Every year after surviving months between the NFL draft and the first NFL game, websites everywhere make their preseason predictions. Some people enjoy picking teams that have no business being there, for shock value, ie the Jaguars. They back it up with stats, offseason acquisitions, coaches, and draft picks. I like to review some of these predictions the week of down time before the Super Bowl.
Researching these preseason predictions, my biggest takeaway is that 75% were pretty spot on this year. Everyone seemed to miss the same things. The biggest misses were the Panthers and Cardinals taking a nose dive this year. Most had those teams competing for a Super Bowl. Many had the Colts followed by the Texans in the AFC South. The biggest omission was the Falcons and Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan wasn’t on anyone’s MVP list and the Falcons were pegged to be awful this year.
Plenty predicted the Cowboys good fortune and were accurate about the Raiders playoff birth. Read on to see those who picked the Jets to make the playoffs.
5 out of 7 CBS predictors predicted the Falcons to take last in the NFC South.
Only 1 of 7 predicted the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
All 7 of them had the Panthers as NFC South division winners
5 of the 7 had the Broncos as third in the AFC West.
1 had the Jets in the Playoffs.
ESPN
Max Kellerman and Stephen A. Smith did not Pick Falcons for playoffs
Stephen A. Smith picked the New York Jets to make the playoffs.
0/43 Predicted Matt Ryan to win MVP
3 out of 43 picked Tom Brady for the MVP
0/43 picked Falcons as NFC Champ
17/43 picked the Patriots to play in the Super Bowl
6/43 picked Patriots as Super Bowl Champion
FS1
Colin Cowherd
Had Texans last in AFC south
*Guaranteed Andrew Luck will be an MVP Candidate
Had Falcons last in NFC South
Had Jets in playoffs
Predicted demise of Bengals
*Link
Skip Bayless
*Watch out for the Bears
*Did Pick Cowboys to win NFC East, 10-6 conservative
**Picked Chargers to win AFC West