FRESH TO DEATH
New Orleans Saints – Even though the Dolphins aren’t the best team the Saints have played, this game presented them with their toughest situation all season, trailing 24-3 late in the 2nd quarter. They pulled through. That’s a good sign for a team trying to make a run at the Super Bowl. Even if you’re the best team, you’re inevitably going to find yourself struggling at times. The Saints now know they can win those games too.
Indianapolis Colts – We’ve heard some talk about a potentially perfect season for the Colts. After they play the Patriots in two weeks their schedule isn’t that tough. They’re in a relatively weak division. The Peyton Manning factor makes it such that the Colts are not going to lose a game by themselves. Someone is going to have to come out and beat them. Miami almost did it in week 2 with the plan of limiting Peyton’s time with the ball. It’s going to take something proactive like that.
Denver Broncos – And on the 7th week they rested.
Minnesota Vikings – The loss isn’t that bad because the Giants and Falcons both lost. Some of their wins could have easily been losses. This was a loss that could have been a win. No biggie.
WORD
New England Patriots – They’ve scored 94 points the last two weeks.
Pittsburgh Steelers – They’re back to their exceptional version of normal on defense and they’ve sort of reinvented themselves on offense. It’s possible these new/old look Steelers are back on track and ready to re-enter the discussion of this season’s AFC powers.
New York Giants – The final dagger was Ahmad Bradshaw’s 4th quarter fumble, his first of the season. That’s basically how they’re playing. Everyone on the team is suddenly making their first real mistakes of the season. Maybe the teams they were playing weren’t good enough to expose them. Too early to tell what’s in store for this team as they get back into divisional play.
Baltimore Ravens – Much better than a 3-3 team. Can make a statement in the next 2 weeks with Denver coming to town this Sunday and traveling to Cincy the following weekend.
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN WORD AND AIGHT
Philadelphia Eagles – They recovered after a bad loss last week to the Raiders. Brian Westbrook’s concussion is a big hit, but that’s why they drafted Lesean McCoy.
Green Bay Packers – Coming out of their week 5 bye they have handled their business against teams they were supposed to beat. They don’t need to resist looking ahead in their schedule. The game has finally arrived. Next week, Favre at Lambeau, in a Vikings jersey. We’ll probably be watching.
Cincinnati Bengals – That’s the Carson Palmer we remember. Putting up 45 points on a supposed-to-be-good Bears team. Cedric Benson has a career day. 2 touchdowns for Chad Ochocinco. 1 for Laveraneus Coles. 1 for Chris “Slim” Henry. Everyone got involved.
Dallas Cowboys – Is it just us or did the Tony Romo hatred get real quiet all of a sudden?
Arizona Cardinals – HUGE road win. Way to take command of the division with a statement game.
Houston Texans – Andre Johnson has a lung contusion. We don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good.
New York Jets – Poor Leon. Shonn Greene is a formidable backup, but he’s more like a Thomas Jones than a Leon Washington. Washington was huge as a change-of-pace back. They won the game, but still suffered a big loss.
San Diego Chargers – They needed to make this win convincing and they did. Vincent Jackson is so consistent. LaDanian looked good but he just couldn’t get into the end zone. He got several chances.
Atlanta Falcons – Are they for real or not? We don’t know. They have a chance to make the NFC South interesting or basically a done deal Monday night against the Saints.
AIGHT
Miami Dolphins – Last week we talked about a potential moral victory (if not a straight up win) against the Saints. Going up 24-3 early and then letting the Saints back in to squeak out the victory is not what we meant.
San Francisco 49ers – On the season, Darrius Heyward-Bey has 4 receptions for 64 yards. In his first career start (with less than 2 weeks of practice with his team), Michael Crabtree had 5 receptions for 56 yards. Show him the money.
Chicago Bears – They must be so pissed at Cedric Benson. Clearly the feeling is mutual. Benson messed them up.
Jacksonville Jaguars – Almost halfway through the season and still haven’t heard a story, an anecdote, anything at all about when/why/how Mike Walker all of a sudden added the ‘Sims’ to his name. Can someone get Schefter or Mort on this? Thanks.
Seattle Seahawks – This team is all over the place, but so is their division. They could make a big statement by beating the Cowboys in Dallas next week. Then again, we’ve learned to take the Seahawks’ statements with a grain of (Sea)salt.
Carolina Panthers – They had some hope with two wins in a row. Can’t lose to the Bills when you’re trying to turn your season around.
Buffalo Bills – They suck. But they’re 3-4. How is that possible? They’re only a game behind the Jets and they own the tie-breaker.
Detroit Lions – Rams at home this weekend. Dare we say…win #2 on the way???
YOU’RE NOT GOOD
Tennessee Titans – At least they didn’t lose this week.
Kansas City Chiefs – Stop toying with us. At some point you’re going to have to pick between being semi-decent and really, really bad. You can’t have it both ways.
Washington Redskins – What was Jim Zorn looking at on his laminated paper?
Oakland Raiders – It’s nice having things back to normal. What if Bruce Gradkowski came in and just lit up the Jets? How money would it be to have those maniacal Raiders fans cranking out BRUUUUUUUUUUUCE chants. I guess it’s not to be. Regardless, we still like their uniforms.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Hope they had a nice time in London.
St. Louis Rams – Chris picked up Marc Bulger in his fantasy league because Tom Brady has a bye next week. I know, I thought he was kidding too.
Cleveland Browns – They’re called the Browns. Their helmets are orange. No wonder they suck.