Owning Up to 2008 NFL Predictions: NFC East only

[Gryphon]

By Andrew Jones
http://www.sports-central.org/sports/2009/01/28/owning_up_to_2008_nfl_predictions.php

It's a pretty standard tradition for sports writers to make bold predictions about anything and everything sports related. I've come to realize, however, that it is not that common of a thing for sports writers to say how their predictions went. I made many predictions at the beginning of this NFL season and here I am about to own up to those predictions, fully accepting where I was absolutely dead wrong. So here we go.

NFC East
My predictions:

Dallas 13-3
New York 11-5
Washington 7-9
Philadelphia 5-11

Reality:

New York 12-4
Philadelphia 9-6-1
Dallas 9-7
Washington 8-8

Overview:

The Dallas Cowboys are probably the most talented team in the NFL, but they are also the team with the least heart and least brains. I honestly believe that if Tony Romo hadn't broken his pinky finger, the Cowboys would be in the playoffs and very little of the bickering and badmouthing would have played out the way it did. Great teams persevere through hard times. The 2008 Dallas Cowboys proved they were not a great team.

The Giants were one of the few teams I felt quite confident with my prediction for. Eli Manning is another person I have been wrong about. Toward the end of the 2007 regular season, I was calling for him to be benched, only to see him excel to a Super Bowl victory and MVP performance. I think the Giants have built themselves a nice program of players with a solid balance talent, heart, and brains. (That is the Giants without Plaxico Burress, not the Giants with Plaxico Burress.)

I was close enough on the Commanders. This team was a bit of a disappointment this season. At every point in the season, each of the NFC East teams looked like they were capable of being an elite team and all but one has shot themselves in the foot at some point. (How interesting that the one team that didn't shoot themselves in the foot had a player shoot himself in the leg?) The Commanders have been the most overlooked team in the NFL who had an absolute meltdown, but theirs was perhaps the worst. 6-2 after the first half of the season, the Commanders managed only to defeat the Pathetic Seahawks by three and the Eagles by seven in the second half of the season. In that time, they lost to good teams, but also to Cincinnati and San Francisco. Now that, my friends, is a meltdown.

The Philadelphia Eagles have been up and down all season long. Is there another team in the NFL that can boast of scoring three points one week and 44 the next? Is there another team in the NFL against the same division rival allowed 41 points, then 6? Donovan McNabb has been erratic and brilliant and stupid and everything in between. I have no idea where this team is going, but any one of their three major meltdowns this season could have rendered them incapable of getting back up, but they outperformed my prediction, proving me obviously wrong.

 

[DallasDomination]

Dallas is the 3rd best team in the NFC east.

 

[cowboyjoe]

No, the dallas cowboys are the 4th best team in the NFL NFC east.

Period, just like jason witten said, the cowboys didnt earn the right to be in the playoffs because there are too many players that want to worry about their stats, their money, their pro bowl honors

Just like i said about the cowboys last year, and i thought the cowboys would go to 12-4 last year, I have thought that for the last 7 years.

No more, till their is some leadership on this team, with accountability, and players are made to hit in practice, work in pads, study film, work hard, then I will no longer put this team on a pedestal

Just like i said last year to some players its time to put up or shut up, well the players are still talking but losing.

that time is gone, till this team has disciplline on this team, and players have to be accountable to the head coach, not jerry jones or the players can go to jerry jones and complain, doent work anymore

the players say they want to be treated like professionals, but they dont act like professionals

when like after the big phily loss, it was stated that a bunch of players were laughing and cutting up on that plane ride back home,

thats the problem, the reality is that the players dont have to answer or have any ideal that the fans are hurting, and the players dont care like the fans.

If this was any other organization or business, with all of the losing, lack of attitude to win and play with heart and fire, then those players wouldnt be here anymore, but when those players can go to jerry jones complain and gripe. And say to themselves, ive got my money and contract and stats, i will be here, but these coaches wont be, so i dont have to worry.

till those issues are settled, i dont see this team doing anything. just like when the head coach of this team gives players days off when they lose a game or that head coach doesnt allow hitting for the first 25 days in training camp, then that shows the attitude of this team and some of the problems

 

[Thick 'N Hearty]

No, the dallas cowboys are the 4th best team in the NFL NFC east.

Period, just like jason witten said, the cowboys didnt earn the right to be in the playoffs because there are too many players that want to worry about their stats, their money, their pro bowl honors

Just like i said about the cowboys last year, and i thought the cowboys would go to 12-4 last year, I have thought that for the last 7 years.

No more, till their is some leadership on this team, with accountability, and players are made to hit in practice, work in pads, study film, work hard, then I will no longer put this team on a pedestal

Just like i said last year to some players its time to put up or shut up, well the players are still talking but losing.

that time is gone, till this team has disciplline on this team, and players have to be accountable to the head coach, not jerry jones or the players can go to jerry jones and complain, doent work anymore

the players say they want to be treated like professionals, but they dont act like professionals

when like after the big phily loss, it was stated that a bunch of players were laughing and cutting up on that plane ride back home,

thats the problem, the reality is that the players dont have to answer or have any ideal that the fans are hurting, and the players dont care like the fans.

If this was any other organization or business, with all of the losing, lack of attitude to win and play with heart and fire, then those players wouldnt be here anymore, but when those players can go to jerry jones complain and gripe. And say to themselves, ive got my money and contract and stats, i will be here, but these coaches wont be, so i dont have to worry.

till those issues are settled, i dont see this team doing anything. just like when the head coach of this team gives players days off when they lose a game or that head coach doesnt allow hitting for the first 25 days in training camp, then that shows the attitude of this team and some of the problems

This isn't a communication on your post, but how you did it. I remember a time I used to get headaches reading your posts. This was good.

Now, on to what you said. I agree with everything you say about work ethic, professionalism and discipline. This team has none of the above. Until they reach that, they won't reach the ultimate prize ... in the NFL I mean.