The Green Bay Packers
Season Record: 10-2
Key Injuries: Bret Favre, QB; Bubba Franks, TE; Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, DE; Charles Woodson, CB; Mark Tauscher, T.
Noteworthy: The Packers rank in the top five in most offensive categories, except rushing yards.
The Cowboys-Packers game was another match-up for the ages. And I have Comcast, so I missed it. Dang it. Is it just me or are these two teams about as evenly matched as any two teams in the league? Had the Packers been a little healthier, I think they would've taken that game. Although I heard McCarthy had another one of those head scratching game-calling episodes. But I think the most frustrating splinter in Packers fans' minds right now has to be the injury to Bret Favre. Will he be healthy enough to start in ten days? Will his streak of consecutive regular season games end at 249? If not, can the Packers win with Aaron Rodgers? He looked pretty darn good against the Cowboys. Despite the fact that Rodgers looked impressive, I'm sure Packers fans are on pins and needles right now. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Packers will play in the NFC Championship game with or without Bret Favre. The only teams in the NFC that should scare them are the Cowboys and maybe the Seahawks.
The Indianapolis Colts
Season Record: 9-2
Key Injuries: Ryan Diem, T; Marvin Harrison, WR; Dwight Freeny, DE; Bob Sanders, S.
Noteworthy: The injury bug has hit harder than the list above indicates. They've placed nine players on injured reserve thus far this season. Tony Ugoh was out for a good portion of the season, and now Ryan Diem is hurt on the other side of the line. Bob Sanders is dinged up too.
Their defense is ranked second in the NFL in yardage allowed, and their offense is ranked in the top five despite injuries. If you throw out Peyton Manning's six-interception gaff, and their surprisingly difficult win against the lowly KC Chiefs, what's there to obsess about? This is a team that improved in the offseason despite winning the Superbowl, and they're still widely regarded as the second or third best team in the league! The Patriots have improved by light years and leap-frogged the Colts with some amazing off-season moves. I mean, does anyone outside of Indy think they'll win a Colts-Pats rematch in January? If they're still riddled with injuries, can they take the Steelers down? If I were a Colts fan, I'd be a little frustrated right now... And I'd be sticking needles into a Tom Brady and a Ben Roethlisburger doll every Sunday from here until the Superbowl!
The Pittsburgh Steelers
Season Record: 8-3
Key Injuries: Ryan Clark, FS; Dan Krieder, FB; Santonio Holmes, WR; Troy Polamalu, S; Marvel Smith, T.
Noteworthy: This is Mike Tomlin's first season as the Steelers' head coach.
A loss to the terrible Jets, a 3-0 win vs. Miami, and New England on the horizon? Ouch. I still believe they're a good team, #4 in the entire league probably, but wow, they haven't looked good the past two weeks. At least the Steelers' faithful can say, "Hey! We're breaking in a new coach and we're still in contention for home field advantage throughout the playoffs!" And that's saying quite a bit. Big Ben has a passer rating of over 100 for the season. Willie Parker has over 1,000 yards already. Hines Ward is doing well, but Santonio Holmes was the best-kept secret in the NFL with over 600 yards receiving and seven TDs on the year. Holmes is hurt, but I don't know how serious the injury is. Hopefully for the Steeler Nation, the injury isn't season ending. The defense is ranked first or second in most major categories. Barring a catastrophic string of injuries, this is a team that should be playing into January despite the November angst their fans are going through.
The New York Giants
Season Record: 7-4
Key Injuries: Mathias Kiwanuka, OLB; Gibril Wilson, S; Plaxico Burress, WR; Brandon Jacobs, RB.
Noteworthy: Eli Manning had a passer rating of 86-something before last week and has ripped up and down by the New York media all season. Maybe it's my mild-mannered midwestern upbringing, but I don't get it. 86 and change is acceptable, isn't it? Maybe I'm missing something.
Is this team really good or is it just smoke and mirrors? We know they can rush the opposing QB, but what about the rest of the team? The Giants must be driving their fans (and bookies everywhere) nuts this year. The G-men strung together a six-game winning streak this season, which is pretty impressive... Until you consider that they beat the Redskins, Philly, the Jets, Atlanta, San Fran, and Miami. Those first two wins are pretty impressive since they were against division rivals who were playing pretty well at the time, but the other four teams have eight wins between them. Recently, they beat Detroit in the Millendome, and then lost to the Peterson-less Vikings in New Jersey. It's hard to tell how good this team really is. What's on tap for the rest of the season? They've got Chicago, Philly, and cross-state rival Buffalo on the road; and Washington and New England at home. It doesn't look tremendously easy, but they're not sunk yet. They should be able to take three of those games and get the first wildcard spot, or at least two of those games to get the second wildcard spot... Unless they implode again.
The Detroit Lions
Season Record: 6-5
Key Injuries: None that I could find. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Noteworthy: The Lions have given up a league-leading 47 sacks this season.
I give John Kitna a lot of credit for having the cajones to guarantee a ten-win season. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen. This is a team that features a formidable run defense and a good passing attack. However, the Lions have trouble defending the pass or establishing a running attack, which has greatly attributed to their recent three-game slide. With opposing defensive linemen pinning their ears back and gunning for the QB, they can't keep anyone off Kitna's back. I can't believe I voted against Cassidy's House and said they'd get ten wins earlier this season. Right now I don't see how Kitna's prediction can possibly come true. With six teams breathing down their necks for that last wildcard spot, they're in trouble unless they can figure out how to protect Kitna. The Lions' remaining schedule? At Minnesota, Dallas, at San Diego, Kansas City, and at Green Bay. Do you see four wins in there? Me neither. Dang it. Methinks Cass was right! Is it too late to change my vote? Anyway, they can still hold on and get nine wins for the season, which might be enough to grab the last wildcard spot. They have the division and conference record tiebreakers over the Vikings and the Bears. But ten wins? No way. Sorry, John, it ain't gonna happen.
Melissa Haro
Tori Praver
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College Superfans
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Glad to see the Giants on that list. Pete. We need to get to Eli this week. I think #93 has a few choice words for him. You know!
Dre Dilla
Queen Creek, AZ
Total Comments (466)
Holmes and Polomalu will both play Sunday. Great blog as usual Sneak.
Cassidy's House:…
Whatsittoya, NO
Total Comments (16281)
Never lose faith in the Colts or the Steelers. They both have a lot of surprise wins. The same thing happened to the Colts last year.
Dallas Clark- SB in…
Total Comments (1344)
Dre: We'll see if the Bears are up to the task of keeping Strahan and co. off Rex's back. I have my doubts...
Cass: That's good to hear. I couldn't find any details on Holmes' actual injury or the severity of said injury.
Spell: I didn't think I was counting any one of these teams out. Hm. Let me check... Nope. But I'm still not sure about the Colts' chances versus either the Pats or the Steelers.
Thanks for reading, everyone! :)
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
I just read that Santonio Holmes is out and Smith and Polomalu are doubtful. Talk about keeping us on our toes. Hopefully we can squeak one by the bungholes.
Steelerfan83
Total Comments (53)
Favre will be fine. ...and I'm not just saying that "I hope he'll be fine." He'll be fine.
You're right, McCarthy's play-calling was weird. But, then again, there wasn't very much about that game that wasn't weird. The defense, especially, looked like the Knights of the Round Table when the French suddenly flung the Rabbit over the castle walls. They've never played that way before. It was bizarre.
At this point I'm still very confident in the team, though. They panicked under the bright lights. They're young. It was one game. That's where I'm at.
Curly Lambeau
Total Comments (5170)
Pete, Do you think that our front four is better then their front four?
Dre Dilla
Queen Creek, AZ
Total Comments (466)
No loss of faith in the colts, still think they're the best when healthy, but the Steallers? Road losses to the Cards, Broncos and Jets, over-rated. And yes the Packers play calling early was throw it as far as you can and you run that way, yes right into triple coverage.
Jld
Total Comments (737)
Curly: Thanks for reading! I LOVE the Monty Python reference! And you're right on with your analysis, IMHO!
Dre: I can say yes, now that it's Monday, but I would've said yes before as well. That being said, my answer might be different if the Bears' front four was healthy. ;)
Jld: Thanks for reading! Like I said, the Steelers' faithful can always say "Hey! We're breaking in a new coach!" And they looked pretty darn good last night, IMHO... :)
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
Sneaky, I'm calling the Bears front office to inquire about getting a refund of my time. I didn't get the full "Rex Grossman experience" that was promised in the brochure....instead of a few INTs and a fumble lost like I get from most normal Grossman games, all I got was a lousy 6 sacks & a 54% completion percentage.
PackBrew42 is…
Miller Brewery, WI
Total Comments (4060)
Got to be the Grammar Police here, but there are 2 Ts in Brett Favre...Sneaky, you of all people should know that considering how much Favre has terrorized your team over the year.
Interesting factoid for those of you who didn't already know it. Brett Favre has thrown more TDs at Soldier Field than any Chicago QB ever (which is impressive since Favre plays there once a year).
PackBrew42 is…
Miller Brewery, WI
Total Comments (4060)
PackBrew: I guess Bears fans were wrong in blaming Rex, though his play has improved since his benching. I am now on the bandwagon that blames the o-line for the Bears' woes this season. That unit is playing HORRIBLE football and they have been all season.
Hah! You got me. I have no excuse. The missing "t" must've been some kind of subconscious slight to the biggest Bear-killer who's ever played the game... ;)
Yes, he's impressive, yada, yada, yada... Is he going to retire yet, or what? :P
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
I still feel I was shorted an interception or two and a fumble.
PackBrew42 is…
Miller Brewery, WI
Total Comments (4060)
Or are you just nervous this "disturbing" trend will continue? :P
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
Nope, not nervous at all....I mean I think we just need to beat the Raiders and we'll have locked up a playoff spot at the very least. 2 wins (probably 3 though) and we lock up a bye week for the playoffs.
Its you guys who have to win out and get help to get to January ;P
PackBrew42 is…
Miller Brewery, WI
Total Comments (4060)
And that ain't gonna happen, so hopefully we'll get a look at Kyle Orton before the end of the season and we can finally see if he's any good. ;)
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
Favre will be fine. This is the ironman we are talking about here. Hes no stranger to pain.
Nice blog, as usual :)
Squeeb
Total Comments (939)
Squeeb: Right-o! That's one of the things that helped make him Sportsman of the Year, I'm sure. I heard Favre was going to play the next game a couple days after I wrote this. So, all is good in Packerbackerland again... ;)
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
Pete,
Favre will play this Sunday, but he didn't make good throws against the Cowboys.
Everything that worked all year long was throw out the window in a big game, all he did was go for the big play and it really pissed me off. Rodgers came in and worked the short pass, it was great to see him do so well...but...he is very injury prone.
I want to see the rematch against the Cowboys when Green Bay is healthy, and Favre is settled down a bit, it isn't like he has never played in a big game before.
Sorry the Bears couldn't get it together on Thursday night...
flyer00jay
Total Comments (17)
Not as sorry as I am, I bet... ;)
In the Cowboy game I think Favre forgot himself and briefly flashed back to the Favre of the past five years. Anyway, if the Cowboys and the Packers meet again this season I'm sure Favre will be ready. McCarthy better have a decent plan for the 'boys, though... He didn't impress too many people with his play-calling in that game either.
Sneaky Pete
Rochelle, IL
Total Comments (1056)
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