Record: 4-0 Last week: 1 (+0) Teams this year are 2-2 as 10+ point favorites. The Texans are 2-0. As 7+ road favorites, teams are 1-2. The Texans are 1-0. As road favorites in general, teams are 9-14. The Texans are 1-0. They’ve convincing beaten every team they’ve faced so far and they look like [...]
Last week: 2 (+0) Record: 4-0 Well, it wasn’t pretty, but the Falcons got their 4th win to become the NFL’s 3rd 4-0 team this season. Arizona is think is a complete fluke, but both Houston and Atlanta are for real and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see these two teams in the [...]
Last week: 3 (+0) Record: 3-1 The Ravens are the 2nd best team in the AFC, by virtue of their 3-1 record, their head-to-head victory over the Patriots, and a point per play differential that ranks tied for 2nd in the league. However, they really left me disappointed against the Browns last week. This team [...]
Record: 3-1 Last week: 4 (+0) The Eagles were -10 in turnovers through the first 3 games and then didn’t commit a single turnover against the Giants last week in a win. A lot of people are surprised, but I’m not. Turnovers are incredibly inconsistent on a week to week basis. No matter what a [...]
Last week: 5 (+0) Record: 2-2 In spite of their incredibly impressive win over the Buffalo Bills, I still think there are two better teams in the AFC. Houston is the obvious one and Baltimore is less obvious, more arguable, but I give Baltimore the advantage because they won the head to head matchup (albeit [...]
Record: 3-1 Last week: 6 (+0) This team really reminds me of the 2010 version. In 2010, they won 11 games and got a first round bye, but you never really felt like you could trust them to go all the way and win the Super Bowl. This year is similar. They stand at 3-1 [...]
Last week: 8 (+1) Record: 3-1 Through 4 games, the 49ers lead the league in yards per play differential. I still don’t trust Alex Smith to lead this team deep into the playoffs, but this was one of my preseason disappointing teams and I’ve definitely come around on them. They haven’t had to dominate the [...]
Last week: 8 (-1) Record: 3-1 The Chargers finish September with a 3-1 record for the 2nd year in a row, something they hadn’t done in the Norv Turner era prior to last year. However, much like last year, they beat up on crappy teams in September and got blown out against the only good [...]
Last week: 9 (+0) Record 2-2 See, Peyton Manning wasn’t done. He just needed to face the Raiders. After 3 less than stellar performances in his first 3 games against tough defenses (Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston), Manning exploded for 338 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 of 38 passing against the Raiders’ lowly defense. He’s not [...]
Last week: 10 (+0) Record: 2-2 Believe it or not, the Cowboys actually rank tied for 2nd in the league in yards per play differential with Baltimore and Philadelphia, behind only San Francisco. Turnovers are a huge issue for them as they rank dead last in the NFL at -7 and are coming off a [...]
Last week: 11 (+0) Record: 1-2 On a bye.
Last week: 12 (+0) Record: 3-1 The Vikings are still the favorite to be this year’s team that goes from 5 wins or fewer to the playoffs. They are the only candidate even in the top-22 in yards per play differential, ranking 9th. Their defense and offensive line are both much improved. Christian Ponder and [...]
Last week: 13 (+0) Record: 2-2 I’ve still got the Packers here after their close home win over the Saints. Every year, one team goes from a first round bye to out of the playoffs and after all 4 of the candidates won last week, the Packers are still the favorite. It’s not that they’re [...]
Last week: 14 (+0) Record: 2-2 This is the league’s 2nd worst defense in terms of yards per play allowed, thanks to a pass defense that ranks tied for last allowing 9.0 YPA. Their secondary simply cannot seem to beat the injury bug, much like last year, and it’s getting worse as safety Kenny Phillips [...]
Last week: 16 (+1) Record: 4-0 I was going to call the Cardinals the worst 4-0 team ever, but then I remembered the 2009 Broncos. The Broncos, much like the Cardinals this year, were one of my preseason picks to be among the worst in the league. After the Broncos started 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 etc, [...]
Last week: 15 (-1) Record: 2-2 The Bills have now allowed 100 points in two divisional matchups. Yikes! The defense isn’t the problem, however. The 48 they allowed to the Jets was largely due to their offense giving the Jets the ball with good field position and then the defense quitting down big late, while [...]
Last week: 17 (+0) As they always do, the Seahawks fell flat on the road last week. Now there are calls for Russell Wilson’s job after his 3 pick performance (none of which were ruled touchdowns strangely) just a few weeks after he was the media darling who “beat the odds.” They’ve got a great [...]
Last week: 21 (+3) Record: 3-1 The Bengals have sufficiently proven they can beat up on crappy teams. Assuming Cleveland, Jacksonville, and Washington don’t make the playoffs and Baltimore does, the Bengals are now 12-0 against non-playoff teams since Andy Dalton took over week 1 last year. Unfortunately, they are also 0-10 against playoff teams [...]
Last week: 19 (+0) Record: 1-3 Last week, I said they were better than they looked against the Giants and they showed it against the Falcons, leading late and only losing by 2. Their decision not to go for the clincher and go for it on 4th down was head scratching, considering all the resources [...]
Last week: 19 (-1) Record: 1-3 Jake Locker looks like he’ll be out for a while. That’s not a huge loss because Matt Hasselbeck is a capable veteran backup who led this team to 9-7 last year. He might even be a better short term option. However, at 1-3, the Titans aren’t exactly looking for [...]
Last week: 20 (-1) Record: 1-2 On bye.
Last week: 22 (+0) Record: 2-2 Despite their records, St. Louis and Arizona actually have the same yards per play differential. Neither has a very good one (tied with 27th with Oakland), but the Rams have a very good chance to knock off the undefeated Cardinals this Thursday Night, especially on home with the Cardinals [...]
Last week: 23 (+0) Record: 1-3 I had the Lions as one of my disappointing teams to start the season and I’m feeling pretty good about that. Their special teams are a mess, having already allowed 4 special teams touchdowns this year, but special teams aside, they still rank 14th in yards per play differential. [...]
Last week: 24 Record: 2-2 The defense is still a mess and they don’t have a 1st round pick for the next 2 years to fix it, but Redskins fans have to be thrilled with Robert Griffin. They’d do that trade in a heartbeat again. Down 2 with under 2 minutes left to go, was [...]
Last week: 29 (+4) Record: 1-3 The Dolphins lost in overtime last week, but you could argue they should have won, on the road, against an unbeaten team. The Cardinals recovered all 6 of the fumbles that hit the ground and Miami averaged a whopping 6.5 yards per play, as opposed to 4.2 for Arizona. [...]