Tuesday, October 9, 2007

16 - 0jobs

Football experts have already crowned the Patriots as the next team to go undefeated. Great football minds like Tony Kornheiser have bloviated about Bellichick's Brilliance. The League has been put on notice that the Patriots are pissed about getting caught cheating (Even if Belichick should be used to it by now). And unbiased sources such as Bill Simmons have let us know how the Patriots "have no weaknesses".


Raise you hand if you haven't swallowed Brady's seamen, not so fast Bill



Well, god damn, lets end the season now. Word is Lary Czonka has already sold all his champagne on E-Bay. The Patriots have ripped through the best the NFL has to offer for the last 5 weeks, there is no hope for any other team out there.

Week 1 Jets 38-14
Week 2 Chargers 38-14
Week 3 Bills 38-7
Week 4 Bengals 34-14
Week 5 Cleveland 34-17

Look at those teams its a who's who of the best...er...um, wait a minute, all those teams either kinda suck, or really suck. So far these teams have combined to win a total of 7 games this year. That's a .291 opponent winning percentage. Well, I can't tell you how impressed I am now.

Lets take a closer look at how bad these teams suck. (I'm going to be using terms like DVOA here, so if you don't know what that is go tofooballoutsiders.com and get edumakated).

Not 1 opponent in the top half of the league in DVOA (best is SD at 17th)

Only 2 opponent in the top half of the league of Offensive DVOA (again CIN at 4th, SD at 14)

Most Damning of all

Not 1 opponent in the top 20 for Defensive OVOA (Cin 20th, SD 21st, Buf 25th, Cle 30th and NYJ dead last 32nd)

That is some pretty pathetic competition.

So while the Pats are racking up some impressive numbers, they may as well be playing Notre Dame every week. To date they have had the 3rd easiest schedule by DVOA standards (Behind Dallas and Baltimore).

The true test for New England starts this week against Dallas. The remainder of the Pats schedule isn't the outside of division cakewalk they have had to date. They have the 5th hardest schedule from here on out. Should they get by Dallas this weekend and the Colts in early Nov, than start talking about undefeated seasons. I mean, if you want to crown there ass, go ahead and crown them, but so far they have been going against teams fishing without a hook or bait.

Other thoughts:

I'm still getting the hang of this blog thing, those of you who have read my postings at Raider sites know that I watch the guys in the box more than the glamor boys. And we'll get back to breaking those guys down soon.

That said, It came out today that injuries have ended or potentially ended the careers of two players who I have enjoyed watching and respected for years.

The 1st will come as a surprise since I am a Raider fan.

Tom Nalen has been, IMO, the best center to put on the pads in the time that I've seriously watched football. Sure there have been guys who have had a better year here and there, but year in and year out you couldn't name the top 3 centers in the league without saying Nalen.

I don't think he has gotten the credit he has deserved due to the zone/cut scheme run by Denver. But the man was a technician on the field. A true master of footwork and leverage.

Nalen has not retired yet, but tearing his Bicep at his age (14 year vet) and the writing is on the wall. And if this is the end of the line he should be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer in 5 years.

(And No, my admiration for Nalen has nothing to do with the large amount of Alcohol I drank with his younger brother on a couple of occasions in College).

The 2nd player being Mack Strong of the Seahawks.

I'll admit that since the Seahawks retreated from the AFC west a few years back, that I haven't paid as much attention to them. But one of the things to watch whenever they were on was the huge holes opened by strong. Unfortunately Strong doesn't have the rings or the name recognition that could overcome the lack of glory position to make the HOF, but this guy has been one of the best for a long time.

Now that that's done,

FUCK THE BRONKOS AND SEAHAWKS

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