Writings on the Reg' 4/15

Today is tax day. If you haven't filed your taxes by today you are lazy and pathetic. On to sports.

The Pirates are playing a sea-saw season so far. At 4-5 they seem to win one, loose one. They have a day off for travel back home and have series against Cincinnatti and Milwaukee. They are good at home so they could win 4 of 6.

Fun Facts
1. Pittsburgh is last in the NL in almost every pitching statistic this year
1a. They are last in both the NL and MLB in ERA
2. The Pirates lead the NL in stolen bases (10)
2a. Andrew McCutchen leads the NL in steals (5)
3. Pittsburgh has been outscored by 26 runs so far this year.
4. In their 5 losses this year, Pittsburgh has lost by a combined score of 49-12.
5. Last year, on August 1st, the Pirates beat the Nationals at home, making their home record 28-17 at that point.
6. After that, they went 12-22 at home.
7. Pittsburgh went 22-58 on the road last year.

Current Record: 4-5

# wins needed to get to .500: 77

Garret Jones update:
9 games:
242 avg; 3 HRs; 8 RBI
.375 OBP
.545 SLG
.920 OPS

Major drop off in the numbers. Since hitting his 3rd homerun of the year in his first AB of the 2nd game, Jones has gone 5 for 28 (.178) with 1 double, 6 BB and 2 RBI. (.323 OBP; .353 SLG; .676 OPS) Not the numbers you need coming out of your #3 hitter. He is supposed to be the best hitter on the team.

Amount I am drinking the juice..... 3%

NHL Playoff preview

The NHL playoffs start tomorrow, and for the 3rd consecutive year, the Pittsburgh Penguins have the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference. A few months ago they seemed destined for the 2 seed, but stumbled down the stretch. Will they have enough to make another playoff run to the finals?

I hate to say it but I have to say no. On February 18th last year, they were 27-25-6 and in 10th place in the East before changing coaches to Dan Blysma. The Penguins then proceeded to go 18-3-3 and entered the playoffs as the hottest team in the NHL. They rode that momentum all the way to the Stanley Cup championship. They just don't seem to have that same spark this year.

This year, Marc-Andre Fleury resorted to his old ways of inconsistency. He can play unbelievable 1 night, then terrible the next. Nothing showed this more than the shootout loss to Washington on March 24. Fleury played great for the entire game and the first 2 rounds of the shootout building a 2 goal lead. He then gave up 3 goals on 3 straight shots and the Pens only managed to leave with 1 point.

Last years hero, Art Ross and Con Smythe trophy winner Evgeni Malkin, has been quiet this year as well. He only played in 67 games this year and managed only 77 points. The one bright spot is that he managed 4 points (2G, 2A) on Sunday against the Islanders. It is a shame because Sidney Crosby is having the best scoring year of his career, tallying 51 this year and tying Steven Stamkos for tops in the NHL. He managed to finish with 109 points (51G, 58A) this year, 3 points behind Vancouver's Henrik Sedin for the NHL lead.

The question will now be whether or not Pittsburgh can put it all together and make a strong push towards the cup. They did get a good draw in the first round against Ottawa. The Senators have been up and down all year, but good as of late. Pittsburgh has much better depth, especially up the middle and match up well against them. This is the perfect chance for them to get everything right and get the team on the same page.

The biggest obstacle for Pittsburgh will be potential road series against Washington, New Jersey and Buffalo. Pittsburgh finished the year 0-8-2 against Wash and NJ, and was also 0-3-1 against the top 4 teams in the West. That does not look good heading into the later rounds of the playoffs.

Crosby is known to rise to the occasion in big games, and has been a force this year. The only way Pittsburgh can repeat as Stanley Cup champions is with increased play by their other 2 big stars, Fleury and Malkin. Fleury has been very solid in the playoffs the last 2 years and will need to be at his best this year. Malkin was a ghost in the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs and pulled a disappearing act in the Olympics this past February. He will need to return to his form from last year, where he won the Con Smythe and lead the league in playoff scoring.

Writings on the Reg' 4/8

Welcome back to the Writings on the Reg. A weekly look at all things going on in the world of sports and beyond.

Writing this while watching Pirates-Dodgers on ESPN.com on a 60 second auto refresh I came to a conclusion. I don't know whether I am ready for a good baseball team in Pittsburgh, and I don't think the Pirates are either. Instead of making the decision to build the team with quality young players, they did what they always do. They went out and spent money on mediocre aging players to try to temporarily fill holes in the line-up. They spent $6M on a 36 year old closer (Octavio Dotel) and $5.3M on a 30 year old back-up shortstop (Bobby Crosby). By they way, they are their 2 highest paid players.

The correct way to build a team ,the way the Tampa Bay Rays were able to build an AL Pennant winning team, is with youth and a good farm system. The Pirates have neither.

There is only 1 marquee player in their farm system, 3B Pedro Alvarez. (Expect him to be called up shortly after June 1 if not earlier) Other than that, they do not have a player worth putting hope into the future with. Every year the Pirates make trades to try to get "prospects" and they seem to miss every time. Jeff Karstens was supposed to be a great prospect of a pitcher from the Yankees. In his second start with the Pirates he threw a 1 or 2 hitter. He is now in the minors.

Lets take a look at the other big problem, age. The pirates roster looks like a Dave Matthews Band crowd.

Player ages:
1B - Jeff Clement (26)
2B - Akinori Iwamura (31)
2B - Delwyn Young (27)
SS - Ronny Cedeno (27)
SS - Bobby Crosby (30)
3B - Andy Laroche (26)
OF- Garrett Jones (28)
OF - Lastings Milledge (25)
OF - Andrew McCutchen (23)
OF - Ryan Church (31)
C - Ryan Doumit (29)


Only Milledge and McCutchen are under the age of 26!! If you are building a franchise, you need young talent. Players start coming into their prime at 26, 27, 28. All of these players are peaking or have peaked. The only saving grace is if their starting rotation can pull it together this year and throw all season like they did in the first few months of 2009.

Player ages:
SP - Zach Duke (26)
SP - Paul Maholm (27)
SP - Ross Ohlendorf (27)
SP - Charlie Morton (26)
SP - Daneil McCutchen (27)

Duke, Maholm and Ohlendorf have had time to throw and develop. If they can continue to grow and improve, the Buccos have a shot at 81 wins this year.

Record: 2-1

Remaining wins for .500: 79

One other thing about this season is Garrett Jones. I am not convinced yet. As I pointed out above, he is an aging player. He just spent 6-8 years in the minors for a reason. His power came on as he got called up last year.

Current Stats
3 games:
.273 avg; 3 HRs; 6 RBI
.429 OBP
1.091 SLG
1.519 OPS

Off to a great start, but he went 0-3 today with 2 walks. Pitchers will start to throw around him due to lack of protection in the line-up.

Amount I am drinking the juice...10 %

The Greatest Hockey Game of My Lifetime

I was born in July of 1983. Therefore, I was not born yet when the "Miracle on Ice" occured on February 22, 1980. With that in mind, view my judgement as a collection of games for the last 26.5 years.

It is with out a doubt in my mind, yesterday's Gold Medal Olympic hockey game is the greatest hockey game ever. There was everything you could have wanted in the game. Drama; action; suspense; rivaly; big hits; big shots; big saves; an underdog; a home favorite; a late game tying goal; overtime. There really is not much else that could have been asked for from that game.

You could feel the intensity even in pregame. This game meant more to Canada, than any game has ever meant to that country. Chills run up and down the spine as you watch the insanity of cheers pour out of the Canadian home crowd. They NEEDED this game.

The collection of talent was a good as any NHL all-star game you will ever see. Each team suited 23 players, and all of them were NHL stars. Canada had 9 current NHL captains, and 2 former captains. The difference with this game over all-star games, is usually they are only playing as an exhibition. No one defends, no one cares who wins, and the final score ends up somewhere around 13-11. This was a complete 180 from that.

Canada started out strong. Making big pushes into the zone with strong forechecking and agressive defense at mid-ice. With a 1-0 lead after the first intermission, they continued to outplay the Americans. Once Canada made it 2-0 you could almost feel the earth shake with how crazy the crowd was going... this was only the beginning.

USA drew a penalty and had a perfect chance to get on the board and make this a 1 point game. Canada dominated them and the puck lasted in the zone for only seconds at a time before it was cleared back down behind American goalie Ryan Miller. Once the penatly ends USA looks drained. Canada took advantage and made a push, but Ryan Miller made a great save. USA rode the momentum and finally got past goalie Roberto Luongo. USA dominated play for the remaining 7 minutes of the period, but trainled 2-1 after 2.

As the 3rd peroid wore on you could feel the air being sucked out of the room as the Canadian fans began to worry. Canada's Sindey Crosby had a chance to ice the game on a breakaway with under 4 minutes to go. However, he was unable to be able get a good shot off and could not convert. Everyone knew Team America had the momentum and enough talent to score the goal to tie the game, it was just a question of whether or not there would be enough time. Sure enough, USA pulled Ryan Miller in favor of the extra attacker and Zach Parise scored with only 24 seconds left.

At this point, we already had the best 2 teams in the world, playing into overtime with a goal in the last 30 seconds to tie the game. The puck traveled up and down the ice with great plays and great saves to keep the game alive. 7:40 into the overtime Crosby takes a pass of the boards from teamate Jarome Iginla and quickly shoots it under the legs of Ryan Miller to end the game. Canada wins gold!

There was significant pressure on Canada to win gold in the Olympic Hockey Tournament hosted in their home country. After Canada lost to USA on the previous weekend, it cost them a first round bye. Canada had to beat Russia, Solvakia and USA to take the gold and did it. It ended with the best player in the world, beating the best goalie in the world, in the biggest hockey game in the world on the biggest stage in the world... in overtime. That gives us the greatest hockey game of my lifetime.

Super Bowl Preview

First off, I would like to point out (because I am a prick) how close I was on the Championship Weekend predictions.
Jets @ Colts
Mine: 27-10 Colts
Actual: 30-17 Colts

Vikings @ Saints
Mine: 31-27 Saints
Actual: 31-28 Saints

Ok. I just had to get that out of my system. Lets take an advanced look at what should be an awesome Super Bowl.

6:25 EST
New Orleans Saints: 15-3 vs. Indianapolis Colts: 16-2 (-5)
Outlook: It doesn't take Tom Jackson to figure out that this will be a high scoring game. Both teams are elite at QB and have tons of weapons to get the ball to.
Biggest question mark: How much blitzing will Greg Williams do?
Drew Brees is good against be blitz but Manning is better. Brees also can be rattled by a good defense end (see Ware, DeMarcus). The Saints don't have an elite 4 man rush so they will need to bring 5-6 players consistently. Manning eats up the blitz better than any QB in the NFL though (see Jets, New York)
Key Matchup #1: Jonathan Stinchcomb vs Robert Mathis
With Freeney's looming ankle injury, it will be up to Robert Mathis to aplly pressure on Brees and squeeze the pocket. No one in the NFL is better at stepping up in the pocket and making throws than Brees. Also, New Orleans will attempt to run underneath the speed rushing Mathis, and Stinchcomb will need to push him around.
Key Matchup #2: Peyton Manning vs. Darren Sharper
2 of the best at their position in the NFL in a non-stop chess match that will last all game. Sharper is known for his ability to read quarterbacks and ball hawk as good as anyone. Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning. However, keep in mind that Manning threw 16 INTs the season and was intercepted twice by Ed Reed in the Divisional Round win over Baltimore (only 1 couted, the other was called back by a penalty). If Manning can keep Sharper guessing wrong and get behind him, goodnight.
Possible deciding factor #1: Special Teams
Pop quiz: Who is the kick and punt returner for Indianapolis?? Now how about New Orleans???
Yeah. New Orleans definitely has the advantage here. Despite his short comings as an every down back, Reggie Bush is explosive when you give him space (i.e. punt return). In week 16, Brad Smith of the jets took a kick return 106 yards and set an NFL record. If New Orleans can swing field position in their favor, or take one back, they will have a lot better chance of winning.
Possible deciding factor #2: The Final Countdown
There were no teams better in the last 2 minutes of each half of putting points on the board then Indy and N.O., nor were there 2 better QBs than Manning and Brees. This game has the "team to score last wins" tag written all over it.
Prediction: Saints 34-30; I just have this feeling that the Saints will ride the energy of this game early and jump out to a 24-10 lead at the half. Manning is the best at adjusting in the NFL. Down 30-27 with a hair over 2 minutes left, Brees will rally and score a TD to win 34-30 and give the city of New Orleans a well deserved Super Bowl.
MVP: Brees 27-38 362 yrds 3 TDs

Last Week:
line 1-1
picks 2-0

Playoffs:
line 1-5
picks 4-2

Tebow to provide greatest Super Bowl Halftime ever

MIAMI, FL -
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell seemed to not have done his research before he made his decision on the Super Bowl Halftime Show this year. If you have not heard, The Who will be preforming at Halftime of Super Bowl XLIV this Sunday. Goodell thought this choice would manage to follow the theme that the NFL has followed since the infamous Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" of Super Bowl XXXVIII of "safe" and "conservative". What Goodell didn't realize is that Pete Townshend of The Who was on the "Watchdog" list for the UK for 5 years from 2003-2008, due to child pornography being found on his computer. Townshend claimed it was in research of a book he was doing. Now, a local child advocacy group is passing out fliers among 1,500 homes near Dolphin Stadium to warn the local people of an arrested pedophile being there. In light of the situation, Roger Goodell has decided to change his plans for the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

The new plan is to highlight someone that has not received enough media attention, Tim Tebow. Tebow spent all of last week at the Senior Bowl practices, showing of his skills for NFL scouts. Despite already being claimed as a saint in the state of Florida, some critics feel he does not have all the necessary skills to play as a pro QB. One team scout said, "Tim reads defenses slower than a 2-year would read The Wallstreet Journal... cover to cover."

In order to shed some positive light on Tebow, the NFL thought it could show his other attributes in order to increase his likeliness of being drafter early. Tebow had planned to have a anti-abortion commercial shown during the Super Bowl, but several liberal groups are STRONGLY urging CBS not to show it. Since the commercial might not air, the NFL jumped into action. Goodell said, "He (Tebow) is a fan favorite and the media orgasms every time they talk about him. We need to keep him relevant as long as possible. His college skills have little to no transfer ability into the NFL, so we hope to fool a bad GM into drafting him in the 1st or 2nd round. That way we will be able to get plenty of media attention going his way."

Goodell claims that the goal of the halftime show is to "Show off all of the other skills Tebow has that have nothing to do with being an NFL QB". It is scheduled to include an interpretive dance to show off Tim's intangibles, him reading a children's book to kids to show his ability to read a defense, a live circumcision of a Haitian refugee to show good hands, and then Tebow will instruct a group of boy scouts on how to tie knots to show is amazing leadership skills.

In an exclusive interview with an enthusiastic Tebow, he stated, "Yeah this should be great. I hope after I finish this presentation, scouts will be able to look past my awful footwork, atrocious mechanics and delivery, and my terrible accuracy. I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this. You will never see a person in the country work as hard as I will on this. You will never see someone push those kids to tie knots during this competition as hard as I will. God bless."

Anti-Farve fan found higher than kite: Tebow news ended it.

OIL CITY, PA -
Jason Rogers, 26, of Oil City was found dead Tuesday in his home at 10:46am EST. Police were call to his house after a 911 call was made by friend Greg Watson, stating that Rogers stopped talking mid-conversation. Watson states that it sounded as if Rogers stopped breathing for about a minute, then the phone hit the floor and Watson heard Rogers give out a loud sigh. Watson proceeded to call several times to ensure Rogers was ok.


Further police investigation revealed the following:

Watson received a text message from his friend Jason Rogers at 2:24pm EST on Sunday saying "I hope that ---hole Favre end his 3rd straight season with a pick and ruins it for his team, again." Watson shook it off saying "Jason was a renowned Farve-hater even since his first fake retirement after the end of the 2008 NFC Championship game.

"(Rogers) used to go on and on about how much he hated all the media exposure that Farve would get. We used watch SportsCenter religiously every day to soak up as much football info as we could. But once all the Farve loving went down, he hasn't been the same" says Watson. "He reached the point where he would either leave the room, or go on a 5 minute rant every time he saw anything involving Favre."

editors note:

Brett Favre is the Quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. Favre has gone back and forth about returning to play in the NFL for the past 2 years. He had left he previous 2 teams, the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets, on bad terms. Farve has received a significant amount of media exposed since he initially began speaking of retiring 24 months ago. He threw an interception to end the season each of the previous 2 seasons, ending things for his team as well. Sunday night in the NFC Championship game, Farve threw an interception that eliminated his team, the Minnesota Vikings, from being able to attempt a game winning field goal. The Vikings never touched the ball again, and lost to the New Orleans Saints 31-28 in overtime.

"Upon seeing the result of the game, it appears he(Rogers) went into a state of euphoria" states Dr. Gomez of St. Joseph's Presbyterian Hospital "He was so pleased with the result, that his mind could not comprehend whatever had taken place." After Rogers did not show up for work Monday, Watson was given a phone call from a fellow employee of Roger's. Watson again tried to reach Rogers but was unsuccessful.

"Tuesday Morning around 10:30, I tried calling him(Rogers) one additional time. He finally answered" said Watson. "He said he had been on such a 'high' from the result of yet another Farve disaster, he could not function. He said 'I was so happy that ********er got what he had coming, and the media can go **** themselves.'"

I asked Watson to continue, but he was unable to hold back tears and asked to be excused. Investigating Officer Gates, who took Watson's statement, said "Rogers continued with 'The only thing in the world that could make me happier, is if Tim Tebow is failing at Senior Week and NFL scouts are loosing faith'. Tebow is struggling with footwork, mechanics and accuracy. Watson then proceeded to update Rogers on the situation. This lead to Rogers going into a state of ecstasy that he could not recover. He had a stroke, brain aneurysm and went into cardiac arrest simultaneously. He died instantly."

NFL Championship Weekend

A surprising development came about last weekend when the Chargers fell apart and lost at home to the Jets. We now look at a rematch from week 16 in Indianapolis, and the game people have wanted to see since week 3 in New Orleans.

3:00pm EST
New York Jets: 11-7 @ Indianapolis Colts: 15-2 (-7.5)
Outlook: I am guessing when Curtis Painter was growing up in Vincennes, IN and wanted to be a famous NFL quarterback, this is not what he had in mind. The Colts failure at perfection was dumped on his shoulders, when they replaced their starters while leading 15-10 in the 3rd quarter against the Jets in week 16. Indy went on to loose 29-16 and opened the door for New York to make the playoffs. This is being media-titled "Painter Bowl II".
Biggest Question Mark: How much of a factor will Darrell Revis be in shutting down Reggie Wayne? If he does, will the Jets be able to cover Dallas Clark and the other weapons at Mannings disposal?
Key Matchup: New York Jets running game vs. Indianapolis front 7
The Jets showed how dangerous their running game can be the last 2 weeks in playoffs victories. The Colts have a very fast and very solid defense run by their front 7.
Prediction: Indianapolis 27-10. Midnight is striking on this Cinderella story. Indy will shut them down just like they did to Baltimore last week.

6:40pm EST
Minnesota Vikings 13-4 @ New Orleans Saints: 14-3 (-3.5)
Outlook: The trend in the NFC playoffs this year has been teams putting up Tecmo Bowl type points. Expect more of the same from this game. 2 of the NFL's top scoring teams in a dome. This could make for a great game.
Biggest Question Mark: Will the Viking pass rush be able to get to Brees?
Games where the Vikings front 4 has had issues getting to the QB has allowed opponents to be able to complete passes easily. No one is better at creating formations and miss matches then Sean Payton. Look for him to move the pocket to give Brees time to make plays.
Key Matchup: Jabari Greer vs. Sidney Rice
Rice has been the best receiver for Minnesota all year. Greer was having an All-Pro year before needing hernia surgery half way through the season. He returned last week and shut down the league best receiver, Larry Fitzgerald. If he can keep Rice in check and make a big play or 2, Favre will have big issues.
Prediction: Saints 31-27. Brees will need to have a very good day, and he will be up to the challenge at home.

Last Week:

Spread: 0-4
Picks: 2-2

NFL Divisonal Round

I know I missed the Divisional Playoff (the lines were pretty bad) but let’s take a look at what this weekend holds for us.
Lines as of Friday morning

Saturday 4:30 EST
Arizona Cardinals: 11-6 @ New Orleans Saints: 13-3 (-7)
Outlook: This game has all the makings of a shootout, but there really is no way it can live up to the hype. The Saints defense is well rested after taking the last month off.
Biggest Questions Mark: Health. The Saints had issues with injuries which helped lead to their losses at the end of the season. The Cards fought off injuries last week to defeat the Packers, but they will need Anquan Boldin to pull off a win this week.
Key Matchup: Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell vs. Cards rush defense.
Arizona was 17th in rush defense, and people forget that New Orleans was one of the top rushing teams this season until injuries. Sean Payton will look to a now rested Thomas and Bell to keep Warner and Fitzgerald off the field.
Prediction: Saints 31-27 With the Saints running out the clock on a tired Cards defense.

Saturday 8:15 EST
Baltimore Ravens: 10-7 @ Indianapolis Colts: 14-2 (-6)
Outlook: Will the Colts be rusty after not playing a meaning full game for a month? Will Peyton Manning be able to exploit the holes in the Baltimore secondary? Will Joe Flacco’s leaking hip allow him to post a QB rating over 10.0?
Biggest Question Mark: The Colts have lost in their first game all 3 times in the Manning era when resting their players and getting a first round bye (including last year). Will that trend continue?
Key Matchup: Baltimore front-7 blitz vs. Indianapolis O-line
The Ravens constant pressure of Tom Brady last week is what lead to the 3 INTs and strip-sack in their rout of the Pats. Indy has a great offensive line, and no one gets touched less than Manning.
Prediction: Colts win 20-17 with yet another Manning game winning drive.

Sunday 1:00 EST
Dallas Cowboys:12-5 @ Minnesota Vikings 12-4 (-3)
Outlook: Romo grew up in Wisconsin idolizing Brett Favre. Now he has to chance to knock him out of the playoffs and possibly into a permanent retirement. Adrian Peterson hasn’t had a 100-yrd game in weeks, and this would be a great time to get one.
Biggest Question Mark: Who is going to dominate the crowd? In their loss to the Eagles in this exact situation last year, nearly 1/3 of the crowd was Eagles fans. Dallas has an even bigger fan base.
Key Matchup: Dallas pass rush vs. Minnesota O-line
With Spence, Ratliff and Ware, Dallas is able to only rush 4 or 5 and get after the QB. McNabb was on the run the entire time the last 2 weeks. Farve is much less mobile but does have a quick release.
Prediction: Dallas 27-17 The pass rush is too much to handle, and Tony Romo grows up in from of our very eyes.

Sunday 4:40pm EST
New York Jets: 10-7 @ San Diego Chargers: 13-3 (-7)
Outlook: At kickoff, it will have been 2 days shy of 3 months since San Diego last lost a game. They lost to Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Denver. All 3 teams either made the playoffs, or were in the hunt until the final Sunday. If you eliminate last week and the 2 games that Indy and Cincy phoned in to end the season, the last time the Jets won a game against a good team was week 2 vs. New England. Sanchez is due for a bad game.
Biggest Question Mark: Revis will be able to cover Vincent Jackson, even though Jackson has a 6” height advantage. The question is what NY is going to do about Antonio Gates and Malcolm Floyd?
Key Matchup: Shone Green and Thomas Jones vs. San Diego rush defense
We all know Rivers and the Chargers can march up and down the field without issues. If the Jets can run the ball, control the tempo of the game, and keep the offense off the field, they might be able to win this game.
Prediction: Chargers 31-13 Sanchez returns to form and turns it over 3 times. Rivers captializes

NFL season wrap-up

A look back at what my playoff and regular season picks were for the season.
I didn't do too bad. (3/6 on NFC teams 4/6 on AFC) (15 Pro Bowl starters. Several others I picked are alternates)

Here were my picks from mid-season review.

Let's recap all the things I was dumb enough to open my mouth about.

Team most likely to have a major drop off from last year:
My picks: Dolphins, Cardinals, Panthers, Broncos
Result: pretty good
Dolphins, Panthers and Broncos finished better than I though at 8-8 but missed the playoffs. Cardinals are the same team as last year and will need another miracle run to make the Super Bowl again this year.

Player most likely to have a down year:
My Picks: Jay Cutler - QB Bears; Anquan Boldin - WR Cardinals
Result: Cutler- Jackpot; Boldin - ok
Cutler lead the NFL in INTs and if it were not for a great last 2 games of the year, had a good chance to have the most INTs in the last 34 years in the NFL. Boldin still got to 84 catches and over 1,000 yards but finished with only 4 TDs

Player most likely to have a return to All Pro:
My picks: Larry Johnson - RB Chiefs; Joseph Addai - RB Colts
Results: Major strike out
Can I take a mulligan on this one? Johnson has been a disaster but somehow weaseled into the playoffs. Addai has scored a lot of TDs, but the Colts continue to struggle to run the ball.

Team most likely to shock the NFL:
My picks: San Francisco 49ers; New Orleans Saints
Result: Jackpot
Saints flirted with perfection till a late season collapse, but still finished as the NFC's #1 seed at 13-3. 49ers had an up and down year, but did finish 8-8.

Break-out Player of the Year:
My picks: Leon Washington - RB Jets; Jonathan Vilma - LB Saints
Result: Not quite there
Washington was hurt for most of the season. Vilma made the Pro Bowl as a back up.

Now my bold predictions from Mid-Season.

1) Neither the Saints or Colts will finish 16-0.
Result: Winner
Not that crazy of a pick. NFL is just too hard to do this, and they were both going to rest their starters.

2) Chris Johnson will break the rushing record this year (2,105 yards)
Result: Almost
He did break the yards from scrimmage record and ended up with 2,006 rushing yards. I expected him to have at least 2 more of those 200+ yard games in his final 8, but never did.

3) The New York Giants will finish 8-8
Result: Winner
Despite starting 5-0, they completely collapsed on Eli's injured heel. Who knew their defense would be that bad?

4) The Houston Texans will make the playoffs
Result: Missed it by a hair
Had the Colts and Bengals not phoned in their games to the Jets in the last 2 weeks, Houston would have been in. The Texans should have won 1 more game and gotten in regardless, but at least they finished with their first winning season ever (9-7).

5) 7 teams will finish 4-12 or worse
Result: Close
Oakland and Cleveland both managed to beat the Steelers and got to 5 wins. As for the rest of the teams... ouch.