The No-Favorite League
The first seven weeks of the NFL season have only served to make every preseason prediction specialist look like an idiot. The difference between what we expected and what we got is more mixed up than Stewart Bradley after one of this season's trademark concussions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbm88CQB7YI
No case can be made for any team's dominance, unlike years past where the Patriots, Titans, Saints and Colts began the year on long win streaks. Every team has at least one loss, and every one-loss team has also looked shaky in several victories. Injuries are to blame for some of up-and-down play seen so far. Players all over the league are competing to see who can get lose control of their own sphincter the quickest by getting concussed in as awesome a fashion as possible. Quarterbacks left and right are getting knocked out of games, mostly by the Giants defense. They concussed Matt Moore on sack in Week 1, molested the Bears offensive line in putting Baby Jay Cutler to sleep, broke Shaun Hill's arm in Week 6 and snapped Tony Romo's clavicle last night. The amount of gametime backup quarterbacks have had to play contributes to some teams' disappointing records.
Possibly the strongest team in the league is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite missing Big Ben Roethlisberger for the first four games of the season, a game for every digit he slipped into that "hesitant" co-ed, they have scrapped to a 5-1 record. However it took a horrible call by the officials to hand them a 23-22 victory over the Dolphins last week. Similarly the 5-1 Jets were giftwrapped a W by the boys in blue a week earlier, when a late game 4th down heave to Santonio Holmes drew a flag at the 1. The 5-1 Patriots' defense has been inconsistent, while the offense has looked downright awful at times. They have thrived on the mistakes of their opponents more than they've made plays.
This isn't even touching on the huge disappointments fans have gotten in Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco. Teams expected to win their divisions that are right now wallowing in last place. On Brett Favre's Vikings, picks are all too prevalent in both drive- and marriage-killing form. The Saints, despite a 4-3 record, are struggling to replicate their playmaking from last year on both offense and defense. They aren't forcing turnovers and are having trouble making the big plays that defined them as a team during their Super Bowl run.
Another small factor affecting these teams is the potential lockout looming over this season. Several players such as Vincent "I'm good to drive" Jackson, Marcus McNeill and Logan "..Who?" Mankins have held out for a better contract before hitting the lockout, affecting the passing game of the Chargers and the running game for the Pats. McNeill has since returned but the others continue to hold out until most likely Week 10.
This year has brought about some interesting upsets, and probably lost some people a lot of money. Parity in the NFL seems to be at a peak. However I can't help but think that sometimes the league is just more interesting with a juggernaut or two.
The first seven weeks of the NFL season have only served to make every preseason prediction specialist look like an idiot. The difference between what we expected and what we got is more mixed up than Stewart Bradley after one of this season's trademark concussions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbm88CQB7YI
No case can be made for any team's dominance, unlike years past where the Patriots, Titans, Saints and Colts began the year on long win streaks. Every team has at least one loss, and every one-loss team has also looked shaky in several victories. Injuries are to blame for some of up-and-down play seen so far. Players all over the league are competing to see who can get lose control of their own sphincter the quickest by getting concussed in as awesome a fashion as possible. Quarterbacks left and right are getting knocked out of games, mostly by the Giants defense. They concussed Matt Moore on sack in Week 1, molested the Bears offensive line in putting Baby Jay Cutler to sleep, broke Shaun Hill's arm in Week 6 and snapped Tony Romo's clavicle last night. The amount of gametime backup quarterbacks have had to play contributes to some teams' disappointing records.
Possibly the strongest team in the league is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite missing Big Ben Roethlisberger for the first four games of the season, a game for every digit he slipped into that "hesitant" co-ed, they have scrapped to a 5-1 record. However it took a horrible call by the officials to hand them a 23-22 victory over the Dolphins last week. Similarly the 5-1 Jets were giftwrapped a W by the boys in blue a week earlier, when a late game 4th down heave to Santonio Holmes drew a flag at the 1. The 5-1 Patriots' defense has been inconsistent, while the offense has looked downright awful at times. They have thrived on the mistakes of their opponents more than they've made plays.
This isn't even touching on the huge disappointments fans have gotten in Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco. Teams expected to win their divisions that are right now wallowing in last place. On Brett Favre's Vikings, picks are all too prevalent in both drive- and marriage-killing form. The Saints, despite a 4-3 record, are struggling to replicate their playmaking from last year on both offense and defense. They aren't forcing turnovers and are having trouble making the big plays that defined them as a team during their Super Bowl run.
Another small factor affecting these teams is the potential lockout looming over this season. Several players such as Vincent "I'm good to drive" Jackson, Marcus McNeill and Logan "..Who?" Mankins have held out for a better contract before hitting the lockout, affecting the passing game of the Chargers and the running game for the Pats. McNeill has since returned but the others continue to hold out until most likely Week 10.
This year has brought about some interesting upsets, and probably lost some people a lot of money. Parity in the NFL seems to be at a peak. However I can't help but think that sometimes the league is just more interesting with a juggernaut or two.
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