Revisiting NFL Picks

One of the greatest parts of analyzing sports is checking to see how close your predictions were at the end of the season.  There are surprises in the NFL every year, and this year is no different. There is still lots to happen, but let’s see how my predictions fared.

 AFC East                                                                   

My Predictions                                                            Actual Results

 

New England Patriots 13 wins 3 losses                      New England 12 wins   4 losses

New York Jets            8 wins 8 losses         Miami              7 wins  9 losses                       

Buffallo Bills             5 wins 11 losses                      Jets                  6 wins  10 losses

Miami Dolphins          3 wins 13 losses                      Buffalo            6 wins  10 losses

 

AFC North                                                                 

 

Baltimore Ravens        12 wins 4 losses                      Baltimore        10 wins 6 losses

Pittsburgh Steelers      11 wins 5 losses                      Cincinnati        10 wins 6 losses

Cincinatti Bengals       6 wins 10 losses                      Pittsburgh        8 wins   8 losses

Cleveland Browns      3 wins 13 losses                      Cleveland        5 wins   11 losses

 

AFC South                                                                 

 

Houston Texans          12 wins 4 losses                      Houston          12 wins 4 losses

Indianapolis Colts       7 wins 9 losses                        Indianapolis    10 wins 6 losses

Tennessee Titans         6 wins 10 losses               Tennessee        6 wins  10 losses        

Jacksonville Jaguars    4 wins 12 losses                      Jaguars             2 wins  14 losses

 

AFC West                                                                  

 

Denver Broncos          10 wins 6 losses                      Denver           13 wins 3 losses

San Diego Chargers    9 wins 7 losses                        San Diego       7 wins   9 losses

Kansas City Chiefs     9 wins 7 losses                        Oakland          4 wins  12 losses

Oakland Raiders         7 wins 9 losses                        Chiefs              2 wins   14 losses

 

NFC East

 

Philadelphia Eagles     12 wins 4 losses                      Redskins         10 wins 6 losses

New York Giants        11 wins 5 losses                      Giants              9 wins   7 losses

Dallas Cowboys          8 wins 8 losses                        Dallas              8 wins   8 losses

Washington Redskins   6 wins 10 losses                      Eagles              4 wins   12 losses

 

NFC North

 

Green Bay Packers      12 wins 4 losses                      Packers            11 wins 5 losses

Chicago Bears             12 wins 4 losses                      Vikings            10 wins 6 losses

Detroit Lions               10 wins 6 losses                      Bears               10 wins 6 losses

Minnesota Vikings      4 wins 12 losses                      Lions               4 wins   12 losses

 

NFC South

 

New Orleans Saints    12 wins 4 losses                  Falcons            13 wins 3 losses         

Atlanta Falcons           10 wins 6 losses                      Panthers          7 wins 9 losses

Carolina Panthers        4 wins 12 losses                      Saints              7 wins 9 losses

Tampa Bay Bucaneers 4 wins 12 losses                      Tampa Bay      7 wins  9 losses

 

NFC West

 

San Francisco 49ers    10 wins 6 losses               49ers                11 wins 4 losses 1 tie

Seattle Seahawks        6 wins 10 losses                    Seattle             11 wins 5 losses

St Louis Rams             5 wins 11 losses                    Rams               7 wins 8 losses 1 tie

Arizona Cardinals       5 wins 11 losses                     Arizona           5 wins 11 losses

 

It was a rough year for my predictions. I correctly predicted the seeding for all 4 teams in only 2 divisions: the AFC South and NFC West.

 

I correctly predicted 6 of the 8 division winners, with Atlanta and Washington being my incorrect division winner picks.

 

I correctly predicted the exact records of 4 of the 32 teams: Houston, Tennessee, Dallas, and Arizona.

 

Let’s look at the playoff positioning.

My predictions                                                                                                                                  Actual

AFC Playoff Picture

1.            New England                                                                                                     1.            Denver

2.            Baltimore                                                                                                            2.            New England

3.            Houston                                                                                                               3.            Houston

4.            Denver                                                                                                                 4.            Baltimore

5.            Pittsburgh                                                                                                           5.            Indianapolis

6.            San Diego                                                                                                            6.            Cincinnati

I predicted 4 of the 6 playoff teams in the AFC, with Houston being seeded right where I predicted them in the number 3 spot.

 

NFC Playoff Picture

1.            Green Bay                                                                                                           1.            Atlanta

2.            New Orleans                                                                                                      2.            San Francisco

3.            Philadelphia                                                                                                       3.            Green Bay

4.            San Francisco                                                                                                     4.            Washington

5.            Chicago                                                                                                               5.            Seattle

6.            Atlanta                                                                                                                 6.            Minnesota

I predicted 3 of the 6 playoff teams in the NFC, with none predicted in their exact seeding.

I don’t think I can call this year a success with my predictions. When the team you predicted to win the Super Bowl finishes last in their division (Philadelphia), it’s a bad year. As a fun fact, I predicted Michael Vick would lead the Eagles on a last minute game winning drive to win the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens. That happened in week 2 when Vick did so against the Ravens. Things fell apart for the Eagles after that.

It will still be interesting to see how the NFL playoffs turnout. My predictions for this year don’t have much validity anymore other than Baltimore perhaps losing in the Super Bowl with Ray Lewis motivating them on his last ride. My preseason MVP pick of Tom Brady won’t be correct either, as it appears to be a race between Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson (rightfully so).

You can see my preseason picks here on my blog with this link if you want to see them outlined in detail with playoff score predictions: http://winningallthings.blogspot.ca/2012/09/nfl-season-predictions.html

 

Perhaps I will have better luck next year, but making these predictions is a joy.

Feel free to comment. Who do you think will win the Super Bowl and MVP?

Five Tips to Success- Part 3

Today is the conclusion of my series looking at some basic techniques to assure you have a more successful life. Today focuses on your lifestyle and self-control.

Tip 4- Lifestyle

Your lifestyle will be very important in you attaining and sustaining success. If you have an undisciplined lifestyle of partying or something to that extent, your chances to succeed fall. Your lifestyle needs to help and not hinder your path to your goals.

You need to make wise choices. Make sure you do what you can to eat healthy and be well rested, as they will help you stay focused so that you will be ready to face all of life's challenges that come your way.

Tip 5- Self-Control

Self-control is another key to success that will really help mold every area of your life together to make success a great possibility for you. Having self-control is the ability to control yourself from lashing out in anger when a situation doesn't go your way. It is the ability to make sure your lifestyle is one that will not compromise what you are working towards.

If you can control yourself to make the best decision in every situation, it will be imperative in you being able to reach and sustain success.

There really is a lot to success, but you have the ability to make some simple choices that will make your desire of success that much more attainable. They might seem too simple to actually be valid in helping you get results, but if you will take these five principles and make them important to you, you are going to see more success in your life.

I hope that these tips have been helpful to you, and that you will institute them into your life. Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment.

Five Tips to Success- Part 2

Today I will continue my series on some basic techniques that will lead you towards success. Today's post will focus on how a positive attitude and confidence are important for your success.

Tip 2- Positive Attitude

A positive attitude cannot be underrated in your desire to have success. Having a positive attitude and positive perspective in life will make every situation and circumstance you face that much easier to succeed in.

Nobody controls your attitude except for you, and that works in your favor, because even though you can't control your circumstances and what happens in your life, you can control what you think and how you perceive a situation you are confronted with.

Tip 3- Confidence

Confidence is another import area in your journey to success. Without confidence, no matter what your aspirations are, your chances of reaching your goals are minimal. You have to have the confidence that you are good enough to reach your goal and be a success.

There is a difference between confidence and arrogance however. Your confident attitude needs to be in control and to a point where you believe you can do what you need to do, but not in a way where it puts your character and values into question.

I will conclude this series later this week by looking at how self-control and your lifestyle are essential to your success in life.

Five Tips to Success- Part 1

There is a lot that goes on in every individual's life, but one thing that is constant between most people is a dream life where they are successful. These dream jobs and lifestyles change from person to person, but in each person's mind, they are striving to succeed at something they desire.

There are some basic and practical tips that can be used by a person attempting to attain their goal that are very helpful. Following and applying these tips in your life can help make your dream a reality.

Tip 1- Determination

An essential quality you need to have for you to have success in your life is to have a strong work ethic where you are determined to work as hard as you can every moment of everyday. Without a string work ethic, you won't have enough willpower to keep striving for your goals when your circumstances aren't ideal.

Determination is your personal commitment to attaining the goal you have set in your mind to attain. Without it, you won't be able to accomplish your dream. Your ability to continue to work hard through adversity will make you stronger and better prepared for all of the hurdles in front of you on your way to achieving excellence.

 

Tomorrow I will take a look at the importance of confidence and a positive attitude.

Creating Your Writer Workspace

If you are serious about writing as a career, or if you just need to write a paper for your school assignment, you will need to create a workspace that you are comfortable in.

 

There are different strategies to creating a workspace that will promise your greatest results, and today I have some tips some award winning novelist Randy Ingermanson about how to create a place where you can write.

 

Here is Randy with his helpful advice.

 

If you want to write fiction, you need to have a place to write. It doesn't have to be a very big place, but it works best if it's dedicated to writing.
 

The problem is that when you first start writing, there is no place in your home marked, "For Writing Only." If you're going to get that place to write, you need to carve it out from the space you have.
 

Most likely, that space is already taken by something "important," so you are going to need to be ruthless. There is probably a lot more space in your home than you realize. But how do you reclaim it?
 

The fundamental problem we want to solve, therefore, is this: How do you control your space?

 

Controlling your space comes down to one thing: You can safely get rid of anything that isn't either useful or beautiful. There really isn't any reason to keep anything else.
 

Having too much stuff wastes your time, your energy, and your money. It wastes your time because you can't find the stuff you really need. It wastes your energy because you have to work around all the stuff you don't need. It wastes your money if you have to rent extra storage space or if you have to leave your valuable vehicles out in the weather or if you have to buy something you need because you can't find the one that's lost in all the clutter.
 

Somewhere on the way to a totally clean house, you'll suddenly discover that there's a place for your writing. It's a place that you had all along. It's a place that was crowded before with useless and ugly stuff. It's a place you can use just for writing.

 

Claim it. Seize it. Use it.

 

When you own that place, you will have a little corner of writer's heaven.

 

 

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, "the
Snowflake Guy," publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing
E-zine, with more than 13,500 readers, every month. If
you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction,
AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND
have FUN doing it, visit
http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

Download your free Special Report on Tiger Marketing
and get a free 5-Day Course in How To Publish a Novel.

 
That's some great advice from a great guy. Hopefully this has helped you identify what you need to do in order to create a space where you can work on your book, your paper, or whatever you are working on.

 

Creating an Exercise Plan- Part 3

Today will be my final day looking at how to create an exercise plan. I'll evaluate the unconventional method of simply doing it all yourself.

Do it Yourself

Perhaps the cheapest way of all to make a work out plan is research all sorts of sources online such as exercise, equipment, strategies, techniques, and all sorts of things. Doing it yourself means that you are using whatever is at your disposal around you to workout. As an example, instead of lifting weights, you lift buckets of water. This would take time to gain knowledge to create a plan that is effective to give you great results from using whatever you can find around the house. It might be the most unconventional way, but it is the cheapest, and as long as you are committed, you should so fine.

It is evident that there are pros and cons for working out from home, at the gym, getting a personal trainer, and doing it yourself. It really comes down to what your personal values are. If you like competition, you need a gym. If you are individualistic, you need to work out at home. There is a lot to evaluate, but choose a strategy and work your hardest at it. You have potential to really become fit, but you must be determined to work as hard as you can to become the best that you can be. Your determination will determine how far you go.

 

Thank for reading this series on creating a workout plan. I trust that you will have found a method that works best for you.

Creating an Exercise Plan- Part 2

Today will be my second day looking at how to create an exercise plan. Today I will evaluate the validity of working out at home, and take a look at if you should hire a personal trainer

Working Out at Home

If you decide that you want to institute a work out and exercise plan at your home, there are a lot of advantages to it that a fitness club can't meet. You won't be compelled or be required to need to pay a monthly or yearly membership fee that really adds up over time, and you can choose to really personalize your workout experience to make it the best it can be for you. If you are an individualistic person that doesn't like exercising with others, you will be a lot more comfortable working out from your home. There isn't any competition with people at your home, as you will only be competing with yourself. You would be required to buy your own exercise equipment, and all of the necessary utilities required, but those are one time purchases opposed to the continuous and cumulative need to pay a gym membership.

Hiring a Personal Trainer

Another option for having positive results from exercise would be hiring a personal trainer. Their job is to take you in whatever position you are in, and help you build both your strengths and weaknesses to ensure you are as healthy and fit as you can be. They will provide advice and guidance in helping you become the best you can be physically. If you work out in a gym or at home, you will not have the same guidance as you will from a personal trainer, as it is their job to evaluate exactly where you are at, and how to get you where you need to be. They are certainly expensive, but even if you are trained by one for a while and then decide to move to a gym membership or to your home, you have gained valuable experience that you can use to build your own workout plan.

Tomorrow, I will conclude this series by looking at the cheapest way to create an exercise plan.