The NFL At the Halfway Point

Let's take a look at some of the interesting things and trend as we're halfway through the season

We’re entering week 9. So let’s take a quick look around the National Football League.

AFC East
CURRENT STANDINGS: BUF (6-2), MIA (4-3), NE (2-5), NYJ (0-8)

• I predicted that it was going to be the Bills year to win the AFC East and it clearly is going that direction. Is that a function of their schedule, the AFC East taking a step back or are they this good? We’ll know in January.

• I said that the Dolphins could be good or could be bad. So far, they are cromulent. However, they are in a spot to make a playoff run under new starting QB Tua Tagovailoa, much to the delight of resident long-suffering Dolphins fan Father Keanu.

• The Patriots have so far learned it was Brady, not Belichek.

• The Jets are somehow worse than we all thought they were going to be.

AFC North
CURRENT STANDINGS: PIT (7-0), BAL (5-2)*, CLE (5-3)*, CIN (2-5-1)

• I don’t know how the Steelers are doing it, but they have a legit shot at 16-0. They’ve played the toughest part of their schedule, and the only real challenge remaining is the Thanksgiving Night game against the Ravens.

• The Ravens, incidentally, are the worst 5-2 football team in the NFL. This team can’t figure anything out. Lamar! needs to stop falling back into his old bad habits i.e. terrible mechanics.

• I’m still not sure the Browns are good or if this all a mirage.

• I’m still not sure if the Bengals are getting better or if they’re the same old Bengals.

AFC South
CURRENT STANDINGS: TEN (5-2), IND (5-2)*, HOU (1-6), JAX (1-6)

• The Titans were going to run away with this division. Until a reality check hit them the last two weeks. It’s going to be a slog between them and….

• ….The Colts who are very much overperforming their expectations.Maybe Philip Rivers finally gets a crack at a deep playoff run after all.

• Some dope wrote: “the Texans are far and away the class of the AFC South and should easily win the South.” Not so much.

• Expectations for the Jaguars would be that they weren’t any good. They are meeting expectations, though not enough to get the #1 overall pick and draft Trevor Lawrence. Because while the Jaguars are bad, they aren’t Jets bad.

AFC West
CURRENT STANDINGS: KC(6-1), LV (4-3), DEN (3-4), LAC (2-5)

• The Chiefs are we thought they are. However, thanks to the new NFL 14-team playoff rules, the Chiefs are not in as good a position as we thought they would be since they have the #2 seed.

• The Raiders are in the hunt of the playoff picture as expected.

• The Broncos still haven’t figured out their quarterback situation. They’re still on pace for another 7-9 record.

• I predicted Justin Herbert would be the starting QB before Week 10 and I was 100% correct. He might very well be a franchise player.

NFC East
CURRENT STANDINGS: PHI (3-4-1), WAS (2-5), DAL (2-6), NYG (1-7)

• …….

  

NFC North
CURRENT STANDINGS: GB (5-2), CHI (5-3), DET (3-4), MIN (2-5)

• The Packers under Rodgers are like the Patriots under Brady. They’re gonna be good so long as the QB remains healthy.

• The Bears may be winning, but Nick Foles is not the long-term answer at quarterback, either.

• Same. Old. Lions.

• Some idiot predicted that this was the Vikings year and that the Vikings would go to the Super Bowl. Maybe not.

NFC SOUTH
CURRENT STANDINGS: TB (6-2), NO (5-2)*, CAR (3-5), ATL (2-6)

• I predicted that the Bucs would be a playoff team. I’m not surprised however that they are leading the South based on the fact that they 1. Have Tom Brady and 2. Keep adding offensive weapons every so often.

• The Saints are a strange team. They could run the table or they could miss the playoffs entirely. Who knows at this point.

• Somehow the Panthers are 3-5 despite the fact that Christian McCaffrey has been hurt most of the season. With a lot of parity in the NFC, they have a shot if he gets healthy.

• As I said in the preseason, the Falcons have never returned from blowing the 28-3 lead to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI. It’s a dark cloud hanging over them they can’t shake.

NFC West
CURRENT STANDINGS: SEA (6-1), ARI (5-2)*, LAR (5-3)*, SF (4-4)

• The Seahawks are 6-1 and the top side. This is not surprising at all based on the quality of the team and the quality of the NFC.

• The Cardinals are *not* 1-2 years away from competing as it turns out.

• The Rams are the team that we thought they would be. A team that is good but not great, probably to make a playoff run but not a deep one.

• The 49ers locker room looks like a MASH unit. It’s amazing they can even field at team at this point. There is virtually no way that they can recover from this and make a playoff run.

Intangibles

• The NFL is running out of options when it comes to dealing with positive COVID tests. The Ravens already had their bye moved up because of other rescheduling changes, so when seven players went into the protocol this week that creates a lot of problems. Especially since the tests came the day after the Steelers, who were also involved in that bye shifting. It will be interesting to see how the NFL has to move games and square this circle.

• The fake crowd noise is out of control. I would prefer no noise at all, but in some games attended by 1,000 people, it sounds like 200,000 people are there. Ridiculous.

• NFL officiating remains problematic. Two bad calls late in the Ravens-Steelers game affected the outcome; first the wrong decision not to add time back onto the clock after a Steelers injury timeout, and then a more questionable non-call on a helmet to helmet blow by Minkah Fitzpatrick on the last play of the game. Not the only game impacted by