2009 Football Picks (finally...)

So Bad Sunglasses has been pestering me (with good reason) to get my picks up earlier than him for once. I mean, this criticism is well founded, for sure. He's always the first to post, that can be stipulated. However, I am always the one to win. This means that he must believe my strategy is to see what he picks and then go a fair distance away from such picks.

I can assure you, dear reader (as there is surely only one), that this is not the case. And to prove it, I shall seek to repeat my 2008 Football performance with the following picks:

Zaaq's Picks

AFC East
1. Patriots
2. Jets
3. Dolphins
4. Bills

AFC North
1. Steelers
2. Bengals
3. Ravens
4. Browns

AFC South
1. Texans
2. Colts
3. Titans
4. Jaguars

AFC West
1. Chargers
2. Chiefs
3. Broncos
4. Raiders

NFC East
1. Giants
2. Cowboys
3. Eagles
4. Redskins

NFC North
1. Packers
2. Vikings
3. Bears
4. Lions

NFC South
1. Saints
2. Falcons
3. Panthers
4. Bucs

NFC West
1. Seahawks
2. Cardinals
3. Niners
4. Rams

AFC Wild Card Teams: Jets, Colts
NFC Wild Card Teams: Cowboys, Falcons

Winners of AFC Wild Card Round: Patriots, Colts
Winners of NFC Wild Card Round: Cowboys, Seahawks

Winners of AFC Division Round: Steelers, Patriots
Winners of NFC Division Round: Giants, Saints

Winners of Conference Championship Games: Giants, Patriots

Winner of Super Bowl: Patriots

MVP: Tom Brady
Offensive Player of the Year: Drew Brees
Defensive Player of the Year: Mario Williams
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Mark Sanchez
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Aaron Curry



Also, here is a reiteration of the ground rules (patterned on the 2009 Baseball modifications):

The wager: One bottle of mid-grade spirits, to be chosen by the victor. No plastic jugs from the bottom shelf, no dusty bottles from the top shelf... somewhere in the 30-60 dollar range.

The rules: Each participant - Zaaq and BS - must choose the correct final standings of all divisions in the AFC and NFC, the Wild Card teams, the Division Series winners, the League Championship winners, and the Super Bowl champs. Additionally, each participant must choose each league's offensive and defensive players of the year, as well as offensive rookies of the year for offense and defense and the comeback player of the year.

The point structure:

• One point for each correct slot picked - 32 total possible points
• 2 additional points for each division winner correctly picked - 8 points
• 5 additional points for each division completely correctly picked - 40 total points
• 2 points for picking the correct wild card teams - 8 total points
• 4 points for picking the correct winners of the wild card playoff round - 16 possible points
  
• 4 points for picking each correct divisional championship winner - 16 possible points
• 8 points for picking the correct league champion - 16 possible points
• 10 points for picking the Super Bowl winner - 10 possible points
• 1 point each for Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, and MVP - 5 possible points

Perfect season = 151 points