Well, if you’ve followed me at all the past few years, (in violation of that restraining order, mind you), you know that I love throwing out some bold predictions to spicen things up a bit. Because maybe I’m cooking while playing fantasy football. Who doesn’t? You’re the weird one. Regardless, there is some tidying up to do when it comes to how my predictions for the past season turned out, and I’m here to pay my amends, eat my crow, and to provide a wonderful face for being really really bold, and quite possibly italic. (See what I did there?) Did I get everything wrong? Hopefully not. In fact, I might have gotten all of them right…Who knows? (I do.) And seeing as how one of them involves Ryan Mathews, you’d have to think that getting all of them right was not possible. You’d be correct with that assumption. So I’ll be preparing my crow, with as much salt as possible, while we figure out how everything went down…
Ahmad Bradshaw will finish with more fantasy points than Frank Gore.
Ahmad Bradshaw – 135.50 Points, Frank Gore – 153.20 Points.
I had been touting Bradshaw the entire preseason, and he did pay dividends early in the year (and this prediction was true more weeks than not), but the inevitable injury occurred, and we all found what a Herron was. If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that Trent Richardson solidified himself as most definitely not a starting running back in the NFL.
Dwayne Allen will have more touchdowns than Jordan Reed.
Dwayne Allen – 8 Touchdowns, Jordan Reed – 0 Touchdowns.
It may seem less bold looking at what the end result was, but everyone was drinking the Kool-Aid on a possibly RG-III resurgance combined with a healthy Jordan Reed. (To be fair, I drank some of that… in small amounts.) Well, neither happened, as RG-III did very normal RG-III things and Reed only played 10 games and was essentially a non-factor in all but three of them. Along with Bradshaw, I had touted Allen (and Travis Kelce) as sleeper picks going into the draft, and it’s nice to see that he was a pretty serviceable starter throughout the year.
Jake Locker will throw for more touchdowns than Nick Foles.
Jake Locker – 5 Touchdowns, Nick Foles – 13 Touchdowns.
Well, I technically got this half right, in that Nick Foles followed up a career best year with a career worst year. The sample size is small, of course, as he’s essentially been around for just two seasons, and health was a factor here (with Locker as well), but you have to wonder what Nick Foles is actually capable of. I had my doubts, but I guess could have picked better competition than the underwhelming Locker. I expected, at least, an average Titans team with a clever offense that utilized it’s strengths in a low-risk system, something that Ken Whisenhunt is capable of. Instead, the Zach Mettenberger epoch has begun. That’s something, I guess.
Matthew Stafford will throw more interceptions than Eli Manning.
Matthew Stafford – 12 Interceptions, Eli Manning – 14 Interceptions.
Really close one to lose out on, but it’s close enough to prove my point. And that is: Matthew Stafford really isn’t that good of a quarterback. True, Eli Manning isn’t the that much better, but coming off a year where he threw 27 interceptions…there was no where to go but up. It’s hard to argue that Stafford isn’t 12-team viable, but he’s not much without Calvin Johnson, and even with him, he made some terrible decisions this season that even made Matt Ryan scratch his head.
Le’Veon Bell and Zac Stacy will both finish ahead of LeSean McCoy in fantasy points.
Le’Veon Bell – 329.00 Points, Zac Stacy – 55.50 Points, LeSean McCoy – 185.40 Points.
I got a little greedy here. After essentially saying Bell would be worth more than the general consensus number one pick (which could include Jamaal Charles and Adrian Peterson), I had to pump up my boy (no longer my boy, mind you) Zac Stacy and double-down on the bold. Too bold, too furious if you ask me. Excuse me, 2Bold2Furious. I do feel pretty good about pumping up Bell here, but I’m pretty sure the Zac Stacy love evened things out…
Ryan Mathews will have more rushing touchdowns than Montee Ball and Giovani Bernard combined.
Ryan Mathews – 3 Touchdowns, Montee Ball and Giovani Bernard – 6 Combined Touchdowns (Ball with one, Bernard with five.)
Yes, my Ryan Mathews love has no bounds, but I think it’s pretty crazy how close this actually was. I love that my general bearishness (maybe a word?) on Ball and Bernard paid off here for myself and you, the readers…but, and there’s always a but, because I love buts, the Mathews love ended up being such an egregious call this past season, essentially all the good I did probably evened out with his bomb of a season. Love is a funny thing folks.
