Halfway through the NFL season, I don’t mind saying… I’m stumped. I have absolutely no idea who’s any good. And I’m suspicious of anyone who’s any less confused than I am.
SOMETIMES, my Giants look great. Other times, they’re lost, as they were last night and against the Colts. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went on a tear and won the Super Bowl… but I could just as easily see them going into a late season tailspin and missing the playoffs entirely.
The Patriots are equally capable of winning the Super Bowl or of losing 42-0 in the first round of the playoffs. Ditto for the Steelers, Colts and Jets.
I know that SOMEBODY has to win the NFC West and the AFC West, but I have no idea who. EVERY team in both divisions is equally likely to finish first or last.
Nobody is all that good, and ANY team that isn’t mathematically eliminated from the playoff (the Bills the Cowboys, and a few others) has to be thinking, “Why couldn’t WE go all the way? There’s no reason we couldn’t stumble into the playoffs, and if we do, there’s nobody out there we can’t beat.”
Worst of all, I still don’t know if that makes for an exciting December or just a lot of mediocre football.
Nope, I turned the Cowboys on yesterday fully expecting the need to switch channels in disgust and was rewarded with one of the more entertaining games of the year. This year watching Minnesota implode, the Jets have their slump, the Broncos beat the Chiefs, the Niners start off the way they did, the Rams and Lions win, the Saints being only mediocre, the Bears turn things around… it’s all come as a surprise. I’m really, really glad not to be a bettor.
I enjoy years like this. Every week is a surprise. Which Saints team is going to take the field? The one that got abused by the Browns, or the one that stuffed the Steelers? Is this the week that Chile’s head explodes on live TV? Will some joker hack the big screen in Minnesota, and show pictures of Favre’s alleged wang to the world?
Someone needs to mention the Jaguars. There’s a team that consistently defies prediction.
However, I do like the fact that the Browns, Rams, Lions, Chiefs and Raiders are competitive most weeks instead of being dead spots on everyone’s schedule. That got tiresome.
As a Chefs fan, I’m stumped. I went in thinking, “here we go again.” Then the defense and special teams turned it on and I thought, “they’re going to win 6 games on turnovers, and Cassel’s going to keep sucking”. Then Cassel turned it on - I was thinking a solid 8-9 wins. Then yesterday happened - Cassel’s a stud, defense is shit.
We are edging toward parity. Except for Lions games on the road, any team can be beaten if they don’t prepare properly and seriously enough for the opponent. The Lions are at 24 losses in a row on the road,…again.
My beloved Falcons are doing much better than we had ever dreamed.
We may win the division outright, especially if we beat the Saints again.
And yes, this has been a truly strange season.
I agree with gonzomax’s idea of ‘edging toward parity’. It is good for the sport, in my opinion.
But then again, my Falcons are doing well, so I would be saying so, now wouldn’t I?
Rooting for the Griefs is giving me some gray hair. Watching them go down 21-0 in the first quarter was painful. The sad part was that half-way through the first half, the Broncos had scored on every one of their possessions and 1/3 of ours, or something crazy like that.
I hope the Griefs can put the past 2 weeks behind them and move on.
Me too-I’ll have serious conflictions and palpatitations for the December game between them and the Jags-long term fan vs. home city fan. Might actually spring for some tickets.
I agree with most of what’s been said but the year would probably have some juggernauts if not for the high number of injured starters and stars across the league through the season.
Well, I don’t think it is a good year to be a Cards fan. The NFC West is wide open and if we would have kept Matt Leinart, we’d probably win with another 9-7 record. Instead, we’ll probably play the Anderson/Hall game and might even end up with Skelton for a game.
When I flipped on the television to catch the tail end of the late games, I thought I accidentally tuned into the Bizarro NFL. The Broncos are right back into the hunt now by virtue of that win. Of course they’ll totally fuck themselves over but maybe…just maybe…they’ll stay on track. Stranger things have happened this season.
I think the Eagles, with a healthy Michael Vick, have a Superbowl caliber offense. Vick is white hot right now. It’s not a team that necessarily has everything, but there aren’t any teams that do, and when Philly gets it going offensively, they can beat any team in the League right now.
I was thinking last week that this confusing season was going to hurt the Bills worse that they would be in most years. In most years, they could at least hope to pick up a couple of cheap victories playing teams in late December that had already clinched their playoff schedule and were resting their starters. But the way the stats are this year, nobody is looking likely to secure a playoff spot early so everyone will probably be competing right up to the final week.
That is exactly what I meant, and I apologize if my phrasing didn’t make that clear.
I just can’t figure out my Giants or anyone else. Are the Pats the guys who clobbered Pittsburgh, or the guys who got steamrollered by the Browns?
Are my Giants the guys who ran roughshod over the Seahawks, or the clowns who rolled over and played dead this past Sunday?
This season, EVERY time I’ve impressed by a team, EVERY time I’ve come close to saying, “THIS might be the best team i nthe league,” they fall flat on their faces.
There are still only a few teams that CAN’T make the playoffs. All of the others have to figure “If we grab that last wild card, there’s no reason we can’t go all the way.” And they’ll be right.
If you held the proverbial gun to my head and asked me to name the best team in each conference, I’d gulp and pick the Falcons (just ahead of the Eagles) and the Jets (just a hair ahead of 5 or 6 other teams). But I’m not particularly impressed by either the Falcons or the Jets. I could easily picture them meeeting i nthe Super Bowl, but I could just as easily picture them hitting the skids.
My poor Rams are doing the better then they have in years. The defense is really coming to gether and the offense is makeing plays and scoring points and they are doing it with starting recievers that would be third or fourth recievers (or less) on any other depth chart (hell, they would be thrid or lower on the Rams depth chart if it weren’t for the injuries). Right now, they are a stud deep threat receiver and a RB to spell out Jackson from dominating the NFC west again and being very competative with the rest of the NFL.
You look to be safe with the Falcons. They only have three potentially tough games coming up and two of those (GB and NO) are home games where they have an advantage. The only road game that should be a challenge is week 13 against TB. They play the Rams away, the Panthers twice, and the Seahawks away which should all be winnable games for them. The could easily go 12-4 if not better playing the way they have, especially at home.
