Half way stage, 32 Teams, 32 (and a whole lot more) Random Thoughts
by Brian Davis
November 4th 2011
 
AFC East
 
Buffalo Bills
Started like a house on fire and finally ended the New England hoodoo that was hanging over them, but since then, they’ve slowed down a little. My main concern here is if Fred Jackson goes down at all, can they sustain the pace they are going at in a 3 team and Miami division. Tight End Scott Chandler has 6 TD’s on 15 catches this season, impressive! Before this season he had 1 catch for 8 yards after previously being on 3 other teams with no catches. You wouldn’t want to rely on him in Fantasy play in deep leagues though!
 
New England Patriots
Defensively this team is in a bit of a state. This might just be the worst defence Belichick has had under him in Foxboro but when you have the offence that he has, you can almost afford to give up 3 TD’s a game. I found the decision to release Leigh Bodden a little strange given they must have known that Ras I Dowling was going on IR the following day. Oh and Rob Gronkowski, thanks for giving me somebody new to follow on Twitter this week! Bi Bi Baby, baby goodbye. Bi baby, baby Bi Bi. Bi Bi baby, don’t make me cry Bi baby, baby Bi Bi.
 
New York Jets
Why did the Jets think it was a good idea to move away from smash mouth football and grinding out the tough victories with the running game and putting the game in the hands of Mark Sanchez in the passing game? Especially when Sanchez isn’t getting Santonio Holmes the ball as much as he should be. Opposing quarterbacks have a 2.9 passer rating this season when throwing at Darrelle Revis. Revis has allowed just 10 receptions and no touchdowns while covering the opponents’ No. 1 receiver on a weekly basis.
 
Miami Dolphins
Just the Phins and the Colts in the race for that #1 pick this year after the Rams surprising win on Sunday. Other than Washington in Week 10, it’s hard to see where this team gets a win. They still have 4 Divisional matchups to go (Bills twice) as well as visits from the Eagles and Raiders, they also have to go to Kansas City and Dallas. Here’s a thought Dolphins fans… I saw some of the USC Stanford game this weekend gone, there really wasn’t “That much” between Luck and Barkley pound for pound, blow for blow in that game, if you finish with the #1 pick and somebody showers you with First and Second Round picks for the next 2 years, do you trade out? Barkley can still be a Franchise QB. Odd fact – Reggie Bush has two 100 yard games, both versus the Giants!
 
AFC West
 
San Diego Chargers
Philip Rivers leads the NFL in Interceptions with 11 and turnovers with 14, no, I didn’t see that coming this year either. Something clearly isn’t right with Rivers. Either he has an injury or there is something going on behind the scenes that we are not aware of, but this isn’t the Philip Rivers we know. Performance wise, he’s fallen from the upper echelons of Quarterback to play to a middle of the road average Quarterback in 2011 so far. San Diego are historically slow starters, but hear that San Diego, that’s the sound of the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs breathing over your shoulder. When Norv is in charge, anything is possible. Other than winning a Super Bowl, of course.
 
Oakland Raiders
Big concern of mine here is how much power does Hue Jackson have right now? He paid an awful lot to get Carson Palmer, has picked up first round bust Aaron Curry and now picks up one of his old Wide Receivers from his Bengals Coaching days. I do like the pickup of TJ Houshmandzadeh this week though, he’s familiar with Carson Palmer, they will probably bring out the best in each other and he gives the team a nice pair of hands over the middle alongside Kevin Boss, so he’s different from all the speed guys flying up the flanks. I would expect him to get somewhere around 4-6 catches this Sunday. If the Carson Palmer trade fails, at least they have Shane Lechlar to come in and see some snaps at Quarterback.
 
Kansas City Chiefs
After 3 weeks, people said this team was the worst in the league. After 7 weeks, they share a lead in their division with the Chargers and the Raiders, all without the help of star running back Jamaal Charles and Safety Eric Berry. Tough going. Matt Cassel might not be everybody’s Cup of Tea in the NFL but he’s looking like a decent enough Quarterback to guide this team back into the playoffs again this year. Very underrated guy who deserves credit where it’s due. He’s starting to shake off the New England “system” tag.
 
Denver Broncos
Let me start by saying this, I like Tim Tebow. I took part in a 32 team, 53 player, Quarterback vote heavy dynasty draft this spring, I took him as my QB with the 20th Pick overall. I really hate that decision now, given the fact I could have waited until Round 2 to take Ryan Fitzpatrick or even later for Cam Newton, who will undoubtedly be more of vote getters and rightly so given their form. Some of Tebow’s play since getting the starters job has been just horrible. BUT, The Broncos need to stick with him, if they play him for the rest of the season, they’ll know one way or the other if he’s going to be the QB of the future. Kyle Orton had his chance, he failed to deliver, the Broncos have no choice but to play Tebow. Right now, I just don’t see Tebow being the future and the Broncos are going to be years behind where they want to be over the next few seasons because of Josh McDaniels’ mess.
 
AFC South
 
Houston Texans
So the last few years The Texans have been the Sexy pick to make the playoffs, have flattered to deceive and disappointed when it mattered the most, and now this year they are going to make it by default because their division stinks! Still, they have won the last couple of weeks with no Andre Johnson, so maybe they should be getting more credit than they are getting right now. I’d put them right now at 95% to win this division.
 
Tennessee Titans
Hands up if Chris Johnson is almost single-handedly killing your fantasy team? Quite a few hands I see there. Me too in one of my leagues, sadly I’ve probably now missed the trade him high boat. I thought Matt Hasselbeck started this season really well but has regressed of late. The loss of Kenny Britt didn’t seem to affect him immediately, but the lack of a true No.1 go to guy has started to show the last couple of outings.
 
Jacksonville Jaguars
I remember, only a matter of 12 months or so ago when the AFC South was one of the strongest divisions in the NFL. Right now, it looks pretty putrid. This team was destined to fail the minute they let David Garrard walk out the front door. I haven’t seen enough from Gabbert yet to suggest he is going to be a great Quarterback, he’s certainly not performing on the levels we have seen from Newton, Dalton and on Sunday he had less yards passing than Arian Foster had rushing and Maurice Jones-Drew can’t be expected to carry this team on his shoulders for much longer. Poor Team. Poor Management. Poor Front Office. Poor Fans. Los Angeles Jaguars anybody?
 
Indianapolis Colts
Peyton Manning for the MVP award anybody? I don’t think many teams have suffered at the hands of losing one player as much as we have seen happen to the Colts this season. I really thought this team still had somewhere between 4 and 6 wins this year, even without Manning this year. I fail to understand why Peyton hasn’t been put on IR yet. It makes absolutely no sense to have him active and risk playing him behind their O Line when they are potentially 0-12 or 1-13 or worse. If they really “want” Andrew Luck to be the heir apparent, then they really just need to keep what they are doing.
 
AFC North
 
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens let their guard down Sunday, letting the Cardinals run into a lead of 24-3, looking far from a team that many picked as a potential Super Bowl team. Yet in the 2nd half, they looked the complete reverse with a 24 point run to turn the game on its head. They really should be beating teams like Arizona by more than 3 points. They won’t be able to spot many teams on their schedule a 24 point lead and still win this year. Cam Cameron needs to get Ray Rice more involved this week. Offensive Line and Corner back looks to be a nasty problem here.
 
Pittsburgh Steelers
Another team making a big statement and shaking off a hoodoo by dispatching of the Patriots at home last weekend. Offensively they played well to exploit New England’s secondary, they got Heath Miller involved early, exposing matchups against Linebackers, they spread the ball around to a number of receivers and didn’t force anything deep to Wallace. Defensively, they kept their DB’s tight on the WR’s and validated their secondary being one of the best in the league and adjusted perfectly to stall the Patriots to under 200 yards passing. They may also welcome back James Harrison from injury this weekend, but if he, Farrior, Worilds and Woodley are all out this weekend, they are going to have to make some massive adjustments. Bring on one of my favourite games of the season this weekend! Ravens @ Steelers. Let’s go to War!
 
Cincinnati Bengals
I like what the defence is doing here, they look really tough, but they haven’t really faced an explosive offence yet. Dalton is progressing soundly and it’s great to see them progressing without the dark shadows of Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens hanging over them. The hard work really starts now for the Bengals as a tough schedule awaits, we’ll see the true identity of this team by Thanksgiving and whether we can buy in to what they are doing. AJ Green and Jerome Simpson look like a decent WR pairing.
 
Cleveland Browns
Two words to surmise the Browns so far this year – Madden curse. The Browns released former 2nd round pick Brian Robiskie this week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up on an NFL roster very soon. I’m not sure the Browns have used him as well as they could have done. (edit, Robiskie claimed on Waivers by the Jaguars) Poor fella.
 
NFC East
 
New York Giants
Does anybody want to win this division? The Giants lead right now, but check out the brutal schedule for over the remainder of the year. @New England, @San Francisco, Home v Eagles @New Orleans, Home v Green Bay before 2 games with Dallas, 1 with The Skins and a New York Derby. Brandon Jacobs appears to be out of favour despite what has become a Running Back by committee approach in the NFL. This makes no sense to me. He’s a bowling ball when he has the ball in his hands, he’s a decent blocker can pick up the blitz. When did Aaron Ross become such a bad Cornerback?
 
Dallas Cowboys
It doesn’t surprise me to see the Cowboys struggling here. It’s pretty clear to see that Jason Garrett is still the problem with the offence and Tony Romo still isn’t very good. Rob Ryan might want to keep his trap shut in future. I guess it runs in the family. I was very interested to hear the fans reaction in and around Wembley the other week (and in previous seasons), lots of boos whenever their name was called out. Please can we have them as Road game opponents Mr. Goodell? America’s team (BLEURGH) are certainly not Great Britain’s Team.
 
Philadelphia Eagles
Andy Reid is 13-0 coming out of Regular season bye weeks. Maybe if he had 2 weeks before every game he might manage his game clock better? The Eagles, despite their bad start, are poised to mount their charge right here. This division should be decided by the rematch of the Eagles Giants in Week 11, if the Eagles win that and they can’t really afford to lose it, and can lose a maximum of two games here on out, they’ll win this division.
 
Washington Redskins
It’s really quite surprising how many putrid quarterback situations there are in the NFL. Here’s another. Rex Grossman replaced by John Beck. Ouch. Redskins are on a real slide right now, they are not helped by injuries and really only have Fred Davis as an offensive threat right now. It didn’t surprise me at all to see that the Redskins claimed Tashard Choice off waivers this week. It would surprise me even less if Mike Shanahan starts him against the 49ers this weekend! Chris Cooley has some great sideburns.
 
NFC South
 
New Orleans Saints
I looked up Inconsistent in the dictionary this morning, it said this;
adjective
1. lacking in harmony between the different parts or elements; self-contradictory: an inconsistent story.
2. The New Orleans Saints.
I mean really, New Orleans, the 0-6 Rams???!!! We’ve seen it many times in the past, Saints are down 20 going into the 4th Quarter and they get the win. It’s not a successful week after week formula though as the Rams showed. Drew Brees is 2nd in the league in interceptions. Saints have their work cut out to win this division, especially with that porous Offensive Line. Full Back Jed Collins has one of the best rushing stat lines in the NFL: 3att, 2yds, 2TD’s. After Week 5 of this year, he had 1att, 1 yd, 1TD and 1Rec, 1yd, 1TD. I like that symmetry!
 
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons have never beaten The Colts on the Road……. until this Sunday. The Colts lead the regular-season series with Atlanta by a 13-1 margin. That’s the most lopsided advantage by one team over another in an series involving at least 10 league meetings. Atlanta’s only win in the series occurred in 1998. (stats from CBS Sports)
 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers; London’s team
Missing. Josh Freeman: Version 2010. If found, please return to Tampa Bay.
Missing. Mike Williams South: Version 2010. If found, please return to Tampa Bay.
The Bucs need LeGarrette Blount back to his best this weekend, after Earnest Graham went down at Wembley the Bucs offered absolutely nothing in the ground game. Blount gives them a great downhill game, especially with their powerful O line.
 
Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton is legit. How can so many “draft & NFL experts” be so wrong? Peter King came out with the best stat last week for Newton; “He has seven rushing touchdowns, which is two more than Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, LaDainian Tomlinson and DeAngelo Williams combined.” The Panthers have been one of the most enjoyable teams to watch this season. Welcome to relevance again Steve Smith. I bet Rhys Lloyd wishes the kick off rule never changed.
 
NFC West
 
San Francisco 49ers
6-1. The 6 and 1 San Francisco 49ers. Sounds good doesn’t it 49ers fans? What a difference a Coach who knows what they are doing makes. Thanks for the nightmares Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary, Jimmy Raye, Jim Hostler, Mike Martz, never come back, ever.
The schedule is stacked in the Niners favour and they get to pit their wits against some of the best with games against the Steelers, Ravens and Giants mixed in with 5 divisional games and the Redskins. The sooner the 49ers clinch, the sooner they can really open the playbook in games they can afford to lose, let Alex turn it loose downfield and get ready for situations they might come up against in the playoffs. The stats say there is only a 0.2% chance that the 49ers now won’t make the playoffs. The defence is one of the best in the league, period. Great front 7, a secondary outperforming how anybody ever imagined, to allow a Rookie Cornerback in Chris Culliver to go in Single coverage against Calvin Johnson shows the faith this Coaching staff has in its defence. Another miss for the “draft experts” again, one name……Aldon Smith who is slowly building a Defensive Rookie of The Year campaign. On Offence Alex Smith is doing exactly what he is asked. Smith has only 2 interceptions on the year. Frank Gore has the heart of a lion and is running as if he’s in his early 20?s again, the OL is starting to pull it together in both pass protection and run blocking (and catching!). The receivers are catching pretty much anything coming their way. Braylon Edwards is fit again. Crabtree looks like the Receiver he showed so much of at Texas Tech. Delanie Walker is money and Vernon Davis hasn’t even really got involved yet! The 49ers Special Teams unit might be the best in the NFL. Everything is pointing in the right direction for this team.
 
Seattle Seahawks
I’m really not sure how this team beat the Giants? The Quarterback situation is hideous and the rest of the Offence is pretty poor too. The defence is starting to come together, but this is another team who with the right off-season moves could have gone back to the playoffs. Pete Carroll didn’t make those right moves and this team is heading backwards again in a division it really could have and should have competed in again.
 
Arizona Cardinals
The Cards gave up too much for Kevin Kolb, he’s starting to show that now, he’s really not playing well or deserving of the money he’s been given and to top it all, he now might miss this Sunday with injury. John Skelton v AJ Feeley this Sunday. Enjoy that Cardinals and Rams fans!
 
St Louis Rams
Statement win for the Rams last Sunday, nearly doubling their season’s points tally in one game. The Saints might be pretty inconsistent, but this is how I expected the Rams to play pre-season and they did it without Quarterback Sam Bradford! I love the “throwback” jersey’s from Sunday though, I wish they would play in those every week. Make it happen St Louis! That Stadium and players were clearly feeding off the positivity of the St Louis Cardinals World Series win the previous night. I wonder how many tens of thousands of bottles of Bud were downed over that weekend in St Louis?!
 
NFC North
 
Green Bay Packers
Simply put, the best team in the league right now, the team to beat. No Quarterback is playing close to as well as Aaron Rodgers is. I can see this team going unbeaten to at least Thanksgiving. The Lions away might provide their sternest test. It will be interesting to see what happens if they have the division tied up by the time they finish off the regular season in Weeks 16 and 17 with divisional matchups versus the Bears and Lions. The Aaron Rodgers State Farm advert is excellent if you haven’t already seen it: Discount Double Check!
 
Detroit Lions
A stroll in the park against Denver buried the memory of 2 rough weeks for the Lions. Meanwhile, Ndamukong Suh has paid a visit to Uncle Roger to learn what he is allowed and not allowed to do when he gets near the opposing teams Quarterback. Expect whatever Roger told him to change just before the Lions next play the Patriots, when Suh dares to menacingly stare at Brady over the Line of Scrimmage;”Staring, in a menacing way, Number 90 of the Defence, 15 yard penalty, automatic first down”
 
Chicago Bears
#PayForte. Seriously Chicago, what does this guy have to do to get a new contract? The guy is busting his tail, having a Roger Craig/Marshall Faulk type season. Forte is elite. I really don’t see him having a Chris Johnson post-contract slump and if the Bears are using that as example #1 then they are more short-sighted than I ever thought they were and I fully endorse his comments of being grinded into a pulp and being messed around by the Bears coaching staff, in the Chicago Sun Times this week. Pay the man his due. He will reward you handsomely.
 
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings are doing the right thing now in giving Ponder the rest of the year to settle into an NFL starting role. They have nothing to gain in playing McNabb, despite his protests and by all accounts. Ponder had a pretty nice outing against a very tough Packers Defence last Sunday. When you have one of the best Running Backs in your backfield it’s a massive help to a rookie QB.