NFL 2007 Week 10: AFC Edition

AFC EAST: What did I do all week without my fix of overblown Patriots talk? Personally, I celebrated the quiet. Hopefully, though it’ll come back in full force as they come into this week’s “big” game against number two Buffalo. At least the Bills are calling it a big game. The Pats will breeze through it, especially since Marshawn Lynch is banged up and Dick Jauron has elected to go with JP Losman to start the game. My guess is that he’ll be benched by the fourth quarter in this rout. That said, the Bills have really dug themselves out of their hole and now actually look like they could have a shot at the playoffs. I feel foolish for saying so but, given how the rest of the second tier teams are playing, they’re right in the mix. The Jets will certainly fall to 1-9 after next week’s game against the Steelers and, when they do, they’ll officially be in the hunt for the worst in the league. Now, they’re no better than the Rams, who could be surging straight into mediocrity and they’re barely better than Miami, their biggest rival for worst. Miami will likely not win at Philadelphia this week, although the inconsistency of the Eagles could help them toward it, but each week that goes by finds them more desperate. Someone will go down to the lowly Dolphins, who barely lost against the Bills. At times, they actually played decent and could be gaining the confidence to upset somebody. I just hope it turns out to be against New England, who deserves it most.

AFC NORTH: It was a shockingly tight game, but the Steelers pulled out the win over the luckiest team of the century. By the end of the first half, it even looked like the Browns would grab another unconscionable victory but, though Derek the Great threw three TDs during the half, the offense couldn’t muster anything in the second and they had to rely on their shaky special teams to keep the game interesting. In the end, though, Pittsburgh knows what Cleveland is: not very much. Willie Parker rammed it down their throats when it counted, and Roethisberger had another of his respectable, but sometimes spotty, days and drove the last eight minutes of the game to get the lead and drive the nail in the Browns’ coffin. They’re in the second half with barely a winning record. In this conference they can kiss playoff hopes goodbye. The Ravens continue to fall apart and lose for the second time to the hopeless Bengals. Baltimore is now is in the sole company of the Jets as losers to Cincinnati, which says a lot about how good a team they actually are. I didn’t see this game, and I’m glad I missed it. After seven big field goals from Shayne Graham, the Ravens finally score a pointless touchdown. Right now, they have possibly the worst offense in the game. Judging from how they’re scoring these days, they’d get beaten by most baseball teams. The Bengals have to be happy, however, that Chris Henry was so productive on his first day back. All three receivers played well, despite not getting in the endzone, and T.J. is coming to be the ace of that corps.

AFC SOUTH: The closest division in football just got closer as, apparently, Adam Vinatieri had money on the Sunday night game. To be fair, Manning had one of his worst games in years against the Chargers, who badly wanted to give the Colts the game, but he’s bound to be off here and there and, for this reason, they got Vinatieri. Unfortunately, the kicker who has made forty yarders in blinding snow couldn’t put away the game from twenty yards. I’m bitter about it because it kept the Broncos out of first place in the division but, nonetheless, the Colts were given every opportunity to win and couldn’t do it. The Jaguars got tied up with the sputtering Titans in what was really a blowout, even if the score wasn’t that wide. While Quinn Grey didn’t have a very good game, the Jags finally got their running game into full gear and looked great on the ground. The Titans, on the other hand, who have been living because of their running game, ran a grand total of 19 times between three people. Vince Young threw the ball 41 times. Yes, 41 times. He did complete more than half of them, which might just be a season high, there is no excuse for that. Is there any defense in the league that is scared of Vince Young’s arm right now? The Texans are still in the hunt, only two games out of second, but they aren’t quite in the position to go to the playoff level. They’ll do themselves a huge service if they can manage a win over the Saints this week, who are themselves coming off a loss, but New Orleans is playing too well right now for that to be too likely.

AFC WEST: As I said before, I’m bitter about the Chargers’ win over the Colts. San Diego must think of themselves as the luckiest team in the league this week. They did everything in their power to hand the division lead to the Broncos but the Colts, who seem to have a subconscious grudge against Denver, weren’t having any of it. The only players who did anything worthwhile for the Chargers were Antonio Cromartie with his three interceptions (including one of the best picks I’ve ever seen) and Darren Sproles with his two return touchdowns. Other than this, LT looked mediocre and Rivers looked terrible. He looked even worse than Patrick Ramsey a couple of weeks ago…that’s bad. The Broncos have moved up from atrocious play to below average play, and this has helped them move into second place in this terrible division. It’s incredibly lucky that Cutler’s leg isn’t broken, and it’s even luckier that he’s playing his best football of the season right now. Selvin Young looks to be getting used to his future role as starting quarterback and, happy as I was that Travis Henry was signed before the season, I’m just as happy with the way Young is playing. With all the injuries, Denver will have to be even luckier than they already have been to continue even this level of play, but stranger things have happened. Hell, if the Browns can do it, so can the Broncos. Once again, the Chiefs looked bad, real bad, without Larry Johnson (not like they looked great with him). Priest Holmes is a heartwarming story, but he’s not Rudy and this isn’t Hollywood. He’s not an NFL running back any longer and his delusions will just damage his future health. It isn’t as though they have a shot at the division or the playoffs, I have a hard time seeing why they’d put a loyal former player in jeopardy like this. I have only one question about the Raiders (since I refuse to watch their games): does Oakland actually field an offense? I can’t tell.