8 Raider Predictioins Revisited

On June 28^th, 2005 I made 8 predictions regarding the 2005 season. With ¼ of the regular season gone, and bye-week purgatory to get through, I thought it would be a good time to look back and see how (un)prescient those predictions were. Click here to go to the original post. The reasoning behind each prediction is there. This post will simply give the prediction and then judge how (in)accurate it was.

The original predictions will be bolded.

1. Collins goes to the Pro Bowl. Culpepper does not.

So far so good. Collins has a 94.7 passer rating and 0 (!!!) interceptions. Best of all, Collins is still learning Randy Moss and he has already played the Eagles and Patriots. He won’t face another defense that good until the playoffs. Look for his numbers to improve.

Culpepper, on the other hand, has a 67.2 passer rating with 10 (!!!) interceptions. Those are Sean Salisbury numbers folks.

2. Raiders make the play-offs. Minnesota does not.

Too soon to tell, really. Minnesota, at 1-3 is TIED FOR 1^st PLACE. No kidding. The Raiders, at 1-3, are dead last. Having said that, the toughest part of our schedule was the 1^st quarter, and I would have been happy enough if we’d been 2-2. Dungver now leads the pack at 3-1, but we will play them twice, and beat them twice.

3. Raiders sweep Dungver.

Too soon to tell. Dungver is already better than I thought they’d be, but I think we match up well against them.

4. CWood makes the Pro Bowl. Champ Bailey does not.

Hard to say. CWood was far and away the best defensive back in the league over the first 3 games. Against Dallas he had a couple of mental mistakes he has played well enough to make the Pro Bowl. Bailey has also played well, and through injury. Statistically:

CWood has 23 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception, and 4 passes defended.

CBailey has 13 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 2 interceptions, and 4 passes defended.

Advantage, Charles. Also, Bailey has not played us yet. Last year Porter made Bailey his bitch, (there is no other way to say it) and ESPN et al did everything possible to ignore it. When Moss does the same they won’t be able to ignore it, and the world will know what every Raider fan already does: CWood is the better player.

5. The Chargers lose their charge.

Dead wrong. Completely wrong. Not that it excuses the bad prediction, but this is the reason I gave for the prediction. “Why? I don’t know. Maybe not. I just hate their coach, so I hope it will be so.”

6. Courtney Anderson and Antonio Gates have better years than Gonzalez.

So far this is dead on.

Gonzales: 16 catches for 129 yards and 0 touchdowns.
Gates: 18 catches for 280 yard and 1 touchdown.
Anderson: 10 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns.

7. Raiders will win 10 games. Game by game I have us winning 11.

This is dead on, too.

@ NE. loss Correct.

KC. Win Wrong

@ Philadelphia. Loss. Correct

Dallas. Win Correct.

Now it might seem like I was wrong about this because we lost to the chefs. BUT!!! at the end of that prediction, after all the other games, comes this disclaimer: “So that extra loss is for the officials screwing us out of at least one.” I think the chef game qualifies, given the ghost-push-off call that the NFL apologized for making. (Of course, assuming the refs will only screw the Oakland Raiders out of just one game was kind of stupid. Don't know what I was thinking, there.)

8. Raiders run defense will be top ten in the league.

So far so good. Right now we are 13^th, allowing 99.2 yards per game. We’ve not yet faced Thomlinson, though. We also haven’t faced a lot of weak running teams that we’ll completely shut down.

To sum up... not that great, not that bad. Predictions 1, 6, and 7 seem right on. Predictions 2, 3, 4, and 8 seem likely, but it is too soon to tell. Prediction 5 seems dead wrong, though I hope it turns out to be true.

GO RAIDERS!!!

Comments are greatly appreciated, even criticism, so don't be shy. For more Harkonnendog Raider click the links below:

1. 8 Raider Predictions for2005 season
2. Plunkett: Best Raider QB Ever? 5/19/2005
3. And yes MORE incompetent Raider reporting! 3/17/2005
4. More incompetence from the Bay Area media 3/4/2005
5. Monte Poole and Tim Kawakami = Sad but Funny 2/24/2005

(This is generally a political blog, with occasional short stories and such.)