What Do We Know Now?

All the games but ours are in the books for Week 13 in the NFL. And what do we know as we prepare for the Packers' kickoff?

We know that the Patriots are not the team they used to be. Losing to Indy on the road in a game that they had dominated largely because of a coaching decision made for interesting talk radio, but it wasn't a red flag. Getting pummeled by the undefeated Saints on the road wasn't necessarily a reason to sound the alarms, either. But now, to lose in such a 4th-quarter-collapse fashion against the Dolphins...?! The evidence is beginning to mount that the Patriots are no longer the cream of the NFL crop.

We know that the Steelers are not the team they were last year. Pittsburgh has now lost four consecutive games. They can point to injuries to key players on offense and defense, which is fine. Still, to give up 21 4th-quarter points at home to the Raiders is a public embarrassment. Pittsburgh is now 3 games behind the Bengals in the AFC North, and they were swept by Cincy, making it effectively a 4-game differential with just 4 games to play! Plus, they're presently the tenth seed in the AFC, which is quite a distance from the 6-team cutoff for a postseason berth.

We know that the Saints are amazing. These guys can do it all. They can dominate a game wire-to-wire, or they can sit out the first half of a game and then come storming back to win in the end. They're ranked 1st in points per game, 1st in yards per game, they have outscored their opponents by a total of 189 points (the next closest team is the Colts at 130 points), and they have playmakers on defense, too. Only the Falcons, Cowboys, Bucs, and Panthers stand now between the former Ain'ts and a perfect regular season.

We know that the Vikings are not as good as their record (or their hype). Minnesota has played a notoriously soft schedule in 2009. (Note that the one team that had beaten them coming into Week 13 is now 6-6.) All the tiresome talk has been about the unbeatable combination they have put together with and for Brett Favre, but the fact is that they won their Division and went to the playoffs last year without Brett Favre. So until they go further than one playoff game, they can't really claim to be vastly improved over 2008. And their performance against good competition on Sunday Night makes one wonder how far into the playofffs these guys actually will go. People were talking about Saints/Vikings as the dream NFC Championship game. Personally, I don't think Minnesota will make it all the way to New Orleans.

We know that the Packers are in decent shape heading into their Week 13 game against the Ravens. I'm still not confident that we'll beat Baltimore tonight, but we still enjoy a happy perch within the Conference. Losses on Sunday by the Falcons and 49ers have aided our position. Plus, the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants all arguably have tougher remaining schedules than we do.