NFL Football Contest!
Summer’s winding down, and Labor Day’s just around the corner, which means that it’s just about time for football.
I was thinking this year we might have a contest to see whose professional gridiron predictive abilities got game. The winner, of course, get’s the ultimate prize: bragging rights for an entire insufferable off-season.
Here are the rules:
You must list, before September 1, give your predictions for the following:
- The NFC Champion : (5 points, bonus 10 points if it is a team that has not made the playoffs in the past 3 seasons)
- The AFC Champion : (5 points, bonus 10 points if it is a team that has not made the playoffs in the past 3 seasons)
- The Super Bowl Winner : (10 points, bonus 10 points if it is a team that has not made the playoffs in the past 3 seasons)
- The QB with Most Total Yard : (5 points)
- The NFL Team with the Most Turnovers : (10 points)
- First Coach Fired: (10 points)
- The First Benched QB* : (10 points)
- The first NFL Player arrested for any offense, including DUI: (15 points)
That makes for a total of 100 possible points, including bonus points.
In the event of a tie, a winner will be chosen by their answer to this last question:
The one word or phrase that will best describe the 2012-13 NFL season will be ______.
Tie-breakers will be based on a subjective combination of accuracy, originality, and entertainment value – as judged by me. Because of this, I will not be eligible to play, for which you should consider yourselves lucky: I haven’t made a correct football pick of any kind in over a decade, so I am really due.
Your predictions can be made either here in this post, or in an email to: rtodkelly@mac.com. At the start of the seasons, I will post all predictions that were emailed.
Also, feel free to use this thread as an excuse to make wildly optimistic claims about your team’s chances and trash talk your team’s rivals.
UPDATE: I should note that in the case of “First benched QB” the correct answer will be the QB that starts on the first game of the regular season, but is replaced as a starter in some subsequent week due to poor performance. I thought I should be clear, so someone benched for the last quarter, or to get test on a potential injury, etc. are not erroneously thought to be the winner… er, loser of this part of the contest.
I’m going to do this without referencing anything. Here goes…
1. San Francisco 49ers
2. Pittsburg Steelers
3. San Francisco 49ers
4. Aaron Rogers
5. Tampa Bay (incumbent, I think)
6. Mike Shanahan. They won’t call it that, though… does that count?
7. Whoever starts the season for the Jets
8. Jerry Hughes
The one word or phrase that will best describe the 2012-13 NFL season will be “takeaway defense”.Report
Re: #6 – yes, that will totally count.
I will be assuming that any coach leaving “on mutual agreement,” “for family reasons,” “to seek out new opportunities,” etc., got his ass fired.Report
Well, he’s his own boss, so there’s that wrinkle.Report
Hmmm… I’m gonna go with, if he promotes himself/gets himself promoted, then no. But if he just replaces himself, then yes.Report
I suck at these, so here goes:
1. NY Giants
2. Pittsburg Steelers
3. Pittsburg Steelers
4. Aaron Rogers
5. Arizona Cardinals
6. Norv Turner
7. Kevin Kolb
8. As a Dallas-ite, I’d usually pick someone from the Cowboys for this distinction: Dez Bryant
Bonus: The one word or phrase that will best describe the 2012-13 NFL season will be “poor officiating”.Report
good pics, allReport
1. Green Bay.
2. Patriots
3. Patriots
4. Aaron Rogers
5. Raiders
6. Dennis Allen
7. Mark Sanchez
8. Pacman Jones (Do I get partial credit if it’s a different Bengal?)Report
Good choice with Pacman, dude.Report
I’m just hoping he can stay out of trouble until the season starts.Report
Oh, and Bonus: CTE.Report
You can never go wrong with picking a Bengal…Report
… unless you’re the Cincinnati front office on draft day.Report
Green Bay wins the NFC?
GREEN BAY?
TurncoatReport
I’m going with my head (*), not my heart.
* Which says:”Alex Smith? Throwing to Randy Moss? Really?”Report
Hey, man, he did everything he needed to do to win that playoff game. Twice. The special teams (which normally does not screw up) messed it up.
Maybe it’s a fluke, sure. But Tinkerbell dies if you don’t believe.Report
A better pick than, say, Minnesota or Seattle, you must admit.Report
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Houston Texans
3. Green Bay Packers (come on, who did you think I would pick?)
4. Tom Brady
5. Seattle Seahawks
6. Leslie Frazier
7. Ryan Tannehill
8. Brian Orakpo*
The phrase that will define this NFL season will be “special teams.”
* Preseason going on right now and ESPN’s jurisprudence desk is already on 24/7 alert. But I’m assuming that we’ll count arrests in the regular season.Report
“But I’m assuming that we’ll count arrests in the regular season.”
Correct.Report
We could also set up a fantasy league. Just sayin’.Report
So, if want to… ahem… run with that ball, go right ahead.Report
Maybe later this week I’ll set it up. For now, this is a fun game too.Report
I’d do an elimination pool. Those are both very fun, and extremely challenging.Report
I set up a more-or-less regular league. (Drafting discovery responses is boring!)
There’s an auto-draft function for those who don’t feel fluent enough in NFLomics to set up their own draft list.
You can find it here, Yahoo Fantasy Football league no. 627721, and the password to join is “tombradysbabygoat“. Head-to-head competition; 8 top teams make the playoffs in the last 3 weeks of the season.
We’ll do the draft on September 2.Report
Okay, fine. I signed up.
This is my first Fantasy Football League.Report
1. Green Bay
2. New England (HA! Take that jinx, Mr. Bundchen!)
3. New England (And you too, Belichick!)
4. Aaron Rodgers
5. Dallas Romos
6. Ken Whisenhunt
7. If he starts the season, Matt Moore will be first out, but if Ryan Tannehill wins the starting job in Miami before the season, then Kevin Kolb. If neither starts the season, then whoever wins the starting job in Seattle.
8.Marshawn Lynch
Tiebreaker: “Lawsuits.”Report
Ryan Tannehill was named the starter in Miami just this morning, Mark. So your pick for #7 is Kolb?Report
Argh! So it would seem.Report
Question about clarification:
So if Manning gets injured in the first game of the season and replaced by not-Tebow for the rest of the season, that doesn’t count?Report
No. We’re looking for benchings of shame, here.Report
Does not-Tebow = Anti-Christ?Report
No. There are many of us who are not Tebow. Almost all of us, actually.
But there’s only one Peyton Manning.Report
Wins the thread.Report
I was referring to the actual construction of the word.
Not = Anti
Tebow = Christ
Not-Tebow = Anti-ChristReport
Okay, got mine.
1. Giants
2. Patriots
3. Patriots
4. The Green Bay guy. Rogers.
5. I was torn here. Half of me wanted to say “Cutler” and the other half wanted to say “Osweiler after Manning gets injured and removed from the first game.” So let’s go with Cutler because Manning might not get injured, while Cutler will, in fact, throw that many interceptions (friggin’ crybaby).
6. Turner. (Finally.)
7. I want to say “Kansas City” (hey Fish! Wassup!) but their backup QB is even worse. So let’s go with Jacksonville (shoulda grabbed Tebow!)
8. Let’s go with “Oakland”. It’ll be one of those multiple arrest things where a running back, wide receiver, and someone from special teams are all arrested at the same time.Report
Oh, Turner’s a better pick for coach. I’m sticking with the first impulse, though, because if I switch I’ll hate myself.Report
By the way, the man’s name is spelled “Rodgers.” With a “d”. He wears #12, and a Super Bowl ring.Report
And he went to Cal, so I should know better.Report
You should be glad I didn’t call him “The Farve guy.”Report
Who are you talking about? That guy played for the Jets a couple years ago? He was okay. Unless you were a cute sideline commentator.Report
1. San Francisco
2. Pittsburgh
3. Pittsburgh
4. Payton Manning
5. Seattle
6. Seattle’s coach
7. Seattle’s QB
8. Ultra-suckyReport
$5 sez San Francisco beats Pittsburg in the Superbowl if they both get there. Straight up.Report
I have to be honest and say I have no idea how to respond to that, Patrick. I had to consult with a friend to participate and have no confidence in my ability to answer these questions correctly. I will defend my answers to the end though because it seems like something a sports fan would do even if they know they are wrong. Go Steelers!Report
> I will defend my answers to the end though
> because it seems like something a sports
> fan would do even if they know they are wrong.
And you started off by saying you had no idea how to respond to that. This was perfect!Report
My answers got messed up. 8 should be Payton Manning and Ultra-sucky is the answer to the bonus question. I’ve been assured that wild guesses are equally awesome as completely plausible answers.Report
Late to the party but here we go:
1. San Fransisco 49ers (I was going to vote Philly for the long shot at 10 points but they made the playoffs in 2010, natch)
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. Tom Brady
5. Arizona Cardinals
6. Rex Ryan
7. Kevin Kolb
8. Cedric BensonReport
NFC Champion: Chicago Bears
AFC Champion: Kansas City Chiefs. Ha ha! No, really: Baltimore Ravens
Super Bowl Winner: Baltimore Ravens
QB w/ most total yards: Aaron Rodgers
Team w/ most turnovers: Minnesota Vikings
First Coach Fired: Rex Ryan
First Benched QB: Mark Sanchez
First player arrested: DeAngelo Hall
One word or phrase to describe the season: Bad officiatingReport
I think we have a “winner” for category #8: Michael Turner. No one picked him, as far as I can tell.Report