Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1448 of 1503)

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.

There was a little shake up at the top with the Bears losing to hapless Miami and the true bottom team returns to its rightful place.

Here is the class and trash of the NFL after nine weeks, with nothing in between:

1. Indianapolis Colts (8-0)
Previous Rank: #2
Indy is the obvious choice for the top dog seeing as how the Colts are the only undefeated team left in the league. This team will lose a game (if not two or three) before the regular season is all said and done, however. That run defense is just brutal and it will eventually catch up with the Horseshoe Heads.

2. Chicago Bears (7-1)
Previous Rank: #1
I bet a lot of the national guys are going to drop the Bears further down their power rankings, but I’m going to try and not overact to what I saw in Chicago last Sunday. While I think the Bears have been exposed a bit, that defense is still elite and the offense is lethal enough to beat above average teams. But now after two absolutely brutal games, fans in Chi-town have to be concerned with Rex Grossman’s maddening inconsistency.

3. San Diego Chargers (6-2)
Previous Rank: #4
Every time I put this team up high, they burn me. But I’ll say it again – San Diego has a stout D, a quarterback that’s playing extremely well and the best player in the league in LaDainian Tomlinson.

4. New England Patriots (6-2)
Previous Rank: #3
I don’t think that New England has that hold it used to have over Peyton Manning anymore. While I still think the Pats are a solid football team, New England now has faced two tough opponents at home and has dropped both contests.

5. Denver Broncos (6-2)
Previous Rank: Unranked
If Javon Walker does at least half of what he did last week against the Steelers, it won’t matter how bad Jake Plummer can look at times.

28. Cleveland Browns (2-6)
Previous Rank: Unranked
I toyed with putting the Steelers in this spot, but I think Pittsburgh will eventually find its way down here eventually. I don’t know, if I were a team looking to get into the playoffs, I don’t think I would want to overlook this team, but it’s hard not to rank the Browns this low with their win-loss record.

29. Miami Dolphins (2-6)
Previous Rank: #31
The Fish get bumped up a few spots with that impressive win over Da Bears in Chicago. But let’s not get crazy here – Joey Harrington is still their quarterback. If Miami keeps getting the effort it got out of RB Ronnie Brown, however, the Dolphins will eventually make it out of the basement of these power rankings.

30. Houston Texans (2-6)
Previous Rank: #28
I don’t think you can take anything away from Houston’s effort last Sunday in New York against the Giants. However, with Miami’s win in Chicago and Detroit’s performance against the Falcons, the Texans have to drop. And I still think Cleveland is a better team than Houston at this point in the season.

31. Arizona Cardinals (1-7)
Previous Rank: #32
Only Oakland’s Monday Night Football Performance in Seattle saved the Cards from the final spot.

32. Oakland Raiders (2-6)
Previous Rank: 29
Every single thing that relates to Oakland’s offense is terrible. From Tom Walsh’s putrid game plans, to Randy Moss’s attitude, to Andrew Walter not being able to hit a receiver, to that miserable excuse for an offensive line that the Raiders have is all absolutely awful.

Monday Night Football/ESPN really needs to consider implementing a flexible schedule like NBC does with the Sunday night game. Seattle 16, Oakland 0? Why the hell are the Raiders on Monday Night Football twice this year?

What a disgrace the Raiders organization is to the NFL. Randy Moss is seen throughout the game slouching on the bench, Tyler Brayton knees another player in the Johnson and Warren Sapp acts like the idiot he is while Art Shell does nothing. Jerramy Stevens gets flagged for a 15 yard personal foul penalty and Mike Holmgren yanks his ass out of the game for a couple of plays. But no, Brayton shoves his knee into another man’s groin and Shell stands there like he’s watching freaking paint dry.

Shell has no clue and neither does Oakland’s offensive coordinator Tom Walsh. This guy has Andrew Walter throwing in Hurricane Katrina all first half, only to realize late in the third quarter that LaMont Jordan can actually find running lanes in Seattle’s defense. Then, after Walsh finds a little success with Jordan, he decides to abandon the run to start throwing again. Walter is getting sacked on virtually every play and still Walsh decides to throw. The sad part is, the Raiders defense isn’t that bad, but the offense is so abysmal that Oakland wastes opportunity after opportunity after opportunity after…

Sorry Seahawks, I won’t give you any credit for a win over that toddler of a team Oakland calls itself. Just find me the guy that scheduled Seattle-Oakland for Monday Night Football so I can knee him in the groin.

Here are your random thoughts for Week 9 in the NFL:

– I loved T.O.’s witty touchdown celebration yesterday when he pretended to fall asleep on the football (homage to him falling asleep during team meetings). But I loved when he alligator-armed a potential touchdown pass that essentially cost his team a win even more.

– Was Chad Johnson about to cry in his post-game interview yesterday?

– The Giants keep on trucking…but they’ve got some serious injury issues.

– Drew Brees is far and away the best offseason move any team made this summer.

– Daunte Culpepper is far and away the worst.

– Is there a more boring team in the NFL right now than the Minnesota Vikings?

– Three potential playoff teams with plenty to worry about at the midway point in the season: Bears (run defense), Colts (run defense) and Falcons (pass defense).

– Their play isn’t converting into many wins for their respective team right now, but both Roy Williams and Kellen Winslow Jr. are turning into excellent playmakers.

– Peyton Manning is amazing, but lets cool it with all the undefeated talk right now, okay? The Bears just lost to Miami at home, so that means that Indy can lose a game at any point during the rest of the season.

– Speaking of Indy – Marvin Harrison’s second touchdown grab last night was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen.

– Here is your biggest QB-controversy that will carry throughout the rest of the season: Byron Leftwich vs. David Garrard.

– Marques Colston (seventh round pick) is just another prime example why even these top NFL scouts have no clue sometimes.

– With Damon Huard playing as well as he is, there is no reason why Trent Green should hurry back from a concussion. Just ask Ben Roethlisberger.

– Due to their madding inconsistency, here are four quarterbacks that I would not have 100% faith in right now heading into the playoffs: Rex Grossman, Jake Plummer, Michael Vick and J.P. Losman.

Whoops, how the hell did Losman get in there? That’s my fault – he isn’t even an NFL quarterback is he?