As the dust clears on Week 5 of the NFL season, just two undefeated teams remain. In his column from this morning, SI.com's Don Banks sizes up the chances for the Titans (5-0) and the Giants (4-0) to run the table and join last year's Patriots as the only teams to finish the regular season with a 16-0 record.
New York's Antiono Pierce thinks a perfect regular season is unrealistic. ("If we can go undefeated in the division," says the Pro Bowl linebacker, "that could be the best undefeated record we could have.") But in the spirit of good humor, Banks breaks down the remaining schedule for both clubs.
• Tennessee: With 11 games remaining in their regular season after this week's bye, the Titans have a schedule that could allow them to stay undefeated for quite some time yet. Tennessee plays just two games against teams that currently have winning records: Week 10 at Chicago, and home against Pittsburgh in Week 16.
Coming out of their bye, the Titans travel to offensively-challenged Kansas City in Week 7, then return home for a pair of tough challenges against teams that have underachieved thus far: perennial AFC South champion Indianapolis in Week 8, and 2007 NFC title-game qualifier Green Bay in Week 9. The injury-depleted Colts and Packers may have things put together by then, but there are no guarantees.
If the Titans do get to 8-0 at the season's midpoint, their second half starts off with challenging games at Chicago in Week 10 and at Jacksonville in Week 11. Things get a bit easier for a while after that -- Jets at home, Lions on the road, Browns at home, Texans on the road -- but Tennessee will have to earn it in Weeks 16-17, drawing Pittsburgh at home and a road trip to Indy in its final two games.
"It feels great to be 5-0,'' said [Kerry] Collins, after leading the Titans to a fourth-quarter comeback against the Ravens. "What we learned today is we can come from behind and win on the road against a good team. I hope we can keep this going, because I think we can have a good year.''
• New York: At 4-0, the Giants are already off to their best start since 1990, the season they won their most recent Super Bowl title before last year's unexpected championship run. But most of the hard work is still ahead this season for Tom Coughlin's club.
This week, New York plays Monday night at Cleveland (1-3), and given the state of the Browns' anemic offense, the Giants' stout defense -- which has given up 13 points or fewer in three of four games -- should create even more problems for quarterback Derek Anderson and Co. Then, in Week 7, the 49ers (2-3) will visit Giants Stadium, perhaps the last second-tier opponent New York will see for a while.
Starting in Week 8, the Giants' schedule finally turns daunting with a road game at Pittsburgh, followed by a home game against division rival Dallas, and another road trip to Pennsylvania to take on the Eagles in a Sunday-nighter. Those last two games begin a seven-week stretch in which New York will play all five of its remaining NFC East games, meaning the Giants will go all the way from Week 1 to Week 9 between showdowns in the NFL's most competitive division.
One particular four-game span looms the largest in terms of the degree of difficulty: In Week 12, just before Thanksgiving, the Giants return to Arizona, scene of their Super Bowl upset of the Patriots, to take on the Cardinals. Arizona's offense can score on anybody, as Buffalo's defense just discovered on Sunday. After the Cardinals game, the Giants begin a three-game run through the NFC East, visiting the impressive Redskins for a rematch of the opener in Week 13, playing host to the Eagles in Week 14, and going to Dallas for their final Texas Stadium appearance in Week 15.
If some how, some way, the Giants' record remains unblemished, they won't be able to ease their way to the finish line. Not with Carolina set to visit the Meadowlands in Week 16, and a regular-season finale at Minnesota awaiting. Coughlin will no doubt remind his Giants what the Vikings did to New York and Eli Manning last November, and how not all that long ago the Panthers came to town and ended the Giants season in the first round of the 2005 playoffs.
What do you think? Do either the Giants or the Titans have a reasonable chance of finishing the regular season with a 16-0 record? Absolutely not? Or is it simply preposterous to even consider the question just at the season's quarter-mile pole?
Jessica White
Michelle Damon
Mavs Dancers
College Football, Top 25 Review
Comments (32) Add A Comment
No way
Im a giant fan and after watching the way the pats had to deal with that all year, no thanks.
As we've seen a SB is a helluva loat more important than 16-0.
Cowboykilla
Total Comments (676)
no worries....they wont!!!
Fishwain31
Total Comments (221)
NO! Thank you.
LGP on the Offensive
Pittsburgh , PA
Total Comments (3010)
bet everyone was thinking it would be dallas undefeated at this poit
and they we all so that defenseless defense
Cowboykilla
Total Comments (676)
I think i'd rather sneak into the playoffs like the Manning boys these last 2 seasons. If you're the great UNDEFEATED Patriots then you have a large target on your back. That might not be that big of a deal to us normal folk but to superstitious athletes it's a very big deal.
CajunSuperman9
Broussard , LA
Total Comments (53)
Any Given Sunday they could be beaten... Any Given Sunday.
FoosBall...Licensed…
Total Comments (1967)
I'm a aTitans fan but no way they or the G-men go undefeated...
I'm Rick James ****
Total Comments (973)
No way a Kerry Collins-led team will go undefeated, even if he is playing great now. Don't see the Giants goin undefeated either, but I'd definitely give them more of a chance than the Titans.
PrepChamps
Durham , NC
Total Comments (11)
nah...we weren't thinking undefeated bcuz we're aware of the issues that exist in our secondary but i'll take 13-3
Fishwain31
Total Comments (221)
you can have it
ill take getting a wild card and another playoff game in Dallas
we all know how that story ends
Thats my Quaterback
Cowboykilla
Total Comments (676)
I don't believe either team will go undeafeated but what is more amazing is how both of these teams have performed, the Titans who had a "drab" season have just come to life with this year and while most teams seem to flounder after winning a Super Bowl, the Giants have been electrfied to say in the least. Both of this teams are worthy to keep an eye on in short the Giants and Titans have no doubt have way surpasses expectations and look to head on the road to victory in the near future.
Real Sports
Total Comments (1804)
Smart man.
Riggs (McDUDD)
Total Comments (2205)
You average qb....and you was knocking my spelling skills? Pshh.
Riggs (McDUDD)
Total Comments (2205)
That movie rocks..like when the eyeball pops out..;)
Riggs (McDUDD)
Total Comments (2205)
With the way the NFL is now even if a team goes undefeated in the regular season, in the playoffs everyone "should" be playing at another level. I think that it will never happen. On the other hand I do think that there will be a winless team soon!
BigJoe7954
Austin , TX
Total Comments (138)
not the right week to call Eli average
another big turnover for Romo this week
chris perry doesnt fumble that ball...............
had to stop myself
wouldnt want to join you Boys fans in the
woulda
coulda
shoulda
game
Cowboykilla
Total Comments (676)
No, just you and Jerry Jones.
Lex from NorCal
San Francisco , CA
Total Comments (82)
Giants fan here and I honestly don't WANT to go undefeated. Too much pressure and the real objective is not 19-0 but a Super Bowel ring. With one, two, four losses, the SB ring objective becomes more realistic.
NY Giants…
Hoboken , NJ
Total Comments (70)
Amen bro!
NYBASE
White Plains , NY
Total Comments (25)
Neither of the teams will go undefeated. Yes the Giants are the Super Bowl champs and they will repeat but the question is, what 3 teams will make the playoffs in that division and in which order will they be in the division? Well that was a good question. Um, the Giants will be in first place at 12-4, Dallas will be second with a record of 10-6, and the Redskins will be the other wild card in the NFC and in that division by going 9-7. The Eagles will finish 7-9 but the story is how will they bounce back next year after another bad season in that NFC East.
giants50
Total Comments (183)
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