• Top 10...Bottom 5: Week Eight

    by
    vancemeek
    Published on 10-31-2012 07:49 PM
    9 Comments Comments


    Hello football fans. Allow me to start by giving a shoutout to my loyal readers. The six of you guys are awesome. On to football. With my beloved/hated Bengals off for the week, I was able to just sit on the Red Zone channel and watch a little bit of all the games. It didn't give me more insight than a normal week, but it was fun. One of the bigger points of order after week eight is the seats heating up under a couple of long-time coaches. Andy Reid and Norv Turner are in the midst of great disappointment and the outcry from fans is getting louder. (Cue Scorpions: "Winds of Change"). As for the rest...well, here we go:

    TOP TEN

    1. Atlanta Falcons-Are we taking them seriously yet? They've been the most consistently good team in the NFC so far on both sides of the ball.
    2. Houston Texans-They get an extra week to prepare for Buffalo's defense. That doesn't seem fair.
    3. Chicago Bears-The Bears D is a threat to score on every play. More potent that a lot of offenses.
    4. San Francisco 49ers-If the Niners played all of their games on Monday Night, Randy Moss would catch Jerry Rice.
    5. New York Giants-So does Eli get credit for a come-from-behind win for stinking it up just long enough to allow Romo to take the lead briefly?
    6. Green Bay Packers-You take away a guy's two best WRs and suddenly he can't throw it. Jeez.
    7. New England Patriots-If you missed the Gronk TD celebration where he marched like a guard, then look it up. Hilarious.
    8. Baltimore Ravens-The bye week has to help the defense..right? Right?
    9. Pittsburgh Steelers-For the love of all that is holy, can we please never burn my retinas with those jerseys again? There aren't enough bumblebee/Roethlisberger-in-stripes jokes in the world for that again.
    10. Denver Broncos-Even a less-than-100% Peyton Manning is more fun to watch than nearly every other QB.

    HONORABLE MENTIONS

    Indianapolis Colts-No, they're not a good team, but they are 4-3, and that other non-RGIII QB they picked up isn't half bad.
    Miami Dolphins-Don't look now, but the 'Phins are also 4-3 and in playoff contention.

    BOTTOM FIVE

    28. Cleveland Browns-Lucky for them, the Chargers played..well let's just say I'm guessing a whole lot of people wish they could wipe the memory of this game away.
    29. Carolina Panthers-The Panthers added a new wrinkle to their suckitude, by wasting a two score lead.
    30. Buffalo Bills-The Bills get a nice bye week, then get Houston and New England back to back. This can't go well.
    31. Jacksonville Jaguars-Jaguars ownership petitioning the league to Pretty please with sugar on top let moral victories count.
    32. Kansas City Chiefs-So you're best offensive player gets the ball only 5 times and your HC says "Now, that I'm not exactly sure, either," Crennel said. That's all you need to know about the Chiefs.

    MVPs of the Week

    Doug Martin-The rookie exploded on prime time, looking like an elite RB, and more importantly, led me to a fantasy victory.
    Matt Ryan-He has to be in front of the MVP race at this point, doesn't he?
    Michael Crabtree-Abused Patrick Peterson all night on Monday.
    Vick Ballard-That might be the greatest TD ever scored.

    Goats of the Week

    Cardinals O-Line-To say they stink would be an understatement.
    Anybody even remotely associated with the San Diego Chargers. Also, as an added bonus, Robert Meachem ladies and gentlemen.

    Comments 9 Comments
    1. Docta's Avatar
      Iffy on the Giants. Already have 2 losses and were a couple fingertips away from having 3 losses. The Santana Moss fumble helped them out too, but the Skins still needed a TD.
      Reply
    1. Pruitt's Avatar
      December 9th - Chiefs vs. Browns. You watch this game, you really need to get another hobby.
      Reply
    1. iwatt's Avatar
      The turnstiles in Arizona are outshining the ones In Soldier Field. I didn't believe it was possible.

      Note to Mike Tice: stop throwing the ball the first quarter.
      Reply
    1. BobbyJ's Avatar
      Quote Originally Posted by Pruitt View Post
      December 9th - Chiefs vs. Browns. You watch this game, you really need to get another hobby.
      Ha! I couldn't agree with you more Pruitt. But you know both you and I will be clenching the remote from start to finish for the Chiefs game. Last week had to be the most boring win or game I have seen in a while. How does San Diego with all that talent (and I know their talent is out of their prime and aging) play that bad and have such mediocre seasons. I pin that on Norv, see ya later buddy, time to dust off that resume!
      Reply
    1. Pruitt's Avatar
      On the rare occasions when they do win, the Browns seem to have mastered the art (or "craft") of winning games that are so awful to watch that even their fans can't enjoy what they've just seen. Think of last year's Seahawk game or the win in 2009 against the Bills. Those games were so utterly terrible that watching reruns of Joey may have been more entertaining.
      Reply
    1. BobbyJ's Avatar
      Man I couldn't agree more. I wasn't even excited for our win after the game. I didn't even have the urge to fist bump anyone after that b/c that win didn't deserve it! I mean 7-6...MLB Teams can do better than that.
      Reply
    1. Trumpetbdw's Avatar
      The schedule really plays out nicely the next few weeks with some true heavyweight battles, including a couple of huge games to prove the legitimacy of the AFC.

      This week we have Pittsburgh at NY Giants, which the entire nation gets at 4:25 on CBS. Some Simms and Nantz NY bias!!! Doesn't Rooney Mara have to sing the national anthem for that one?

      Next week, the Sunday nighter is another possible Super Bowl preview with Houston traveling to Chicago. Even if they don't win, Pittsburgh and Houston must look good in these tough road tests to legitimize an AFC that appears to be down this year.

      Then in 2 weeks, sweeps week starts meaning the prime-timers are fantastic yet again. Sunday night is Baltimore at Pittsburgh, followed by Chicago and San Francisco in the Monday nighter.

      By the end of week 11, we should have a much clearer idea as to who the favorites are in each conference.

      1. Atlanta
      2. New York Giants
      3. Houston
      4. Chicago
      5. San Francisco
      6. Green Bay
      7. New England
      8. Denver
      9. Pittsburgh
      10. Baltimore

      The NE, Den, Pit troica is really close, so I'll stick with the NE beat Denver who beat Pittsburgh, although those games were a seeming lifetime ago. At the moment, I think it's a dead heat between those 3 teams, with some expected separation as we see how Pittsburgh handles the Giants and Ravens.

      Chicago is a team we probably want to write off after that game against Carolina, but that was a classic trap game for them. They had a physical Monday night road win against a division rival. The stats bear out that teams struggle the following Sunday following those types of MN wins, so the fact they survived is a positive, and should have no impact on their expected performance moving forward.

      Chicago and Pittsburgh are the two teams with a chance to prove their legitimacy the most over the next few weeks.

      Wow that bottom 5 is ugly. Can't argue any of them.
      Reply
    1. msclemons's Avatar
      I think the Giants have to be bumped ahead of the 49ers. The 49ers wins have come against bad teams except for Green Bay. The Giants absolutely dominated the 49ers at Candlestick.
      Reply
    1. wxwax's Avatar
      I'd go:

      Houston
      Giants
      Atlanta
      Denver
      New England
      Bears
      49ers

      etc etc etc

      Atlanta is going great but it has a flawed defense that's being protected by great schemes. I'm waiting for sharp NFL coordinator to sort it out. Also, that o-line will fail, just like in the playoffs last season, when it needs a rushing yard in the playoffs.

      Houston and the Giants have outstanding defenses and pretty competent offenses. And Denver's getting better every week. If their D can build on the NOLA game, they could be tough to beat.
      Reply