Thoughts on the NFL's Week 15

If you watched any of the games with any playoff implication this past week (Week 15 in the NFL), then chances are that you saw a pretty good game (besides the Eagles-Browns and Patriots-Raiders games). I'm going to go through every division briefly to discuss what happened this week with a major emphasis on the AFC North and how the playoff picture looks right now. So, let's start with the NFC North shall we?

NFC North

I'm not going to talk about the Vikings who had an easy win in Arizona or the Bears here because they aren't really the two teams with the most drama going on right now. With that being said, I'll discuss the Packers and Lions, starting with the Packers. They have lost five straight games. Look alright, you can say whatever you want about how different the offense might be with Brett Favre no longer around, but face it: the Packers made the RIGHT move by giving Aaron Rodgers the job this past off-season. They may not be going to the playoffs, but with Favre inching closer to 40 years of age, they might not have had more than two to three seasons with him under center. If they had chosen Favre, Rodgers would have walked away in free agency next year and the Packers would have Matt Flynn (who really looks like Matt Damon, you should Google him) as their quarterback of the future. Need I say more?

Now on to the Lions. Where do I begin? As much as I thought that I have wanted an NFL team to go 0-16, I've realized that I hope there is never a team that goes winless. Sure, it's fun to point and laugh at Lions fans when (yes that is WHEN this happens because they play New Orleans and Green Bay in the last two games) they go winless, but let's be logical here, this would be absolutely terrible for the league. How can you possibly let an NFL franchise who can't even win one game be in the league? It's not attractive to potential NFL fans and it especially doesn't get the non-football fans of Detroit interested in watching their home team play - not that they would be interested anyway, but a winless team makes it worse.

NFC South

This division has shaped out to be the best division in football this year. I'm gonna talk about the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons here. Starting with the Panthers; I just want to say how impressed I am in their new found running game with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. They have embarrassed NFL defenses for the past several weeks and this Panthers team is a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

How about those Atlanta Falcons? Going into this season, I honestly thought that they would be the worst team in the league, even more so than Kansas City. But man was I wrong. I did not buy into Matt Ryan at all, especially after ESPN's Todd McShay hailed him as a better quarterback coming out of college than Jay Cutler, Matt Leinart and Vince Young. Now McShay may not be able to argue that Ryan is better than Cutler, but I will be the first to admit that I was wrong about Ryan being a fraud. He's a legitimate NFL quarterback and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, if not the Super Bowl within the next five years. I actually hope they make the playoffs this year, because I feel for their fans and they did not deserve to have Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino betray them like that.

NFC West

Not a whole lot to talk about here except for how terrible the Cardinals looked against the Vikings. The Cardinals performance was a testament to how overrated they are (not offensively but as a team), and they will be sure to see a first round exit this year in the playoffs. The 49ers played another solid, competitive game, but two 16 play drives that result in THREE total points won't win you any games. PERIOD. I must say that I was really impressed with how the Rams played against the Seahawks, but then again, they played against the 32nd ranked pass defense in the league (that's dead last in the league for those of you who don't know how many teams there are), and they did play at home. I'm just saying.

NFC East

I'm not going to talk about the Eagles because they are not as interesting as the Cowboys and Giants at this time. Let me start with the Cowboys, who are actually in the lead for top wild card spot in the NFC. They looked really impressive against the Giants on Sunday night and I think that they are the ONLY team that can prevent the Giants from getting back to the Super Bowl this year. Granted, they do have to win their last two games against the angry Baltimore Ravens (whom I will get to very soon) and the resurgent Philadelphia Eagles (in Philly), but they can do it. If Marion Barber can get healthy, you'll see Cowboys-Giants III this year in the NFC Championship Game.

I don't want to say a lot about the Giants, but I will say that this loss at Dallas should not present any worries. As long as Brandon Jacobs can get healthy, I think that they will get back to the Super Bowl. But the keyword is IF. They can definitely win without Plaxico Burress, but if you watched the game against the Cowboys this past week, you saw how one-dimensional they are on offense without Brandon Jacobs. It's quite simple: with Brandon Jacobs = Super Bowl berth (NFC Championship Game berth at the very least) and without Brandon Jacobs = 2nd Round exit.

AFC East

Again, I don't want to stretch this blog out so I won't talk about the irrelevant Bills or the luckily overrated Jets. I will say though, that the Dolphins are the most surprising team in the league this year behind the Falcons and I would love to see them win the AFC East. Now on to the Patriots. Big kudos to Matt Cassel for having the performance of his life just days after his father passed away. I can't imagine having to go back to work just days after one of my parents passed away, and I really admire his courage and willingness to play. By the way, if you haven't noticed, if the Patriots win their last two games, they will finish 11-5 - and miss the playoffs (which I will get to in a bit).

AFC West

Honestly this division isn't worth writing about, but I will say that I am very disappointed in San Diego, the Denver Broncos will never be consistent, the Oakland Raiders have officially claimed the title of "Worst Team of the Decade," and that I feel sorry for Herman Edwards because he is a great coach who happens to be leading a terrible team.

AFC South

Again, not a whole lot to say here, but the Colts are one of the hottest teams in the league and they can never be counted out. The Titans are overrated and the Steelers will definitely prove that this Sunday. The Jaguars are the biggest disappointment of the year behind the Chargers. And finally, if the Texans had a little more defense, they would actually be contenders because they are the hottest team in football in the last 4 weeks.

AFC North

Okay, now one of the biggest reasons why I decided to write about football in this blog. No need to worry, I'm not going to bore you with comments about the irrelevant Browns and Bengals. Let's talk about easily the most controversial play of the season which happened in the closing minute of the Steelers-Ravens game this Sunday. If you didn't see what happened, you need to see what happened. For those of you who know me, you know that I love the Steelers. My heart belongs to the 49ers and they will always be 1st in my heart, but I LOVE the Steelers. But I will admit, they got away with one in Baltimore. Did Santonio Holmes really have the ball across the goal line? I don't know, and NO ONE really knows. But I do know this: there is NO way you can overturn the call on the field (which was a catch down at the 1-yard line) if there is no conclusive video evidence (which there was none).

Why do I emphasize this section of my post so much? Because it truly alters the NFL Playoffs. Think about it. If the Ravens win that game against the Steelers, they take 1st in the division, the number two seed in the AFC and ultimately provide a road trip that no team in the AFC would like to take (not that any team wants to go Pittsburgh either). How does this alter the playoffs? Well, look at this weekend, if the Steelers beat the Titans, they take over the number 1 seed in the AFC and the road to the Super Bowl would have to go through Pittsburgh. This scenario would not even be possible if weren't for the Steelers win over the Ravens. Not only does Pittsburgh escape having to play a wild card game, they also get a bye week and could possibly play at home until they get to Tampa (the Super Bowl). Who else loses in all of this? The Titans. If the Ravens won this past week, they would have secured the number 1 seed and the road to the Super Bowl would have to go through Tennessee. Big BIG turn of events.

In closing, the NFL playoffs look very interesting. As I said earlier, the Patriots have a chance to go 11-5 and miss the playoffs this year, which would be an absolute travesty. Now, I really don't like New England but they are getting robbed here. How is it that the Denver Broncos who could finish 8-8, have a home playoff game in the first round and the 11-5 Patriots not even get into the playoffs? For the Patriots to not get in is a travesty and exposes a huge weakness in the NFL's playoff system. They should keep all 8 divisions for scheduling purposes (ex. the 49ers play the Rams and Seahawks twice a year), but they should make the top 6 teams (by record) in each conference get into the playoffs. This prevents teams in terrible divisions such as the Cardinals and Broncos from taking spots from more deserving teams like New England and Atlanta (who could also go 11-5 and miss the playoffs, but their situation is a little less shadier than New England's).

With that said, my Super Bowl prediction at this point in the season would have to be the Steelers (I say this unbiasedly because their defense this year is quietly one of the top 10 defenses in a single season in NFL history) versus the New York Giants. Ben Roethlisberger should play really well in the playoffs after being sub-par in the regular season and if there is any team in the league that knows how to battle adversity, it's the New York Giants.