The Divisions are ordered by how well each conference has looked. The better ones are at the top, the weaker ones towards the bottom.
NFC East – 3-11. Dallas Cowboys – 1-0 – Thoroughly dismantled a Cleveland team that many had winning their division. I didn’t, but they’re certainly a better team than St. Louis, the team Philadelphia beat. Tony Romo had a field day against Cleveland’s secondary, passing for 320 yards.
2. Philadelphia Eagles – 1-0 – Dominated a Rams team that looked a lot like the Dolphins that Scott Linehan used to coach for. Donovan McNabb picked their secondary apart, three WRs had over 100 yards and the Rams’ offensive line was terrible...2002 Houston Texans terrible.
3. New York Giants – 1-0 – They beat a Redskins team that looked just as bad in their opener as they had in preseason. Plax Burress took complete advantage of Shawn Springs being out for Washington with 10 catches for 133 yards.
4. Washington Redskins – 0-1 – Watching their opener, you could only feel sorry for London Fletcher (didn’t he used to have a hyphened "Baker” at the end?). He seemed to be in on every play with 17 tackles, but that was mostly because their D-Line got blown off the line on every running play in a losing effort to the Giants. Campbell is not grasping Zorn’s West Coast Offense very well at all.
NFC South – 3-1
1. Carolina Panthers – 1-0 – Dante Rosario had Panther fans forgetting about Steve Smith, who didn’t play in Carolina’s last-minute surprising upset over a Chargers team that many had picked to win the Super Bowl and didn’t even play that poorly.
2. Atlanta Falcons – 1-0 – Matt Ryan’s 62-yard TD to Michael Jenkins on his first NFL pass was shocking, unexpected and was a precursor to a strong win over Detroit. The NFC South's last place team has always come out on top the next year, but no one thought this rebuilding team could keep up the trend. They looked fully capable this past Sunday – then again it was against the Lions.
3. New Orleans Saints – 1-0 – The Saints battled with Tampa Bay and came out on top in a very good NFC South rivalry game. Reggie Bush had a very impressive day with 164 totall yards.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 0-1 – They battled with New Orleans until the end, but Scott Fujita wasn’t having any of it as he intercepted Jeff Garcia with 40 seconds remaining. You know Derrick Brooks couldn’t stand seeing Reggie Bush running all over his team while he was out nursing an injured hamstring.
NFC North – 2-21. Chicago Bears – 1-0 – Phenomenal effort against a supposedly formidable Indianapolis squad. Matt Forte had people forgetting Cedric Benson had ever rushed for the Bears and the defense reminded us how this team made the Super Bowl just two seasons ago.
2. Green Bay Packers – 1-0 – They slugged it out against a tough Minnesota team and came away with the win. Aaron Rodgers played very well, showed surprisingly good mobility and even made his first Lambeau Leap.
3. Minnesota Vikings – 0-1 – Faired well but couldn’t steal one from Green Bay at Lambeau. Even though they out gained the Packers, the Vikings aren’t going to win if their defense doesn’t make plays.
4. Detroit Lions – 0-1 – If the rest of the division really is as strong as it looked in the opening week, Detroit is going to be like the little brother that somebody was forced to drag out to the sandlot. They got absolutely demolished by an Atlanta team that nobody had winning anything this year. Detroit was so bad that Michael Turner had 220 yards while John Abraham was virtually unblockable all game, sacking Jon Kitna three times.
AFC East – 3-11. Buffalo Bills – 1-0 – They just went out and firmly crushed a Seattle team that was very much favored to win on the road. Roscoe Parrish broke 5 tackles on his 64-yard punt return TD and Punter Brian Moorman threw a fake punt to backup DE Ryan Denney – there is no question that Buffalo has the best Special Teams in the NFL.
2. New York Jets – 1-0 – Almost blew a 13-point lead to the Chad Pennington-led Miami Dolphins, but future perennial Pro Bowler Darrelle Revis wouldn’t let it happen. Brett Favre played well and Jerricho Cotchery will probably have a carer year this season.
3. New England Patriots – 1-0 – The good news is they won their opener. The bad news is Tom Brady is done for the year and the team they beat was the Chiefs who are about as young as the 2002 expansion Texans. This will be Belichick’s best job to date if he can get this team to the playoffs.
4. Miami Dolphins – 0-1 – How do Bill Parcells’ teams always turn around so quickly? Because he brings in guys he knows from experience will be positive influences on the team. Miami lost to New York, but almost had a huge comeback to beat the Jets. They will be better this year, maybe even better than New England. How weird would that be?
AFC North – 2-21. Pittsburgh Steelers – 1-0 – One game into the season it looks like Pittsburgh is going to absolutely dominate this division just like they did against Houston in the opener. Willie Parker had more TDs than he had in all of 2007 while OLB LaMarr Woodley appears to be a player to watch on that Pittsburgh defense.
2. Baltimore Ravens – 1-0 – The defense allowed only 154 yards to Carson Palmer’s Bengals offense, but we knew the defense would be good. The offense? They needed a 42-yard double reverse to Mark Clayton and a comical 38-yard scramble by mammoth rookie QB Joe Flacco to put points up, but hey, that’s what rookie Head Coaches are good for.
3. Cleveland Browns – 0-1 – When your 5 Defensive Backs combine for 34 tackles, it means the other team’s offense put up yards. In Cleveland’s case, Dallas put up 487 on them. Playing an actual legitimate schedule, expect this to be the norm for the Browns this year.
4. Cincinnati Bengals – 0-1 – If you thought your team had problems, they’re Michael Jordan’s Bulls compared to this disgraceful bunch. They gave up 358 yards to the Ravens on some of the most laughable plays you’ll see, while Carson Palmer couldn't even amass 100 yards through the air. Chad JOHNSON? 1 catch.
AFC South – 1-3
1. Tennessee Titans – 1-0 - They upset everybody’s darling Jacksonville Jaguars, and while I still don’t get how Tennessee keeps winning games, I do understand two things: Tennessee’s defense is the most underrated in the NFL and Chris Johnson is going to be an electrifying player in this league. The Titans immediately get better with Young out these next few games.
2. Jacksonville Jaguars – 0-1- Wasn’t Jacksonville supposed to be the epitome of a smash mouth football team? They finished with 17 carries for 33 yards against the Titans’ stingy defense. When will DT Albert Haynesworth finally get the credit he deserves?
3. Indianapolis Colts – 0-1 – When the most consistent NFL franchise over the past nine years gets stomped by a team many had contending for the first overall pick in the upcoming draft, people point fingers at the QB who didn’t play in preseason. People who watched the game saw Matt Forte embarrass the Colts’ undersized defense while his own defense scored 8 points themselves.
4. Houston Texans - 0-1 – The Texans have a lot of isolated great players, but they aren’t a complete team yet and it showed. While DE Mario Williams (2 sacks, FF) and WR Andre Johnson (10 rec, 112 yards) did all they could, others failed, like QB Matt Schaub (sacked 5 times) who threw Pittsburgh S Troy Polamalu the easiest interception of his career. Jason Varitek had a harder time catching Tim Wakefield than Polamalu had catching that pass.
AFC West – 1-3
1. Denver Broncos – 1-0 – The division’s only winning team annihilated Oakland. The defense struggled at times, but the offense was a fine-oiled machine. Eddie Royal had a fantastic debut with 9 catches for 146 yards and a TD.
2. San Diego Chargers – 0-1 – Were upset in the final second of the game by Carolina. The offense played well, but San Diego’s defense really struggled to stop a Panther offense whose best player didn’t even suit up.
3. Kansas City Chiefs – 0-1 – Came within five yards of knocking off the New England Patriots, but this effort was tough to judge due to mid-game injuries to both starting QBs. Still, an encouraging effort from a team that most people had at the very bottom of their preseason power rankings.
4. Oakland Raiders – 0-1 – Man, Mike Ditka sounded as disappointed as a mother who had just caught her son smoking for the first time when broadcasting the Raiders. He might have expected more from this team, but that may have been a little naive. Still, a 27-point home loss to a Denver team that most people didn’t even have finishing above .500 fails to satisfy even the lowest of expectations.
NFC West – 1-31. Arizona Cardinals – 1-0 – The NFC West appears to be the ACC of Pro Football. Arizona beat the 49ers on the road, but was hardly convincing in doing so. Still the defense, heralded as opportunistic, forced 5 turnovers and given the play of its division foes there’s legitimate reason for optimism in the desert.
2. San Francisco 49ers – 0-1 – San Francisco’s offense is Frank Gore. J.T. O’Sullivan looked decent at QB, but the 49ers put the ball on the ground 5 times (losing 4), which essentially ends any shot you’ll ever have at winning a football game. On a side note, some guy named Parys Haralson had 2.5 sacks for the Niners – that tied his career total thus far.
3. Seattle Seahawks – 0-1 – They came out more flat than a Stacy Keibler's stomach in a bad loss to Buffalo. The running game struggled, Matt Hasselbeck was sacked 5 times and the Special Teams surrendered two TDs. You’d think the Seahawks would want to send Holmgren off with a bang this year. Look for them to rebound.
4. St. Louis Rams – 0-1 – I almost listed their record as 0-2; it felt like they had lost twice in one game. They were out gained 522 to 166, got burned by Hank Baskett for 90 yards on one play, surrendered 100 yards to three separate no-name receives, were penalized 9 times, sacked 4 times and came within 3 minutes of being shut out by a Philadelphia team that made St.Louis look like a team from the Sun Belt conference.
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