Now that we've gotten past the halfway point of the season, I think we might actually be starting to get a clearer picture of who's good and who's playing for next year. It's also completely remarkable what the future Hall of Fame quarterbacks have been doing. Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger shouldn't sill be this good at this age.
They actually put up a pretty interesting graphic during either the Monday or Thursday night game (I can't remember which). Half of the starting quarterbacks for division leaders are 34 or older. And the other four are part of the NFL's next generation. The oldest of that group are Jared Goff and Mitchell Trubisky at the ripe old age of 24. Whether the old guys or the young guys end up on top at the end will definitely be an interesting story to follow during the second half of the season.
Thursday Night: Pittsburgh (Win)
Lions (3-5) at Bears (5-3): Chicago-Finally everyone in the NFC North will have the same number of games played and the Vikings-Packers tie will become far less confusing! The Bears are technically in first place since they have a better winning percentage than Minnesota, but now they'll be either a half-game ahead or a half-game behind. Count on that half-game being in front. Because we're past the halfway point. We have to start looking at the Bears as serious contenders. Interesting side note about this one: it's the first of two meetings in 11 days. The rematch is on Thanksgiving.
Saints (7-1) at Bengals (5-3): New Orleans-New Orleans moved to the top of a lot of NFL power ranking lists after they knocked off the Rams last week. And they're definitely a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Except that defense is still a bit of an issue. It's also pretty remarkable what they've been doing without any receivers. Dez Bryant was the perfect fit. Fate had other plans, though. Evidently Dez simply wasn't destined to play this year (sidebar: the Cowboys traded for Amari Cooper, who's basically a poor man's Dez Bryant). Anyway, they'll get that figured out. This game's not being played in prime time, so the Bengals have a chance. But the Saints are simply better.
Falcons (4-4) at Browns (2-6-1): Atlanta-After a 1-4 start, the Falcons have won three straight and are suddenly right back in it. The Browns, meanwhile, have gone the other way. They looked so good in the beginning of the season. But they've since regressed to the same old Cleveland Browns. Atlanta has a real chance to get over .500 for the first time this season. And with a tough stretch coming up, they kinda need to.
Patriots (7-2) at Titans (4-4): New England-Stop me if you've heard this before. The Patriots were 1-2. They've won six straight since and now have the second-best record in the AFC. Script sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Titans, meanwhile, that was impressive on Monday night. They were completely outplayed the entire first quarter, then dominated the rest of the game and got a win in Dallas. New England's last loss was to their former coordinator Matt Patricia and the Lions. Now they face their former linebacker Mike Vrabel for the first time. Vrabel's been gone for a while, though, so I don't think he'll have that same inside edge Patricia had.
Jaguars (3-5) at Colts (3-5): Jacksonville-Jacksonville vs. Indianapolis, with the loser in sole possession of last place. Sounds like the AFC South is back to normal. Turns out maybe the Jaguars' run to the AFC Championship Game last season was simply that. A good season. Nothing more. Because they've crashed back to Earth bad since starting 3-1. The good news is that even on the road, Indianapolis is a team they can handle. And the Jaguars have a much better defense than the Raiders, so don't expect the Colts to drop 48 again.
Cardinals (2-6) at Chiefs (8-1): Kansas City-With the Rams' finally losing, the Chiefs are now tied for the best record in football. Yet some "experts" don't even think they're the best team in the AFC because they lost to New England. They are. And their video game offense is going to have its usual fun against a not-good Cardinals team that has no defense and is 0-6 against all teams that aren't San Francisco.
Bills (2-7) at Jets (3-6): Jets-Buffalo has finally gotten sick of Nathan Peterman throwing passes to the other team, so the newly-signed Matt Barkley makes the start against the Jets. It's crazy to think that Buffalo was a playoff team last season (handing that longest playoff drought mantle to the Seattle Mariners). Because, not even a year later, they're completely clueless. Yet they beat the Vikings in Minnesota. The Jets, meanwhile, throw in a clunker here and there but have otherwise at least been competitive in every game. And this week they've got one that's winnable.
Redskins (5-3) at Buccaneers (3-5): Washington-Last week marked the first time all season that the Redskins lost a game in which they had the lead at any point. And they ended up getting their butts kicked by Atlanta. It was Washington's second butt-kicking of the season. Yet they're in sole possession of first place. The Bucs, meanwhile. Well, teams sure started to figure them out once they watched some tape. They're still capable of putting up points, though. So it'll be up to Alex Smith to outscore them and up to the Redskins defense to stop them at least once or twice.
Chargers (6-2) at Raiders (1-7): Chargers-The Chargers are good. The Raiders? Not so much. If not for Kansas City being in the same division, we'd be talking about the Chargers as potentially the elite team in the AFC (for the record, I have them at No. 5 in the power ratings behind the Saints, Chiefs, Rams and Patriots). They're gonna keep rolling John Gruden will keep wondering if this return to coaching really was a good idea. Seriously, how bad do you have to be to lose by 31 to the 49ers?
Dolphins (5-4) at Packers (3-4-1): Green Bay-Green Bay is 3-0-1 at home and 0-4 on the road. They'll have to figure out a way to win outside of Lambeau eventually, but that's not a problem this week. And, frankly, they needed to get back home. They haven't been there since Week 6, and they're right back on the road for their next two after this. Which makes a win here that much more imperative. The fact that they're playing Miami outdoors in Wisconsin in November certainly helps, too.
Seahawks (4-4) at Rams (8-1): Rams-How do the Rams respond after suffering their first loss of the season last week? My guess is they'll respond fine. Nobody expected them to go undefeated, and they knew winning in New Orleans was going to be a tough task. And now the pressure of the undefeated record is off. Sure, the Saints having the tiebreaker isn't ideal, but if New Orleans can run that NFC South gauntlet unscathed, they deserve to be the No. 1 seed. And the Rams will be there should they stumble. Next week's Monday night showdown with the Chiefs in Mexico City will be the game of the season when they both enter with only one loss.
Cowboys (3-5) at Eagles (4-4): Philadelphia-NFC East games have been staples of Sunday Night Football ever since the package moved to NBC in 2006. And I think they've featured Cowboys-Eagles every year. With good reason. It's usually a good game when they get together. This one is also a must-win for both teams, too. Especially the Cowboys, who'd essentially need to run the table if they drop to 3-6. The Eagles know that the division is still in play for them, though. And it's still very doable. But first, they need to beat Dallas.
Giants (1-7) at 49ers (2-7): Giants-Well, we know that one of them definitely won't lose! If the 49ers win, they'll actually be on a winning streak, which speaks more to the fact that they'll have played the Raiders and Giants at home in back-to-back weeks than anything else. But, hey, you'll take wins wherever you can get them. Which also applies to that dysfunctional team on the other coast. It was their trip to San Francisco last season where things really started going from bad to worse for the Giants. For some reason, I think this year's matchup will go better for them. They didn't lose last week (it was their bye week, but still) and they know that they don't have many winnable games left after this one. Call me crazy, but I think they get the W.
This Week: 1-0
Last Week: 11-2
Overall: 87-46-2
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