Sunday early
TEN @ BUF
KC @ CHI
ATL @ HOU
OAK @ MIA
DEN @ MIN
IND @ NE (sure it will be as epic as always - actually, wouldn’t it be awesome if this was the one game the colts won?)
CIN @ PIT
CAR @ TB
NYJ @ WAS
Sunday late
BAL @ CLE
DAL @ ARI
GB @ NYG
STL @ SF
SNF/MNF
DET @ NO
SD @ JAC
Cleveland plays Baltimore on Sunday, and then 4 days later travels to Pittsburgh. I don’t think any team can receive a more physically brutal schedule than that. Then they travel across the country to Arizona, and then get Baltimore and Pittsburgh back to back again.
I hear and read a lot of people who want to pick the Giants as their upset special of the week, citing the fact that the Giants have a history of stopping winning streaks. Fair enough I guess, but I just don’t see it, the Packers will have had 10 days rest while the Giants played on Monday Night. I am actually surprised that they would schedule it like that, but they did. I think the Packers win.
The 49ers laugh at any other team’s “brutal” travel schedule. Back-to-back 10am road games at Cincy then Philly. Later, two road games in Maryland within 11 days of each other with a home game sandwiched in between them.
I think Seattle also has a tough travel schedule, too.
Except I’m barely talking about any travelling. I’m talking about getting Pittsburgh 4 days after Baltimore. AFC North division games are the most brutal games in the NFL, and the Browns have two, by the two most brutal teams in the league, in a 4 day span - which happens to follow another division game last week. The travel to Arizona is barely an afterthought compared to that. Your games in the NFC West are pillow fights.
Arguments about the physicality of any division in competition with the AFC North is just a waste of time. That division is far and away the most brutal.
But who is second? The NFC North has a pretty strong reputation in that regard. Division games in the NFC East are always rough, but the majority of those teams are more finesse lately.
On a separate note, I’ve held from the beginning of the season that this game was a loss for the Eagles. Traveling from Philly on Sunday to Seattle on Thursday is a nightmare (and they go to Miami next. I doubt any team in the NFL has as many travel miles in three consecutive weeks). For a long time the Eagles have essentially been dead men walking. The loss to New England strapped them into the chair. A loss tonight is the switch finally getting pulled.
I thought the Eagles got closed out last week. Talk about a dog of a game tonight.
It’s really weird how they set up the AFC North schedule this year, at least for the Steelers. They front-loaded it with the Ravens, the second game of which is usually played at the end of the year with playoff ramifications, and back-loaded it with the Bengals and Browns. Only an incredibly optimistic Bengals fan would have expected them to be this good, so the NFL essentially got the games that mattered out of the way so that they could have a 7-week anticlimax. Makes no sense. They look OK now, but still, the Steelers STILL haven’t played the Browns and they’ll be finished with their other division games this week.
Incidentally, if the Browns could see their way clear to beat the Ravens I’d be very appreciative. Ray-Ray isn’t playing (again) this week and Cleveland typically gets one big upset a year, so if it could be this week I might even find a way to pay them a compliment. Maybe. Probably not.
There are a few good games this week, but a lot of dogs. The Lions-Saints game lost some shine with Suh suspended, but Detroit needs this game so they ought to be playing pretty hard anyway. Atlanta-Houston will definitely show us whether or not the Texans can survive with a third-stringer or, God forbid, Jake Delhomme. The rest, barring big upsets, should go as planned, and most of them are mismatches or games that simply don’t matter.
I don’t know if I should be impressed by Lynch’s run or embarrassed because of the defense. It’s almost like this team is coached by someone who has never coached defense before.
Another note-- because of Colt Anderson, the Eagles have one of the best kick coverage units in the league. But because of Dion Lewis, they have the worst kick return unit in the league. Dion Lewis is the worst kick returner I’ve ever seen. Stupid team…
Hey, look! A replay where the announcers point out how the Eagles didn’t get a penalty called for them! Like I haven’t seen that, I dunno, six times now in the last two and a half games?
See, you focus on McCoy for an entire drive and you put together a gorgeous 17 play drive. Too bad that had to happen in the fourth quarter instead of the first. Stupid team. At least they haven’t yet rolled over on the game/season.
A realist: someone who knows that they’re rooting for the annual suckfest but does it anyway because hey, it’s their team. You’re that, too, to your credit.
Does it make me a bad man for enjoying the Eagles season? After all the hype, all the hubris, all the talk of a “Dream Team”, it’s been enjoyable watching them lose to the likes of the Seahawks.