[JerryM]

Saints - Broncos in the Super Bowl. You heard it here first. 

Go Saints!!!

[jackman]

Jerry - not a bad pick.  I'm not sure if the Niners or Packers wil get back on track.  The Bears play the Saints in a few weeks.  Should be a good test for both teams.  I'm really impressed with Seattle.   At home, they are as dominant a team as I ave seen in a long long time.  If they have home field in playoffs they will be hard to beat.



Thankfully it is a long season.

[Freo-1]

Well, glad to see the Lions beat the Bears this week!! (About bloody time).  Looks like there are going to be a couple of upsets again this week.
 
Man, what is going on with the Giants?  They are awful so far this season.

[SteveFord]

No Super Bowl for the Giants, I'm afraid.

[jimdgoulding]

Gary Kubiak and Matt Shaub are dolts.  Imagine how disappointed Texan fans in attendance must have been in the end.  When the camera scanned the Seattle sideline their coach was rah-rah all the way with what looked like the entire offense around him.  Flash over to Kubiak and he LOOKED like a dolt.  They are pitiful and it starts with those two guys.   JJ Watts excluded. 

Dude, the offensive line of the Pats is sumthin else on the run at the moment!!  Making gaping holes in the Birds defense.

[jimdgoulding]

How about those Bills!  THE Sunday Night game!  Two old guards in the east are plum done. 

[jackman]

It's fair to say that Washington lost to a high caliber team as well. And maybe Philadelphia too.

It's beginning to look like things have turned around sharply. All 4 AFC West teams won yesterday and all 4 NFC East teams lost, three of them to the AFC West.

Only 8 teams are still undefeated after 2 games. A couple of those have barely done so (NE, NO and KC come to mind) and a few of them are pretty likely to fall next weekend. Parity, at last!

My Bronkeys have outscored their opponents by 40 points so far (90 for and 50 agin) and are beginning to look like the Super Bowl team others predicted pre-season.
However, even if Peyton overcomes his alleged postseason curse, I can't see him operating comfortably outdoors in N.J. in February. Can you?

I don't know, Manning looks pretty good playing outdoors in Denver.  From what I've seen so far, injury is the only thing that can stop the Broncos this year. We will see!

[sts9fan]

Payton ain't so good outdoors. I don't like his chances for another ring. 

[macrojack]

Jackman - I can't dispute your assessment of the Broncos' prospects. I want you to be right in what you say. I'm just afraid to approach the bandwagon for fear of jinxing the whole juggernaut.
Historically, the Broncos have a record of starting strong and then imploding. However, in fairness, they seem to have better coaching and better quarterbacking than ever before. Dan Reeves was a "get a lead and try to protect it with conservative D" strategist. Usually his prevent defense prevented the Broncos from keeping their lead. This is why Elway had so many opportunities to come from behind. Shanahan requires no explanation at all. His current activity in DC exposes him for the hoax he always was. Only the blind squirrel selection of Terrell Davis kept him from a quick exit and permanent consignment to co-ordinator status somewhere else.

Just imagine if they hadn't lost the best pass rushing tandem in the league by faxing Dumervil to the Ravens and letting their prize linebacker go unsupervised when clearly he needed a Dez Bryant kind of intervention. Live and learn.

If Denver can overcome the Chiefs and Bolts unexpected prowess, there is little else in their way. It appears that the remaining two NFC east games will not offer much resistance and the AFC south teams all look inferior. Maybe the Colts or Texans could rise up as trap games but patterns so far make that seem unlikely. The only other team not mentioned is N.E. which can be hard for anybody to beat.

Right now I would say the Broncos have a realistic shot at an undefeated regular season and are virtually certain to win 14 games. This is, of course, barring crippling injuries to too many key players or to, god forbid, Peyton. The other influences that can cause a weaker team to win, bad or biased officiating, and the freak play for touchdown miracle shouldn't be enough to overcome a 4-5 TD superiority.

All that being said, Denver was obviously much better than the Ravens in last year's playoff game but they allowed a successful Hail Mary in the final seconds to ruin their day. I think it ain't over til it's over.

[macrojack]

Payton ain't so good outdoors. I don't like his chances for another ring.

Broncos have outscored the opposition 179-91 in the first 4 games, all of which were outdoors. Manning has thrown 16 touchdown passes (avg. 4 per game) with 0 interceptions. No one has ever done better. Are you referring to cold and adverse weather conditions? If so, I can share your concern. If he gets to the Super Bowl, he will be playing in N.J. weather on February 2nd. That could be a very bad day for passers. I grew up near there and I remember all too well.

[SteveFord]

The Giants players will be working the concession stands.
Just wait 'til next year!

[soundbitten1]

The Giants players will be working the concession stands.

Seeing the empty seats today they probably won't be too busy.

[macrojack]

Schaub got his pick six out of the way first thing this week. He's getting more efficient.

[dB Cooper]

I would like to see some pro football but I am in the DC Metro area.

[macrojack]

Are the Deadskins being shutdown along with everything else in Washington? At this point, I suspect Shanahan would welcome any excuse for not showing up.

[TomS]

My daughter and I were fortunate enough to be at the Colts-Seahawks game at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday. It was truly one of the best games I've seen in many years with 2 gritty teams fighting it out, a lot of back and forth momentum. A blocked punt for a safety, a blocked kick returned for a TD, a 73-yard bomb to T.Y. Hilton, a double reverse, all in the first half! There were certainly plenty of lousy calls to go both ways but they balanced out as usual.

The Seahawks absolutely owned the Colts in the first quarter, but they adjusted well and came from behind again to win. I have to say watching Russell Wilson play in person on the whole field, not a TV view, revealed what a great athlete he is, and to me he's definitely the real deal. He can make defensive players look really bad at times, and makes smart choices on the field. He seemed to see the field as if he were up overhead in the stands, amazing stuff. They'll go far with such a great young talent at the helm.

[jimdgoulding]

Schaub got his pick six out of the way first thing this week. He's getting more efficient.

Simply pathetic.  The Texans need a new coach and a QB.  What a sad season for some teams. 

[macrojack]

Most of the league looks pathetic, Jim. It seems like about 3/4 of the teams are below average. It's like mass attrition. Houston is not the only team that has come in far below expectations. The Giants and Steelers are terrible. Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, St. Louis, and Cincinnati have all disappointed so far. Out of 32 teams, only 6 have 4 wins. Only 3 teams are still undefeated and Denver came very close to failing yesterday. NO is going to NE next week where they could get a surprise, and KC is hosting the Raiders. This could be a trap game for the Chiefs. They have been feasting on a last place schedule to stay unbeaten, with the exception of beating Dallas, which shows the value of a pass rush. Denver didn't pressure Romo much yesterday at all and he picked the Bronco secondary to pieces.

The Broncos look pretty safe next week when they host the inimitable Jacksonville Jaguars. Denver is averaging 46 points per game and Jax has scored a total of 51 points in 5 games. On top of that their starter QB, Blaine Gabbert, pulled a hamstring and had to leave yesterday's game and their star tackle, Luke Koetchli broke his ankle and is done for the year. This happened less than a week after they traded away Eugene Monroe because they had Koetchli to replace him. Bad judgment.
Broncos are a 28 point favorite. Bet on the Jags. Manning probably won't even play in the second half so that much spread might be too generous.

Supposedly, there are as many as 9 high quality QBs in next year's draft. And there are probably more than 9 teams who need one. This could make the second half of the season even worse than the first as teams battle for first pick.

[zybar]

The Giants are terrible and looking worse and worse each week! 

While I didn't have very high hopes for this season, in no way did I see this complete and all encompassing failure happening.

Oh well, there is always next year.

At least the Cowboys and Pats lost.

George

[jackman]

The Giants are toast.  I was waiting for people to take shots at Romo. He had one if the best games I have ever seen from a qb.  Over 500 yards, five td's and only one pick.  The Brincos need to improve their defense because they were lucky to get out if Dallas with the W.

The Pats also looked pretty bad yesterday. No offense at all.  I'm going to then bears giants game this Thursday.  Hopefully the Giants will continue their losing ways.  The most disappointing team this week?  For me it was the Texans.  They sucked so bad on their home field. What happened to that team?  Collin Kaepernick also looks like he has lost his confidence. It looks like Wilson and Luck have emerged as the cream if the young QB crop. 

The Bears started out poorly but looked good in their comeback bid.  The defense did a good job holding down the potent Saints offense but some key mistakes cost the Bears the game.  Lance Briggs should know better than to fall for a hard count on fourth down and Earl Bennett's drop of that easy fourth down pass... Those two plays were back breakers.