What a difference a week makes in the National Football League. This time last week, the Giants looked invincible at times, the Patriots offense looked to be out of sync and the Denver Broncos were still more of a feel good story to most people as opposed to being viewed as an actual contender.
3 For the Money:
1) The Denver Broncos are a very good football team. They aren’t simply OK or lucky, they are a force to be reckoned with in the AFC. Over the course of the season, they have allowed a grand total of 3 points in the second half of games. If that’s not a championship type of stat, I don’t know what is. Those 3 points didn’t even come until this week off of the foot of Nate Kaeding. For those not already on the Broncos Bandwagon, it may be too late for you because tickets are potentially sold out.
2) Here are 2 quarterback’s stats going into Week 7: (13 TD’s, 2 Int’s), (12 TD’s 2 Int’s). Can you guess who either of these gentlemen are? Drew Brees has the 13 TD’s and Brett Favre (yes that Brett Favre) has the 12 TD’s. For all the offseason hoopla and all the critics saying he needs to hang them up, Favre can still sling the pigskin around with the best of them. 
He’s easily in the MVP conversation as we speak and, has probably helped save Brad Childress’ job. As Herm Edwards once said, “you play to win the game”. You may not like how the Vikings went about bringing Favre in (Mr. Tarkenton), but the NFL is a business and, the best way to affect your bottom line for the better is to win. Brett Favre gives the Vikings a chance at winning the Super Bowl (see below) and, as much as a coach would like to cultivate a young talent, like Tarvaris Jackson, he wasn’t going to bring them much further than the first or second round of the playoffs. We’ll see how Favre looks down the stretch where he has notoriously fell off over the past couple of years. The positive thing is the way the Vikings schedule plays out down the stretch. Other than the much anticipated November 1st game in Green Bay, he gets 5 home games (in the dome) to finish out the year and, of the 3 remaining road games at that point, only a cold December Night in Chicago is in a cold weather stadium. If the Vikings navigate the schedule the way they should, they will also get their home playoff games in a dome and, when looking at some of the other contenders in the NFC, you have the Saints (dome), Falcons (dome), Cardinals (retractable dome). The stars may be aligned for Brett and company.
3) The Giants are in big trouble if they can’t overcome some injuries on the defensive side of the
football. I don’t want to hear excuses about not having 4 starters on that side of the ball. Get over it. There isn’t a team in the league who isn’t dinged up. There isn’t a team in the league who doesn’t have at least 2 starters on IR. The teams that go far into the playoffs and ultimately win the Super Bowl, are the ones who can overcome injuries. Heck, the 2007 Super Bowl Championship Giants team had injuries to Jeremy Shockey, Derrick Ward, Gibril Wilson (for much of the year) and Eli playing with a separated shoulder. They overcame. You want to be a champion in this league, win with the talent you put out there or get someone else (this goes for C.C. Brown, Michael Johnson and Terrell Thomas). This is your chance guys. You can either make a name for yourself and pull your careers out of obscurity or, you can be part of a defense that couldn’t hack it once your starters got injured. It’s your call. Maybe some of you need to give a guy like James Harrison, who knows what it’s like to step in and step up, a call.
NFC:
1) Saints (14-2)…NFC South Winner
2) Vikings (13-3)…NFC North Winner
3) Giants (11-5)…NFC East Winner
4) Cardinals (8-8)…NFC West Winner
5) Falcons (11-5)…Wild Card
6) Cowboys (10-6)…Wild Card
Last 4 out: Eagles (9-7), Bears (9-7), 49ers (7-9), Packers (8-8)
AFC:
1) Colts (14-2)…AFC South Winner
2) Broncos (12-4)…AFC West Winner
3) Patriots (11-5)…AFC East Winner
4) Steelers (10-6)…AFC North Winner
5) Ravens (10-6)…Wild Card
6) Texans (9-7)…Wild Card
Last 4 out: Dolphins (9-7), Bengals (8-8), Jaguars (8-8), Chargers (7-9)
Playoffs:
NFC:
Round 1: Giants over Cowboys, Falcons over Cards
Round 2: Saints over Falcons, Vikings over Giants
NFC Title Game: Vikings over Saints
AFC:
Round 1: Patriots over Texans, Steelers over Ravens
Round 2: Steelers over Colts, Broncos over Patriots
AFC Title Game: Steelers over Broncos
Super Bowl: Vikings 20 over Steelers 16
~ Tim Rescigno, JAS NFL Correspondent
Filed under: NFL Tagged: | Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, NFL Power Rankings, Pittsburgh Steelers
couldn’t agree with you more that what we thought last week will certainly change this week. The Giants will be fine. I think the main reason Favre declined so dramatically last year was because he tore his bicep. If Favre can stay relatively healthy, I am sure he will be fine come week 16. His arm strength looks tremendous so far this year. The Patriots looked good last week, but we have to get more information before we assume they have turned the corner for good. We will find out a lot this week when Atlanta visits Dallas. As far as the Broncos are concerned, they play a style of football that is conducive to winning in the NFL. My concern is that they are playing at the ceiling of their potential. As other teams improve and peak, I think Denver will fall back to the pack.
Let me guess…if Atlanta had starting cornerback Brian Williams they would have beat the Cowboys. Because as you have reminded me twenty times, Atlanta is clearly a better team than Dallas. Matt Ryan went 142 snaps without a sack coming into the game. Dallas racked up 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, and a forced fumble out of Ryan. But I am sure it was just an off game. We scored on special teams, racked up 418 total yards, and hammered them by 3 scores. But I am sure it was just an anomaly. Or maybe because Dallas was coming off a bye. Tim, I know you will have a rack of excuses. Here is the bottom line: our front seven on defense and offensive line is better than Atlanta’s. I pray we get a rematch in the playoffs so we can beat them again. In fact, I hope we play the game in Matt Ryan’s back yard so I don’t have to hear any excuses. I have no doubt when the power rankings come out this week Atlanta will be ranked higher than Dallas. Because obviously, they are the better team. It was clear for all to see. Also, Steve Smith is much better than Miles Austin. Austin is just lucky. I bet he won’t have another 100 yard game the rest of the season. Steve Smith is clearly more explosive and dependable.
I enjoyed a lovely Sunday with minimal NFL exposure. I was at the Loch Raven shooting range firing a 12 gage shot gun at clay pigeons…I was a terrible shot, but it was a nice little Sunday nonetheless.
Didn’t miss much during the day, but the afternoon/night games were pretty interesting.
This Sunday showed how little parity there is in the league this year. With most games ending in blowouts, the NFL was tough to watch at times over the course of the day.
As for the Cowboys Woodman. You are the ultimate judge your team on a week by week basis person I’ve ever seen. Steve Smith is better than Miles Austin right now. Are you really going to sit back and tell me two great games makes him the better receiver? That’s absolutely ridiculous. Smith had what would be considered an off night and still had 4 catches for 69 yards. You know what an off night will be for Mr. Austin? Probably 0 catches so let’s cut the bs and stop thinking 2 good weaks means Miles is better than Steve Smith. He has the potential to be fabulous, I will absolutely give you that and, over a 2 week span, he has been the best receiver in the league. He’s not better than Smith yet though who had 60 catches last year as a number 3 and made some huge plays in the Super Bowl run as well. To base your argument on a couple weeks of work isn’t even something I should have entertained responding too.
Finally, the Falcons fell apart in the 2nd half…they are still a good team and one who could easily beat the Cowboys on any given Sunday. The Cowboys wouldn’t beat them everytime they played which seems to be what you’re alluding to. I’ll have you know I actually switched the Cowboys to 5 in the NFC Playoffs and Atlanta to 6 after the Cowboy victory. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to put a lot of weight in a home victory in October. The NFL is an ever changing league on a week by week basis and, I’ve been the first to not only admit that but, give your Cowboys credit where credits due. They’re the best team in the division currently but, may have to be put on Power Ranking probation due to your outburst.
one more thing…here’s 3 Smith’s Stats
45 catches for 594 Yards…this is 2nd in the league in receptions and 3rd in yards…but you’re right, Austin is better based off of 2 games.
You know whose stats Austin’s are comparable to…more like Mario Manningham, the Giants #2…
he has 28 catches for 439 yards compared to Austin’s 21 catches for 502…
here’s Austin’s stat lines up until the last 2 weeks by the way…
1 @TB W 34-21 1 Catch 42 Yards
2 NYG L 33-31 1 Catch 20 Yards
3 CAR W 21-7 0 Catches 0
4 @DEN L 17-10 3 Catches for 19 Yards
…you’re right though…let’s clear some room in Canton for him. Alvin Harpor should probably get voted in too…
Austin was a third receiver and option #5 until two weeks ago. Now that he has his chance to shine, you see what he is capable of doing. Steve Smith did make a great grab at the end of the game yesterday and I am not a hater, but just want to needle you a bit. Frankly, defenses have played the Cowboys very tight at the line of scrimmage trying to stop the run and Witten. Now the safeties will be forced to play a bit deeper to account for Austin, which will undoubtedly affect his production. Romo has been unable to hook up with Witten and Marty B because the throwing lanes have been crowded with teams stacking defenders in the box. Because teams will respect Austin’s big play ability, you will probably see a lot more throw and catch between Romo and Witten in the coming weeks. I let you hammer me about the Falcons being better than the Cowboys. I never said one word because I knew we were a better team. By no means do I think the Cowboys have turned the corner and have become an elite team. We still have a lot of work to do. We had 8 more penalties and 5 of them were of the pre snap variety. The Cowboys didnt have one first down in the 1st quarter. We have a number of areas that need drastic improvement. But many experts think Atlanta and Green Bay are better than Dallas and that is just a flat out not true. Here is my bottom line: you are not a better team unless you have a better front seven on defense, a better offensive line, and special teams. You may like the Falcons coach and QB better than Dallas, but that is about it. Also, you always dismiss Mike Jenkins as garbage. I beg you to watch the tape of the Falcons game. He had an interception that changed the momentum of the game, 6 tackles, and just about took 2 receivers heads off. He is by far our best corner right now. And when I meant the Falcons would be ranked higher than the Cowboys in the power rankings, I was referring to ESPN and Yahoo. After the Seattle game Dallas plays at Green Bay and Philadelphia. We will learn a lot in those two games. By the way, the Giants vs. Arizona game last night was a physical war. Nothing to be ashamed of. The Giants were very physical and they easily could have won the game. But there is a small margin for error when you play good teams and Eli made a few uncharacteristic mistakes. However, Arizona is very good and will soon run away with the NFC West.
I’m not sure exactly when I specifically said Atlanta was better than Dallas. I picked them to make it to the Super Bowl but, that wasn’t pointed at your Cowboys by any means.
I’m also not going to say the Cowboys are a definitively better team than them either. They beat a good team at home…that’s all. It happens. The Eagles hammered the Cardinals during the regular season last year and the Patriots beat the Giants during the regular season 2 years ago. These are literally 2 examples in the realm of about 100 where a team wins a regular season game against another but, may very well go on to lose later on in the season to them in a rematch or in the playoffs.
October football is just that…October football. While every game is meaningful, a rematch in January would by no means be a cake walk for the Cowboys and, in reality, would probably be determined by who the home team was…
As for Arizona, they are very good. The Giants just look uninterested at times lately. The secondary has to get better, flat out. I’m not worried about Eli or the Offense in the least…I’m absolutely worried about our safeties and 3rd string CB out there. The only guy doing his part is Corey Webster.
Arizona definitely needs to be viewed as a Super Bowl contender though. I was short changing them for the past few weeks after their slow start but, now at 4-2, look at their upcoming schedule. They could be an 11 or 12 win team when all is said and done and, again, the top teams in the NFC this year are either warm weather or dome teams which plays out very well for the big time offenses of the leagus like Arizona, New Orleans or even a Green Bay and, it definitely plays out well for older QB’s like Favre and Warner.
the Giants game reminded me of the Bengals/Ravens game. The Ravens and Giants were a bit flat at times and I think they were both surprised at the lunch pail mentality of the Bengals and Cardinals. However, the Giants defense stepped it up at the end and got three 3 and outs to give the offense every chance to come back. Arizona should obviously be viewed as a Super Bowl contender. They were 20 seconds away from being the defending Super Bowl champs. You will never hear me say that Dallas is a better team than Arizona. Also, I don’t think the Cowboys would cakewalk anyone, but you only have to win the game by one point.