NFL @ Week 7: AFC Edition

I’ve decided to alternate NFC to AFC every week. There’ll still be one every week, but it won’t be so damned repetitive. I’m only slightly less disgusted about the Broncos today than I was yesterday (though this is still quite disgusted), so I can think about football again.

AFC EAST

The Patriots’ trashing of the Broncos is not a sign that New England is back. Given that the first team to throttle them was KC, this should not be a sign of hope for New England fans still reeling from the kick in the gut Tampa gave them. The Pats will be back to their usual crappy Cassel-led team soon enough. It was great to see Buffalo derail the Chargers little comeback, keeping them a game back from Denver. It’s hard for me to believe that the Bills are an elite team and this will bear out in the second half. There’s no doubt that Miami’s “Wildcat” offense is a gimmick, but I love gimmicks and I love what they’re doing on the field. I never would have thought in a million years that Chad Pennington would line up at receiver, but there he is a number of times every game. I hope the Jets are happy with Favre. He’s playing moderately well but, like the Packers before them, Favre is quickly bringing them down.

AFC NORTH

Pittsburgh is a good team with bad injury problems, but they’re all there is in the North. They’re winning games, and that’s obviously the most important thing, but they’re putting on some of the most boring games I’ve seen. Running teams are great, but when you’re working with the likes of Najeh Davenport, there isn’t a lot of excitement in the runs. It’s amazing to me how similar Baltimore looks, year after year, no matter who runs the team and who mans the positions. Crappy offense, top defense. This keeps them right around .500 over the long-haul but they’ll never be a consistent playoff team this year. I like Joe Flacco’s name, so I’m rooting for them more or less. Mr. Trend has something to be happy about in Ohio sports this year: the Browns aren’t the Bengals. Ohio on Ohio violence is hilarious, and so was their game. But Derek Anderson beat Ryan Fitzpatrick in the worst chess match in history. With the Cowboys, these two teams could almost make a full division out of extremely talented, yet worthless teams. Those would be some amusing division games, I’m sure.

AFC SOUTH

The South is, by far, the toughest division in football this year, and this has been consistent over the last couple (no matter what the loser NFC East fans want to think about themselves). The Texans may not be in the running for the division, they are a good team with a lot of offensive weapons and a great, young defense. That they are in last place, 0-3 in the division and 2-1, while playing tough teams, is evidence of this. I’m thrilled that the Colts look as bad as they do, but I’m not convinced that they won’t turn it around. I’m also not convinced that the Titans are actually 6-0. I mean, seriously, Kerry Quitter? How does a guy like that lead anybody to do anything but quit. This must be a huge liberal-elite media conspiracy to make them look good for some obscure reason.

AFC WEST

From the best to the worst. Sad as it is to say, you’re in a terrible division when this Denver team is leading and has tie-breakers. There is no doubt that this is the worst Bronco defense the team has ever fielded. Injuries to both Champ and Boss Bailey hurt badly and the pass D should be that much more terrible. Still they won’t be at the bottom of their division at the end of the year like the Cowboys and the Seahawks, so there’s always a positive outlook. The Chargers look like a Norv Turner-coached team. High on talent, low on brains. He’s an idiot and here’s to the San Diego organization giving him a fresh new contract this year. The Chiefs and the Raiders still play football, I suppose. At least their QBs don’t run out the back of the end zone, so this is more than some teams have, but KC is fielding Tyler Thigpen for the rest of the year, so the comedy should quickly ensue. Go Broncos!...no matter how bad they fall apart against stupid New England.