Hello readers! The 2021 NFL season finished with a superb ending to Super Bowl LVI as the Los Angeles Rams persevered and beat the Cincinnati Bengals. The win was the Rams first championship since the days of the Greatest Show On Turf as the St. Louis Rams and the first since 1951 as the Los Angeles Rams.
The Super Bowl is sadly over and hopefully you got to enjoy it with some food, friends and/or family. At least one of those combinations possibly. Sadly there won't be football again until at least early August. In this post I'll be doing a recap of my preseason predictions that I had made back in September prior to Week 1 that includes standings, playoff and awards picks. I'll also be doing a recap of the big game and my grades on the commercials and the halftime show. Let's get to work!
Preseason Picks + Awards Recap
Prior to Week 1 I had made a preseason picks post about who will finish in each division, how will the playoffs shake out and who will covet the awards. Usually I get most of them wrong like most people but we shall see how well I do this year.
Division Standings
NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys (picked to finish 1st; actual standing 1st place): Correct
Washington Football Team (picked to finish 2nd; actual standing 3rd): Incorrect
New York Giants (picked to finish 3rd; actual standing 4th): Incorrect
Philadelphia Eagles (picked to finish 4th; actual standing 2nd): Incorrect
Well definitely screwed up on thinking the Eagles would finish in 4th place in the division. At least the Cowboys got it right.
NFC North:
Green Bay Packers (picked to finish 1st, actual standing 1st): Correct
Minnesota Vikings (picked to finish 2nd, actual standing 2nd): Correct
Chicago Bears (picked to finish 3rd, actual standing 3rd): Correct
Detroit Lions (picked to finish 4th, actual standing 4th): Correct
One of the few times I actually got an entire division correct. Thanks NFC North for making me look good.
NFC South:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (picked to finish 1st, actual standing 1st): Correct
New Orleans Saints (picked to finish 2nd, actual standing 2nd): Correct
Carolina Panthers (picked to finish 3rd, actual standing 4th): Incorrect
Atlanta Falcons (picked to finish 4th, actual standing 3rd): Incorrect
Got the first two right and the next two wrong. Guess I didn't figure the Falcons defense and Panthers offense would be the complete opposite back in September.
NFC West:
San Francisco 49ers (picked to finish 1st, ended up finishing 3rd): Incorrect
Seattle Seahawks (picked to finish 2nd, finished in 4th): Incorrect
Los Angeles Rams (picked to finish 3rd, finished in 1st): Incorrect
Arizona Cardinals (picked to finish 4th, finished in 2nd): Incorrect
Okay look, the NFC West was a tough division to pick and going into this season it would be that case. Can't win them all.
AFC East:
Buffalo Bills (picked to finish 1st, finished in 1st): Correct
New England Patriots (picked to finish 2nd, finished in 2nd): Correct
Miami Dolphins (picked to finish 3rd, finished in 3rd): correct
New York Jets (picked to finish 4th, finished in 4th): correct
Didn't quite get the Dolphins in the playoffs pick right but other than that the AFC East was another division I got right.
AFC North:
Pittsburgh Steelers (picked to finish 1st, finished in 2nd): Incorrect
Baltimore Ravens (picked to finish 2nd, finished in 4th): Incorrect
Cleveland Browns (picked to finish 3rd, finished in 3rd): correct
Cincinnati Bengals (picked to finish 4th, finished in 1st): Incorrect
Oh boy, sorry Bengals fans, I seriously got that prediction way off. At least the Brownies made me look good.
AFC South:
Tennessee Titans (picked to finish 1st, finished in 1st): Correct
Indianapolis Colts (picked to finish 2nd, finished in 2nd): Correct
Jacksonville Jaguars (picked to finish 3rd, finished in 4th): Incorrect
Houston Texans (picked to finish 4th, finished in 3rd): Incorrect
Well it was really and truly a Titans vs Colts division and it was proven true. Just wished the Jaguars and Texans could've just switched places to make me feel good.
AFC West:
Kansas City Chiefs (picked to finish 1st, finished in 1st): Correct
Los Angeles Chargers (picked to finish 2nd, finished in 3rd): Incorrect
Las Vegas Raiders (picked to finish 3rd, finished in 2nd): Incorrect
Denver Broncos (picked to finish 4th, finished in 4th): Correct
So that Chargers-Raiders game to finish the regular season could've been a case of me getting it right. At least the Chiefs and Broncos made it right.
Overall score: 15 out of 32 correct.
Playoff predictions:
NFC:
1st seed: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (incorrect, 2nd seed)
2nd seed: Green Bay Packers (incorrect, 1st seed)
3rd seed: San Francisco 49ers (incorrect, 6th seed)
4th seed: Dallas Cowboys (incorrect, 3rd seed)
5th seed: Seattle Seahawks (Incorrect, didn't make playoffs)
6th seed: Los Angeles Rams (incorrect, 4th seed)
7th seed: Minnesota Vikings (incorrect didn't make playoffs)
AFC:
1st seed: Kansas City Chiefs (incorrect, 2nd seed)
2nd seed: Tennessee Titans (incorrect, 1st seed)
3rd seed: Buffalo Bills (correct, 3rd seed)
4th seed: Pittsburgh Steelers (incorrect, 7th seed)
5th seed: New England Patriots (incorrect, 6th seed)
6th seed: Cleveland Browns (incorrect, didn't make playoffs)
7th seed: Baltimore Ravens (incorrect, didn't make playoffs)
Super Bowl Pick:
Buccaneers over Bills (Both incorrect)
Awards:
MVP: Patrick Mahomes (incorrect)
Offensive Player of the Year: Nick Chubb (incorrect)
Defensive Player of the Year: TJ Watt (correct)
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Najee Harris (incorrect)
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Micah Parsons (correct)
Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey (incorrect)
Coach of the Year: Kyle Shanahan (incorrect)
Overall, I feel most of my predictions were fairly spot on. Granted I made these back in early September prior to Week 1.
Super Bowl LVI Recap
LA Rams 23, Cincinnati 20: TW: Rams; CV: Bengals
On the 56th edition of Super Bowl Sunday the Rams and Bengals put on a show for the masses. Matthew Stafford would get his first start in a Super Bowl game and would get things started with a 17-yard toss to Odell Beckham Jr to put up six points in the middle of the 1st quarter. Cincinnati would struggle to get down the field in the first quarter but would get close to give kicker Evan McPherson a field goal attempt from 29 yards that would give the Bengals a 7-3 deficit to close the 1st quarter.
The Rams would answer back to the Bengals score with a scoring march of their own that would culminate with a 11-yard Stafford to Kupp touchdown. On the ensuing point after the placeholder Johnny Hekker would bobble the snap and attempted a pass to kicker Matt Gay that would be intercepted by Germaine Pratt but the play wouldn't matter as he would end up getting tackled. Sadly it wouldn't be a James Harrison play. Needing a score to get close to the Rams by halftime the Bengals would drive down the field with their running attack. Cincinnati would get some trickery as Joe Burrow would toss a ball to Joe Mixon who would toss it to Tee Higgins for a score. The score at halftime would be a 13-10 margin.
With Cincinnati having the ball the Bengals got to work as Joe Burrow would find Tee Higgins for a 75-yard touchdown on the 1st play. The play would be controversial as Higgins would have some contact on Jalen Ramsey that would've been offensive pass interference. Nevertheless the Bengals would take a 17-13 lead. On the next Rams series, Matthew Stafford would toss a bad pass that would get intercepted Chidobe Awuzie. The next Bengals series would result in a field goal that would give the Bengals a 20-13 lead. Towards the latter half of the 3rd quarter Matt Gay would hit a 41-yard field goal that would cut the Bengals lead to 20-16.
A big adjustment that the Rams would make was to have more aggressive playcalls on defense to rush the passer. Joe Burrow would be sacked only once during the 1st half. Burrow would be sacked six times during the 2nd half. One such play that the Rams would sack Burrow on would be a pileup that would have Burrow holding his leg and would hobble off the field. Fortunately for the Bengals faithful, he would return.
The only scoring in the 4th quarter would come on the final two minutes of the game as Matthew Stafford would find Cooper Kupp in single coverage and beat Eli Apple for the game-winning touchdown. The Rams would come back and beat the Bengals 23-20.
Matthew Stafford would have a rough game but would finish with 283 yards passing with three touchdowns and had two interceptions. Cam Akers would struggle to get the ball rolling as he rushed for 13 times on 21 yards. Cooper Kupp would catch eight balls for 92 yards and won the game's MVP.
Joe Burrow would play well in his first start as he passed for 263 yards with a touchdown. Joe Mixon would throw his first pass in his career and would go for a 6-yard touchdown. Joe Mixon would have better luck in running the ball as he rushed for 72 yards on 15 carries. Tee Higgins would catch four balls for 100 yards.
One play that stood out to me for the Rams was the failed point after attempt. Special teams blunders can keep you in games in the regular season but in the Super Bowl it matters. A lot of fingers would be pointed at that play if the Rams lost the Super Bowl.
For the Bengals one play that stuck out to me was the Tyler Boyd dropped pass. You can have zero drops in the regular season and the playoffs but in the game that matters you have to step up and play well. You have to be ready for your moment.
Super Bowl Commercials Grade:
I have to give the commercials this year a high grade. I'd give it a A-. There were a lot of commercials that I particularly enjoyed. The Larry David commercial was quite enjoyable and funny. The Retired Zeus Commercial was also funny. My favorite one was the one that was done by the NFL with the Mini Video Game figures:
The only real reason I wouldn't give it a better grade would be one of the crypto commercials with the floating QR code on the screen. I didn't understand it and I guess later on it was a thing for a giveaway or something. The commercials this year were better than last year or the year before.
Super Bowl Halftime Show Grade:
Like most people's opinion on the Halftime show, I thought it was great. Most recent acts were newer artists and the ones before that were by artists in their late 60's that certainly my parents would've enjoyed at a Super Bowl party. If you were born in 1980 through 1994 you can definitely dig the music that Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg put on. At least for me I was stoked to see Eminem and the rest were a treat to see and hear. To my generation it was our Halftime show with music that was part of our childhood. I liked the presentation of it too with the map of LA on the field and the set of the show itself. It was quite a great show. I'd give it a A. Prince's performance in Super Bowl XLI is still the best for me but this year's performance was just as good.
Super Bowl Pick'Em Record:
Super Bowl XXXII: Packers vs Broncos (lost)
Super Bowl XXXIII: Broncos vs Falcons (won)
Super Bowl XXXIV: Rams vs Titans (won)
Super Bowl XXXV: Ravens vs Giants (lost)
Super Bowl XXXVI: Rams vs Patriots (lost)
Super Bowl XXXVII: Raiders vs Buccaneers (lost)
Super Bowl XXXVIII: Panthers vs Patriots (won)
Super Bowl XXXIX: Patriots vs Eagles (won)
Super Bowl XL: Steelers vs Seahawks (lost)
Super Bowl XLI: Colts vs Bears (won)
Super Bowl XLII: Giants vs Patriots (lost)
Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers vs Cardinals (lost)
Super Bowl XLIV: Saints vs Colts (won)
Super Bowl XLV: Steelers vs Packers (won)
Super Bowl XLVI: Giants vs Patriots (lost)
Super Bowl XLVII: Ravens vs 49ers (lost)
Super Bowl XLVIII: Seahawks vs Broncos (lost)
Super Bowl XLIX: Patriots vs Seahawks (lost)
Super Bowl 50: Panthers vs Broncos (lost)
Super Bowl LI: Patriots vs Falcons (won)
Super Bowl LII: Eagles vs Patriots (lost)
Super Bowl LIII: Rams vs Patriots (won)
Super Bowl LIV: 49ers vs Chiefs (lost)
Super Bowl LV: Buccaneers vs Chiefs (won)
Super Bowl LVI: Rams vs Bengals (won)
All-time record: 11-13
2021 Pick'em Records:
My record:
Week 1: 7-9
Week 2: 10-6
Week 3: 10-6
Week 4: 9-7
Week 5: 12-4
Week 6: 11-3
Week 7: 10-3
Week 8: 7-8
Week 9: 7-7
Week 10: 5-8-1
Week 11: 8-7
Week 12: 8-7
Week 13: 10-4
Week 14: 10-4
Week 15: 13-3
Week 16: 12-4
Week 17: 13-3
Week 18: 11-5
Total: 173-98-1
Super Wild Card Weekend: 6-0
Divisional Playoff: 0-4
Conference Championship: 1-1
Cardinal Viking's record:
Week 1: 6-10
Week 2: 12-4
Week 3: 13-3
Week 4: 10-6
Week 5: 10-6
Week 6: 12-2
Week 7: 10-3
Week 8: 7-8
Week 9: 8-6
Week 10: 5-8-1
Week 11: 10-5
Week 12: 9-6
Week 13: 7-7
Week 14: 9-5
Week 15: 10-6
Week 16: 11-5
Week 17: 10-6
Week 18: 8-8
Total: 167-104-1
Super Wild Card Weekend: 6-0
Divisional Playoff: 2-2
Conference Championship: 1-1
Previous Picking Records:
2017: 167-89
2018: 156-98-2
2019: 151-104-1
2020: 163-92-1
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