Back before the season started, a handful of The 300s staff made bold predictions about how this NFL season was going to shakedown. With the first round of the playoffs coming up, it’s time to check in and see how everyone is doing.

As a refresher for how the scoring works, in this round you get: 10 points for each correct playoff team, 5 points for correct seed, and 5 points for correct division winner. A perfect score would get you 220 points.

Mattes:

Just like everyone else, Mattes placed a little too much stock in the Browns and Jaguars. Although not everyone saw the Panthers making the playoffs, I doubt anyone thought they’d be as bad as they turned out this season. Although the Patriots are looking like anything but Super Bowl favorites at the moment, they were in a similar position last year. As we all know, the Patriots aren’t out of it until the clock strikes 0:00. Green Bay was able to sneak in for a first round bye, so although Mattes isn’t off to a perfect start, he’s still in good shape.

Total points: 90

Big Z:

Big Z may be the only person to pick against the Pats, but his bracket is full of red. Steelers in the AFC title game, Colts and Browns in the playoffs, Dem Boyz in the SUPER BOWL?! Yuck! The only thing Big Z has going for him at this point is his Super Bowl winner. Hey, at least he picked the 49ers in the playoffs.

Total points: 95

Joey Ballgame:

Joey Ballgame wins worst pick of the challenge. The Bengals? In the playoffs? Now, everyone in the world had a hard time picking the AFC, but that doesn’t mean a team led by Andy Dalton was going anywhere. Most people were riding high on the Browns, and Joey fell into that trap as well. Surprisingly, Joey is in pretty good shape here, with both of his SB teams and 3/4 championship teams still in it. He also picked the seeding right on 4 teams, which is better than anyone else.

Total Points: 115

Dom:

Just because I invented this new way to gamble doesn’t mean I’m any good at it. Red and I were the only guys to pick the Ravens in the playoffs, albeit losing to a team that’s getting a top 10 pick at next years draft. Just like Joey, I’m riding high on a Brady-Brees matchup in the Super Bowl, but since the Pats need to go through KC to get to the AFC title game and the Vikings play the Saints in the Wild Card, I’m going to have a hard time accumulating points.

Total Points: 100

Red:

Last but not least, we have Red. Which is ironic, because his bracket has the least red of all. Red not only had the Ravens in the playoffs, but also was the only one to have the Seahawks in there. Even though the Eagles take on the Seahawks this weekend, Red still has a chance to get 6/8 Divisional Round teams and all 4 championship teams. However, it seems highly unlikely that the Eagles and Texans make it past the second round.

Total Points: 110

As you can see, these brackets are a huge challenge, especially in the NFL. Nobody had the Ravens or 49ers getting past the first round of the playoffs. The Browns, Jaguars and Cowboys were all major disappointments, and all of us homers were riding a little too high on the Patriots. Over the course of a season, anything can happen. I’ll be checking back next week with another update. LFG PATRIOTS!