GenXXLSports for the Real World Athlete (and Weekend Warrior)
AFC at the Midway Point
It’s the midway point of the NFL season, and we have to start taking stock of what’s happened, what might happen, who’s still got a shot at the playoffs, and who continues to rebuild for next year. This will be a brief, overall runthrough of the AFC today, then the NFC tomorrow and a quick synopsis grade of each team the way I see it so far this season, plus handicapping some awards.
We’ve got no winless teams left, as Tampa Bay had a virtual offensive explosion Sunday against Green Bay, putting up 38 points to knock off the Packers. The Pack continue to see Raymond James Stadium as a house of horrors, as they are 1-7 in their last eight visits there. We DO still have a pair of undefeated teams in the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, who both are 8-0 after tough wins last week. The Colts had to battle the Texans and hold on for a missed field goal at the gun by Kris Brown or the game would have gone to overtime, while the Saints were down 17-6 before rallying for a 30-20 win over Carolina. In the Colts win, rookie coach Jim Caldwell became the first rookie coach to go 8-0 since Potsy Clark of the Portsmouth Spartans in 1931.
Let’s take a quick sprint around the AFC then, shall we?
AFC EAST
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (6-2) Grade: B+ I can’t put the Pats any higher than this, because realistically, they could and for that matter, SHOULD be worse than their current mark. Had Leodis McKelvin not fumbled a kickoff in the dying minutes on Monday night in week 1, and Mark Clayton not dropped a pass in the flat in week 4, the Pats could be 4-4 instead of 6-2. Sure, coulda, woulda, shoulda, didn’t. Still doesn’t impress me, and with games at Indy, and at New Orleans sandwiched around a home game with the Jets, it could be rough seas for the Pats.
NEW YORK JETS (4-4) Grade: C+ Just not sold on the Jets either. 
They started off hard charging, winning their first three, then looked like the Jets at the end of last season, as they dropped four of their next five to fall back to the .500 mark on the season. They’ll miss Leon Washington’s explosiveness as a change of pace back and in the return game. Mark Sanchez needs to learn on the fly starting NOW, and losing twice to Miami and once to Buffalo in the division does not help their playoff hopes. Still games at New England and Indianapolis, with the latter the filling of a home game sandwich featuring Atlanta and Cincinnati.
MIAMI DOLPHINS (3-5) Grade: C- The Fins are an up and down team that can’t keep teams down when they have the chance. They could easily be 5-3 instead of 3-5. They dominated time of possession against Indianapolis, but couldn’t make enough plays when they needed to. They led big against New Orleans 24-3 right before the half, only to get outscored 43-10 the rest of the way. They are benefitted by having their three wins all within the division, but that may not be enough. Chad Henne is still a young QB and lacks a bona fide #1 receiver to throw to. That could haunt Miami, as their run game has been solid. Their three toughest games left (New England, Houston and Pittsburgh) are all at home.
BUFFALO BILLS (3-5) Grade: D I don’t know what to say about the 
Bills in all honesty. They want to go to the no huddle, then they chuck it. They have a green offensive line, but they want to try and play the vertical passing game. They have two talented wide receivers in Terrell Owens and Lee Evans, but they dink and dunk the ball. The run defense is leakier than a beer keg near Barney Gumbel, and special teams directly attributed to two losses (New England and Cleveland.) Dick Jauron is on life support, and Ralph Wilson is getting ready to sign the DNR papers. The last three games of the year (New England, at Atlanta, Indianapolis) will be a painful end to a brutal season.
AFC NORTH
CINCINNATI BENGALS (6-2) Grade: A- Come on, raise your hand if you thought the Bengals were going to be good? Let’s see, liar, liar, liar, mental patient, liar. Now that we covered that, let’s move on. The Bungles are 4-0 in the division, and have beaten both Pittsburgh and Baltimore, along with a throttling of the Bears a couple weeks ago. They are looking good as Carson Palmer has rebounded from the elbow injury that cost him most of last year and reclamation project Cedric Benson has run for 837 yards. The Bengals look poised for a playoff run. After this week against Pittsburgh the next three are against doormats (at Oakland, then home against Cleveland and Detroit.) Road games at Minnesota, San Diego and the Jets in December and January are the only worries right now.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS (6-2) Grade: A- The defending Super Bowl 
champs started losing two of their first three, both close affairs in the dying moments of the fourth quarter, before rebounding to win five straight. The team has to stay healthy and win the key games (prime among them Sunday and then the two with Baltimore.) At Miami and Green Bay at home loom as tough contests too. Mike Wallace has stepped in nicely for Nate Washington.
BALTIMORE RAVENS (4-4) Grade: C The Ravens have been a middling team this season. They have had chances to win games late and failed to come through. Their three losses before this week’s ten point defeat to Cincinnati, which came at the hands of New England, the Bengals and the Vikings, were by a combined eleven points. The defense has become ordinary, and after not allowing a 100 yard rusher for almost two full seasons, it’s happened three times in four games. When the D is decent, the O stinks, like this past week. They still have Pittsburgh twice, at Green Bay and a home date with Chicago. It might be too much to ask.
CLEVELAND BROWNS (1-7) Grade: F- Is there anything you can say 
about the Browns? They dealt their two pass receiving threats (Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards), and shuffled quarterbacks (Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson and now back to Brady Quinn.) Jamal Lewis has said he’ll retire at the end of the year. They can’t stop anyone. They can’t move the ball. About all they can do is punt, and no one is touting Dave Zastudil as the next Ray Guy. Next.
AFC SOUTH
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (8-0) Grade: A+ Can you argue with a perfect record? The Colts have won gritty, ugly, pretty and in blowout form. They’ve done it with injuries on both sides of the ball. They will face some tough contests coming up though, starting with New England this Sunday night. Then it’s road games at Baltimore and Houston plus a home game with Denver. However, the Colts have a stranglehold on the AFC South and are just biding their time, trying to lock up home field advantage.
HOUSTON TEXANS (5-4) Grade: C+: The Texans are a team that is 
puzzling, as they can play with most competition, and then flop when you least expect it. They need the bye to regroup after the tough loss to the Colts, as they’ll play three straight division games out of the bye, and still have Miami and New England on the docket as well. They’ll need to win five of seven probably to get in. Daunting task when you factor the Colts and Pats as two of those seven. Steve Slaton needs to get past his fumblitis and start being a productive contributor to the offense.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (4-4) Grade: C-: The Jags would be a lot better if they followed a simple offensive credo: Give the damn ball to Maurice Jones-Drew. MJD has 737 rushing yards and 30 catches out of the backfield plus a league leading eleven touchdowns. How can you NOT give him the rock? The Jags can get right and in the playoff mix with easy games the next few weeks (at Jets, Buffalo, at San Fran) before dealing with back to back to back home games against Houston, Miami and Indy, then a road contest against the Pats. If they get to 7-4, they have a shot.
TENNESSEE TITANS (2-6) Grade: D The Titans started last year 10-0, 
only to come back this year and start 0-6. They’ve won two straight since then to get to 2-6, with Vince Young replacing 78 year old Kerry Collins under center. Of course, you could get Babe Parilli out of retirement to do what VY is doing most of the time: turning around and handing the ball off to Chris Johnson, who is lightning quick and a threat to go the distance on ANY play. The Titans have a chance at some form of respectability with games against Buffalo, St. Louis, and Seattle, but don’t expect anything big.
AFC WEST
DENVER BRONCOS (6-2) Grade: B The Broncos would have gotten a better grade had they not been exposed as seeming frauds the last two weeks, being throttled by AFC North teams Baltimore and Pittsburgh, in which they were outscored by a combined 58-17, and only scored one offensive touchdown in that span. Sure, the Broncos still lead the division, but the Chargers are coming fast in the rear view and Denver knows about collapsing late in the season to them. The big game for Denver is 11/22 against San Diego. Thanksgiving Day against the struggling Giants might not be a picnic either, and road games in Indy and Philly are going to test the Broncos. Still a likely playoff team though despite it all.
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (5-3) Grade: B- Who would have thought the 
Chargers would be dead last in the league running the ball? Who would have thought that Chris Chambers would be cut and not even missed? Who would have figured that the Bolts would have won three straight, including a last minute win Sunday over Eli Manning and the Giants in the Meadowlands? San Diego needs to run the ball better in the second half to give Philip Rivers a break, and with the schedule (Philly, @Denver, @Dallas, Cincinnati), they’d like at least a split of those four.
OAKLAND RAIDERS (2-6) Grade: D- It’s another year of “who cares about the Raiders after September?” They played well the first couple weeks, and did upset Philadelphia, but have been waxed repeatedly, dropping four games by at least 20 points, and only scoring 20 once (in week one.) The Raiders have stuck with JaMarcus Russell (7-17 as a starter), have no real receiving threats to speak of, no pride, and people are wondering if Al Davis has gone senile. They DO get games with Kansas City, Cleveland and Washington, so maybe they can end up with four or five wins.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (1-7) Grade: F+ The Chiefs have been a team of 
turmoil. They cut loose Larry Johnson this week after his comments about head coach Todd Haley and a gay slur toward the media. Matt Cassel has not played nearly as well as he did with New England. While he hasn’t been terrible, he’s also not throwing to Randy Moss, Wes Welker and company, nor does he have a Pro Bowl line in front of him. The Chiefs will need to figure out what to do in the run game, and have a nasty second half schedule, with Pittsburgh, San Diego, Denver twice, and Cincinnati on the docket. They might battle the Bucs, Rams and Lions for the first overall pick.
That’s the AFC in a rundown…next time we’ll take a look at the NFC. Stay tuned.
