If you saw the Dallas Cowboys play the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend, you might have felt like you had taken a trip back in time. In a situation reminiscent of “Roger the Dodger” and his famous two-minute drills, Tony Romo put everything on the line and pulled a victory out of nowhere.
The Green Bay Packers are once again a dominant team. Prior to their Dallas game a few weeks back, then had won three straight games handily, and after leaving Dallas, have now won two straight in impressive fashion, as well. They continue to win on the road, put up points, and aside from maybe this past game, reinvent their offense by integrating a new running game.
Now, all of a sudden, after the Cowboys fell to Philly, the Packers are two wins and a Dallas loss from home field advantage throughout the playoffs. How do you think the rest of the NFC is feeling right now? There’s a pretty good chance the road to the Super Bowl will be going through Lambeau.
And that’s why Green Bay jumps up a slot past Dallas this week. As for the rest of the teams, here are the power rankings for the upcoming week 16 in the NFL…
Boy, was this a strange, and quite honestly, depressing week of professional football.
For starters, we saw virtually nothing out of stars like Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, and Adrian Peterson. Yet, all three of their teams won without any significant contribution from them.
That is both strange and depressing. But, I guess for those three respective teams, also uplifting.
We also saw three NFC teams clinch their division and a playoff spot (Cowboys, Packers, and Seahawks) while we saw the Cardinals, Lions, Bears, and Eagles all do serious damage to their bids of making a run at the post season.
The question is, was there any good that came out of this week? Why, of course.
The New England Patriots, classlessness and all, stayed unbeaten, while the ever so classy Miami Dolphins found so many new ways to not win a game.
And with those few tidbits out of the way, here are your NFL power rankings for the coming week 15…
This was just one of those weeks where you know something was off. Something just wasn’t quite right. Naturally, it began with Thursday Night’s game with Green Bay at Dallas. Brett Favre ran away from the offensive game plan, ignoring the style of play that had gotten his Packers off to a 10-1 start, instead throwing two picks and completing only 5 of 14 passes before leaving the game for good in the second quarter.
I mean, really? Brett Favre. Hurt? And then comes in the odd man out, the guy no one has expected anything from, basically since he was drafted. Aaron Rodgers plays exceptional football and almost wins the game.
Last week the Washington Redskins faced off against the NFC leading Cowboys. The Redskins lost. This was not a surprise. The Cowboys were clear favorites. Terrell Owens scored four touchdowns. The Redskins were missing Sean Taylor. This was a game the Redskins were supposed to lose. Something surprising happened last Sunday afternoon though. The Redskins should have won the game.
Despite troubles in the secondary and a career game from TO, the Redskins should have won. They were in position to do so and I am not referring to only the final couple drives where all the pressure was on Jason Campbell to deliver in the most difficult of situations. Admittedly, Campbell came up short at the end of the best game of his young career. However, it was Joe Gibbs and his staff who put Campbell in the position to fail.
It’s getting to the point where any team can win any game in today’s NFL. Sure, that has always been the case, but it’s different now. The Patriot’s are nearly a given to win every week, and teams like the Packers and Cowboys, and even the depleted Colts, are heavy favorites going into their contests. But outside of them, it’s fair game.
This week we saw multiple overtime games, crazy endings, and some players who have been down and almost ruled out for some time, surge back into our thoughts. Those players undoubtedly found themselves a place on someone’s fantasy football team, as well, but also found a way to move their squad a spot or two up in this week’s power rankings.
Aside from the lovely Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday and a Green Bay Packer win, I am left so very unsatisfied. Once again, Thanksgiving Day Football has left me uninspired and left wanting more. More from the players, frankly, as they have time and time again dashed my hopes of gaining a strategic edge in fantasy football before the Sunday games could come around to us. But alas, like every year during this holiday, the games are poor contests with even worse statistics. Aside for Favre going off like this was his last game on earth, it was a huge bummer. And with that said, here are the 32 things I am NOT thankful for in sports, but most notably the NFL, just one day after the holiday.
For a stretch of years I have been picking the Eagles to win the NFC East. Is it blind loyalty or is it the fact that the Eagles have been playing the role of the top dog in the division for almost as long as Andy Reid has been in town? Call me a homer but the fact is the Eagles have been the best team year in and year out every year in the NFC East, even the disastrous post Super Bowl year they probably had the best talent top to bottom but injuries (and personal conflicts) derailed that season form the start. This year will be no different.
For everyone with a weak stomach or weak knees, this is not your entry. Come back when your team makes a great move. You can be sure this is the place for it.
Today, I’m going to be talking some smack about some of the recent hires in the NFL. By the end of it, some of you will wanna kick me in the throat. Some of you will want to rip my fingers off and feed them to the wolves. Some of you will swear up and down and post comments saying that I’m wrong, that I’m a terrible person for thinking so-and-so is going to be bad at his new coaching gig. But I want to say up front, I’m not wishing for them to do badly; it’s just that I think they’re going to be bad, and I think I’m going to be right.
But I make some points, and I’ll give you several reasons why I think the way I do on each of the following topics, and hopefully that will be enough to get you to keep coming back here…
If you turn on your television or radio on Monday, January 22, 2007 to ESPN or FOX Sports Radio or TSN or your local sports affiliate, you will hear the talking heads say the following four things:
“Bill Parcells was tired and wasn’t getting any joy from winning so he retired” , “The next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys could from college or pros but already has head coaching experience (ala Norv Turner, Charlie Weis, Bob Stoops, Jeff Fisher, et al…)”, “Bill Parcells is a Hall of Fame coach and the Dallas Cowboys are better off now then they were when he first arrived after 3 consecutive 5-11 seasons”, and “I was surprised to hear this and so were several players in the locker room”.