While Steve takes care of the NBA preview buisness, I’ll lock down the NFL for you.
1. New England Patriots (3-0)
They’re here till they lose. What bugs me about them is everyone is acting so surprised that they’re kicking arse and Moss is still good. How hard was this to predict, people? Good grief.
2. Indianapolis Colts (3-0)
Part 2 of our “Incredibly easy and boring picks” portion of the program. The D is somehow still playing near the level of last season’s playoffs.
3.Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0)
Willie Parker is carrying this offense while the D carries the team, so what else is new? See what I’m getting at? The AFC is good, no doubt, but it’s fairly boring. Even teams that have started slowly like San Diego and Baltimore will surely rise back to the top.
4. Tennessee Titans (2-1)
Much better than I thought they would be. Sort of like the 2006 Falcons. Run well. D up. And take advantage of nobody thinking your recievers can run even a streak route.
5. Denver Broncos (2-1)
Everybody is sweating over the coach up in New England, but nobody seems to feel like giving Mike Shanahan credit. I guess that went out of style back in 1998. This is the one defense that makes me a little scared for the Cowboys (who fortunately probably won’t have to play them) because of that secondary. Side note: Am I the only one who loves the NFL.com commercial where the guy predicts everything John Lynch will say in an interview?
6. Houston Texans (2-1)
They get the 6-spot for effort. If they could just shake the injuries to their wideouts they could end up with a wild card spot. For some reason, I hope they do. Wonder what storylines ESPN would dig up then? Think they’d hate an All-Texas Superbowl? Me too.
7. Baltimore Ravens (2-1)
How much longer did we really think Steve Mcnair would last anyways? I’m not sure this team will ever be in a full rebuilding mode, but this might be on of their down years. They just don’t seem to have that same 4th quarter mojo as last year.
8. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1)
David Garrard is becoming the man here, despite not having much better wideouts than Vinny Young. Rashean Mathis continues to be an underrated corner.
9. San Diego Chargers (1-2)
The schedule gets much, much easier from here on out. LT and the rest of the squad will be fine, but I’m beggining to think that with the presence of Michael Turner, Antonio Gates is almost more important to that offense right now than LT.
10. Cincinatti Bengals (1-2)
The defense used to be good enough because it created turnovers and more chances for Palmer to bomb downfield. Is T.J. who’syomomma making his claim that he’s a better receiver than Ocho Cinco?
11. New York Jets (1-2)
The cutoff point for teams that could make the playoffs.
12. Kansas City Chiefs (1-2)
From here on down it’s bad, bad and more bad. Chiefs could still be productive, more so than most of the teams here. Dwayne Bowe looks like he might be the highlight of the year. LJ will have a big game soon. Talent always brings occasional big games, but offensive lines bring consistency.
13. Oakland Raiders (1-2)
Jamarcus Russel will take over in the second half, but for now, Raider fans can feel good about LaMont Jordan playing his butt off for a contract and the D still looking mighty decent.
14. Cleveland Browns (1-2)
Ties with Buffalo as being a nearly all-encompasing, uninteresting team — unless you have a man crush on Brady Quinn like ESPN. If Quinn hadn’t gone to Notre Dame, nobody would care right now.
15. Buffalo Bills (0-3)
Anemic in every category. Like LJ, Lee Evans is too talented not to start putting some points up. If Laverneaus Coles can do it, Evans can. I haven’t seen much of Trent Edwards, but at least he brings us the opportunity to hear from the media that he is a savior if they win this weekend.
16. Miami Dolphins (0-3)
Jason Taylor after last weekend’s loss: “I suck right now.” Might as well say that about the rest of your team, too.