2007-08 Second Act Fantasy Football Challenge Recap…

First off, thanks to everyone who participated and made this a really fun promotion. Now on to the season winners…

First Place – Eric – Hutchinson, MN – 186 points
Wins a 42” 1080p LCD Sharp Aquos – A $1200.00 Value!

Second Place – James – Lake Elmo, MN – 178 points
Wins a 4gb iPod Nano – A $160 Value!

For the Consolation Prizes, we drew two names from a hat of names that included the top 100 finalists. The two winners were…
Ron from Chino Hills, CA wins a 4gb iPod Nano!
Nate from Jordan, MN wins a 4gb iPod Nano!

And finally, to everyone that played we’d like to offer 6% off ANY item good through Jan. 31st, 2008. To redeem the 6% off use the coupon code: FOOTBALLPRIZE when you check out.

As for the NFL Season…

AFC East
Patriots - 16-0, Tom Brady & Randy Moss have new NFL Records and Brady will have his first league MVP honor.
Bills – 7-9, Showed promise, lost some very close games. If they can build on their success this year, they could be in the playoffs next year.
Jets – 4-12, Mangenius?
Dolphins - 1-15, Can Parcells GM? Ronnie Brown’s knee? Will Taylor want out of Miami? Too many questions… but they do have the #1 pick.

AFC North
Steelers – 10-6, Mike Tomlin is great (the Vikes shouldn’t have let him go). With Willie Parker out, can they get past the first round of the playoffs?
Browns – 10-6, Derek Anderson came out of nowhere and Braylon Edwards continued the theory that most WR’s have a breakout year in their third season.
Bengals – 7-9, Wow… horrible season.
Ravens – 5-11, How to recap the Ravens season…??? 13-3 last year falls to 5-11. Billick got a contract extension and was then fired. They have no QB. Next year should be interesting.

AFC South
Colts – 13-3, Flew under the radar for much of the season. All we can hope for is a rematch with NE in the AFC Title game.
Jags – 11-5, No one made the pro-bowl and they can scare any team.
Titans – 10-6, Vince Young didn’t look great, but Jeff Fischer can coach football.
Texans – 8-8, What a tough division to play in. Mario Williams had a huge year, and Matt Schaub (when healthy) played very well. I think they could be very good next year if they stay healthy.

AFC West
Chargers – 11-5, Norv Turner is a bad coach. They’re 11-5 and lost some pretty bad games. I don’t like they’re chances in the playoffs.
Broncos – 7-9, Too much off the field stuff. Brandon Marshall emerged as a solid threat late in the season. They just couldn’t stop the run all year long.
Chiefs – 4-12, Finish with 9 straight losses. The biggest loss will be when they lose Jared Allen in the off-season (hopefully to the Vikings!)
Raiders – 4-12, JaMarcus Russell should take the reigns next year. Maybe they get 6 to 7 wins.

NFC East
Cowbows – 13-3, Romo looked good, Defense is playing well… but they’re beatable. I don’t think we’ll see them in the Superbowl.
Giants – 10-6, Eli didn’t look bad when they gave NE a run for their money. Can he put together two games in a row? Doubt it… first round playoff loss.
Redskins – 9-7, Clinton Portis is better than any RB in December… can he keep it up?
Eagles – 8-8, McNabb is gone. Can they have a good season without him?

NFC North
Packers – 13-3, I dislike the Packers… but they’ve got a very good team this year. Greg Jennings and Ryan Grant have really helped the offense, and the Defense is on fire.
Vikings – 8-8, Our draft position is awkward so it’s hard to say how we’ll improve going into next year. If the D can play as well as they did this year, we’ll be in the playoffs next year.
Lions – 7-9, Kitna guaranteed 12 wins? Or 10?
Bears – 7-9, Rivals the Vikings for worst QB situation in the NFL. Not looking good for ‘08/’09 either.

NFC South
Bucs – 9-7, Garcia, Galloway and Earnest Graham. Wow.
Panthers – 7-9, Vinny Testeverde played multiple games for them… multiple games… as in more than one… which is more than zero.
Saints – 7-9, Reggie Bush can’t carry a team. That 0-4 start killed their season.
Falcons – 4-12, Joey Harrington, Byron Leftwich, Chris Redmon.

NFC West
Seahawks – 10-6, Hasselback is playing great. Shaun Alexander is not. I like their chances to make it past the first round of the playoffs.
Cardinals – 8-8, Starting to look good. Whisenhut did a great job with running the ball better. Boldin/Fitzgerald are a great WR tandem.
49ers – 5-11, Something drastic will change this off-season.
Rams – 3-13, Their record is a lesson in why offensive lineman are very important.

Here’s my prediction for the playoffs.

JAC v PIT – I like JAC. With Willie Parker out JAC looks better on paper. They also went to PIT and won a game about 4 weeks ago.
TEN v SD – SD will win at home. They went to TEN and won earlier this year.
WAS v SEA – Should be a good game, but I like SEA to win. I think just getting into the playoffs was Washington’s victory for the year.
NYG v TB – The Giants are streaky and gave NE everything they had and still lost. I think TB will take this one.

JAC v NE – NE… duh
SD v IND – IND… duh
TB v DAL – DAL should win this one, only because they’re playing at home
SEA v GB – This should be a great game (if it happens). It could fall either way, but I’d like to think that Favre will take it.

IND v NE - NE
GB v DAL - GB

Superbowl – NE

I’ll blog about the playoffs a few times if you want to come back and discuss.
Thanks again everyone! Happy New Year from everyone at Second Act!

Matt, this was a lot of fun. I hope you do it next year!