AFC EAST: Oh, what joy. The Patriots played again and, lo and behold, they blew the Bills out of the water. It’s a waste of time to watch New England play. It’s like watching somebody play Madden, that is, extremely boring. When you’re already up by 21 points at the end of the half, there is no excuse for hucking the ball downfield. They got a touchdown…great, they’re running their offense and the game isn’t over with, I can accept this, I guess. However, when a team is up like New England is going for it on fourth down time and again, this is just rubbing their faces in it. This doesn’t usually happen, but I feel bad for the Bills, who have been playing far above their level only to get swatted back down. It’s almost like the Patriots had an extra vendetta against them; since Kevin Everett is doing well, they wanted to make the rest of the team feel paralyzed. The Jets finally won another game, through a pathetic performance from the Steelers. If I was a Jets fan, I would take this as a sign that the quarterback is not the main issue with the team. Kellen Clemens is not the answer, but neither is Chad Pennington. The answer is an offensive line that can protect the quarterback and open holes for the running back. They don’t have a lot, but with a player like Lavernues Coles, they should be able to put up more points. He may not be a Randy Moss, but he’s pretty far up there. Without time, there’s no way he can get open. It’s pretty amazing how badly the Dolphins are playing. Philadelphia had a terrible game, rife with injuries, but Miami simply has no offense, none at all. Had Ronnie Brown not gotten hurt, I believe they’d have won at least a couple of these games but, noble as his effort has been, Jesse Chapman is just not the same. In desperation, they are accepting Ricky Williams back into the fold. I’m happy for Williams, but it won’t mean much for Miami. He’s over thirty and, while he hasn’t been tearing his body apart for the last few years, there’s no way he’ll be the force he once was. Still, they’re my real dark horse to beat the Patriots, and I’d love to see Williams as a big part of that.
AFC NORTH: Boy, did the Steelers look bad on Sunday. They’re a strange team. They’ve earned respect and, at times, are playing really well. But their three losses come against the Cardinals, the Broncos and the Jets. They really seem to play to their opponents’ level and are a completely beatable team at any time. Most are picking them as the strongest bet to beat the Pats, but I think they’ll get wailed on all day long. The defense is excellent and, if Roethisberger and Parker are both on, they can score a lot of points but, if either of them is off, the whole team falls apart. Cleveland wins again, in hilarious fashion no less. I’ve only seen this a few times in my life, but it’s great fun when a team thinks they’ve won and have gone back into the locker room, only to find out that there is more game to play. This has been the year of the kicker and Cleveland’s Phil Dawson made probably the craziest field goal any of us have ever seen. I’ve thought it ridiculous that the Browns are winning like they are, but when you take a victory like that, it’s fantastic. The Ravens must be pissed, though. That field goal was the difference between being tied for second in the division and a losing record. They’ve fallen apart so badly, though, they have nobody to blame for that but themselves. Plus, since many of them were already in the showers, their hearts probably weren’t so much into that overtime period. Cincinnati’s offense has gotten a great boost from the return of Chris Henry and they really seem to be clicking on that side of the ball. Their defense, though, is just not showing up. While they only punted one time and each of their top four receivers got eight catches (fantastic ball distribution), they didn’t have a player on defense with more than five tackles. Arizona had three players with more tackles than Cincy’s top guy and, while Arizona allowed 27 points, their vaunted offense just couldn’t be stopped. The Bengals now really have to think about what they can give up to help their defense out and, unfortunately, I believe that cut will be Chad Johnson. New England will probably sign him as their #2.
AFC SOUTH: The Colts sure have fallen apart after the New England game. It’s almost like they were playing the entire season for that match up and, failing to win it, see little point in playing out the rest of the season. They beat the Chiefs, which shouldn’t be that hard, but they had to do it in nail-biting fashion. Has a kicker as high profile as Adam Vinatieri ever gone downhill so quickly? He hit the game winner, to be sure, but he missed two previously. It sounds a lot like Jason Elam earlier this year. Right now, I’m very happy with this division for two reasons. First, Jacksonville takes San Diego apart. The Jags do so well with so very little, I have to be impressed every week with Jack Del Rio and his staff. They have players on offense that appear akin to Miami’s squad, but yet they keep winning. It’s either good coaching or a mafia connection, but they’ve pretty well assured themselves a wild card slot with that win. Second, the Titans laid down for the Broncos, which is greatly appreciated. Vince Young had a very good passing day, a career day in fact, but because the Broncos got out to a big early lead, Tennessee just doesn’t have the capability to catch up. This doesn’t bode well for their playoff hopes, but they’re not out of it yet. The Texans, out of the running as they may be, are still playing very well for their talent level. Matt Schaub had a good game and must be elated that Andre Johnson has returned. He had a big game but, more important to the story of the game, Mario Williams had a much better day on his side than Reggie Bush had. Putting them together on the same field should remove any doubt that Kubiak made the right choice with his draft pick.
AFC WEST: Nothing feels better to me right now than being able to have the Broncos at the top of this list. They’ve played two very strong games in a row and it appears that they’ve turned around a lot of their problems. They gave up a minimum of rushing yards, despite the fact that the Titans only have a rushing game, the dropped balls and penalties were both down and special teams was way up. They had their first punt return for a touchdown in four years yesterday and I can’t actually say how long it had been before that. Here’s to a 7-9 Broncos team winning the division. Go Broncos! The Chargers, on the other hand, have looked really bad over the last few weeks and couldn’t handle the Jag’s onslaught on Sunday at all. Rivers looks like he’s scared and Merriman looks like he’s finally off the steroids and playing like it. They are going to stay in with the Broncos for the rest of the season but, like Denver, really have too many problems to be any threat to any team during playoff time. Kansas City did their best to thwart the Colts, and almost succeeded but, in the end, if you can’t score any points, then the Colts will beat you. They had all the chances in the world to go ahead, and they have to blame themselves entirely, but they are really just a bad team. Not as bad as the Raiders, though, which always makes me happy. They looked stupid out there against an Adrian Peterson-less Minnesota offense, one of the worst in the league. That their defense is supposed to be their strength is sad, they were old and slow and got burned by everyone, including Tavarius Jackson, who only incompleted five passes, which is pathetic since their have been games where he’s only completed that many. So much for the Raiders.
