NFL Halftime Report

So here we are, at the effective midway point of the always too short NFL season, and while many of us have been spending much of our time on that other season, the campaign of a lifetime, it is now time to get down to the business of our other national pastime, pro football. The college season is progressing nicely as well as they head down the stretch, but without a viable playoff system it becomes kind of like going to a strip club with your buddies. You enjoy it all season long, but walk away feeling unsatisfied and like you just wasted a lot of time and money and didn’t really get anything out of it. Which is why I don’t go to strip clubs anymore, although I still do enjoy college football. Maybe I can get a lap dance from Pete Carroll or Mack Brown one of the days, but I digress.

What we have seen so far can be broken down into two categories, the good and the ugly in the National Football League. The very good has been the Tennessee Titans, a team built on toughness, stingy defense, stopping the run and running the ball effectively, in other words an old school squad reminiscent of the 1970’s powerhouse teams like Pittsburgh, Oakland, Miami, and Dallas. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against the forward pass, but watching a team dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball gets my motor running, and this Titans team does that. They are tough and scrappy, and unpretentious, just like their coach Jeff Fisher, the longest tenured and probably most underrated coach in the league. He is to the NFL what Jerry Sloan is to the NBA. The Titans are 8-0 and while nobody is seriously considering them for a Patriots style unbeaten run yet at this point, with their fundamentals being strong, unlike our economy, they appear unlikely to fade away down the stretch.

Their most likely challenger in the AFC figures to be the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are coming off an impressive Monday night win over Washington, and like the Titans get it done the old-fashioned way, they earn it with tough defense, hard hitting, quality running, and the most underrated QB in the game in Big Ben Rothelisberger. Having a quality backup like former Jags starter Byron Leftwich comes in handy as well.

The defending champion New York Giants (please don’t call them the New York football Giants, that expression was clever the first hundred times but it has long since jumped the shark, are you listening ESPN analysts) are poised to get back to the big game with a 7-1 record and all the ingredients for a good second half run. Eli Manning may just add another trophy to the family collection and pass big brother Peyton, whose Colts are struggling just to stay afloat. Tom Coughlin is an effective coach when times are good, which they definitely are right now in the Big Apple, his style will wear on you when the squad is losing, but football players respond to what works and Coughlin’s style has been working pretty well. The top challenger right now looks to be the Carolina Panthers, but Tampa Bay and Washington are also within shouting distance of the top of the conference.

What do all these top four teams have in common? Tennessee (103 points), Pittsburgh (116), Carolina (127) and New York (129) are the stingiest defenses in the league, and while defense alone doesn’t win championships, its hard to win one without a good one, and these teams have it. I’m not one to make predictions and I gave up betting a few years back after taking a playoff bath, but these four would be as good a bet as any to reach the NFL’s version of the final four in late January, Conference Championship Sunday, which is the single best day in the sports calendar. Don’t be fooled by yardage stats, leave all the individual stuff to the fantasy geeks, the stats that matter after wins and losses are points allowed and points scored, because like Herm Edwards said, you play to win the game, and quite simply you win the game by outscoring your opponent.

If its true that God don‘t like ugly, then he definitely isn‘t wearing his Detroit Lions jersey today. They might need to draft a few more wide receivers because they are the only team still on the snide at 0-8, and are the most inept pro team east of the East Bay in Northern California. The Cincinnati Bengals are once again the Bungles, they were tied with the Rams as the losingest team in the 1990’s, and after a promising start to the Carson Palmer era, they have achieved a feat that few thought possible just a few years ago. They are racking up more losses than arrests, who knew? It pleases me to see the Kansas City Chiefs at 1-7, but I feel that Herm Edwards is a good coach and will turn that ship around if given the time. Remember the Patriots went from 5-11 to three-time Super Bowl champs under Bill Belichik, who went from a soon-to-be lifetime assistant to a sure fire hall of fame head coach in the process. It pains me on the other hand, to see the Oakland Raiders at 2-6, and unless they can arrange to get Detroit on the schedule, the prospects of another victory anytime soon don’t seem to bright. This ship is sinking fast, and unless Al Davis decides to go on a long cruise and turn the reigns over to someone with half a clue, the once proud franchise that I still love is in danger of becoming a permanent laughing stock.

Five games to watch this weekend are the Giants-Eagles on Sunday night, this should be a classic NFC East battle of heavyweights as the 5-3 Eagles look to get back into the action against the champs. In the AFC we’ve got an afternoon dandy, the hard charging Steelers against the fading 4-4 Indianapolis Colts, this is a chance for Pittsburgh to establish it’s place in the upper pantheon of the conference, and a chance for the Colts to prove that they aren’t quite done yet. There are two good divisional rival games between teams fighting for their playoff lives, division football is as close as the pros get to the heat generated by great college rivalries, and Buffalo takes on New England, both teams are 5-3 and the winner will emerge in first place in the AFC East. Green Bay plays Minnesota, both teams are at 4-4 and unless Chicago becomes the first team to beat the Titans this year, the winner will be in a first place tie in the NFC Central. The fifth game is that Titans-Bears match up in Chicago, and if you like your football old school this is one you will not want to miss.

May your workweeks be short and your Sundays last long, and as the weather finally breaks here in the desert and starts to turn downright cold in much of the country, what better way is there to pass some time on a Sunday afternoon than with our national pastime. It’s a lot less expensive and more productive than a trip down to the Front View Cabaret too, unless of course we can see Belichik do a little pole dance where he finally takes off that dang gray hoody.