With the ninth week already in the books (why does the NFL season go so fast?), I think it’s finally safe to start talking about potential playoff teams.
Here is a look at the contenders and the pretenders at the midway point in the NFL:
Contenders: Indianapolis, Baltimore, Denver, San Diego, New England, Chicago, NY Giants, New Orleans, Seattle.
The Colts are taking care of their own business while the Bears and Patriots will benefit from playing in weak divisions. The Broncos and Ravens don’t come without their flaws on offense, but both defenses are playing at an elite level. The Giants are banged up, but are good enough to survive key players missing time and the Chargers have the most complete team in the NFL – that is if Marty Schottenheiner stays the hell out of the way. The Saints continue to prove every week that they’re for real, but a tough second half schedule is something to look out for. If the Seahawks can hang on for a few more weeks, they should be healthy enough to build a cushion in the division, but the defense has to play better than they have of late (I don’t count the shutout against Oakland).
Pretenders: Minnesota, NY Jets, Kansas City.
The Vikings just lost to San Francisco and lack firepower, while I don’t think the Jets have enough talent at this point to keep overachieving. The Chiefs are playing great and Herm Edwards deserves a ton of credit, but how much longer does that offensive line hold up? Plus, I feel a QB-controversy brewing in Kansas City.
On the bubble: Cincinnati, Atlanta, Carolina, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Dallas, Jacksonville.
All of these teams are still well in the hunt, but all come well packaged with major flaws. The Bengals and Eagles are quickly falling apart at the seams while the Cowboys and Panthers are consistently inconsistent. The Jaguars are all over the board. One week, Jacksonville’s defense looks like world beaters, the next its giving up 27 points to Houston. If the Falcons can get back DE John Abraham in the next few weeks, the struggles in the secondary will probably diminish with the d-line being able to generate pressure again. The Rams have to beat Seattle this week in order to keep pace in the NFC West, or else St. Louis will be on the outside looking in at a playoff berth.
