3 teams played in their former cities last week.
Colts @ Baltimore
Cardinals @ St. Louis
Titans (formerly the Oilers) @ Houston
Displaced teams went 3-0.
FRESH TO DEATH
Indianapolis Colts – They find a way to win. They’re 10-0, but they deserve to be 8-2. Still not sure they’re the best team in football though. They are definitely showing some vulnerability.
New Orleans Saints – First time in a few games that they won instead of just avoiding losing.
Minnesota Vikings – Last season Brett Favre finished with 22 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Through 11 weeks of this season he has 21 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
New England Patriots – Thought it would be more of a blowout. Offense looked great in the first half but they didn’t really do anything in the second. The defense looked strong though. Good enough showing after “4th and 2”-gate.
WORD
San Diego Chargers – Hate to say it but they’re kind of back where we thought they were at the beginning. The running game is back, Philip Rivers is annoyingly good, and Vincent Jackson is a monster. They’re one of three 7-3 teams in the AFC vying for the 2-seed.
Arizona Cardinals – Warner’s health was the big question mark during the off-season, but it seems most people had forgot about his potential for injury. Let’s see how well he bounces back. Recoveries get tougher with age. They need him to win.
Pittsburgh Steelers – Yuck. Lucky the Bengals didn’t win.
Cincinnati Bengals – We blame Larry Johnson.
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN WORD AND AIGHT
Tennessee Titans – He’s actually running a college offense in the pros. It’s kind of awesome if you’re not too sports-conservative.
Philadelphia Eagles – First of all, the Eagles defense was lauded coming into this season. They gave up a lot of points to a mediocre Bears offense. Second of all, Brian Westbrook is one of the most valuable all-around players in the league. LeSean McCoy is a strong backup, but he doesn’t catch screen passes the way Westbrook does. Without Westbrook the Eagles lose part of their playbook.
Green Bay Packers – Aaron Kampman and Al Harris going down really hurts, but they have a pretty easy schedule coming up. They’ll be battling the NFC East runner-ups for a wild card spot.
New York Giants – There’s good news and bad news. The good news is they’re only one game back from the Cowboys who aren’t that good. The bad news is they let the Falcons back in the game and had to squeak out the win in overtime. It was an unimpressive win. Fortunately, they play in a surprisingly unimpressive division.
Baltimore Ravens – They’re still in the playoff mix, but this win would have been big for their record and their momentum. Flacco threw a bad pick at the end of the game. They probably should have won. Their new kicker is looking pretty good though. 5 field goals. Might have been a go-ahead 6th if it weren’t for the INT on the final drive.
Dallas Cowboys – Chiggity-check yo’self before you wreck yo’self, Cowboys.
Houston Texans – Forget about it. It’s Houston.
Miami Dolphins – SICK! Ricky Williams was sick. They’re still in this wild card race.
Denver Broncos – Really? 3 points in a game that will likely decide the division? We trusted you.
Jacksonville Jaguars – 66 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. MJD didn’t really make it up to his fantasy owners.
AIGHT
Atlanta Falcons – They snuck into the playoffs last year. They were probably less comfortable last year than they are right now. They just need to keep playing hard and try to steal a game here and there.
Carolina Panthers – A year ago this would have sounded crazy, but the Panthers need to play the way the Dolphins do. In other words, it’s as if their quarterback is playing his first season as a starter. They should be running every play that they don’t have to pass.
San Francisco 49ers – They still have a (long) shot at the division but it’s not looking good after the loss to the Packers. Crabtree had a sick touchdown catch. He’s good. A little worrisome that Frank Gore got shut down. That probably says more about the Packers D than it does about Gore.
Chicago Bears – 2 weeks ago they were 4-4. Then Cutler had 2 pretty awful games. Had he played decent, they might be 6-4 and right in the thick of the wild card race. The guy who was supposed to push them over the top is part of what has held them back this season.
New York Jets – Their season is probably done, but we don’t think they’ll play that way. They’ll come out and put up a fight each week (kind of like the 49ers, although the NFC West is bad enough that they’re still kind of in it). We’re back where we were at the beginning of the season. No idea what to expect from the Jets.
YOU’RE NOT GOOD
Seattle Seahawks – Justin Forsett had 9 yards. He was their leading rusher. It rains there a lot. Seattle sucks.
Washington Redskins – So close.
Oakland Raiders – The Broncos went on a 5-0 run after beating the Bengals in a flukey win. Maybe the Raiders will do the same. Probably not.
Buffalo Bills – T.O. had a monster game in the loss to the Jaguars. It sucks that it didn’t lead to a win, but it’s still kind of nice to see that T.O. isn’t totally washed up. Even when guys are annoying, you still hate to see great players fade.
Kansas City Chiefs – They had to be surprised they won that game, right?
St. Louis Rams – They put up a fight against the Cardinals. It’s remarkable how hard these guys are playing for Steve Spagnuola considering the season they’ve had so far. This situation looks like it might correct itself in the next few years.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The way to take advantage of the Saints defense is to run on it. Unfortunately, the Bucs don’t really have a running game. The most valuable thing about this game for the Bucs probably was having Josh Freeman watch Drew Brees play live.
Detroit Lions – There are a lot of bad teams this year, but there can only ever be one real joke of the league. Last year it was the Lions. For the first couple games of the season it looked like it would be the Rams, then the Raiders, but recently the Browns have been looking to take over the position. This lost cemented the transition.
Cleveland Browns – Heartbreak. This was their Super Bowl! Brady Quinn actually looked like a franchise quarterback.