Steel Balls

The 2022 Baller Prognosticator of the Year goes to: Eleven! It was a very tight competition, as you will see below.

The first table shows our predictions vs the actual results.

The second table shows the net scores for each prediction.

As you can see, there was a two-way tie for first place between Eleven and tennbob with a score of 2. Tuskegee_Brown and EstimatedProphet were close behind with scores of 2.5 and 3. Eleven nailed the Steelers and Bengals, while tennbob hit on the Steelers and Browns. Sadly for tennbob, this is like have a non-losing season but failing to win the playoffs, because tennbob failed to provide a bonus prediction for the QB who would start the season (Trubisky). Since the others provided the correct answer for that bonus question, their scores are reduced by one point, giving the final results:

• Eleven: 1
• Tuskegee_Brown: 1.5
• tennbob: 2
• EstimatedProphet: 2

Your moderator was humiliated by coming in last place.

Congratulations to Eleven, and better luck to all of us including the Steelers, for 2023.

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Ravens fans are feeling salty. Good thing we don’t behave this way when things don’t go as planned…

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Make your 2022 season predictions below. Same rules as previous seasons. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.

Please include (1) W/L predictions for each Steelers game, (2) season records for each team in the division, and (3) number of playoff wins. Any other predictions will be taken into consideration as tie breakers. Bonus points if you correctly answer the two additional questions below.

Here is your prediction template. Good luck.

01 – @Bengals
02 – Patriots
03 – @Browns (Thu)
04 – Jets
05 – @Bills
06 – Buccaneers
07 – @Dolphins (SNF)
08 – @Eagles
09 – Bye
10 – Saints
11 – Bengals
12 – @Colts (Mon)
13 – @Falcons
14 – Ravens
15 – @Panthers
16 – Raiders (Sat)
17 – @Ravens
18 – Browns

Standings
Steelers –
Bengals –
Browns –
Ravens –

# Steelers playoff wins –

Opening Day Starting QB –
First Game Pickett Starts –

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It was a great draft experience, if not a great draft, but the drama has now come to a close. We can declare who finished, um, ahead, and state that our efforts were not, um, in vain.

First, let’s declare outright that none of us did particularly well compared to previous standout performances such as Walsh in 2021. Still, a win is a win. As Big Ben used to say, winning ugly is as good as winning pretty.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Which AFCN team won the draft? Yep, it’s a silly question given the massive disparity of opinions regarding players versus needs, when they haven’t even stepped on the field. But what good is the offseason without silly questions?

Gut instinct tells me that the Ravens won the draft, but I feel that way mainly because they snagged some players I had hoped would become Steelers, and because of their absurd haul of six picks from the 4th round. But maybe it’s not that clear cut.

For our analysis, let’s go with the pick grades provided by CBS Sports. While these grades may be wildly wrong, at least they don’t come from my homer brain.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Yep, it’s that time to mock and be mocked. It’s that time of the year where Ballers have the chance to prove they know more than the Steelers’ brass, or at least more than other Ballers. You have up until the day before the draft to produce your predictions: have your predictions in no later than end of day Wednesday, April 27th. If you submit a mock earlier than that, you may edit the mock up until the deadline (e.g., in the event of a signing or trade that wrecks your initial mock). 

Please use the following format as a template. Any deviation from this format that causes me to have to interpret your gibberish will result in unfavorable scoring, so beware.

Identify any trades if applicable
Round (Pick) – Position, Name, School
1 (20)  – WR, Moe Howard, Harvard
2 (52)  – ILB, Larry Fine, Yale
3 (84)  – OG, Curly Howard, Stanford
4 (138) – RB, Shemp Howard, Princeton
6 (208) – NT, Joe DeRita, Brown
7 (225) – SS, Joe Besser, Penn
7 (241) – PK, Emil Sitka, Allegheny County Community College
Add up to five UFAs

This year, you may submit up to two mocks: one without any trades, and one with trades.

As in the past, you will be given one point two points for each correct name, and one point for each correct position/round combination. For UDFA selections, you will get a point only for a specific name. I may give or take other points for special predictions or egregious failures, at my sole dictatorial discretion.

I will get things kicked off with my own mocks. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen…

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Allow me to extend a humble thank you to the teeming hordes of miscreants who have graced this site with their boundless charm, rapier-like wit, and prescient insight into all things Steelers, for these past ten non-losing seasons.

We began this enterprise as a response to the P-G paywall, and to have a place to compare opinions and predictions, and now we are only a few weeks away from what may be a momentous NFL draft event where we can once again prove just how much more we know than the professionals.

We’ve had a lot of fun over the years, but we still have much yet to be accomplished, beginning with a jointly-enjoyed Super Bowl appearance and championship.

I poured through our user list, which numbers well over 1800 thanks largely to Russian spam bots, to try to extract a list of legitimate users. I may have deleted some that were legit, but here is my best guess at our participant list over the years. Here they are, in order of registration.

copanut
abennihana
jeffmi
steelerfan58
drock
ChicoSteelersFan
BGINTN
steelers1
MWalsh26
Tuskegee_Brown
TomPaulBillyBob
mack
tennbob
Earl
STILLERS35
craig
Steeltyke
Army01
steelerfan
JMS55
malsor
J A M E S H
EstimatedProphet
saneman
ktyoung
Clubber
cerone
BlitzBurghDude
jac
gsmaroff
floyd3421
fatxbrian
hksteelerfan
RickinLA
Black and Gold Foo
endaround
stillers_35
Steeler_in_VZ
Toadsly
Poz
Froggy
testname
sixter
bgigli
Reacher
JoeSlice
Pete
Steeler 1950
afrazier9
JimHim
Steelergill66
steelddiddy
jconroy
WritersRock
reddog
pubunchka
SteelerFanBudMan
blackanyellow
tobiathan
Fansincebubbywouldntmopup
kalel1199
kingribel
BigJ
Ravenslayer
sean.willison
Bill Strickland
davesdogs
Bill S
BiggiePops67
kedorfman
HetBob
ktalk
Stu
captainnasty86
kordellStewart
Steelers252006
dberry731
justjack1961
diamondback13
Miguelipto
sdsteel
moose
GodfatherofPittsburgh
72Steel
mikeflores16
eneg
Bilbo_shaggins80
elesher43
therealdonaldtrump
DumbCrackerDouche
Tomee4758

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Read: Hue Bribed to Tank Browns for Draft Position

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