But back to stuff I'm supposed to write about.
Do the Philadelphia Eagles make sense to anyone? Go 3-6 with Mike Vick calling the shots and then end up beating the New York Giants with Vince Young under center. Granted the game was god awful and I didn't even have the stomach to watch the whole thing but come on; Vince Young was so 4 years ago.
I would have to think that due to the conference they are in and the wild card predictions that the Eagles are not playoff hopefuls. If they won out the season then maybe they could have a shot at a playoff spot. Look for the Eagles to play the spoiler card on teams for the remainder of the season and it will have a huge impact on standings.
As the weeks roll on look for a lot more of this to happen; teams becoming contenders while others turn out to be pretenders.
The team that really looked like a pretender this week would have to be the Buffalo Bills. Now this is the team that I remember from oh lets say last season? They have now lost three straight games and have been largely blown out in the contests (opponents are out scoring them 106-26 during the losing streak). The offense has lost its balanced attack on offense and the defense looks like it couldn't stop molasses from coming out of a jar.
I bet the fans are wishing to get some sort of rebate for the contract extension they gave quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Since signing the extension, Fitzpatrick has thrown eight interceptions, which brings his total on the season to 14. But the Bills are starting to fall into some tough times. Players on both sides of the ball are starting to go hard with some serious injuries. Just this week against the Dolphins cornerback Terrence McGee went down with what has to be a season ending knee injury since CBS wouldn't even play the replay of the injury it was so bad, halfback Fred Jackson suffered a minor calf injury, and wide receiver Donald Jones was carted off the field in an air cast on his ankle. Since week 8 the Bills have had to place three other key players on injured reserve.
Now into what I learned this week:
1) Time to start talking perfect?
The Pack continue to roll. After this weeks 35-26 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the Packers now sit at 10-0 and lead the NFC (obviously). Aaron Rogers is just playing stupid and can make a win for his squad in any situation. The Buccs kept this game relatively close throughout and were only down by 2 with 2:55 left in the fourth quarter. But then Rogers says "OK I guess I'll try now" and throws a 40-yard strike to Jordy Nelson to secure another win.
Is it too soon to start making the comparisons?
Not too long ago in 2007 the Patriots were able to finish off the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record. A quarterback by the name of Tom Brady was playing out of his mind; kind of like Aaron Rogers. He threw the ball to everyone and everyone scored; kind of like the Packers offense. The offense was putting up 36.8 points per game while their defense was only allowing 17.1 points per game, a point differential of 19.7 per game, close to what the Packers are holding now.
These teams are eerily similar on both sides of the ball; no running game, a feared linebacker core, a white wide receiver that tears it up, and a quarterback that does whatever he feels like and it works.
Probability wise the Packers are not going to go undefeated. There is just too much that can go wrong. Be it an injury, garbage games to close out the season, a surprise game where the team just isn't clicking, or just a hard fought game where the Packers end up losing. Too many variables can create obstacles on the road to a perfect season. This coming Thanksgiving game against the detroit Lions will be a big hurdle on that road and I certainly look forward to watching that one.
2) Daaaaaaaa Bears
Who would have thought that the Bears have finally pulled their act together. They have always been a good team, but seemingly just found ways to lose important games. After this weeks match against San Diego the Bears might be on the right track now.
Including this week the Bears have put themselves on a five game winning streak and are inching closer and closer towards the playoffs. But those playoff hopes may come to a crashing halt this week.
Jay Cutler, quarterback for the team suffered a broken thumb on his throwing hand in the fourth quarter of the game and preliminary reports say that there could be a season ending surgery in Cutler's near future. Without Cutler the hopes for this team in the postseason drop drastically. Caleb Hanie is definitely going to be taking over for Cutler this week and that is all we know at this point. Unless Cutler can come back within 3 weeks or Hanie can somehow continue this winning streak for the Bears then the chances at a wild card spot in the NFC is going to be a stretch.
3) The Future
Remember when the Lions went 0-16? That wasn't a good season for them. But, just 2 seasons later, the Lions have become the talk of the town. Sitting at 7-3 and tied with the Bears in the NFC North the Lions are fighting for a playoff spot via the Wild Card.
Who are the next Lions? My vote goes to CAAAAMMMMM!! The sensation that is sweeping the nation. The Panthers have been a great looking club even though their record doesn't show it (sitting 2-8 right now) and continue to improve weekly. There is much work to be done though. Their defense is ranked 17th in passing defense and 30th in rush defense. Can't be expected to win games if you can't stop the football from moving down the field.
Before the Lions went on their 5 game win streak at the end of the 2010 season they lost a lot of close games in the fourth quarter and blew some leads in the fourth quarter.
Enter the Carolina Panthers.
This season they have lost 3 games in the fourth quarter. On top of that they have had the lead going into halftime in 3 of their games in which the end result was a loss.
Now that the owners know that they have hope for a winning season for the first time in a few years look for them to invest this off-season to only improve the team and increase the win column.
4) I Hate Tim Tebow
Tim Tebo is the most awkward player to watch in the NFL. I refuse to watch any of his games. What sort of team thinks they can run the ball over 50 times in consecutive games and then win. How the Broncos continue to win baffles me.
In case you were wondering, Tim Tebow can't throw the football. He runs it a lot. He gives the ball to his running back to run when he gets tired.
Granted I love that they beat the Jets. The Jets defense is supposed to be one of the tops in the league, yet Tim Tebow can just run for a million yards and win the game of course on a QB draw play. I don't even know what to say to that. I don't even know what to say about Tim Tebow. I hate him. How he thinks the game is played is stupid. If you want to run with the ball a bunch go play a running position. Better yet just go back to the sidelines, put a football in your hand, and run run around there. Oh wait, that's right, you pray on the sidelines opposed to paying attention to the game. That's why you deserved this:
That's my week wrap-up. Tebow made my brain explode. And if I read one more Skip Bayless tweet about how good and elite Tebow is I swear to god I will club a baby seal.
Get at me this week with some comments, suggestions, challenges, or death threats from you Tebow dickriders on Twitter @iedlund or find me on Facebook or Google+ (yes it's a real thing).
Excited for these next coming weeks and watching how the playoff races shape up. I'm going to post more this week as well. Possibly a Patriots post-game article or my rookie article (it's in the works) who knows so keep checking back!
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