Pats the NFL’s best right now
Who’s the best team in the NFL at the halfway point?
Granted, there are a lot of people who will point to the Pittsburgh Steelers given their defeats of the formerly unbeaten Patriots and Eagles on consecutive weeks. And, given the performance of super rookie Ben Roethlisberger, who beat the Eagles with Jerome Bettis in place of an injured Duce Staley last week, a good case could be made for the Steelers.
However, I’ll be very interested to see how the Steelers and their young quarterback adjust to their new role of being the hunted instead of the hunter. It’s easy to get up emotionally to play the Super Bowl champs or an undefeated team. But, what happens now when the Steelers return to playing the blue collar teams? It all begins again today when they play the always dangerous Cleveland Browns. I’ve got a big question about what happens to the Steeler team if Staley remains less than 100 percent. I suspect Bettis, who was averaging about a yard per carry prior to being put in late in the Patriot game with Staley’s injury, took advantage of an over-hyped Eagle defense which is suspect at best.
Speaking of which, the Eagles would not be my nominee for best team. Sure, part of their offense is much improved with Terrell Owens, but, at the same time their running game is in shambles with injuries and their defense is slipping from its former level.
The same is true of Seattle, which appeared to be on the inside track to the Super Bowl behind superback Shawn Alexander until their amazing collapse in the second half a few weeks ago to the Rams. They will have a chance to avenge that loss today; however, teams built around one player tend to collapse down the stretch. Aside from receiver Darrell Jackson, the Seahawks don’t have much to brag about through the air.
The Colts and Chiefs are suffering the same fate this year. Their offenses are unstoppable, putting up basketball scores every week. However, their defenses stink. Come on, the Chiefs gave up 34 to the Bucs last week, pretty well putting them in a win-out or stay home situation. The Colts are better off, having the inside track to the division thanks to the Byron Leftwich injury; however, they have big problems beating the Patriots.
Speaking of injury, a team who was a tempting choice for best team was the Jets, that is, until quarterback Chad Pennington went down. Sure, Curtis Martin is good, but all you have to do is look back to last year to see how the Jets come apart without Pennington. Sure, they may survive against the offense-challenged Ravens this week, but when they start facing teams that actually score double digits, they’ll be in trouble.
Across town, the Giants would have been a good pick; however, any team which loses to the Bears is automatically disqualified from contention as best team.
Now the Chargers are my nominee for most suprising and most improved team. The Chargers are obviously the class of the AFC West, if that’s saying anything, as the Broncos are questionable this year.
However, I hate to be a front-runner, but I’ve got to pick the Pats as the best team. Sure, they lost to the Steelers, but it’s easy to lose focus after 21 wins in a row. Plus, the Pats win close, so once in a while there will be a game that gets away. Look at it this way, the Pats have a very solid defense, a quarterback who is impressing me more and more, Corey Dillon back on top of his game and a platoon of good receivers.
At halfway, I have to say the Pats are still the team to beat when the playoffs roll around.