As we get to the midpoint of the NFL season, the contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pretenders.The Saints remain as the lone unbeaten team in the NFC, with the Vikings nipping at their heels with just one loss. The Eagles and Cowboys sit atop the NFC East at 5-2, with the Eagles holding the tie-breaker due to Dallas losing to the Giants earlier in the season. So, the question remains who are the contenders and who are the pretenders in the NFC right now.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints have to be considered the odds-on favorites to claim the top playoff spot in the NFC right now. They have answered the bell week-after-week and have looked impressive in doing so. The question with the Saints is do they have that signature win that one can look to as being overly impressive? Yes, they wiped the Eagles out in Week 2, but, keep in mind they were going against an Eagles team that was starting Kevin Kolb for the first time in his career.
Would the Eagles have won that game with Donovan McNabb at the helm? Who knows? It is hard to say, but it is not hard to see that the Eagles' offense is more dynamic when McNabb is under center as opposed to Kolb.
The schedule sets up rather nicely for the Saints with no real challenging road games left on the schedule. They square off against the Panthers, Rams, and Buccaneers before the Patriots come to town in what should be their toughest test remaining on the schedule. The Saints could very well run the table this season, but keep in mind that it is tough to win 16 games in the NFL and there is always the chance that they slip-up and lose a game they should not.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings are 7-1, but I am not entirely sold on them being a legit Super Bowl team. Yes, Brett Favre is playing great and yes, they are scoring a ton of points. But the defense does not perform as well as the hype around it suggests that it should. They have given up more points this year than an elite defense probably should have.
The schedule has been relatively soft and the only current playoff-caliber team they have played thus far this year they lost to in the Pittsburgh Steelers. The other teams they have beaten with winning records, the Packers and Ravens, are fringe playoff teams right now and the Ravens gave them all they could handle.
The remaining schedule sets up nicely for the Vikings with Arizona, Cincinnati, and a trip to Chicago looming as its toughest tests. Theoretically, the toughest remaining game on the schedule for the Vikings is the Giants in Week 17, but they are fading quickly right now and may not be much of a challenge by the time the end of the season rolls around.
Keep in mind that since the turn of the century, Favre is just 3-5 and has thrown just 11 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in playoff games. Also, Brad Childress' next playoff win will be the first of his career.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles would probably rate as the No. 3 team in the pecking order of the NFC right now as they sit atop arguably the deepest division in the conference. The two biggest arguments against them right now are a loss to the lowly Raiders and getting their barn doors blown off against the Saints.
Keep in mind, as mentioned above, the Eagles played the Saints without McNabb at quarterback and the offense is completely different with him at the helm. The loss to the Raiders is not so much of a concern considering the Eagles seem to be making a habit of losing at least one game a year to a team they have no business losing to as of late.
The remaining schedule is not going to be easy with some games they should win and some that are going to be nail-biters. They still have trips to Dallas, Chicago, and the Meadowlands to deal with as well as Atlanta. There is also a trip back out to the coast to face the Chargers and we all know how the last trip out west ended up with an embarrassing loss to the Raiders. If this team is for real this season, they should win 11 or 12 games and the NFC East, and if not, they end up with 9 or 10 wins and a wild card berth.
The one thing that is encouraging is the way they have rebounded from the loss to the Raiders. The only thing that keeps creeping into the back of my mind is the Redskins are a sorry state of affairs this year and the Giants seem to be in a tailspin ever since the Saints buried them three weeks ago in a loser-leave-town match.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have not done a lot to convince me they are anything more than a pretender right now. Sure, they are on a roll, but a lot of that has to do with playing mediocre-to-bad defenses the past few weeks. Tony Romo is not throwing interceptions, but one does not see his completion percentage getting any better, either. He is simply benefiting from playing against secondaries that do not force many turnovers and pedestrian pass rushes that do not force opposing quarterbacks into making bad throws.
This weekend's game against a Philadelphia defense that gets after the quarterback and owns 14 interceptions will go a long way to prove whether or not the Cowboys have found a rhythm in the passing game or if they have simply tricked us into believing they are for real by throwing for a bunch of touchdowns against mediocre defenses.
The one big thing in their favor is their remaining schedule is softer than the Eagles and they should not be tested as much down the stretch. What remains to be seen is whether Romo packs it in in three or four weeks like he normally does and whether the Jekyll and Hyde routine is over for the Dallas offense.
New York Giants
After starting the season 5-0, the Giants are looking more and more like pretenders with each passing week. They face an uphill battle with a banged up secondary and a quarterback who seems to be going throw another mental meltdown in Eli Manning.
Manning started the year like a guy who deserved the fat contract extension he received this summer, throwing 10 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions in the Giants' first five games. Since then, he has thrown 3 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in the Giants' last three contests completing less than 50% of his throws, as well. We have seen this from Manning in the past where he looks like a rookie quarterback playing in his first game as opposed to the guy who won a Super Bowl two seasons ago. If Manning pulls out of his funk, the Giants can realistically still win 10 or 11 games and get into the playoffs. If not, then they are looking at a 7- or 8-win season.
Even if Manning recovers the Giants have too many glaring on deficiencies on defense to seriously contend in the postseason. The banged up secondary, playing without Aaron Ross and Kenny Phillips, will not stand up against teams like Philadelphia and New Orleans who love to take shots downfield with big pass plays. Both the Eagles and Saints have burned the Giants the past three weeks with big pass plays down the field for touchdowns.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons hold some wins that make us believe they are a legit team but in reality they are not quite there just yet. They have lost their only two road games against playoff-caliber squads to the Patriots and Cowboys. They lost on the road in Arizona last season in the playoffs and odds are they are going to have to win on the road in the playoffs this time around if they want to get to the Super Bowl.
Atlanta is a nice up-and-coming team, but they have too many deficiencies and need to learn how to win big games on the road for them be taken seriously as Super Bowl contenders.
NFC West
Nobody in the NFC West can be taken seriously right now. The 49ers started the season strong, but as they play more and more teams outside of their division they are being exposed as frauds.
Arizona look as though they were turning the corner last weekend when they walked out of the Meadowlands against a well-regarded Giants team. But, as it turns out, the Giants are looking like a team that is fading out of contention with each passing week. This week's loss to the Panthers has me really questioning how much this Cardinals team has to offer when the post season rolls around. Legit teams do not lose at home to teams playing as poorly as the Panthers have this season. It would have been one thing if they had to fly cross-country to play the Panthers, but they did not. Not only was it a matter of Kurt Warner turning it over 6 times, but the Panthers rolled them for 270 yards on the ground. The Cardinals simply did not show up for that game and handed to the Panthers.
Chicago Bears
The Bears are lacking consistency and that's why they should not be taken seriously right now. They look great one week, then lay an egg the next. When it boils right down to it, they have one win to hang their hats on against the Steelers and they were lucky to come away with that one. The Bears seem to be lacking the firepower on offense and are missing some key players on defense to make a deep playoff run.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers are in the same boat as the Bears. They simply are not playing consistently enough to contend right now. Three of the Packers' four wins have come against the Lions, Rams, and Browns, who have three wins amongst them. Their other win came against a 4-3 Bears team. They have lost all three of their games against opponents with more than four wins, losing to the Vikings twice and the Bengals.
The Packers' main issue is with the offensive line. They keep giving up field position because they cannot protect Aaron Rodgers on a consistent basis. Rodgers has been sacked 31 times in just 7 games this season and it is tough for any team to win when their quarterback is taking over 4 sacks a game. The fact that Rodgers has thrown 14 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions thus far is a pretty amazing accomplishment in and of itself.
The Packers still could sneak into the playoffs, but they are likely going to get knocked out the instant they go up against a team that can get after the quarterback.
Republished with permission from PopPickle.
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