NFL Season Midway Reviews for the NFC

by user BigPPup

We have reached the midway point of the NFL season, and to this point, the league has shaped in a contrary manor to what many experts thought, but at a closer examination, the NFL season is shaping out in a very typical manor. Allow us to take a deeper look division by division to see how treat that is.

NFC East

Entering the season many people felt the NFC East would be the toughest division in football. This is proving to be true, but that does not mean that the NFC East features the best teams in football. The Philadelphia Eagles started out the season looking like they had put the whole T.O. situation behind them and they were ready to return to their Super Bowl form. Well it turns out that during the whole T.O. thing, we all forgot about one major flaw in the Eagles attack, and they cannot run the ball. As a result of that they cannot eat up time in the fourth quarter. We saw that during the NY. Giants game where Philly blew a huge second half lead. The Eagles are a pass happy team, that feature a lot of fragile players (Donte Stallworth, Brian Westbrook), and their offense can go into deep lulls as a result. The end result of all this is a good Eagles team that is 4-4 and no one is really sure what they are capable of.

The Washington Redskins entered the season with hopes of winning a Super Bowl. Don’t believe me? Just ask Mark Brunell. Actually ask Mark Brunell why the Redskins attack is so abysmal. The Skins went to a new offensive coordinator, and brought in plenty of new highly paid players. Well it turns out that just like in baseball you cannot just throw money at players and throw together a team with no continuity. The Washington Redskins have struggled on offense all season. The passing attack is nonexistent, and for some reason they are refusing to feed the ball to Clinton Portis, who has had carries in the teens for the past two games. The Skins are sitting at 2-5 and the fans are calling for blood in D.C., even if it’s Joe Gibbs. That being said, no team in the NFC East can sleep on them, as the Washington Redskins are still prone to upset potential playoff contender's shot at the post-season.

The Dallas Cowboys were another team that was a sheik pick to reach the Super Bowl. Through the first six games of the season, that looked impossible. However, a QB change and the Boys are playing with a new found sense of urgency and new found spirit. Dallas went into Carolina and beat up on a solid Panthers team. Now the question becomes, is Tony Romo a one hit wonder? Or can he continue to the lead the Cowboys into the playoffs?

The New York Giants have been a pleasant surprise for the NFC East. Everyone thought they would be a good team, with the young gun Eli Manning calling the plays, and hard running Tiki Barber carrying the ball. However, I’m not sure anyone thought they would become this dominant. The Giants are 5-2 and hold a two game lead over everyone else in the NFC East. After a rough start in weeks 1 and 2 the Giants have matured into a good with Eli calling the shots. He has proven to have poise in the pocket and some gunslinger in him to guide his team during a fourth QT comeback.

The Giants have gone from NFC East contenders to NFC Conference contenders. Look around once you get past the Bears who else in the NFC is playing good football?

NFC North

The NFC North appeared to be one of the worst divisions in football and to a large degree, it's living up to that billing.

The Chicago Bears were the cream of the crop last year, and nothing has changed. Well one thing changed, they found an offense. So instead of beating a team 17-3 in a hard fought defensive battle, they are blowing teams out 41-7 and flat out humiliating them. If that can be called a surprise so be it. At 7-0 they may not go perfect but they will have the division wrapped up by Thanksgiving.

Minnesota took a thrashing at the hands of the New England Patriots on Monday night, dropping them to 4-3. Other than that it has been a solid season for first year head coach Brad Childres. The Vikings played a tough game against the Bears early in the season. With the addition of some offensive linemen, the Vikings have come out with a running attack that can be devastating when clicking. More importantly Childress is committed to the run and allows it pound away at opposing teams till they have to honor the run then he unleashes Brad Johnson and company to go to the air. The Vikings are solid and will pester the Bears but they just don’t have the talent to challenge for NFC North Title.

The Green Bay Packers are likely in the last season of the Brett Favre era. Hard to believe that this is the end of the road for one of the NFL's all time greats. Even worse it’s sad to see him going out on such a bad team with no chance of making the post season one last time. That being said, Brett is not going down without a fight. He has played some exceptional games this season. He even had his first Lambeau leap of his career this past weekend. The Packers are 3-4 if they have a great finish they can make 8-8 but that’s unlikely. At least we will always have the memories of Brett.

As far as Detroit, some people thought they finally put it together. That person was Roy Williams. He also things their opening week performance of 3 points meant they were close to scoring 40, so take that however you want. The Lions are 1-6 once again at the bottom and probably eying another receiver in the upcoming draft.

The Chicago Bears run away with the NFC North, just as we all expected at the beginning of the season.

NFC South

This may prove to be the most interesting and strongest competitive division in the NFL, meaning it is competitive but also has the teams most likely to make a solid playoff run.

The Atlanta Falcons are becoming a nasty team, as Mike Vick matures into a passing QB. In the last two weeks he has thrown for 7 TD’s and over 500 yards. Previous to that, the Falcons were averaging over 200 yards a game on the ground with Dunn and Vick rushing for 100 yards a piece. When their defense is clicking the Falcons are as good a team as there is. They beat the Bengals on the road in a close hard fought game, and the beat the Steelers at home in a gun fight. They have proven they can play any style of game, now its time to see if they can avoid the late season collapse.

The Carolina Panthers are a team that is reeling right now. On Sunday night they took a hard lost to a Dallas Cowboys squad that had its back against the wall. As a result they fell to 4-4 and look like a far cry from the team many thought could contend for a NFC Title. At a closer look the Panthers are running off the success of their name rather than the merit of their actually talent. Their rush defense is very suspect. Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson are getting their catches, but they still struggle to find the end zone. Throw in the fact that DeShaun Foster has yet to get it going in the ground game and you have a team that has a struggling offense, and a poor defense. A very bad combination.

The surprise of the NFC South has to be the New Orleans Saints. Everyone knew they would play better after settling down in the wake of hurricane Katrina. However, I did not think they could ride this emotional high and feed off the energy of the city for this long. With Drew Brees at the helm the Saints have found a QB who knows how to run an offense. Deuce is back and healthy and is ready to go over the 1000 yard mark for the season. Reggie Bush has been quiet nonetheless he is a continuous threat that defenses have to account for every time he is on the field. The biggest question for the Saints will be if they can bounce back from their first home lost they suffered at the hands of Baltimore last week. If they are able to put that behind them and find some of the fire they previously had, do not be surprised if the Saints can come away with the NFC South title, and the third playoff appearance in team history.

Behind the Saints the Tampa Bay Bucs may be the next biggest surprise in the NFC South and it’s due to all the wrong reason. The Bucs were a playoff team last season that appeared on track to put all the pieces together to make another playoff run. At 2-5 the Bucs will not make a second consecutive playoff appearance. The Bucs lost Chris Simms for the season after suffering a ruptured spleen. The put the weight on the offense on sixth round draft pick Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski has proven to be a solid performer but he is a first year player and he has to go through his growing pains. Last year’s breakout rookie Cadillac Williams has been unheard of this season. This is due to the inability of the Bucs O-Line to block anyone. The offense has gone into the tank, and they said that Gruden is an offensive genius. The Bucs are once again running off the success of their defense. However, this time around those guys aren’t as young and do not have the same skill level they once possessed.

In the end the Falcons will walk away with this division but not without a dog fight from the New Orleans (don’t call us Aints) Saints.

NFC West

Some how the Seattle Seahawks have remained on top this division to this point of the season. That is more of a testament to how poor the quality of talent is rather than how good the Seahawks are. Seattle has lost its starting RB and QB; both will be out for at least another 2 weeks. The Seahawks have been lucky with an easy schedule to this point, and they have managed to fight and scrap their way to a few victories. Seneca Wallace looked solid against Kansas City last week, so maybe it will be enough to keep the Seahawks afloat till the cavalry arrives. If they can weather that storm then the Seahawks will find themselves at the top of the division once again.

The St. Louis Rams got rid of Mike Martz and they discovered they have a pretty good RB in Steven Jackson. Jackson is becoming a workhorse back who has proven that he can handle 20 plus carries a game. Even better, the Rams have discovered that they can run the ball 20 plus times and still have enough balls be thrown downfield to keep Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt happy. The end result is a balanced attack that can still be very dangerous if a defense becomes content to simply defend the rush. The Rams are talented to return the top of the NFC West but they will need to take advantage of the Seahawks while they are struggling with injuries.

san Francisco in the second half of the season, it used to be something that every team in the league feared. Steve Young or Joe Montana gets into post season shape, Jerry Rice catching every ball that’s near him, and Bill Walsh roaming the sidelines. All sites that would strike fear into the hearts of any NFC team with hopes of making the Super Bowl. Well those days are long gone. Now teams look forward for the opportunity to take on the 49’ers. They are young, they are inexperienced, and the defense looks like Swiss cheese. The Chicago Bears were on pace to score 90 points before they called off the dogs at halftime last week. The 49’ers are 2-5 and they have a chance to steal 1 or 2 more victories before the season’s end, other than that look for them to find one of the hot defensive ends that are getting ready to come out in the draft.

The Arizona Cardinals were poised to take the NFL by storm this season. Three great receivers, an all pro RB coming over in free agency, and the college football golden boy waiting in the wings. Then came the heart break games. Missed field goals, fumbled snaps, and a QB change. The Cards are 1-4 but they have a chance to right all that on national television in a Monday Night game against the Chicago Bears, then comes the meltdown of a lifetime. The Bears score 24 points on defense and special teams and walk out of the desert stealing a victory. Since then the Cardinals have been falling out of control. Dennis Green has seemingly lost control of his players, and his days in Arizona are numbered. 2 maybe three wins for the Cardinals this season, but not much more can be expected from them. Hopefully they have a bunch of classy players who will not quite on Coach Green before the end of the season.

If the Seahawks can hold on for a few more weeks, they will walk away with the division title. If not, look for the Rams to slide into the top spot.