team without a real plan for the season, but other than such minor problems as that they had a good season..  Well, at least the 'no playoffs' distinction came through for a previous playoff team.  Spinning QB wheels for the sake of spinning QB wheels is not a good route to pursue..  Yet the Vikings continue to do it.  D+

Falcons	11	5	The Falcons didn't fly anywhere after Julio was injured.
Buccaneers	10	6	Bucs couldn't overcome sickeness and obstacles.
Saints	10	6	The Saints did improve thanks to Coach Peyton.
Panthers	6	10	The Panthers finally managed to win close games.
49er's	11	5	Despite their 12 victories, the 49ers will be on the road to begin the playoffs.
Seahawks	10	6	Will the Seahawks finish in New York?  Close to unbeatable at home.
Rams	9	7	The Rams injuries hampered their season
Cardinals	3	13	The Cardinals defense played impressively.

NFC South

So.. What happened to the Falcons?  This division was an absolute disaster in terms of predictions.  The differential for +/- was a somewhat unthinkable 5.  F-

New Orleans 

The Saints were a slightly below average team on the road, but a dominating team at home.  Drew Brees and his impressive passes provided the Saints with a powerful offense.

Carolina

After their 1-3 start the Panthers rattled off 11 victories over 12 games.  The defense was absolutely dominating most of the season.  Newton didn't improve very much this season, but now suddenly he will be viewed as a much better quarterback.  The Falcons and Buccanneers provided an opening in the division, and the Panthers took advantage of it.  

Atlanta

The Falcons suffered a ton of one-play away losses.  Injuries demolished the Falcon's offensive roster and as a result they were unable to even be .500.  Somehow Ryan ended up with 651 passing attempts on the year.  No rushing attack hurt the offense dramatically.  While the Falcons did have a lot of a close losses, they also had a four week string of relative blowout losses.

Tampa Bay

I wonder how the season could have changed if the Buccaneers had scored an extra 4 points in each of their first four games, and if they wouldn't have had so much sickness in the lock room.  But, the combination of those plus Freeman's accuracy issues snowballed the Buc's season into being a bad one.

NFC West

The Cardinals were a major miss in an otherwise fairly accurate division.  3.25 D+

Seattle 

In my opinion Seattle was the most dominant team in the NFL.  So much for regression for the Seahawks. Other than an Andrew Luck explosion, the Seahawks never gave up more than 24 points.  Twenty-four.  The Seahawks defense is devastatingly good.  

San Francisco

The 49ers were a bit of a weird team with a lot of mini streaks, but overall they still were a decent team.  San Fran had a small step-back from last year.  Buying into the 49ers before the season began was certainly the right decision, now I only likely need to do the same thing for teams such as the Bengals and Colts.

St. Louis

Despite suffering injuries to key players, such as Sam Bradford, the Rams finished with a fairly decent record, considering that they're in the NFC West, of 7-9.

Arizona

I did not fully buy into the Cardinals being a good team until around two-thirds of the season was over with.  I did indeed have the Cardinals with way too few victories.  My fake vote for coach of the year would go to Coach Bruce Arians.

My overall differential for the NFL was a ridiculously bad 2.84. Relative percentage at an unremarkable 82.25%.

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-

AFC 2012 Review

Credit goes to ESPN for the actual standings on the right side of the page, and credit to Operation Sports for my predicted standings on the left.  Some of this is a bit disjointed because I originally finished this a few weeks ago and then finished editing it today.  A new addition for my review will be adding the '+-' .  It just means how many games I was off by on average.  For instance in the AFC East NE was off by 1, Miami by 0, the Jets by 4, and the Bills by 2, so the average there would be 1.75.

AFC East
Other than the Jets management being obnoxiously arrogant my picks were fairly decent.

New England Patriots

Their 4 losses were by a combined 11 points.  If the Patriots wouldn't have had to try and overcome a couple blown calls by the replacement referees (not the least of which was a game winning FG), and face the AFC West (1-3 against the West), then the Pats would have gone undefeated.  The Patriots were a fairly predictable team to me.  Their offense never scored less than 20 pts, and they found a running game in Stevan Ridley.  In the playoffs they ran into the Ravens and simply were steamrolled.   The Patriots' grade for the season is a C+.

Miami Dolphins 

Once again the Dolphins were a very competitive team. They were blown out only three times, by NE, Houston, and by, of all teams, the Titans (37-3).  Ryan Tannehill underachieved a little bit in my view.  In general the Dolphins beat the teams they should have beaten and lost to the teams they should lose to.  C+

New York Jets

The human psyche is an interesting thing.  I expected that Sanchez's psyche would officially be shot by week 8, and that Coach Rex Ryan would go to Tebow to see if he could produce different results.  And while I was right about Sanchez's psyche, I was completely wrong about the Jets giving Tebow a chance. An overlooked value of Tebow is how he can deal with the insanely overwhelming media. 

Tebow was officially given a 'screw you' by the Jets each and every week.  The Jets were afraid of doing something different.  Afraid of success.  Afraid of ridicule.  Afraid that they would have to pay $anchez to hold a clipboard.  They picked up Tebow as a reaction to the Giants winning the Super Bowl.  They panicked and thought of what headline they could make that would make New Yorkers remember the Jets.  

A fairly apt illustration for the Jets is to imagine that Sanchez is a flashy billion dollar jet, while Tebow is a simple million dollar jet.  Sanchez's jet is in a nosedive and has virtually no chance of pulling up successfully, and while Tebow's jet is looking a bit ugly staying in the air, it somehow never really looks to be in danger of crashing.  To put it simply for the Jets: There was no need to go down with the ship.. Or in this case Jet.  Sanchez was dead-weight money.

The Seahawks sat Flynn, the 49er's benched Smith for someone better.  They weren't afraid to due something different.  They weren't afraid of money being 'wasted' on a player sitting on the bench.  And anyways, you generally pay the players (effectively) the same amount of money regardless of how much playing time they get.  

If one player is better than the other, then what is there to discuss?  One player tends to produce victories while the other tends to produce losses.  Is it better to be 11-5 with Tebow as starter or 6-10 with Sanchez as the starter? You pay the players virtually the same amount of money regardless.  Is the goal to win games or play the biggest contract?  Don't get caught up in the $$'s.

I was hoodwinked by the Jets. Tony Sparano and the offensive play-calling was a complete joke.  He set up Sanchez and Tebow for failure.  The Jets had the 7th worst team, based on point differential.  They were, more or less, blown out in seven games.

Few good decisions are made when they are made in regards to fear, a reaction to someone else, panic, getting caught up in money to miss the bigger picture, and decisions made with an immediate deadline (something must be done).

Ryan is still a good defensive coach, the Jets only ever gave up more than 30 points due to the offense scoring points for the other team.  Did the Jets pick up any real offensive weapons during the season?  Of course not.

One of the worst games for the Jets was the Buffalo game.  Wait, what?  The Jets won that game.  I mean that in regards to the long term.  I think that games like this made management and Coach Ryan to keep supplying Sanchez the rope he needed to hang himself (metaphorically speaking).  Tebow saw a bit of playing time, Sanchez was decent-ish, and the defense helped put 48 points on the board.  48-28 over the Bills.

In the Steeler's game Sanchez showed more of his true colors.  This game provided (in hind-sight) some very unrealistic hope for Tebow supporters.  Tebow got in for 3 consecutive plays (amazing I know... That I even had to be 'happy' about Tebow getting three plays shows just how clueless Jet's management was.)  and produced a couple of first downs.  However, after a sack the Jets promptly decided to go back to $anchez.  Game over. The Jets lost 10-27 and  were physically dominated by the Steelers.

The Jets slipped past the Dolphins in overtime 23-20.  Sanchez was extremely bad as usual. 

A demolition occurred against SF 0-34.  Give Tebow some garbage time playing time?  No way.  

Houston 17-23, another false hope game for Sanchez.  

Indy 35-9, possibly the only game you can actually say that Sanchez played a good complete game and he only had 82 yards passing.

The game that would effectively ultimately enforce Sanchez being the starter for the rest of the season was the Patriots game.  Sanchez played an OK game, and the Pats had a 10 point lead late in the fourth quarter.  Then, the Pats players were like, waiiiiit a second.  If we beat the Jets by double digits, then they'll probably turn to Tebow against Miami, so we should just lay down and let the Jets come back and give Sanchez supporters some false hope. (While I'm being sarcastic, in some ways I do wonder if that sort of conversation ever occurred during one of the Jet's divisional games. )

Then, after the bye week, Sanchez and the Jets were housed by Seattle 7-28.
I'm tired of repeating that Sanchez stunk each week and Tebow received no real playing time, so I think I'll stop there.  I'll just finish up with these two sentences.  The Jets had the fifth worst scoring offense in the NFL.  Sanchez coined a new term: Butt fumble.  F

Buffalo Bills 

How many teams did the Bills beat that finished in the playoffs?  Answer: Zero.  How many teams have the Bills beaten under Chan Gailey's regime that finished in the playoffs?  Answer: One.  Ouch, that is a very condemning statistic.  However, I don't think that he had a ton to work with at Buffalo, and still believe he's a decent football coach who deserves a head coaching job somewhere.  (I would guess that some team will hire him as an OC)  

If the NFL wanted to "win" their labor strike issues they should have just made Ryan Fitzpatrick their negotiator.  Fitzpatrick, and his Harvard degree, somehow conned the Bills into giving him a six year deal after the Bills beat the Patriots last year.  Since that game Ryan Fitzpatrick has really stunk.  However, with that being said, I still think Fitzpatrick deserves a little more time to prove he can be an NFL starting QB.  I just think the Bills made a big mistake locking/investing so much money into an unproven commodity.  Another unfulfilling season for Buffalo.  C-

AFC North
I effectively nailed three teams, but the Bengals were definitely a poor pick. +- 2.25B-

Baltimore Ravens

Do I now believe Joe Flacco is
an Elite NFL QB?  That's a definite no.

It is possible that I should start looking into the positives of the Ravens and Joe Flacco, instead of all the negatives; because by and large, the Ravens and Joe Flacco proved me wrong this year, albeit by luck and randomness.  They beat the Pats with a FG they didn't make.  They effectively beat the SD Chargers by gaining 27 yards on a 4th and 28.  Baltimore also nudged past the Chiefs (9-6) and Steelers (13-10).  However, they did technically win all those games so credit to where it is due.  The Ravens have not only made the playoffs every year that Flacco has been the quarterback, but they've also won at least one playoff game.
The Ravens steamrolled past the Colts, snuck past the Broncos on a Hail-Mary, more or less throttled the Patriots, and then in the SB beat the 49ers at their own game.  A+

Cincinnati Bengals

I was very surprised that the Bengals reached the playoffs.  Unless I'm forgetting someone obvious, then I vote that the Sophomore of the Year award goes to Andy Dalton (Von Miller as runner-up).  If the Bengals were devoid of AJ Green, then they would have effectively no weapons.  I find it very impressive that Dalton could lead the Bengals to double digit wins, although the 10 wins were fairly hollow.  Washington in week 3 and Baltimore in week 17 were the only victories over playoff teams.  And when you have a nasty defense facing RGIII with only 2 games of NFL experience that isn't exactly a fair playoff win.  Plus Baltimore all-but handed the Bengals the win in week 17.  But, still 10 wins is TEN wins.  A

Pittsburgh Steelers

A pair of home 13-10 losses against the Bengals and Ravens doomed the Steelers to third in the division.  Is Polamalu ever going to make it through an entire NFL season healthy?  In general, the defense did their job once again...  But, Roethlisburger and the offense let them down again.  The rushing attack was particularly ineffective.  No player scored more than two rushing touchdowns.  That's an unreal stat for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  D+

Cleveland Browns

The Browns didn't bother showing up for their last three games.  But, those three games aside, Cleveland did an extremely good job of competing this year.  Brandon Weeden disappointed most of the season, I would say he was one of the worst 29 year old rookies of all time (and one of the best too..).  The Browns are a very young team, and they have quite a bit to build on for next season.  C+

AFC South

Another accurate division, but one misstep was that A-Luck had around 4 more 4th quarter comebacks than I thought he would have.  +- 1.75 A-

Houston Texans

Houston more or less dominated seven of their first eight games, but then flipped the script and struggled in seven of their remaining eight games.  Schaub and Foster struggled, and Brian Cushing suffered an early season-ending injury, yet somehow the Texans still won 12 games.  C+

Indianapolis Colts

Since they went 2-14 last season, they didn't exactly have a very tough schedule this year.  They snuck through a good portion of it, and while they didn't have a ton of quality wins (However, GB, Minnesota, and Houston come to mind) Andrew Luck led them to one 4th quarter victory after another.  Seven 4th quarter comebacks on the year, one more than Tebow had last year.  I assume that the Colts have one of the worst point differentials of all time for an 11-5 team.  While they were definitely the accurate choice for AFC breakout team of the year, my prediction for Indy to finish 7-9 (while a bit out there at the time) now seems kind of weak.

Quick question:  What is the name of the Colts starting running back?  Going once, going twice, gone.  While the competition for NFL Rookie of the Year is very strong, the lack of a running offense is why Andrew Luck should be the somewhat easy choice for NFL Rookie of the Year.  His defense was average, his WR core was fair, his OL was fairly poor, but he had one of the weakest rushing attacks in the league.  That combined with his intelligence prompted the Colts to put the full weight of the offense on him.  The depth of his playbook and audibles by comparison make RGIII and Russell Wilson look like 3rd graders.  (Not that I'm ripping Griffin or Wilson, they are both amazing rookies, it's just that their teams are not fully dependent on their performances.  If Luck turns in a bad performance, then his team is sunk.  If Wilson or Griffin have a bad game, then their teams still have a chance.)  B+

Tennessee Titans

Tennessee was a fairly random team.  They sometimes housed other bad opponents and other times fought a tough game and lost, but they continually got hammered by the good to elite NFL teams.  I was a bit disappointed by Locker's play, but he still has plenty of time to improve.  C-

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags were just an overmatched team against about any team except from their own division.  Gabbert continued his horrid play this season and he suffered an 'injury' in week 10 or 11 which allowed Chad Henne to finish the year.  Suffice it to say, Blaine Gabbert is not the solution in Jacksonville.  While reports have a bit negative so far, if the Jaguars management would have some guts and intelligence, then next up should be Timothy Tebow.  F+

AFC WEST
I absolutely owned the AFC West last year, and I didn't really suffer a huge step-back this year. Yet another +- of 1.75.   A

Denver Broncos

I understand that elite QB's should help defenses by keeping them rested, but I was somewhat surprised to see Denver's defense continue to improve even after Tebow's Ground and Pound type offense. This is some of the stuff I said about Denver in my preview: I think that Manning will have lost a bit off his deep ball due to his injury, but Manning should still be able to throw the short routes almost to perfection.  It's kind of a pity that Manning had to bump Tebow out of town, but I think it worked out fairly well for Tebow and the Broncs anyways.  I expect Manning, Demarious Thomas, Jacob Tamme, etc., to struggle with cohesion and chemistry early against a tough schedule, but to gell and go on a nice winning streak late. Other than the point about it working out well for Tebow, I think those statements proved to be entirely accurate.  

If this were ten year ago, then I probably would not have bet on Manning making such a quick recovery.  However, this isn't ten years ago and the medical field has made some fairly astounding advances.  

I would have had Tebow going 11-5 against the Broncos schedule.  Tebow gave the fans exciting victories, blowout losses, and a playoff victory.  Manning gave the fans blowout wins and no playoff victories.  So I've got a question for Broncos management, Was it worth it?  Actually I'm being somewhat sarcastic.  The Broncos picked up the Greatest Regular Season Quarterback of All Time, and likely for the next few years Manning will remain a better quarterback than Tebow.  So of course in their eyes it was worth it.

I have never understood the Tebow-dislikers saying that Manning having such a good offense proves that Tebow is a horrible quarterback.  So you're telling me that the GOAT (in the regular season) is a better QB than Tim Tebow??  Next you'll be telling me that the earth is round.  C'mon.  I agree that Manning and the Broncos have an extremely good offense this year, but just because they have a better offense than last year does NOT correlate that Tebow is a horrible QB.  Tebow took a team that had won 5 of its previous 19 games to the divisional playoffs.  Tebow took a lottery bound team and improved them all the way to winning the division.  Manning improved a division winner by winning the AFC.  Just because one QB tops another does not mean automatic 'horribleness' for the other QB.  Great job by the Denver defense once again this year, a fair amount better than last season even, 4th best defense in the league.  Very decent year for the Broncos, but not a lot happened that wasn't expected. B-

San Diego Chargers

Other than the Cleveland game which they lost 7-6, in hindsight the Chargers basically should have won and lost about every game that they should have won and lost.  The Chargers were only a safety away from a win against Cleveland, and a toss-up game win against either Cincy or Baltimore from making the playoffs.   If Norv -money maker- Turner is such an offensive guru, then why did those things happen?  Whatever.  Another franchise that wouldn't make a change, because it "costs" money.  Even if it would actually help them more financially in the long run, because they would start to win games.  

Phillip Rivers had an average year (though below average for him), he had a lot of turnovers, but he had no running game to support him.  Ryan Matthews and Jackie Battle averaged an amazing 3.8 and 3.3 yards per carry, respectively.  And the best WR Rivers has to work with is..  Malcolm Floyd?  The season turned for the Chargers @home against the Broncos.  SD was up 24 points and they somehow managed to lose 35-24.  It was an absolute debacle in the second half.  D

Oakland Raiders

Carson Palmer threw for a ton of yardage, but that tends to happen when your team falls behind early and often.  Darren McFadden disappointed extremely by only rushing for 3.3 yards a pop and two touchdowns.  They had the fourth worst point differential in the league, but honestly it felt worse.  C-

Kansas City Chiefs

Four words.  Matt Cassell, Romeo Crennel.  It isn't all rocket science people.  You can kind of see these train wrecks coming.  No offense to Mr. Cassell or Coach Crennel, but neither has ever proven to be more than a good back-up plan.  While I definitely did not buy the offseason hype about them being a good team, I'm just sorry that I bought the hype that since the Chiefs have so much talent on the defense it could carry them to an extra win or two.  
I saw absolutely no way that the Chiefs would make the playoffs and, oddly enough, they did not.  And the Chiefs didn't just 'not make the playoffs', they were absolutely putrid on offense.  They didn't even have a regulation lead until week 9, and they took until the 3rd quarter to 'achieve' a first down against the Raiders.  Against Oakland.  Against the Oakland Raiders.  Until the 3rd quarter against the OAKLAND RAIDERS.  That isn't bad, that is horrendous.  The Raiders (if you take out the shutout against KC, and 17 pts allowed to the Panthers), never allowed a team to score LESS than 20 points.  And yet somehow the Chiefs were having problems getting first downs against them, much less scoring points.

The Bengals scored 391 points on the season and are often viewed as a team that doesn't score very many points. (Though I think that view is a little misguided)  On the other hand, the Chiefs scored an absolutely dismal 211 points, which means a blistering average of 13 points scored per game.  C-

I was horrible at picking the playoff teams, only 3 out of 6 were accurate, but other than the Bengals and Jets I feel like I dominated the AFC.  A grand total of one new playoff team for the AFC this year, the Colts replaced the Steelers. So kind of a lack of parody in the AFC in general, but it was still mostly a great year picking the AFC for me.  An impressive overall +- record for the AFC at 1.875.    B+