Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1429 of 1503)

Anybody who predicted 49ers 24, Seahawks 14 in Seattle Thursday night gets my kudos. Now the NFC is even more jumbled then every before.

So, who gets in?

Obviously the Bears and Saints are golden. I also think the Cowboys and Seahawks will win their respected divisions within the next two weeks. That leaves the Giants, Eagles, Falcons and Vikings all vying for the Wild Card. I almost want to say New York is a sure bet and I’ve got a feeling that Philly and Atlanta will self-destruct. That leaves the real “wild card” Vikings earning the final playoff seed. Sound fair-fetched? Minnesota could easily win out with home games against the Jets and Rams with a road contest at Green Bay.

Check out the NFL Game of the Week on Bullz-Eye.com. This week’s match up pits the Bengals traveling to Indianapolis to take on the Colts Monday night. Check out the in-depth analysis as well as a prediction.

Can Cincinnati keep its four game winning streak alive? Or will Indy snap out of its recent funk? Click here to read more.

An interesting article came out Tuesday in the Miami Herald that stated that the Dolphins bought audiotape to help learn Tom Brady’s cadences.

Now the widespread question is if Miami cheated. The league says no, but I think it’s an unfair advantage to use anything that other teams aren’t using to help them win games. A team still has to run, block and tackle, but the tape obviously helped considering the Dolphins held the Patriots scoreless and sacked Brady four times.

Anyone that says the rush towards the playoffs isn’t exciting is either one of two things: A Lions fan or a soccer lover. The league is so watered-down that every team (except the Lions of course) still has a shot. And I love every damn bit of it.

Watch closely because the following top and bottom five may change next week.

Freaking parity, it keeps me up at night:

1. San Diego Chargers (11-2)
Third Quarter Ranking: #1
I read an interesting stat the other day. LaDainian Tomlinson needs just eight more touchdown passes to surpass the number of touchdown’s thrown by Ryan Leaf as a Charger. Ha, Ryan Leaf. What a joke.

2. Baltimore Ravens (10-3)
Third Quarter Ranking: #3
The Ravens could have probably lost in Kansas City last week and everybody would have given them the benefit of the doubt. Hey, it’s Arrowhead – nobody wins there. But Baltimore didn’t do that and won rather convincingly over a sinking Chiefs club. The Ravens aren’t going to roll over anybody come playoff time, but they’re dangerous enough to make a Super Bowl run.

3. Chicago Bears (11-2)
Third Quarter Ranking: #5
That’s right, I’m sipping on the Bears Kool-Aid again. A game in which Rex Grossman throws for more than 34 yards will do that to a man. I really believe that if Chicago handed the ball off on every single one of its remaining offensive possessions from that the Bears would still win out. Devin Hester is a freak of nature.

4. New Orleans Saints (9-4)
Third Quarter Ranking: #8
Who doesn’t love the Saints right now? You have to love them, they’re completely fun to watch and Sean Payton is coaching is ass off. That onsides kick Payton ordered when New Orleans was already up 28-17 on the Cowboys Sunday night was priceless. If you turned up your volume real loud, you could make out Payton saying: “Suck it Parcells.”

5. Indianapolis Colts (10-3)
Third Quarter Ranking: #2
Hmm. Do I put the team that got shutout by Miami in this spot or the team that just allowed the Jaguars to rush for 375 yards on them? I’ll go with the Colts, but I’ll let Cincinnati prove it to me next Monday night that they deserve this spot more than Indy.

28. Cleveland Browns (4-9)
Third Quarter Power Ranking: 26
The Browns flat out gave up in Pittsburgh last Thursday night. Willie Parker must have felt like he was running threw the cheerleader section instead of the Cleveland defense.

29. Houston Texans (4-9)
Third Quarter Power Ranking: #28
One week they’re reminded of how they passed on Reggie Bush and then the next it’s Vince Young. But hey, all’s not bad in Houston. At least they still have David Carr and Ron Dayne to build around.

30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-10)
Third Quarter Power Ranking: #28
The Succs have now been held out of the end zone for their last 11 quarters. Seeing Derrick Brooks’ solemn look on the sidelines at the close of the loss to the Falcons was sad. He’s a warrior who will fight to the bitter end though. No matter who Tampa throws out as its quarterback.

31. Oakland Raiders (2-11)
Third Quarter Power Ranking: #32
The Raiders defense has a lot of spunk. Too bad the Raiders offense has a lot of horrid excuses for football players.

32. Detroit Lions (2-11)
Third Quarter Power Ranking: #31
Even though both teams lost last week, I had to move the Lions past the Raiders. Any team that rushes for negative yardage has my attention for the worst in all of football.

Here’s an idea for all future Bears opponents. If rookie Devin Hester is healthy and lining up to receive a punt or kickoff, don’t kick the ball anywhere near him. Don’t even look in the relative direction that he’s standing. Just a warning, because he’s likely to do what he did Monday night in Chicago’s 42-27 win over the Rams.

With the Rams up 6-0 late in the first quarter, Hester took the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Then midway through the fourth quarter after another St. Louis score, Hester repeated the magic, this time returning a kickoff 96 yards for a score to essentially put the game on ice. He now has the NFL record for return touchdowns in a single season with six. The kid is amazing.

This is why people get on Rex Grossman so much and dare Lovie Smith to see what Brian Griese has left in the tank. The Bears have one of the best defenses in the league and the most dangerous kick returner in the NFL. Grossman played well last night in going 13 of 23 for 200 yards and two touchdowns. The better stat is the goose egg he had in the turnover department. Perfect. You don’t have to win the game Rex – just don’t lose it.