Let me start by saying this season is full of surprises – I’ve often preached about the benefits of the NFL’s replenishment system via the draft, but this year every single game seems to be close or on its head. Fantastic stuff in all, read on to find out who prospered and who suffered in this week 9, of the 2010 NFL season.
Who Rocked?
Green Bay are looking at last like the team I picked pre-season to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. And by the looks of it, the New York Giants should be the last team standing in their way if things play out as I imagine they will.
The last time the Packers and Giants met in a crunch game was at the back-end of the 2007 season that saw New York prevail over Green Bay in the NFC championship game (thanks to an overtime nterception by none other than Brett Favre in his last ever Green Bay game) and go on to upset the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Giants are playing better football now than they were then and look dangerous.
The Saints beat on a woeful Panthers outfit that should be minus long-standing coach John Fox come next season. Credit where credit’s due, though, the Saints still had to beat the Panthers and looked better than they have despite not reaching the levels expected after last year. Still, a win is a win and the Saints will take them any way they come if they can squeeze their way back into the playoffs – once there they can be dangerous.
The Eagles beat the Colts to open the door for the Texans to take control of the AFC South – a chance they failed to take. The Eagles, though, are impressive. They are winning games they should lose and this victory further compounds them as possible Wild Card stealers come January. I think perhaps at the expense of the Vikings unless they go on a run.
Whose chances were knocked?
Last week I was getting excited with the quiet head of steam being built-up by the New England Patriots. They had slunk to a 6-1 record – the best in the NFL at the time. Now they share that honour with a few teams standing at 6-2 after losing heavily to the Cleveland Browns, who were assumed y many to be doing a stand-up impression of a doormat until season’s end.
The Brady bunch will not be happy with this and I doubt they will dare lose another game until the end of the season. It was rubbish, but losses like this one must be easy to bear in comparison to the Super Bowl heartache inflicted by the Giants. They will bounce back and storm into the playoffs a very dangerous team.
Talking of dangerous teams, the Dallas Cowboys are at risk of going bust if they keep this up! Having spent a fortune on a new stadium and attempted a Joe Namath-esque guarantee of homefield Super Bowl advantage, they have been totally, wholly, utterly rubbish. I am at a loss. Wade Phillips must go at the end of the season, if not before. I wouldn’t normally call for a coach’s head, but WP has had more chances than a toddler would need to get this team deep into the playoffs – they are loaded at almost every position and so thoroughly mediocre, the let 45 points go past them in a game they knew they simply HAD to win. Worst team in the NFL? I think they are (at least the Bills try).
Boys, boys, boys! What are you doing? The Houston Texans could have avenged their loss at the hands of the Colts last week by beating an up-and-down Chargers team that were there for the taking. And the worst of it is, the Eagles did the hard work by burying the Colts where the Texans couldn’t. Houston are a top team, and a real feel-good story, but they need payoff success this year for coach Kubiak to keep his job (a job I feel he deserves). Fingers crossed they can nick the division – a Wild Card may be tough with the Steelers, Pats, Ravens and Jets all looking good.
Pick up THE HARE newspaper at Night and Day, Bar Centro, Font or Tiger Lounge in Manchester town centre, or the Oakwood in Glossop.
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