Call it insomnia or whatever, but I couldn't sleep last night and began flipping through some of this year's NFL Preview magazines. With the Super Bowl nearly upon us I wanted to see how their predictions fared and I was a little shocked to come across The Sporting News and their predictions. Going into the season not many people gave the Giants a shot but they did. Here's how they predicted:
AFC East
1. Patriots
2. Jets
3. Dolphins
4. Bills
AFC North
1. Ravens
2. Steelers
3. Bengals
4. Browns
AFC South
1. Colts
2. Texans
3. Titans
4. Jaguars
AFC West
1. Chargers
2. Raiders
3. Chiefs
4. Broncos
NFC East
1. Eagles
2. Giants
3. Cowboys
4. Redskins
NFC North
1. Packers
2. Lions
3. Bears
4. Vikings
NFC South
1. Falcons
2. Buccaneers
3. Saints
4. Panthers
NFC West
1. 49ers
2. Rams
3. Seahawks
4. Cardinals
Not terrible. a few ones wrong, a few very nicely picked. Here is how their playoff match-ups unfolded:
Wild Card Games:
Steelers over Chargers, Jets over Colts, Giants over 49ers (eerie they picked that these two teams would play each other, though two rounds early), Falcons over Buccaneers.
Divisional Games:
Patriots over Jets, Ravens over Steelers, Giants over Eagles, Packers over Falcons.
Championship Games:
Patriots over Ravens (nicely done) and Packers over Giants
Super Bowl:
Packers over Patriots.
Well, we know now that the Packers won't repeat because the Giants beat them in the divisional round. I was a little shocked that they were the only magazine to pick the Giants for the playoffs, and to go deep into them as well. They nailed two matchups for the Giants on the head, just in the wrong round. I have to give a lot of credit to The Sporting News staff for picking the Giants and 49ers to make the playoffs when most had them written off.
Paul Schwartz had this to say:
"There are enough quality athletes and players at marquee positions for the Giants to contend once again for the playoffs. If they clean up the turnover sloppiness, their offense should have little problem moving up and down the field and finding the end zone. The defense can get to the passer up front but must find a linebacker to make plays.
The Giants have stability at quarterback, which is always a plus, but Manning's offensive line--for so long a strength-- is banged up and in need of repair. Better overall depth is also needed, as the Giants have shown an alarming tendency to wear down late in the season, leading to swoons that are often costly."
I have to give a lot of credit to Schwartz here. He was pretty accurate in his assessment. The Giants made the playoffs because of their playmakers. They cleaned up the turnovers and moved the ball through the air like no other Giants offense in team history. The Giants got to the passer quite a bit and they struggled when their linebackers failed to make plays. Then, once the linebackers started to grasp the defensive playbook, the Giants began to win. These kids, and I will call them kids since they started 3 rookie linebackers at one point this season, took time to learn and once they did they showed a lot of promise.
They weren't perfect but I was surprised to see that any magazine picked the Giants for a bit of postseason glory. I was also surprised to see them pick the 49ers. Nice to see they had some confidence in that team.
What was also surprising to me was their forgetting the Saints in the playoff picture. They went with the cool team from last year in the Buccaneers who fell on their face but who can blame them. The Bucs, like the Giants, missed the playoffs after going 10-6 last year in a tough division. Little did they know what was in store for them this year. Their pick of the Colts gets a pass because that was based purely on Peyton Manning playing. Without him, we saw what happened. The Colts now have the first pick in the draft and Peyton may or may not be leaving Indianapolis. Either way, Andrew Luck will be a Colt unless they pull off some crazy deal. Anyway, in a year barely anyone picked the Giants to make the playoffs, The Sporting News gets a ton of credit in my book because they came very close to getting the Super Bowl matchup right, and that was before free agency, and even before we knew there would be a season.
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