NFL 2007 Week 13: NFC Edition

NFC EAST: Dallas has established dominance of the NFC and is the first team in the conference to enter the playoffs. Hopefully, they do better there than they’ve done in the last decade but, who knows, snaps can always be fumbled. Still, butterfingers that he is, Romo has become officially the best Cowboys quarterback ever. I don’t know about some of them (you could make a great case of Quincy Carter), but he’s sure superior to that coward Troy Aikman, who was just playing in the NFL to parlay his success into selling bricks. I have no idea how the Giants can continue to win. They play poorly every week, yet they will likely make the playoffs. I will hand it to them, though. They know the importance of taking advantage of your opponents’ ineptitude, and they were able to pull another one out with a two TD fourth quarter. They may have played well, but they have to be disappointed that Derrick Ward, after a career day, broke his leg. Now they have to rely on the oft-injured Brandon Jacobs to carry the load, which really hurts their depth. After four consecutive losses, the Redskins have shown their true colors. Last week, they let Buffalo back in the door, helping the Bills get into the playoffs and effectively ruining their own chances through spineless, stupid play. In the end though, it was senility that caused their downfall. Gibbs, however, called only the second dumbest time out of the week, with Rex Ryan being the king of idiocy. Nothing besides Philadelphia’s record would indicate that they’ve failed as much as they have. After nearly taking out New England, they return with another loss and last place in the division. Feeley, for all the decent games he’s had, was only 19 out of 42 passing. The Seahawks aren’t great right now, but you can’t throw so many away and expect to come back. Anyone who feels that Feeley is the answer to Philly’s problems is either crazy or rooting for the team to lose.

NFC NORTH: They were who I thought they were. The first quarter of the Dallas-Green Bay matchup looked exactly how I expected it to. It’s the Favre I know. You know the one: he throws off his back foot all the time and throws into coverage pretending to be a hero. We haven’t seen him too much this year, but he broke out in full force on Thursday. What I didn’t expect was to see Aaron Rodgers look so polished and professional. A Rodgers-led Packers is a team I could support. Too bad, despite his injury, the Hulkster that is Favre is going to keep his streak alive and keep his team down as long as he possibly can. Well, Kitna needs to win out to fulfill his guarantee. Has anyone told Kitna that lies make baby Jesus cry? He needs to get off the pulpit and get back to reality, because his team is playing as terribly as they possibly could be. For all the pomp at the beginning of the playoffs, they are right in position to miss the playoffs once again. Minnesota, on the other hand, is as hot as any team right now. Tavarius Jackson is no longer playing like the JV reject from the beginning of the season and, with Peterson back in the lineup and their defense playing as high caliber as they have, they should take the number two slot from the Lions on Sunday. The Bears aren’t taking anything. The only thing they will take is their pants off so the Redskins can have their way on Sunday. This week was a classic Bears breakdown. They kept letting the Giants in the door and, finally, couldn’t stop them from doing anything in the second half. They were pathetic, and will continue this trend against Washinton.

NFC SOUTH: The Bucs close win over the surging Saints was probably their most important win of the season. They have a three game lead in the division now and look to be a shoe in for the division title. Luke McCown looked fantastic in Garcia’s stead but, if they can get him back this week, they should cinch the division against Houston this week. The Panthers can beat all the bad teams they want; that doesn’t make them any less a bad team. They won, but their playoff hopes are all but shot. Steve Smith started playing just in time for his catches to not mean anything, but at least he’s showing up for games these last couple of weeks. The Saints may not have looked great on paper, but their loss against the Bucs was a back and forth, exciting matchup that New Orleans almost pulled out of. At this point, the organization must realize that Reggie Bush is barely useful on offense. They have to hope Deuce is back next year full strength or their running game will never get going. I used to hear a lot about untapped potential in Jake Plummer, and I didn’t believe it then. I sure don’t believe it here. Tap the potential or throw away the keg. An untapped keg is of no use to anybody. Like this is a surprise to anybody, but the Falcons looked absolutely wretched against the lowly Rams. They crack me up though. Why on Earth would they have signed Harrington if they refuse to play him a full game. He’s inefficient, so they put in Chris Redman. Now, he’ll probably start this week and they’ll get blown out, so they’ll put Harrington in. He’ll start the following game and get benched, and so on, and so on, and so on.

NFC WEST: If there’s one thing that’s been consistent this year in the NFL it’s the crappy play in the Western half of the US. The AFC and NFC divisions are basically identical. The Seahawks had another back and forth battle against the Eagles, who can’t seem to win no matter how hard they play. Seattle looks like they should be a good team every week, and they were in this outing, but they fall apart every couple of games. It’s hard to have faith in this kind of team, but they’re easily the class of the division. Nobody even comes close. Arizona looks to be ready for another playoff berth. I’m keeping my hopes way up for the Cardinals to take on the Cowboys so we can have a repeat of their previous meeting. They keep winning by exploiting their superior receivers, but now that Boldin’s out, they are going to have a little more trouble. I don’t think they have a shot at going far in the playoffs, but making the postseason to spoil one particular team’s run keeps me going. San Francisco and St. Louis are tied at the bottom but, based on how they’re playing, the Rams are far better. They beat the crap out of the Falcons and, though they’ve only won three games, the second half of their season has been significantly stronger than the first. The ‘Niners, however, couldn’t beat even the worst of teams. Their big 195 total yards sure won’t win many games for them. When your defense gives up nearly twice as many yards as you can gain, it shouldn’t be too surprising when your team gets destroyed.