The NFL Week Eleven begins on Thursday Night this week, and so we’ll have to post our preview tomorrow. That gives us a quick chance tonight to take a quick look back at Week Ten…
It's funny to see what winning and losing do to perceptions...
The Cowboys surprised everyone with their upset win over the Giants, and suddenly Dallas is in the hunt. The Vikings, meanwhile, lost to the Bears on Sunday, and now they're toast. Yet the Cowboys are 2-7, while the Vikings are 3-6. And they play in the same Conference. And the Vikings won their head-to-head battle.
I do think the Cowboys and Vikings are comparable stories. Both talented, both entering 2010 with high expectations, both grossly underachieving, and both with inadequate head coaches. The Cowboys finally cut loose their poor leader, and they got a rather astonishing win to show for it. How long before the Vikings make the same move?
While it is hard to see Chicago climb back into the lead in the NFC North, and while it is tiresome to hear the giddy Chicago sports talk radio this week, I am so glad that they beat Minnesota. When the Vikings were down by two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter, I was so worried that Favre would do it again -- as he had the previous week against the Cardinals. And if the Vikings had come back to win again, and if they had beaten a Division foe on the road, and if they had tightened the Division race, I would have been truly anxious about our visit to Minneapolis next Sunday. As it is now, however, I feel some degree of confidence that the Vikings are not a team that will care enough to try for a full 60 minutes. If we can get a jump on them early, therefore, I think they'll fold and we'll win going away.
Green Bay is now tied with four other 6-3 teams for the second spot in the NFC Conference Standings. Atlanta stands alone at 7-2. Yet a closer look at the standings and stats reveals that the Packers outshine everyone else in the Conference -- no, everyone else in the league -- on the matter of point differential. The Green Bay Packers thus far in 2010 have outscored their opponents by 78 points! The next best case in the NFC is the Saints at +50. Meanwhile, the best stat in the AFC is the Titans at +62.
It is worth noting that the Packers' offense has underperformed so far this season -- at least in terms of expectations. Our point differential advantage, therefore, is not because our offense has outscored everyone by so much. Rather, it's because our defense has performed so superbly. The Packers rank #1 in the "Points Against" column for the entire NFL, allowing just 143 points through Week Ten. The next best score? The Chicago Bears at 146! Not to worry, though, for while the Bears have put up 175 points, the Packers have scored 221.
Also, Peter King says of the Bears: “I don't know any contender with a tougher last seven weeks: at Miami (on a short week), Philly, at Detroit, New England, at Minnesota, Jets, at Green Bay.”
Elsewhere around the league… The Bills finally got their much-deserved win, the Jaguars got incredibly lucky, and the Giants got embarrassed. The Falcons looked impressive, so did the Patriots, and Michael Vick on Monday Night looked unbelievable. Meanwhile, Favre is now finally looking like a guy who has stayed too long, while Colt McCoy is suddenly appearing as a rising star on the NFL stage.
Finally, my dislike for Randy Moss requires me to give a moment’s attention to his debut with the Titans. He played for them this past Sunday against the Dolphins. He caught one pass and drew one interference call. The Titans lost.
Peter King reports it this way:
Randy Moss' first catch of his Tennessee career came two hours and 53 minutes into Sunday's game. So much for a guy being quick to pick up the offense.
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