2018 Regular Season Recap: Where I was Right, and Where I was Wrong

Welcome to the sixth installment of Where I was Right, and Where I was Wrong. I am proud to announce that 2018 was my best year of predictions yet, which included getting 67% of my picks against Vegas correct. Every year I work tirelessly to hone my craft, and finally that hard work has paid off. After 6 years of making NFL Predictions, it looks like I am finally getting the hang of this.

As I always do, I have placed my predictions next to the actual results from the NFL season. I enjoy doing this because it allows for complete transparency. Most professional NFL analysts have the luxury of an audience with short memories, which allows them to make predictions without actually being held accountable for what they said. Most will hyper focus on a couple of predictions that they got correct, rather than doing a proper statistical analysis of how they actually performed. I, on the other hand, am happy to provide my readers with full transparency. If you would like to see the full analysis of my predictions, you can follow this link: Analysis of 2018 NFL Predictions

If you don’t like spreadsheets or additional clicking, you can view the summarized version of how I did below (playoff teams are in bold):

Quick Stats:

In 2018, I had my best year with regards to Average Differential Between Predicted and Actual (1.9), Correct Predictions (7), Predictions Within 1 Game (17), Brosh vs. Vegas (67% Correct), and... LOOK AT THAT NFC EAST! The 2018 NFC East was my best predicted division of all time. I nailed every prediction in that division, except for two minor details. I missed the Giants by a single game (6-10 vs. 5-11), and I predicted that 9-7 would not be good enough to get the Eagles into the playoffs (which would have been correct if the Vikings hadn’t face-planted against the Bears in Week 17). Interestingly enough, the NFC East was my worst predicted division from last season, when I missed it by a total of 15 games. While this reversal may seem surprising to some, it was not to me. After my disastrous performance in the NFC East last season, I reallocated a larger portion of my research team’s time to studying the finer details of this division, and it clearly paid off with a near flawless prediction. As always, I’d like to give a shout-out to my Analytics department. They had to work many late nights to get me all the critical data points that I needed back in September when these predictions were first released. I couldn’t have done it without you guys!

Also, as an added bit of data, I have included my Average Differential progression over the last 6 years in the table below. As you can see, it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride:

Anyways… now that we have the BORING statistics out of the way, let’s get to the nitty gritty, and find out what really happened in each division. How did we end up where we are now?

AFC West

As I generally do, I did a solid job of predicting the AFC West. I was right to assume that the Chiefs and Chargers would battle for the Divisional Championship, and I was right to assume that the Broncos and Raiders would be rebuilding projects. Unfortunately, I was not bullish enough on the Chargers or the Chiefs, who each finished with an impressive Conference-leading 12 wins. The Chiefs had the good fortune of securing the tie-breaker, which was key to earning a first round Bye and the top seed in the playoffs. The top seed was well deserved, as Kansas City sported one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history. As opposed to previous years, when the Chiefs have started out hot before going on a cold streak, this team remained at the top of their game for nearly all 17 weeks of the season. This success was thanks in large part to the arm strength, arm accuracy, and versatility of Patrick Mahomes. This season, Mahomes’ big arm opened up the field in ways Alex Smith was simply not able to, which allowed him to maximize the abilities of his speedy receivers (see Tyreek Hill). Additionally, his running ability gave defenses fits, as pass rushers had to work twice as hard to corral the mobile quarterback. This team will be tough to beat in the playoffs, and Mahomes is one of the major reasons why.

Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the NFL playoff seeding process is heavily influenced by division winners. So, even though they finished tied for the best record in the AFC, they will be forced to battle through the playoffs on the road, as the 5 seed. The Chargers quietly had a dominant year, as the pieces finally seemed to be coming together around the veteran quarterback, Rivers. Gordon and Ekeler were great all year. Allen is one of the best receivers in the league. And both Williamses served as excellent compliments to Allen at wide receiver. Most notably, the Charger defense is finally rounding into form, as Joey Bosa has developed into one of the premier defensive players in the league. Sadly, the success of the Chargers has gone mostly unnoticed, largely due to the fact that they are unable to fill out their tiny soccer stadium, which seats a mere 27,000. And even when the stadium fills up, it is mostly by visiting fans. My Dad went to the Chargers vs. Ravens game in Week 16 (before you judge, please know that these tickets were free through my sister’s work). As a neutral observer, he figured he’d root for the Chargers, as rooting for the home team is usually more fun (and he had placed a bet on them). So, he cheered along with the rest of the crowd, as the team in the Home White uniforms dominated the first quarter. It wasn’t until the second quarter that he realized that those Home White jerseys were actually the Away White jerseys of the Ravens. It was then that my Dad realized that the traveling Baltimore fans, a team that plays their home games approximately 3,000 miles away, largely outnumbered the Los Angeles fans. He had been cheering for the wrong team. If there is any positive to take away from all of this, it is that home field advantage is meaningless to the Chargers, since it does not exist. So, maybe having to play on the road in the playoffs will not be such a bad thing for Los Angeles.

In Denver, the Broncos had another disappointing year, as they still look for an answer on offense. The defense was still a very strong unit all season, but due to a lackluster offense, this team simply was not able to make an impact in a strong AFC West division. It would be easy to place a lot of the blame on Keenum, but I think that would be unfair. If you look at Keenum’s career numbers, this season was quite typical of his abilities, and last year now appears to have been a successful anomaly. However, if there are any positives to take away from Denver this year, it is that they have a strong core of young receivers, starting with Hamilton and Sutton. Additionally, they have a couple of dynamic running backs, led by breakout rookie star, Phillip Lindsay. So, there is reason to be optimistic about the future of professional football in Colorado.

And as for the Raiders… I could write a novel explaining what’s wrong with this franchise and why they inexplicably continue to fail in a league built around parity. However, I’ll just focus on my main grievance, which will forever be trading away Khalil Mack at an unbelievable bargain. Mack, in the prime of his career, is the perfect player to build a defense around. He is a player that needs the attention of nearly the entire offensive line. Every player on a defense benefits when one man requires so much attention by the opposing team. Even though the Raiders have chosen to go into full rebuild mode, Mack would have been perfect as the centerpiece of a rising defense, one that gets players excited to play for an up-and-coming team. So, trading him away for slightly more than 1 first round pick was a shockingly idiotic decision. And before you tell me that the Raiders got two first round picks, please remember that the Bear’s 2020 first round pick was swapped for the Raider’s 2020 second round pick. And based on the trajectory of these two teams, that swap might end up resulting in a move up the draft board of just a few measly spots. With all that being said, in my opinion, Mack was worth a minimum of 3 first round picks. Mack is a generational player that is probably only even available once every few drafts. So, getting slightly more than one pick for him was about as dumb a move as Gruden could have made to start his tenure as Head Coach/Pseudo-GM for the Raiders.

AFC North

The AFC North was another division that I predicted fairly well, except for flipping the Ravens and Steelers. While Baltimore had a solid season, which was somewhat expected, the way they got there was not as expected. Similar to a decision his brother made a few years ago, John Harbaugh decided to permanently replace Joe Flacco with Lamar Jackson, after Flacco went down with a short-term industry. Jackson’s dual-threat abilities (which Harbaugh clearly liked after using Jackson in numerous gadget plays earlier in the season), paired with the run-first mentality of the Ravens, made a perfect match. The change at quarterback revitalized Baltimore’s season, as they impressively won 6 of their final 7 games. While the Ravens only managed to win 10 games, making them appear to be one of the weaker Division winners, Baltimore has been one of the hottest teams in the league over the past couple months. Watch out for this team in the playoffs, as they are a serious threat to make a playoff run.

For Pittsburgh, this will be a season to forget, as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012. While a 9-win season is certainly not a death sentence, this was a year mired by unhappy star players. Bell sacrificed a full season to make a statement that he felt underpaid, and Brown did not play in a Week 17 game that had potential playoff implications because he was rumored to be unhappy with the state of the Steelers. Hopefully, for Steelers fans, this is just a bump in the road, and not the start of a more serious downturn for the franchise.

For the first time since 2010, the Browns did not finish in last place in the AFC North, and I predicted it! While Cleveland fans will feel that this team was close to even more success this season, I’m sure most fans of the Browns will be quite pleased with the upward trajectory of the team, as they came within half a game of avoiding an 11th consecutive losing season. So, with the Browns finally finishing in third, the Bengals were the unfortunate team to “dethrone” Cleveland from their perennial last place position. Coincidentally - well, maybe not coincidentally since Cincinnati has also been bad for quite some time - the Bengals were the last team other than the Browns to finish last in the AFC North. 

For the Bengals, a litany of injuries doomed what was at first a promising start to the season. After winning four of their first five games, the Bengals were in prime position to challenge for the AFC North title. However, their schedule got significantly more difficult over the second half of the season, as they went on to lose four of their next five games. Then, things went from bad to worse as AJ Green suffered what was virtually a season-ending injury in Week 8 and Dalton suffered a season-ending injury of his own in Week 11. After that Cincinnati lost every one of their games, except for their win against the hopeless Raiders in Week 15.

AFC South

After a brief hiatus from the top of the division, Houston recaptured the AFC South crown, their third in four years. Led by a healthy Deshaun Watson, the Texans returned to top form. The defense is still one of the best units in the league, and Deandre Hopkins might be the best receiver in the league. All that being said, Houston is lucky to have made it this far, as things were looking dicey early on. After an 0-3 start, the Texans were able to pull off back-to-back overtime victories, which kick-started a 9 game-winning streak and an eventual 11-2 finish to the season. However, other than the two overtime victories back in Weeks 4 and 5, the Texans have not beaten a single playoff team all season. While winning any division (except the AFC East) is always tough, the great run of success must be looked at with a bit of skepticism, as the Texans still have plenty to prove in the playoffs. 

In a nearly identical season script, the Colts also got off to a horrendously slow start this year. After starting 1-5, it seemed like Andrew Luck’s healthy return was all hype, until Indianapolis picked up their play, and finished the season 9-1. With Houston and Indianapolis finishing both of their seasons so strongly, it is only fitting that they should meet in the first round of the playoffs.

With both the Texans and Colts getting off to such slow starts, it seemed like Tennessee finally had a prime opportunity to retake the AFC South, something they hadn’t done since 2008. You could argue that a healthy Mariota would have been able to do enough to get the Titans to the playoffs; however, Tennessee actually finished 2-1 in games that Mariota missed. Of course, the one loss came in Week 17, when the Titans faced the Colts in a playoff-deciding game. Gabbert made the start for the injured Mariota, and the Colts cruised to victory.

There was one outlier of the division, and that was Jacksonville, who was simply horrendous this year. Last season, the incredible Jaguar defense was able to elevate this team to the playoffs (and one missed call from the Super Bowl). This season, the offense remained pedestrian, and the defense seemed to get worse, even though they suffered few significant losses in the off-season. The only question for Jacksonville now is whether 2017 or 2018 was the anomaly. Anyways, to use a fun fact as a segue into our next division… three of the Jaguar’s five wins came against what I consider to be the worst division in the league this year, the horrendous AFC East.

AFC East

Yes, the AFC East was predictably horrible again, with the exception of one Boston-area based team. However, not even the Patriots could keep this division from finishing with the worst record in the league this year, as the AFC East were an abysmal 16-24 (.400) outside of the division. The fact that it took until Week 16 for the Patriots to clinch the Divisional Crown was perhaps one of the most shocking parts of the season. The whole division, even the Patriots, were bad this year. While many teams would be happy to finish the season 11-5, New England simply did not play well, relative to their high standards. All five of New England’s losses came against teams that failed to make the playoffs, and two of them (Jaguars and Lions) finished last in their division! Outside of the hopeless AFC East, the Patriots were just 6-4. However, even considering all of that, there is plenty of reason for optimism in New England. Even in a down year, the Patriots were able to grab a first round playoff Bye, and New England has wins against three of the best teams in the NFL this year, the Texans, Chiefs, and Bears. So, this Brady-led squad is once again primed for a playoff run. However, they are in no way the favorites to grab another Lombardi Trophy.

Down in Miami, the Dolphins at least made things interesting three weeks into the season, after starting 3-0. With a game against New England in Week 4, Miami had the potential to turn the division on its head. However, as expected, the Dolphins were thoroughly thrashed by the Patriots, losing 38-7, setting the stage for the rest of their mediocre season. The one bright spot for the Dolphins was their epic game-winning 69-yard touchdown against the Patriots in Week 14. However, other than that, this season was another forgettable one during the seemingly endless Brady-Belichick era.

Finally, the Bills and Jets played out similarly disappointing seasons. A year removed from making a shock appearance in the playoffs, Buffalo traded away their starting quarterback and turned over the reins to rookie quarterback Josh Allen. And while the start to his career was a bit rocky, you must respect the fact that he ended up going 5-6 as a starter this season. Allen showed impressive dual-threat ability throughout his rookie year, showing that he may indeed have what it takes to succeed in this league. The Bills are certainly not world-beaters, but they do seem to be finally putting the pieces in place to make future playoff runs. While Buffalo struggled for large portions of this season, it should be noted that they finished second in Total Defense in the NFL. 

As for the Jets, their season was similar to the Bills’, though markedly worse. Darnold showed some decent ability, but the team as a whole is still a long way off from succeeding in the near future. New York’s Defense ranked 29th in Scoring and 25th in Total Defense. If this team is going to succeed with Darnold running the offense, they will need a lot more help on both sides of the ball.

NFC West

This certainly wasn’t my best division with regards to predictions, but I still feel like I had a decent sense of it. I predicted that the Rams would win the division, which seems obvious in retrospect. However, in my defense, it was not so well known just how much of a juggernaut Los Angeles would be before the season began. I figured that if they were at least half-decent they would be able to beat out the rather mediocre teams below them, and I was right. Even though this season should be considered a great success for this young Rams team, they will be disappointed to have only grabbed the 2 seed, as they failed to hold off the Saints for the top spot in the NFC. 

Just below them, the Seahawks were a bit better than expected, amassing 10 wins. It was a fairly typical season for Seattle, who finished 6-2 at Home and 4-4 Away. As usual, home field advantage is very valuable to the team with one of the loudest home stadiums in the league, so finishing as the 5th seed must be a bit disappointing. While the end result of the season was familiar, the way they got there was not. The defense was only a middle-tier group this year, and the passing game was nearly non-existent. This season was all about running the ball for the Seahawks, who ranked first in the league in rushing at an absurd 160 yards per game, 46 more than the league average of 114. In a league that’s becoming more and more of a passing league every year, the fact that Seattle ran the ball so much is a fascinating anomaly, as they were the only team in the league to run the ball on over 50% of plays this year. However, maybe this isn’t such an anomaly. Of the 12 playoff teams, 8 of them finished in the top 10 in the league in rushing play percentage. Of course, this may just be a self-fulfilling prophecy, since winning teams often run the ball more while they are ahead. So, more analysis would be needed to determine whether or not there is something to this. Either way, Seattle (and maybe Baltimore as well) appear to be pioneering the return of the run game to the NFL.

For a season that originally held so much promise, San Francisco must be very disappointed with this 4-12 campaign. Of course, things most likely would have been very different had McKinnon and Garoppolo not torn their ACLs. Unfortunately, these unpredictable things happen in the NFL. McKinnon took an awkward step during the last walk-through of the preseason, and Garoppolo stumbled out of bounds awkwardly on a seemingly innocuous play. Fortunately, there is hope for this team. Mullens and Beathard showed themselves to be adequate backup quarterbacks (time to sell high?), and the younger pieces on offense and defense showed promise that they could potentially lead a real contender in the near future. However, for now, it appears that the 49ers are still stuck in the lull of the post-Harbaugh era, finishing with their fourth consecutive losing season since his departure.

Somehow worse than the 49ers, the Cardinals found ways to lose in all kinds of ways this year (though they somehow swept the season series against the 49ers). At -200 in net scoring, no team was worse than Arizona this year. Of course, none of this is surprising. The Cardinals were expected to be horrible (I generously predicted that they would win 4 games). If I were a fan of Arizona, my main disappointment would be how quickly Josh Rosen was thrust into his starting role. Bradford’s leash was way too short, as they only gave him 2.5 games before they decided to toss Rosen to the wolves. I have said it many times, but I guess I must repeat myself again. I am a firm believer in NOT starting rookie quarterbacks in the NFL. The NFL game is very fast, so when these rookie quarterbacks are forced to try to win in impossible situations, they begin to develop bad habits, such as choosing check-down targets instead of waiting for a play to develop. While Kansas City’s Mahomes is the obvious perfect example of my theory working, I must admit that few players start their careers in situations as good as his, so maybe it’s not fair to use him as a comparison to how Josh Rosen’s NFL career began. Either way, I’m sure Rosen will be better in the future, but forcing him to lead the worst offense in the NFL (they finished last in Scoring and Total Offense) for 13 games must have been exhausting.

NFC North

Well, I guess I underestimated how far a team could go without a decent quarterback (you think I would have learned from last season, when the Conference Championship games featured Bortles, Keenum, Foles, and Brady at quarterback). The Bears were able to make their offense work around Trubisky, thanks in large parts to one of the best defenses in the league, on their way to a convincingly easy NFC North crown (their first since 2010!). Chicago ranked first in the NFL in Scoring Defense and third in Total Defense. While I am still not sold on Trubisky, he did do a solid job of utilizing multiple offensive weapons (Robinson, Burton, Gabriel, Cohen, & Howard) en route to leading the ninth best Scoring Offense in the league. That being said, Chicago only ranked 21st in Total Offense, which is probably due to the fact that the Defense set up the Offense with great field position often, making Trubisky’s job that much easier.

Thanks to down years from both the Vikings and Packers, the Bears Divisional Crown was much easier to obtain than expected, as they won the division by a comfortable 4.5 games. After an off-season that saw Minnesota return most of their starters, along with a fancy new quarterback, all signs pointed to another deep playoff run. Unfortunately, Cousins has not yet played up to the contract that he was given. Ultimately, the Vikings played exactly like a mediocre team, making their 8-7-1 record very justifiable. Minnesota was 1-6 against playoff teams, and 7-1-1 against non-playoff teams. Their only win against a playoff team was a 2 point victory against the Eagles, who finished with the worst record of any playoff team, 0.5 games ahead of the Vikings. 

For the Packers, this was possibly their most tumultuous year since Aaron Rodgers took over for Brett Favre in 2008. For the second straight season, Green Bay finished with a losing record, failing to make the playoffs. While 2017 can be easily explained by Rodgers’ broken collarbone, 2018 has no such justification, as Rodgers started all 16 games this season. This off-season will be an odd one for the Packers, as it will be the first without McCarthy since the 2006 season. Many of the pieces are still in place for Green Bay, so I don’t expect a full rebuild, but it is always hard to tell how a change in leadership can affect a franchise.

The horrible season for the Packers was almost enough to lift the Lions out of the NFC North basement, but alas, it simply wasn’t meant to be. During Matt Patricia’s first year in charge, Detroit regressed, furthering the theory that Belichick’s Coordinators are just replaceable cogs in a system. While it’s not fair to judge a coach on his first season in charge, it appears as though Patricia has a lot of room for improvement if he ever hopes to win a playoff game for Detroit, something that has not happened since 1991, 6.5 months before I was born.

NFC South

The NFC South always seems to be one of the toughest divisions to predict. The Saints have been consistent contenders for a couple of years now, but the rest of the division seems to be all over the place (except for the woeful Bucs). After losing last year on the insane “Minneapolis Miracle,” the Saints made no qualms about their intention of returning to the playoffs to finish what they started last season. Not only did they make the playoffs and win the NFC South, but they finished as the top seed in the NFL this season, outlasting the Rams for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The two-headed monster of Kamara and Ingram led a devastatingly lethal backfield. Michael Thomas only continues to get better. And Drew Brees, at 39 years old, just completed one of the best seasons of his NFL career. With the defense rounding into form as well, the Saints appear to be the early favorites to win Super Bowl LIII.

In the tier of mediocrity below the Saints, the Falcons and Panthers were simply not able to seriously contend in the NFC South this season. For Atlanta, maybe it’s finally time to admit that this version of the Falcons may never return to its glory of a 2016 season that saw them nearly win Super Bowl 50. While the offense saw some improvement during Sarkisian’s second year as Offensive Coordinator (though this didn’t stop the Atlanta front office from firing him), the defense was simply too horrific to overcome. Whether Shanahan was an offensive genius, or the rise and fall of the Atlanta offense (and Matt Ryan) just happened to coincide with his departure, this team simply does not resemble the team that once came within minutes of a Super Bowl title. 

Carolina was a team that certainly let me down with regards to my predictions. At first, it seemed as though they were headed for a great season, as they started 6-2. However, that’s when things took a turn for the worst. Newton popped up on the injury report for the first time in Week 9 with a seemingly innocuous right shoulder injury. He continued to play, apparently unimpeded. However, this is when the Panthers’ slide began. Carolina would go onto lose seven consecutive games, before defeating New Orleans in a meaningless Week 17 contest, one that Newton did not even start. In retrospect, Newton’s shoulder was not in the proper condition to allow him to play quarterback. He had no power in his throws, and he was being forced to awkwardly torque his entire body in order to get any zip on his passes. His injury was horribly mismanaged, which should call into question the competence of both the coaching and training staff. On a positive note, McCaffrey looks like an absolute beast, and Newton has a bevy of young receiver talent growing around him in Moore, Funchess, Samuel, and Thomas. If Newton can get healthy, watch out for this team in 2019.

And finally, we arrive at the Buccaneers. Before the season started, I predicted that this would be the last year of the Winston saga. Then, when Fitzpatrick started the season on an unstoppable (and unsustainable) three week tear, throwing for 1,230 yards and 11 touchdowns, I thought Winston’s end was confirmed. However, the Tampa Bay coaching staff chose to bring back Winston after Fitzpatrick played poorly for one half of a game against the best defense in the league (Chicago Bears). So, it seemed as though the coaching staff was always planning on eventually going back to Winston, which I guess makes sense since he is the younger option that has franchise quarterback potential. That being said, after watching Winston play for four seasons, I am simply not convinced that he has the ability to become a successful starting quarterback. Either way, it seems that the Bucs are hell-bent on keeping Winston around. The only question is how long is management willing to wait for him to develop into a player worthy of a first overall pick.

NFC East

BOOM! I nailed the NFC East this season, coming within 1 game of predicting the record of all four teams perfectly (damn you Giants!). Let’s take a deeper look at why I am so damn smart.

The Cowboys led the way in this division, but I would say luck was a major factor. After starting the season 3-5, the Cowboys seemed like they had little chance of making the playoffs (especially with the Redskins starting 6-3). However, an injury to Alex Smith (more on that later), along with a slew of close victories, allowed the Cowboys to sneakily capture the NFC East title. While Dallas is able to proudly proclaim that they were able to win seven of their last eight games (impressive!), it should be noted that every win was by a single score, and their loss was a 23-0 embarrassment against the Colts. So, they haven’t exactly dominated the second half of the season like it may seem. Still, Elliot, Prescott, and Cooper lead a team on offense that is capable of scoring points in a hurry. Meanwhile, the defense has been more than sufficient, allowing the sixth fewest points in the league this season. While Dallas is certainly not the best team in the playoff field, they should be able to compete with any team in the league.

Somehow, the defending Champs were able to sneak back into the playoffs. Wentz’s return to football in Week 3 did not go nearly as well as hoped, as he was nowhere near the form of his near-MVP season from 2017. Whether the torn ACL was still bothering him, or if he simply could not find the confidence/ability from last year, Wentz was simply not himself. So, enter the hero of our story, Nick Foles. With the season appearing to be dead in the water, Foles replaced Wentz after a back injury became too much for the Philadelphia starter. And what did Foles do? Oh, he just won three straight games, leading the Eagles to an unlikely playoff berth. The Foles-led three game winning streak included impressive victories against the Rams and Texans. So, maybe Foles is not just some flash in the pan. With Foles behind Center, the Eagles have gone 4-1 this year, compared to Wentz’s 5-6. With Wentz sidelined due to injury, the Eagles can focus on Foles and the playoffs. However, when Wentz recovers, whether it be for this year’s playoff run or next year’s regular season, is there going to be a quarterback controversy? Only time will tell.

I’ll be the first to admit that I got pretty lucky with my Washington prediction. I greatly underestimated the value of Alex Smith, as he was able to lead the Redskins to a 6-3 start. At that point, it seemed like my 7-9 prediction was going to be way off, as the Redskins appeared on their way to an NFC East title. However, that’s when things completely fell apart. A gruesome Week 11 injury to Smith's leg forced Washington to turn the team over to Colt McCoy, who, to put it nicely, was atrocious. Washington finished an abysmal 1-6, which maybe says more about Colt McCoy’s lack of ability than Alex Smith’s great value. What first seemed like an incredibly promising season, has turned into a horror story. Complications during Smith’s leg surgery have left some to question whether or not Smith will ever play again, let alone next season. And, based on what McCoy showed during seven Weeks of NFL action, a decent quarterback replacement for Smith is not currently on the roster.

And last but not least, we arrive at the New York Giants. The Giants are in an interesting state of flux at the moment. After starting the season at 1-7, it finally seemed assured that New York would mercifully move on from the Eli Manning era. However, thanks to a decent 4-5 finish to the season, during a stretch where Eli actually performed competently, that decision no longer seems so obvious. While this appears to be an obvious choice to me, the sentiment of not kicking your two-time Super Bowl MVP to the curb seems like a somewhat legitimate factor when considering what to do going forward with Manning. For what it’s worth, I have never considered Eli worth all this trouble. As one of the most mistake-prone quarterbacks in NFL history, the only impressive statistical numbers that Manning has are his longevity, and not his quality of play. If it were up to me, I would have cut him years ago. Anyways, if we can ignore Manning for one damn second, this team is actually pretty good. Barkley and Beckham may be the two best position players in the game, and they would serve as great pieces if New York were to move on to their next franchise quarterback. So, there is certainly reason for optimism for the future, especially since the NFC East seems like one of the weaker divisions in the league at the moment.  

So, there you have it. For 20 teams, the season is over. For 8 teams, their biggest game of the season is this weekend. And for 4 teams, a first round playoff bye brings both crucial rest and lingering anxiety, as each team must wait to find out who their next opponent will be.

With the beginning of the Wild Card Round of the playoffs just over 24 hours away, the final story of the NFL season is still yet to be written. I’ll have my predictions for the first round of the playoffs ready before the games start on Saturday (hopefully), so stay tuned!