|
What happened to parity in the NFL? After two weeks 20 of
the 32 teams are either 2-0 or 0-2. Heck, the Patriots have opened up a two
game lead in the AFC East. Their magic number is officially 13. Is it time to
panic if your team no wins? Should you be printing playoff tickets if your team
has no losses? Let’s take a look.
2-0 teams listed in order of likelihood to make playoffs
New
England and Indianapolis are obviously for real. If
there are two locks for the playoffs those would be it. Let’s move on.
|
Pittsburgh and Dallas are
looking good enough for people to dream of a fourth meeting in the Super Bowl.
The red flag might be beating down weak teams. Having to choose between which
is more impressive I might take the Steelers given they have allowed just 10
points total. The Cowboys are really getting it done on offense and I expect
their defense to round into form.
Denver
has established themselves as a consistent contender. Therefore we can forgive
them for needing Elam
to kick them to two wins against teams who will not be in the playoff hunt. San Francisco
is making an early statement about their intentions to win the NFC West having
already knocked off two division foes in Arizona
and St. Louis. Combined with the
fact that they swept Seattle last
year and their outlook is good.
|
|
Washington
was supposed to be in the mix last year and their offense fell flat. This year
they are relying on Campbell at
quarterback while their two pronged backfield of Portis and Betts does their
thing. Campbell won’t win you a
title in FFL, but he is steady. After melting down last year their defense has
given up just one touchdown and 12.5 per game. Detroit wants
us to believe in Kitna’s 10-6 prognostication. Thus far they have beaten the
Raiders and Vikings, not exactly Super Bowl competition. Both were games they
could have lost and neither were anything close to clean performances. Let’s
call them the most likely to prove me wrong because of their weak schedule and
move on.
Houston
is a great story thus far. Schaub is everything they hoped for coming over from
Atlanta and Green has stabilized
the running game. However, suddenly the AFC South is looking like a very good
division. Even if they can jump on Jacksonville
twice as they did last year they still have to deal with Indianapolis
and Tennessee. Wait another year
for the Texans to compete. Green Bay is trying to make another run
for Favre. I think over the next five weeks they will lose three times for sure
(San Diego, Chicago,
at Denver) and lose a lot of
confidence. Worse yet, starting on Thanksgiving in Detroit
they play four of five on the road. Even if they beat the Lions they have
roadies in Dallas, St.
Louis and Chicago
where again I expect three losses. An 8-8 finish again for Favre.
0-2 teams listed in order of likelihood to make playoffs
New
Orleans is playing more like the team that
prompted fans to wear brown bags over their heads than the one who ended last
year in the NFC Championship Game. Perhaps more troubling is that they aren’t
losing 38-35. This offense is struggling despite having a ton of talent. One
positive is having lost to an Indianapolis
team likely to lay an “L” on the rest of their division during the next 10
weeks. The other is having no 2-0 teams in the division. Their offense will get
going and before you know it the Saints will be 7-3.
New
York (Jets) has nothing to be ashamed of losing
to two AFC division champions from a year ago. Now they have to take care of
inferior teams (Miami, at Buffalo,
at NY Giants) and prove last year’s playoff berth was no fluke. I expect Thomas
Jones to start paying dividends in those games to make them more consistent.
There is still a chance for them to finish with as many as 10 wins.
Philadelphia
was favored by many to reach the Super Bowl, but the offense has been mostly
Westbrook piling up yards on drives that end with field goals. At some point
the receivers need to make some plays and their defense has played well enough
to compete in a weak division and conference. It won’t be easy and quite
frankly I’m not sure they can finish over 8-8.
St.
Louis has yet to showcase their offensive talent
with just two touchdowns. Once Steven Jackson shakes off the rust from not
playing exhibition games, Drew Bennett gets healthy and Randy McMichael grows
accustomed to his surroundings they should be back to scoring 28+ every week.
Unfortunately, with four of their next five away from their home “turf” it
looks like the hole could be too deep to crawl out from.
New
York (Giants) seems cursed this year. After
Manning goes down their backup gets into a game and also gets hurt? That’s a
sign. Tiki Barber is missed, and don’t tell me anything about Derrick Ward.
Their defense is 10-14 points too bad for their flat offense to keep up with.
Buffalo
and Miami
are still the bottom of the AFC East. That means at least three more losses
when New England sweeps them and they lose at New
York. Starting at five losses is too much to overcome
in the AFC. The Bills have a nice running back in Lynch and a progressing
quarterback in Losman, but it will take more than playing hard for their fallen
teammate Everett to compete this
season. The Dolphins on the other hand need to figure out long term solutions
at both positions. Ronnie Brown is looking like a player who needs a full time
complement in the backfield.
Oakland
and Kansas City
do not have the talent to keep up with the top half of the AFC West. The
Raiders are definitely improved over 2006 when they couldn’t put an offensive
drive together. This season is a bridge towards their future with a lot of
young talent on offense plus some nice rookies on offense (quarterback Russell,
tight end Miller, wide receiver Higgins) to be excited about. The Chiefs are
finding out how hard it is to replace stalwarts on the offensive line. Larry
Johnson is lucky to have signed his deal when he did because this won’t be a
great year for him. The quarterback situation is a mess as well and there are
too many good defenses on the schedule for them to stay afloat.
Atlanta
is helping kicker Morten Andersen as he extends some of his NFL records. That’s
about all they will accomplish this season. They will probably start the season
1-7 and are likely to finish in position for Bobby Petrino to grab his Louisville
quarterback Brian Brohm at #1 if they want to. The Vick situation completely
tore apart their offensive scheme and with habitually underachieving wide
receivers it is impossible to expect Harrington to make Petrino’s scheme work.
I know what you’re thinking. What about my 1-1 team? Well,
they’re as close to the bottom as they are to the top. San Diego, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Seattle and Chicago I
think are all strong enough to shake off a loss. Arizona, Jacksonville, Tennessee and
Carolina
might just cause a few contenders to sweat before the season is over. Cleveland, Minnesota,
and Tampa Bay should be happy to have
a win at this point.
|
