Alright, the day of mourning for that disastrous Seahawks loss has passed. Time to review week two.
Week two is always fun in its aftermath because national pundits go nuts over teams that are 2-0 (superbowl!!!) and 0-2 (disastrous!!!). Football is unique in how important each game is to a team's overall record. Two games is one-eighth of a team's season, and if you go win-less those first two games, you have some catching up to do.
So, slightly different format this week. I'll start by ranking the 2-0 teams.
1. New England - Obviously, the both of the Patriots wins have been impressive. Moss looks like the player everybody said he could no longer be. Their offensive line doesn't get beat. Brady has all of the weapons he could ever need. Only injuries are going to bring this team down.
Still, part of me has to believe that the Patriots aren't as good as they've shown so far. If they are, then I, as well as fans of every other team, have to give up my dreams of my team winning the Super Bowl, because there's no way any team beats the Patriots when they play like that. The second reason is that both of these games have been 'chip on their shoulder games', where they've been playing with a little extra emotion, especially the San Diego game. Can they get up for 16 + 3 games like that? I'll wait and see.
2. Indianapolis - Honestly, I don't know how any reasonable person can watch Brady and Manning side-by-side and not come away thinking Manning isn't the better quarterback. Manning is more accurate by an order of magnitude than Brady or any other quarterback in the NFL right now. That's not saying Brady isn't accurate. That's saying Manning is insanely accurate. And don't tell me that Brady has more championships. Does Manning win at least two, if not all three if he's playing in place of Brady? Yes.
3. Pittsburgh - I still say Pittsburgh hasn't played a good team, but even so, in two games the Steelers have outscored their opponents 60-10. Really good teams beat up on bad teams. I've heard national media types make comments like "Ben Roethlisberger is now becoming a good passing quarterback." Um, has everybody forgot how much the Steelers favored the pass during their Super Bowl run? Toss out 2006. Roethlisberger is poised for a big year.
4. Green Bay - Is Green Bay for real? I guess I've become so used to the Packers being bad that I have a hard time believing they could actually be good. I also thought their rebuilding would take another year, but apparently the future is now. I initially had the Packers swapped with the Cowboys, but I had to move them up given how much better they played against the Giants. The only worrisome part of the Packers is that they haven't shown much of a running game. 83 rushing yards on 29 attempts (2.9 yards/carry) will get you through the first four games, but after teams get game film and cheat towards stopping the pass the Packers are going to have to adjust.
5. Dallas - Much like the Steelers, the Cowboys have beaten up on two poor teams. I've been incredibly unimpressed with their defense (partially due to a number of key injuries), but they seem to have an offense that can deal with that. Next week, their crummy defense will go up against the Bears' crummy offense. One of those two will be exposed.
6. Houston - It makes me happy to see Houston finally winning some games. This most recent win against the Panthers was especially impressive - 31 straight points to counter falling behind 14-0, and on the road no less. This team looks balanced - offense/defense, pass/run - and Matt Schaub is stepping up.
7. Denver - I'm not even sure if Denver should be allowed to be in this list. They have barely won both of their games and could just as easily be 0-2 as 2-0. Furthermore, those two games were at Buffalo and at home against Oakland. Overachieving team, or team learning how to win? I don't know, but I'm not particularly high on the Broncos right now.
8. San Francisco - The 49ers were three yards away from losing in week two. Literally. The Rams' potential game-winning field goal dropped three yards short. I didn't see how well they played, but they barely beat an Orlando Pace-less Rams. They didn't look good against the Cardinals in their opener, though the Cardinals didn't look too good either and they played just fine against the Seahawks. Other than Frank Gore, the 49ers still have plenty to prove.
9. Detroit - Wins over the Vikings and the Raiders aren't going to get you much in the way of respect points, but that doesn't take away the fact that the Lions are 2-0 for the first time in quite a while. The Lions got a massive gift from the NFL's schedule makers with their first two opponents. Surprisingly, Kitna looks like the leader that team needs. I'm looking forward to their games against the Bears and the Packers.
10. Washington - Last night's win was a great win. That aside, their defense gave up a ton of yards and produced no turnovers. Jason Campbell played like a quarterback still learning the game - some bright spots, some low spots. Washington could be a team that gets a fourth-place schedule bounce.
Now, on to the fun part - ranking the 0-2 teams.
9. Philadelphia - I said exactly the same thing last week - how do the Eagles always find a way to lose games like these? The Redskins shouldn't have even been in the game, let alone leading. The Eagles were supposed to win both of these games. Now they'll have to fight just to make the playoffs.
8. New Orleans - The Saints got blown out again. Their secondary is horrible. They need to get that problem fixed fast, except that that's a problem you fix in the offseason, not mid-season. Sounds like their offensive line is having big problems as well (which would explain their ineptitude on offense). The Saints have expectations to live up to - is the pressure weighing them down? No, it looks like they're just coming back to Earth.
7. NY Jets - The Jets are another team that is coming back to Earth. It certainly doesn't help that Thomas Jones isn't completely healthy, but the Jets didn't have Jones last year and they still won 10 games. Clemens is not the savior.
6. St. Louis - What makes the Rams' start especially hard to swallow is that their two losses were both at home, both against division opponents. I can only mention Orlando Pace so many times, but his loss absolutely kills them.
5. NY Giants - Is Coughlin really about to get fired? Maybe media types are projected four or five straight losses, which could definitely get Coughlin canned. Still, the Giants played well against Dallas and lost to a surprisingly good Green Bay team with a less-than-100% Eli Manning (nevermind a bunch of other injuries).
4. Oakland - Want a great example of how small of a margin of error you have in the NFL? If Mike Shanahan had waited one second longer to call a timeout, the Raiders would have beat the Broncos. Instead, Janikowski hit the upright in his second attempt and the Broncos marched down the field and scored. Oakland looked much better in their second game, but an 0-2 start for a team accustomed to losing is enough to get the snowball rolling.
3. Miami - Here's the story of Miami's last game: Trent Green threw four interceptions, and Ronnie Brown led the team in rushing with a whopping 33 yards.
2. Kansas City - The Chiefs can't do anything on offense, and it all starts with their offensive line. Larry Johnson doesn't yet have 100 yards rushing in two games combined.
1. Atlanta - The Joey Harrington experiment may be over after just two games. Rumors are that Byron Leftwich may be signing with the Falcons this week. Maybe Vick was valuable after all.
AFC Divisional frontrunners
East - Patriots. Duh
North - Steelers. Only team in the division to have two really good games.
South - Colts. Same-old same-old.
West - Chargers. I can't give it to the Broncos when I think they should be 0-2. Not that the Chargers have looked that much better...
AFC Wildcard race
1. Broncos
2. Texans
3. Ravens
4. Bengals
5. Titans
6. Jaguars
NFC Divisional frontrunners
East - Cowboys. With the Eagles starting 0-2, this division is theirs for the taking.
North - Packers. I'll take any opportunity not to pick the Bears. Did you see that Grossman had another two picks on Sunday?
South - Panthers. This may be the weakest division in football.
West - 49ers. God damn Seahawks were one stupid fumble away from being here. You have to reward performance though.
NFC Wildcard race
1. Seahawks
2. Bears
3. Cardinals
4. Eagles
5. Lions
6. Redskins
7. Buccaneers
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