Once again, my bold predictions mostly came up short.
1. Aaron Rodgers will throw 1 interception
I should have known the Panthers shoddy secondary wouldn't be lucky enough to intercept one of the top three quarterbacks in the league. To their credit, they don't get nearly enough help from the defensive line. Sadly, the Panthers defense, which was so good at bringing the heat a year ago, is on pace to finish with about half as many sacks this season. 0 for 1.
2. Eddy Lacy will eclipse 100 yards
The only reason Lacy didn't hit the century mark is that he only got 12 carries. At 5.3 yards per carry, he only needed six or seven more hand offs to do it. I guess there's little reason to run the ball when the passing game is working to perfection. 0 for 2.
3. Jordy Nelson will finish with over 150 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns
With 6:36 left in the first quarter, Nelson caught his last pass of the day for a total of 80 yards. He was certainly on pace to go well of 150 yards, but the extra attention he received thereafter was enough to limit him the rest of the game. Had the game been as close as I expected it to be, he would have been targeted more often. 0 for 3.
4. Greg Olsen will have over 100 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns
Although Olsen didn't catch a single touchdown pass, he did finish with over a hundred yards receiving, which he hadn't accomplished since week nine of 2012 in another blowout loss to the Denver Broncos. By the way, his 105 yards receiving was a personal record and he's on pace to finish the season with 1,126 yards receiving, which would be another personal best. Also, his 493 yards receiving is 13th in the league and that total is the most of any tight end in the league. I only got half the prediction correct, but in this case I'm going to go ahead round that 0.5 up to one. 1 for 4.
5. Cam Newton will throw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns
Newton finished with 205 yards passing, which wasn't bad considering the fact that he had 0 yards passing at the end of the first quarter and missed the final two drives after being pulled from the game early. 1 for 5.
6. Green Bay Packers 31 Carolina Panthers 27
I correctly picked the Packers to win. Not so much on the final score prediction. 2 for 6.
See you tomorrow on Thursday Afternoon Predictions as I give you some more bold predictions for the Panthers-Seahawks showdown.