After watching and reading about week 4 in the NFL, I am left scratching my head. Does anybody want to win? Are the Kansas City Chiefs really the only undefeated team left in the NFL? Why is no one stepping up and being a favorite?
Entering this season there seemed to be some obvious favorites to contend for the Superbowl. The Saints, Vikings, Packers and Cowboys in the NFC. While the Colts, Patriots, Ravens and Chargers seemed to be leading candidates in the AFC. However, none of those teams have really made a statement that they are going to win it all. None of these teams are undefeated, the Saints, Packers, Patriots and Ravens are all 3-1, but it doesn't feel like they have been dominate. The Packers have been killed by penalties and the lack of a running game, the Saints have been hit by the injury bug already, the Patriots seem up and down and the Ravens don't seem to have that big offense that everyone thought they would have. The Colts are 2-2(0-2 in the division) while the Cowboys and Vikings are both 1-2. What is going on in the NFL? All the teams seem to be very even, the bad teams in the NFL have been improving(for the most part, sorry Buffalo fans) and the great teams haven't done much to get better.
Entering week 4 the Eagles and Steelers looked like the best teams in their conferences. However, the Eagles defense is still dreadful, and with Vick out at least for week 5 the Eagles suddenly seem to be an average team again. The Steelers offense was decent against the Ravens, but what surprised me was how their defense collapsed at the end of the game. Normally when their D is healthy they close out games really well. But Joe Flacco was able to take the Ravens down the field and score a touchdown to win the game. Flaccos hasn't been playing all that well this season, but seemed to play pretty well against Pittsburgh.
So I honestly don't know who is the best team in the league right now. It is only week 4, so it is way to early to guess, but the point I am trying to make is that no one is making an early season statement that they are the team to beat. Last year we had 4 teams that were 6-0(Saints, Colts, Vikings and Broncos), so far this year its the Chiefs alone at 3-0. The good news for the NFL though, is that pretty much every team is still alive to make the playoffs. The Bills, Lions and Panthers all 0-4 seem to be out of it. Even the 0-4 49ers can still hope for the playoffs since they play in the awful NFC West. So this will make the NFL season exciting, because everyone is still in it and will probably be contending until the last weeks in the NFL.
The St. Louis Rams have looked pretty good so far this year, they are 2-2 on the year so far and have the benefit of playing Seattle, San Fran and Arizona twice this year. Rookie QB Sam Bradford has looked pretty good for a rookie QB, and RB Stephan Jackson continues to play out of his mind. The Rams have a pretty easy schedule, so don't be surprised if they are contending to win their division. I don't see the Cardinals winning it this year, or the Seahawks. If the 49ers can get into gear they should be able to win the division, but it all depends on how well the Rams play the rest of the season.
The Saints are hurting, both Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas are hurt, and CB Tracy Porter is out for 2-4 weeks. The Saints need to be healthy to win games. The Saints are also hurting when it comes to catching the ball. Drew Brees is completing 73% of his passes, thats really really good, but the WR's are dropping balls and fumbling after they catch the ball. Last week against Carolina, the Saints had two turnovers deep in Carolina territory, if they Saints want to win, they need that offense to spark. Luckily for them, the defense has stepped up in a big way. The Saints are coming up with stops when they need to. The Saints still have a lot of work to do, but they have the coach and QB to get it done.
The Steelers should start playing very well when Big Ben returns from his suspension. I expect the Steelers to finish the regular season well, assuming Ben can still throw the ball well. The defense has looked great all year, besides their 4th quarter collapse last week, and I am counting on Pittsburgh to be in the post season.
The Packers were a popular pick to make it to the Superbowl, but they don't look all that great. They are lacking a running game and their secondary seems to be suspect at times. The Detroit Lions have gotten a lot better even though they are 0-4, but the Packers should have blown them out of the water, instead it was a very close game until the end. Green Bay needs to fix their penalties and running game woes if they want to win in January.
Did the Colts really lose to the Jags? I am still baffled by that, I know that Jacksonville always plays Indy tough, but the Colts are way better than the Jaguars, or so I thought. No one should start to panic yet in Indy, but it is clear that the Colts are not as great as they have been in years past.
This season should be really good. Every season is really good, but I'm really excited about this one simply because there are so many equal teams out there. There are no clear cut favorites, with a lot of teams showing a lot of promise
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