Posted on 10/18/2005 11:22:27 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
1. Indianapolis (6-0; unchanged): It doesn't seem fair that the Colts can dominate on both sides of the ball, but that's why they're the best team in the league.
2. Denver (5-1; unchanged): It took five weeks for the Broncos to be reminded that Jake Plummer can be a pretty good quarterback.
3. Cincinnati (5-1; 5): With big-play defense complementing big-time quarterbacking by Carson Palmer, the Bengals are hard to beat.
4. Tampa Bay (5-1; 6): Michael Pittman picked up the slack at running back; now it's up to Chris Simms to do the same at quarterback.
5. Jacksonville (4-2; 7): The Jaguars get to rest with the comfort of successive hard-fought victories over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
6. San Diego (3-3; unranked): As long as the Chargers let LaDainian Tomlinson do his running-catching-throwing thing, they'll continue to surge.
7. New England (3-3; 3): Even the Patriots have a hard time competing with no running game and not much of a defense.
8. Atlanta (4-2; unchanged): An electrified Monday Night Football crowd in the Georgia Dome should make the job of the Falcons defense that much easier vs. Vinny and the Jets.
9. Pittsburgh (3-2; 4): The Steelers can't get Ben Roethlisberger back healthy soon enough.
10. Dallas (4-2; 12): Back-to-back NFC East wins are impressive, but the Cowboys defense is in for a stern challenge at Seattle.
11. Philadelphia (3-2; 9): It doesn't get any easier for the Eagles with the Chargers coming to town.
12. Seattle (4-2; unranked): Shaun Alexander and the Seahawks could run away with the NFC West.
(Excerpt) Read more at nfl.com ...
The combined record of the Colts' opponents is 13-20... I believe they ARE the best in the league right now, but I'll wait to annoint them as the greatest ever until after they play a few real teams. ie Pats, Chargers and Steelers.
I guess I should sign up for this Ping...
Don't forget the HOUSTON TEXANS, they have a perfect record.
It looks like the Bears may win the NFC North this year.
Oh, absolutely I agree.
Their D is significantly improved. They are strong on the line, at linebacker and at safety, both Doss and Sanders can hit hard, their only weakness at D,IMHO, is at the corner and that is reasonably solid.
Yea, we'll see how they fare against teams with winning records.
"...And why was Eli so nervous in the first half??..."
Too much Dallas D.
The Panthers are an interesting lot. I agree they are amongst the better NFL teams, but they tend to only do just enough to win. They barely slid by both Detroit and Arizona. Their D-line is the best in the biz at making plays - I love Peppers! Steve Smith is also the shizzle, but Delhomme makes one bad play for every good play.
I disagree. There was hardly any pressure on him and his receivers were often open. He made a lot of unforced errors, but did get better in the second half. It was the Giant Dee that had the great first half, not the 'Pokes.
At 5 & 1 Bengals aren't as good as their record, unlike San Diego the Bengals haven't played a team with a winning record ... except J'ville, who they lost to. If the Bengals were playng in the AFC west their record would be more like San Diego's. Denver on the other hand, also at 5 & 1, is far more deserving of a high power ranking.
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Yes, it's definitely a contributing factor. I'm glad they have this week off. I've heard that Bruschi may be playing in their next game, which will be Sunday, 10/30 at Gillette Stadium.
http://www.patriots.com/games/index.cfm?ac=gamedetails&eid=1578
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Yes. Pass had a very good game last Sunday. Richard Seymour and Tyrone Poole should be back for the 10/30 game. If Bruschi is back as well, it should give an incredible boost to the team, physically and emotionally.
Agreed, I don't think the Bengals are that good; they might have bought some time to bring their QB along, but will fold against a tough team in a playoff bid.
The last Denver game should be good (SD vs. Denver).
They weren't that impressive against the starters last night. Once Bulger got hurt they shined pretty solid and made the big plays, but in their first game against a real offense it wasn't that great a performance, nearly doubled their total points allowed for the season.
Never. The college OT is stupid, one of the primary reasons I hate college football is that silly assed "fair" OT system that does nothing but run up the score and take forever.
I don't believe in the "slop points" excuse. Points is points, good teams are motivated to shut down the opposition until the final gun, like the Pats did to the Colts last year.
The Colts D should stop being the talk of the season as of last night. They just weren't that good, first time against an offense that can actually be expected to score some points and they did. So far the vast improvement of the Colts D is that they hold opposing offenses to their normal performance, which is a damn site better than they have been this century, but it's still not that great. They looked great against weak opponents, but when they finally got to play a team that tends to get 3 TDs they let them have 3 TDs.
Of course there's good news for the Colts D, they only have one more truly big offense on their schedule that being the Chargers. They've got 3 more against solid ball controllers, but only the one more explossive offense. So really if the Colts D just remains a solid C+ through the season they should still see a very low total points allowed at the end of the season.
I hate slop points, but I have to believe, in the NFL, during a regular season blow out there are a whole lot of defenders just trying not to get injured.
In a playoff game, it is a lot different.
discostu, if I'm wrong come week 16 your welcome to ceaselessly hound me for being wrong.
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