Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1433 of 1503)

The NFL has hit its final stretch run, so it’s time to revisit some power rankings. In Bullz-Eye.com’s latest rankings, check out where your favorite team stacks up against the competition as well as if they’re a contender, pretender or if they’re already on the clock for next April’s draft.

Here’s a preview. For the entire list, click here.

1. San Diego Chargers (10-2)
Midseason Rank: #3
Contender: The only true way to judge the NFL is week to week. More weeks, more time for teams to show their true colors. With that said, Chicago and Indy fall from the top spots and San Diego climbs Mount Numero Uno. The Chargers are the most complete team in the NFL right now. Saint Diego doesn’t always look pretty in getting the job done, but the job gets done nonetheless. And now that Shawne Merriman is back wreaking havoc, I don’t see the Chargers falling anytime soon.

2. Indianapolis Colts (10-2)
Midseason Rank: #1
Contender: Playoff contenders in the AFC should all be dissecting what the Tennessee Titans did to Peyton Manning and the Colts offense this year. The Titans held Indy to 14 and 17 points, respectively, in the series split that easily could have been a Tennessee sweep. This team is flaw city, but in Manning the Colts trust.

3. New England Patriots (9-3)
Midseason Rank: #7
Contender: With no dominant No. 3 team in the NFL, I guess the Patriots get this spot by default. If the Colts are flaw city, the Patriots are flaw state. And now defensive stalwart Mike Vrabel might miss some time due to injury? Wow. If New England goes on to win a Super Bowl this season, I’ll have more respect for Bill Belichick and Tom Brady than ever before.

4. Baltimore Ravens (9-3)
Midseason Rank: #4
Contender: It’s going to be interesting to see how the Ravens respond after losing their first game under the Brian Billick play-calling system. Steve McNair hardly looks comfortable in the pocket and the entire Baltimore offense is void of true playmaking talent. However, much like the team below the Ravens, the defense and special teams can win games on their own.

5. Chicago Bears (10-2)
Midseason Rank: #2
Contender: This team is toast if it’s going to rely solely on defensive touchdowns and Devin Hester. Other teams seem to rise to the playoff challenge while the Bears stay at the same pace that got them through the regular season. Rex Grossman has four weeks to grow into a consistent quarterback or else some fifth seed full of piss and vinegar is going to knock the Bears off in Chicago’s first postseason game for the third time in five years.

28. Houston Texans (4-8)
Midseason Rank: #27
What time does the draft start?: As the season draws to a close, I wonder if we’ll start hearing all the hoopla about Houston’s decision to draft Mario Williams over Reggie Bush again. Either way, last weekend didn’t help Texans fans forget about the team’s decision to pass on Bush. Williams has 4.5 sacks this season while Bush scored four touchdowns last week alone.

29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-9)
Midseason Rank: #28
What time does the draft start?: I don’t know how you could be excited if you were a Tampa Bay fan, even with a high draft pick. The defense was old two years ago, the quarterback situation is in flux and Cadillac Williams gave the Bucs nothing this season.

30. Arizona Cardinals (3-9)
Midseason Rank: #32
What time does the draft start?: I keep hearing that Mike Martz is heading to Arizona to replace Denny Green. You heard it hear first: Martz won’t go to the Cardinals. Unless there are a couple of huge openings (maybe Miami or New York?) he’ll finish out his two-year contract with Detroit and then have his pick of jobs in 2008.

31. Detroit Lions (2-10)
Midseason Rank: #29
What time does the draft start?: Matt Millen owes it to the city of Detroit and to the Lions organization to just step down. He won’t get fired; the Fords don’t fire anybody. If he continues, we may never hear about the Detroit Lions ever again. The team will just fall off the face of the earth into unrelenting darkness, and very few people will even notice.

32. Oakland Raiders (2-10)
Midseason Rank: #31
What time does the draft start?: I almost feel bad for the Raiders defense. Those players must get to the sideline after a big stop and just turn around with their helmets still on ready to go back in. The offense is either going to go three and out or turn the ball over, so they might as well be ready at all times.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Bengals’ wide receiver Reggie McNeal was arrested Sunday outside a nightclub in Houston around 2:00 a.m..

The police report states that McNeal was told the club was closed but became verbally abusive and used profanity towards the officer. The officer backed up. McNeal approached again. The officer smelled the odor of alcohol on McNeal’s breath. Then when the officer tried to place McNeal under arrest for public intoxication, McNeal elbowed him in the chest.

The Bengals now have just as many arrests in one season as they do wins. Any takers on if they can house more jailbirds than victories by the end of the season?

Last year, Sports Illustrated picked the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl XL. This year, many pundits, including ESPN’s Sean Salisbury, had the Panthers Super Bowl-bound yet again. And now after a 27-24 heartbreaking loss to the Eagles on Monday night, one has to wonder if the Panthers will ever live up to all the hype.

When I say live up to the hype, I mean dominating a division and being considered one of the elite teams in the NFL. That doesn’t entail being an inconsistent 6-6 team on the outside looking in at a playoff berth in the mediocre NFC. Living up to the hype is not allowing scatter-feet Jeff Garcia to throw for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Living up to the hype is beating a down trotted Philadelphia team who, before this win, had been looking for a reason to quit on the season when Donovan McNabb got hurt.

I hear every year how John Fox is this brilliant mind that always gets his team to play for him until the bitter end. If he’s so brilliant why did he only run the ball 23 times against an Eagles defense that just gave up 237 yards to the Colts a week ago? If his players play for him until the end, why does Carolina lead the league with five fourth-quarter losses this season? It’s always tough to play in Philly in the month of December, but you have to beat a Garcia-lead Eagles team when a postseason berth is on the line. Especially when you have first and goal from the seven-yard line with less than thirty seconds left to play and a field goal at least ties the game. Now you allow a very dangerous Andy Reid-led Eagles team to have new life.

P.S. I don’t want Jake Delhomme anywhere near my huddle in the fourth quarter with the game on the line unless Jake Plummer is my backup.

Jay Cutler’s stat line in Denver’s 23-20 loss to the Seahawks will show a decent first outing for the rookie quarterback. Cutler threw for 143 yards and two touchdowns. The young QB also threw two interceptions (one was absolutely horrible) and most of his 143 yards came on a 71 yard Brandon Marshall touchdown reception in which Seattle’s defenders wore Vaseline on their jerseys for one play. I’ll be honest, I expected more from the rookie tonight, but hey, at least he’s not Jake Plummer.

With Josh Brown’s last second field goal in the win, the kicker has now broken the hearts of three teams this season. Denver, Detroit and St. Louis (twice) have all fallen culprit to the wrath of Brown’s right leg. Seattle wasn’t overly impressive in the win – I think the defense can still be had – but it was a win nonetheless. While everyone focuses on Chicago and Dallas in the NFC, the Seahawks might just be the sleeper of conference.