After a quarter of the season, we have a pretty good idea of the season to come for the NFC. I think it's fair to say that the NFC is again the weak sister, and many of the teams aren't as good as we thought they were. A few are better.
NFC NORTH:
Chicago: The curse of the Super Bowl losers has struck again, or was that just Rex sucking? We thought they had a great defense and a streaky offense, but with an injured defense and no QB, last year's playoff run looks like a thing of the past.
Detroit: Kitna predicted 10 wins, few believed him. A 3-1 start has made a few believers, though the debacle at Philly was concerning. Most people thought they would improve on last year's 3 wins, but not yet. This looks like a playoff team in the NFC, believe it or not. The Martz offense can score points, and credit Marinelli for assembling a decent team.
Green Bay: Wow. We thought they would improve slightly from last year, with Favre throwing it up to both teams. No one expected a 4-0 start, and Favre and the Pack definitely looks like a team to be reckoned with. The lack of a running game could be a problem down the line, but this is the 2nd best team in the NFC right now. A victory over Chicago this week would make them a playoff lock, in that division, which no one expected.
Minnesota: We thought they were a bad team, with a good defense and running game but no QB. Yup. The defense has scored 3 TD's so far, so has the offense. Definitely a disappointing start, but what did you expect with Tarvaris Jackson at the helm?
NFC EAST:
Dallas: We thought they'd be decent, definitely weren't expecting this. Head and shoulders above every other NFC team. Once the defense gets healthy, watch out. No contest for home field advantage and a bye.
NY Giants: We thought they would struggle without Tiki but still be decent. Jekyll and Hyde first four weeks have left them at .500. The record matches but you never know what you'll get when they take the field.
Philly: Once considered by some a contender for the division, now we know they're just bad (most of the time anyway). Excluding the Detroit massacre, they've scored 28 points in 3 games. That's not going to win too many games. If Westbrook misses significant time, stick a fork in this team.
Washington: Slightly better than the low expectations, but still rather unknown. Victories over Miami and Philly were nice (combined 1-7), but Detroit and at GB the next two weeks will be much better indicators of the rest of the year. This team will go as Jason Campbell goes. Could've been 3-0 if he handled the last minute of the Giants game well.
NFC SOUTH:
Atlanta: We thought the Falcons would struggle without Vick. They have. However, Petrino's getting the hang of this NFL thing, and in a weak division, expect a few more wins. Definitely not a playoff contender.
Carolina: We thought they would be good but not great. They are a very bad 2-2 team, beating the Rams and squeaking past the Falcons. They will be terrible until Delhomme returns, and suspect even then. Internal squabbling has already begun.
New Orleans: Not what we expected at all from the losers of the NFC Championship game last year. Apply the quotes of this video to every game the Saints have played so far, being outscored 103-38. Not much seems to have changed since Jim was the coach.
Tampa Bay: As I predicted a few weeks ago, Tampa is better than most people expected, and should win the NFC South unless NO or CAR get better in a hurry. Don't expect the loss of Cadillac to hurt as much as the loss of Petitgout, but Garcia is agile enough to keep things going. The D is much better than expected.
NFC WEST:
Arizona: We thought they would be better than last year and around 8 wins. About as expected as Whisenhunt and Grimm are clearly making a difference. Big win over PIT brings them to 2-2, but the two losses were by 3 pts each. Look for them to sneak into the playoffs with 8 or 9 wins.
San Francisco: We thought they would also be better and maybe 9 or 10 wins. 2-0 start had people excited, but two blowouts and a separated shoulder later, not so much. With Alex Smith and Vernon on IR, expect zero offense and the accompanying losses. The finish will be worse than expected, around 7 wins.
Seattle: They are who we thought they were. Best of the NFC West, but certainly not a great team. 9 or 10 wins and the division, just like last year.
St. Louis: "PLAYOFFS?!?! You kidding me? I just hope we can win a game." Expected to compete for a playoff spot with lots of offensive talent, but it's hard to score points when your whole line, and now QB and RB, are hurt. Until they start blocking, this is one of the worst teams in the league. Gus better wear a flak jacket or he'll have broken ribs too.
In case you missed it, J-Red covered the AFC yesterday.
October 4, 2007
Are They Who We Thought They Were? - NFC
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6 Responses:
we are so proud of our detroit team...it is the first time in many years that I haven't had throw shit at my tv each and every week.
I'd love to have the same faith as Kitna (in the Lions, that is). They've played well, but they beat the Raiders, the Vikings at Ford, and what has so far been a bad Bears team at home.
Those all count as wins and everything, but why did they get trashed by a bad Eagles team?
In other words, they have had a JV High School schedule so far and either squeak by or get crushed.
I'd love to watch the Lions get into the playoffs this year, but I think they still have a lot to prove.
And I have to root for the Redskin Potatoes this week, but then I'll get back on the Lions bandwagon when they're 3-2.
I think the eagles played well that day against the lions because they had to wear those terrible new uniforms. I think they looked like UCLA uniforms that were rejected by the school. it may of been a jv schedule, but in Detroit we will take any win that we can.
J-Red, this commands a response/blog entry:
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1144&CID;=722324
Brand has said he would like to see a GSR of at least 60 percent for each sport at every school. But many major sports programs remain far shy of that figure, most notably the Maryland men's basketball team, which had a GSR of zero according to the figures released Wednesday.
At Maryland, basketball is a major in and of itself. Quite frankly, so much is learned from Professor Gary Williams and his teaching assistants, that it is almost criminal to NOT award a degree in Basketballesiology.
That's it? That's all you got? I expected more.
How about a list of the folks who enrolled between 1997-2000? How about some sort of defense for the program (such as, what the hell would you expect from Steve Francis, and Danny Miller transferred so it's misleading to say he did not graduate)?
Or do you just want to pretend like it's not a big deal that Maryland basketball is the only program that had a zero graduation rate?
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