Well, week 9 is just about in the books, which means the NFL season has reached the half way point with everyone having played 8 games (pending tonight's loss by Seattle).
A few things that make me sad.
The Dolphins sucked it big time, but I did get to smile when they scored over 20 for the first time this year by dropping 31 on the Bears who were supposed to be the second coming of the Monsters of the Midway.
I severely underestimated the lack of intelligence of Culpepper and his ability to choke under the gun. Joey, well, the least said about him, the better. Only Mike Vick is a worse starting QB than Harrington. I'd rather have Huard or Fiedler at this point. C'mon Raiders, Culpepper & Booker for Moss & Walter.
Andrew Walter, and more precisely Brooks' injury, ruined my hopes for an 0-16 season in Oakland. Boo! Now they'll end up with 4 wins (Seattle is 3 ... maybe even more), leaving Miami as a bottom feeder.
So to recap my earlier predictions:
NFC East
I had the G-Men to win and Philly to make a Wild Card run. No changes there except that NY is better than I thought and Philly will probably not make it. The entire division is weaker than expected.
NFC South
I had the panthers in a cakewalk and I clearly underestimated the Saints and rookie Payton. The Saints are the team here with the Panthers as a weak wild card - they are too inconsistent, like the Saints used to be.
NFC North
Ouch. This division sucks and the Vikes are not very good and should fold soon enough. The Bears were the original pick and I stand by that.
NFC West
I had Seattle at 7 wins, I got scared for a while, but now I'm on track again - Seneca Wallace! I picked St. Louis to win, based on the Ewing theory with Martz. That's still my pick but Arizona as a wild card is out. And SF is better then expected.
So now it's:
1 - NY Giants (2 previously)
2 - Chicago (3 - because of a loss in NY this week)
3 - N'Awlins (NR)
4 - St. Louis (4)
5 - Carolina (1)
6 - Philly (5) or Dallas or god forbid Atlanta ... Dallas would have the best chance of winning a wild card game though.
NY over Chicago (home field) to reach the SB.
New Orleans will make it fun in Chicago, but the cold will be too much, but they do have a shot and that should be a better game than NY-Carolina.
AFC West
I called this the toughest to call and had the Raiders done (unless they used Jeff George). I got that right. I had Denver failing because of a lack of commitment to a runner. And I undervalued the Browns defense they use.
I think Denver is awesome and SD is a playoff team. KC has the injury to blame, but are still a force at home.
AFC North
I thought the recovering QBs would be the story, but both Cincy and Pittsburgh have had various degrees of suckitude.
I actually thought Baltimore was doomed. I regret that but Baltimore will win this division by default.
AFC East
I obviously had the Fish here and the Pats learning from their mistakes (Branch & Vinatieri). I was right about the kicker mistake, but somehow the Golden boy is still getting it done. The Jets and Bills suck too, so the Pats are champs again in a weak ass division.
AFC South
Oh baby, now here's a tight battle. I had the Jags winning the division with Indy feeling the loss of Edge. The Jags are looking good (save a couple of instances) but the Colts are playing the Milton Berle card and just whipping it out to make a statement (last night) when necessary.
** The Milton Berle theory refers to the following story/urban legend. As you may or may not know, uncle Miltie was blessed with a schlong that would make John Holmes proud (I'm not talking about the PGA pro here). The story goes that one day a young stud challenged Milton to a measuring contest and was promptly humiliated when he couldn't measure up to Berle. According to the legend, Milton later spoke of the incident by saying he pulled out just enough to win. The Colts are therefore just doing enough to win every week without whipping it out Dirk Diggler style.
Vince Young sucks as I predicted and Houston is plagued by the prospect that it could have had Bush. But at least they beat Miami, which beat Chicago. By the NCAA logic that makes them the best team in the league!
So the AFC goes:
1 - Indy (5)
2 - Denver (NR)
3 - New England (NR - easy schedule)
4 - Baltimore (NR)
5 - Jacksonville (1)
6 - SD (6)
I like Indy over Denver. Denver should beat NE in Mile high in January. And the Ravens should lose to Jacksonville. SD would be much higher if they didn't have Martyball.
So I originally had my SB faves (not named Miami) as Carolina, NYG, Jags, Cincy, KC & Philly.
Now I have Eli in the Manning bowl (which makes me sad because of all the hype, but this will be Tiki's Bettis like farewell). Then the contenders go: Chicago, Denver, Indy, Carolina and Jags.
If either NE or the Saints make it ... that could be the weirdest ever. The Pats are clutch, unfortunately, and the Saints have the best karma ever.
Yikes.
No comments:
Post a Comment