Weekend Review

The Colts look like the best team in the NFL, plain and simple.  They dominated the St. Louis Rams yesterday, which isn’t exactly an amazing feat, but that’s what good teams are supposed to do when facing inferior competition.  Peyton Manning didn’t even have to play the fourth quarter in Indi’s 42-6 victory.  There are some other teams in both the AFC and NFC that could challenge the Colts right now, but I don’t think there’s one team I would pick to beat them straight up right now.  The game looks like it comes to easily to Manning when he’s out on the field, but it’s really the product of a ton of hard work each week.

The Steelers handed Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings their first loss of the season, propelled by two defensive touchdowns.  The Steelers did a good job containing running back Adrian Peterson, and though Favre threw for more than 300 yards, that was enough to contain the Minnesota offense.  On a side note, Minnesota wide receiver Sidney Rice appears to be developing into a number one wideout for the Vikings.  The Arizona Cardinals won a statement game against the New York Giants and it looks like the Cards have shaken off their slow start.

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Weekend Preview

The Vikings will try to prove that they’re a legitimate Super Bowl contender when they take on the reigning champion Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend.  Last season, this matchup would have probably been a hard-fought defensive battle with both teams trying to move the ball on the ground.  This season, however, we’ll probably see a shootout between two aerial attacks that have been quite impressive this season.  There are a lot of people jumping on the Brett Favre bandwagon already, but a win against Pittsburgh would result in a lot of hop-ons

Another interesting matchup is the game between the Bears and the Bengals.  Both teams are trying to prove that they’re a playoff team after tough losses last week.  The Niners and Texans will also be attempting to show the league that they’re contenders for the postseason.  The Texans have the offense to play with any team in the league and have shown it in recent weeks.  The Niners will be getting Frank Gore back and we’ll also see the debut of wide receiver Michael Crabtree.  The Giants-Cardinals game is another interesting matchup, as the Giants are coming off a tough loss to the Saints, while the Cardinals seem to be on the upswing a bit.

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Thursday Notes

We could catch our first glimpse of the season of one of the NFL’s most dynamic defensive players.  Indianapolis safety Bob Sanders could suit up for the first time this season on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams.  The former defensive player of the year had offseason surgery on his right knee and has not played yet this year.  “He’s improving,” coach Jim Caldwell said.  ”He’s been ramping up his activity over the last three weeks and we anticipate he will be able to do something for us [Sunday].”

Jim Zorn is still the coach of the Washington Redskins, but how long he’ll continue to be is unknown.  Zorn has been stripped of play-calling duties and reportedly contemplated quitting this week.  It seems like a foregone conclusion that Zorn will be removed from his position as head coach sometime this season.  Most pundits expect owner Daniel Snyder to pursue a big name in the offseason.  Names like Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan have been mentioned.  The Redskins don’t seem clear on who their quarterback will be on Monday Night either.  Jason Campbell was benched last week, and it’s possible that Todd Collins could get the starting nod.

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Power Rankings

The Colts remain at the top spot in ESPN.com’s NFL Power Rankings despite having a bye this past weekend.  The Saints come in at number two following their convincing win over the New York Giants.  The Vikings took home the number three ranking this week after an exciting win over Baltimore.  The Broncos, at number four, are the last of the undefeated teams.  The Giants round out the top five, dropping from number two with their loss to New Orleans.  The Giants were manhandled in the Big Easy and are not the powerhouse that some people, including this blogger, might have thought.

The Patriots jump up from 10 to six on the list with their 59-0 drubbing of the Titans.  The Pats looked like the 2007 team that didn’t loss a regular season game over the weekend.  The Falcons, Steelers, Bengals and Bears round out the top 10.  The Baltimore Ravens, ranked number 11, are a team that I like to climb back into the top 10 this season.  I really like their offense, though their defense is a bit worrisome.  The Jets experienced a big slide from number nine to 18^th after an ugly loss to the Bills.  The Eagles also slid pretty significantly (seven to 12) following their loss to Oakland.

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Denver Gives SD the Royal Treatment

Eddie Royal was a huge difference-maker last night as the Denver Broncos took down division rival San Diego by a score of 34-23 and improved to 6-0 on the season.  The Broncos wide receiver and return man took both a kickoff and a punt to the house in the game, helping propel his team to victory.  Royal has not done much in the passing game this season after an impressive rookie campaign last year, but he’s finding ways to help the team.  Royal knows better than to take all the credit, though.  “Man, it was a great feeling,” he said of his punt return. “The guys did a great job of blocking.  I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They opened up the seams and it was a home run.”

If you haven’t bought into the Broncos yet, now is the time.  They appear to be running away with the AFC West and are not showing any signs of slowing down.  They are not dominating opponents, but they’ve faced some quality ones.  I think they’re getting better every week, though.  This defense has made an incredible turnaround under the tutelage of coordinator Mike Nolan.  I’m not prepared to group the Broncos in with the Colts right now, but a few more wins could convince me.

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Weekend Notes

It’s official, every team in the NFL should fear the New Orleans Saints.  The Saints took down a good Giants team yesterday with relative ease, basically securing the victory in the first half.  Drew Brees essentially played a flawless game and the Saints cruised to a dominating 48-27 victory.  The Saints and Vikings remain as the only two undefeated NFC teams, though the Saints appear to be the more dominant squad right now.  The Giants are still in the mix in the NFC, but it appears that they’ve got a lot of work to do as the season progresses if they want to regain their elite status.

The New England Patriots have returned as a power in the AFC with their 59-0 throttling of the Tennessee Titans.  The Pats offense looked like the 2007 model, as Tom Brady threw six touchdowns and the team looked unstoppable for the first time since their undefeated regular season two years ago.  The Patriots should once again make opposing defenses nervous after this performance.  The Falcons downed the Bears in the Sunday night game, shutting down Matt Forte and revealing themselves as legitimate contenders in the NFC.  Things are beginning to crystallize in both conferences and should do so even further in the coming weeks.

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Weekend Preview

The best game of the weekend is probably the matchup between the Giants and the Saints.  These teams are two of the top three in the NFC and neither has suffered a loss this season.  The game is in New Orleans, but the Giants are the better team in my mind.  Eli Manning appears to be healthy and the Giants are a better-rounded team as far as I can tell.  It should be a great matchup, though, as neither of these clubs really have a glaring weakness of any kind.

The Cardinals and Seahawks face off in an NFC West matchup of two teams looking to gain on the suddenly vulnerable Niners, who have a bye this week.  The Seahawks are coming off an impressive performance against the Jaguars and are looking to make a run.  The Bears and Falcons face off in what looks to be a contest between two second tier NFC teams.  These two clubs don’t appear to be on the same level as the Giants, Saints or Vikings, but they’re two quality teams with playoff potential.  Jay Cutler has been impressive since his opening day debacle against the Packers and even has himself in the MVP conversation.

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MVP Update

ESPN.com’s Mike Sando keeps tabs on which players he thinks are the frontrunners for the MVP award on a weekly basis.  Peyton Manning currently tops the list, and has for the past few weeks.  “Manning has earned a week off and he’ll get one with the Colts’ bye week, followed by a date with the Rams,” Sando writes.  The next two weeks certainly shouldn’t hurt Manning’s MVP hopes.  Manning has a good chance at taking home the award because his team is playing very well and a lot of it is due to his play.  He’s done a lot with a group of receivers that most people were questioning before the season started.

Speaking of a lack of faith in a receiving corps, Peyton’s brother, Eli Manning, comes in at third on Sando’s list.  Between them rests the ageless Brett Favre.  Drew Brees and Jay Cutler round out the top five.  The rest of the top 10 includes Ben Roethlisberger, Kyle Orton, Matt Ryan, Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson, in that order. It’s really surprising to see Orton and Benson above Peterson, but I’d have to agree with Sando’s rankings in that respect.  I personally think that Eli Manning should be number two, but overall I like the rankings.

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Power Rankings

The Indianapolis Colts retained the top spot in ESPN.com’s NFL Power Rankings this week after an easy win against division rival Tennessee.  The Colts certainly seem like the best team in the league right now as they head into their bye week at 5-0.  Peyton Manning may be playing the best football of his career, carrying an offense that has not been able to run the ball very efficiently and doing it with a young group of wide receivers.  The Indi defense has looked stronger and stronger each week, and they’ll look even more so if Bob Sanders ever comes back.

Coming in at number two in this week’s rankings is Peyton’s brother, Eli Manning, and the New York Giants.  The Giants are the best team in the NFC right now and have everything it takes to go all the way.  The Vikings, Saints and Broncos (all undefeated) round out the top five.  The rest of the top 10 includes the Bengals, Eagles, Falcons, Jets and Patriots.  I’m not sure that I’d omit the Ravens from the top 10, but it would be hard to bounce any of the teams that ESPN has in there.  Aside from a couple of teams at the top, things are pretty wide open in the NFL right now.

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Henne Shines as Fins Topple Jets

Last night’s game between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins was a heck of a contest.  There was a lot of intrigue entering the game.  It was Mark Sanchez’s first game on a national stage.  It was Braylon Edwards’ first game with New York.  It was Chad Henne’s second career start.  There was a lot to be interested in last night, and the game certainly did not disappoint, as the two teams traded scoring drives until the Dolphins sealed the 31-27 victory with a touchdown with only seven seconds remaining in the contest.

The story of the night was the play of second-year quarterback Chad Henne.  Drafted in the second round in 2008, Henne was viewed as the future at quarterback in Miami.  The future came a bit quicker than anticipated, though, when Chad Pennington lost the rest of his season to a shoulder injury two weeks ago.  Henne played decently against Buffalo last week, but registered an impressive performance against a vaunted Jets defense.  Completing 20 of 26 pass attempts, Henne threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 130.4.  As for the Jets offense, Edwards looked very good and seems to already be developing chemistry with Sanchez.  Both young quarterbacks appear to have bright futures.

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