By Jeremy Tiedt
Staff Writer
Like every other year, the 2007 season has been filled with unexpected stories. Now that we are about a week away from the half way point of the season, I decided I would put together the top ten stories thus far.
10. The fall of the QB – Every year at least one team’s playoff and championship dreams are crushed within the first couple weeks due to an injury to their quarterback. However, this year quarterbacks seem to be falling faster then college freshman at their first kegger.
Not that the Falcons can really qualify as having a starting quarterback, but none the less they have had their share of QB problems. Byron Leftwich plays one game and is now listed with a “high ankle” sprain, which anybody who has played a sport knows that this injury is going to sideline him for at least a week or two. We won’t even touch on the Michael Vick subject, and Joey Harrington’s shot at a fresh start has been anything but successful.
Once again the Cardinals appeared to be the popular choice for the sleeper team of the year with Matt Leinart coming into his sophomore season. But Cardinal fans will have to wait another year to see what this kid can really do, after his season ended with a broken collar bone.
Now let’s add in Delhomme’s season ending surgery, Young’s quad strain, McNair’s back problems, Marc Bulger’s ribs and a new member to the group, David Garrard’s high ankle sprain.
We can’t forget about Trent Green’s severe concussion that will most likely end his career. However, Green has made comments about coming back. Let me just make one comment on Green’s thoughts of coming back after this last concussion. It’s time to hang it up Trent, you have had a long and successful career and have suffered numerous concussions throughout the last couple years and are now putting your future in danger. This is like when your buddy has obviously had too much to drink and insists on driving home, his friends and family need to step up here and stop him from making a horrible mistake.
9. When did the NFL switch to the Arena League?
I don’t know if I can remember that last time I have seen this much winning in the NFL with this much passing. We all know that the Pats have been putting up insane numbers through the air this year, while the Colts continue to just mosey along doing what they have been doing since the beginning of the Manning era. But it is the rest of the league that has impressed me with the passing game.
Thanks to Brett Favre and the Packers air attack, the state of Wisconsin has been able to forget about the Brew Crew’s choke job of the NL Central. With the Packers back to their usual spot a top the NFC North, everything is right in the dairy state.
There are six quarterbacks this season that are ahead of Peyton Manning in passing yards this season, a stat that Manning has dominated in years past. And it just so happens of those six quarterbacks, only two are not leading their division, with one Matt Schaub being in the same division as Manning.
8. “Spygate”
Finally the talk of “Spygate” has simmered down to a whisper. But you can bet that the 2007 season will always be synonymous with “Spygate”.
In a year that has seen a; crooked ref, a dog killing superstar, and the most prolific record fall to a juiced up over-the-hill cheater, “Spygate” doesn’t seem so bad.
7. Bears and Chargers Stumble
Coming into the 2007 season, the Chargers were the sexy pick to win the Super Bowl. I can’t think of one sports talk show that I didn’t hear at least one analyst pick them to win it all. But after watching them stumble out the gate, they regained their balance and are now fighting for their playoff lives in a very tough AFC. This is a team that won 14 games last year and then for some reason decided to fire their head coach. Now at 3-4, I wonder what it would take to get Marty back? Part ownership, his own section on the plane, hell if I were A.J. Smith I would let him fly the plane if he wanted to.
Then we have the Bears, who if anybody has forgotten, they were in the Super Bowl last year, and are currently sitting 3rd in the NFC North behind the Detroit Lions. Let me type that again so you can really let that sink in: THE DETROIT LIONS. This team won 13 games last year and even though nobody in their right mind believes they can win a Super Bowl with any QB on that roster, a 3-4 record is something nobody expected.
6. Welcome back to the NFL, NFC!
Hey, what do you know, the NFC finally decided to rejoin the NFL; oh wait, they were there last year too?
Yes, the AFC still dominates the NFC top to bottom, but at least the NFC has closed the gap to a respectable range. I know Dallas just got smacked by the Pats, but who isn’t going to get smacked by the Pats this year? With the Boys back in town, Joe Gibs returning the Redskins to quality ball club, the G-men getting their act together and Favre leading the Pack, the NFC has been moved up from their previous JV league status. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe whoever comes out of the AFC is will be the Super Bowl Champs, its just this year I might flip over to the NFC playoff games and hopefully be entertained.
5. The resurgence of BRETT FAVRE!!
Being from the state of Wisconsin, there is nothing greater then a victory from the Packers, especially when those wins are coming in bunches and Brett Favre is breaking records in the process. If you say you saw this coming, then I will straight up call your bluff. Most analysts didn’t even pick the Packers to win this many games all year. The defense is playing well and Brett Favre has been playing real solid with only a minor slip up against the Bears and the Redskins. If the Packers can get this type of production from Favre all year, the Packers are going to be right in the thick of things come January.
4. Colts flying under the radar?!
Does anybody care or even know that the Indianapolis Colts have won 12 straight dating back to last season? Is it even possible to say that the Colts have almost been flying under the radar this year? Never have I witnessed such little coverage on the defending Super Bowl champs who have put together such a good follow up season. They are returning almost their entire Super Bowl roster and have won just as many games as the Pats but don’t get as much coverage. Week 9 is either going to be the week the Colts shut every Pats fan up, or the week that proves the Pats are as good as they appear on paper.
3. What happened to the Saints?
Does anybody else find it funny that ESPN, FOX and CBS still have to play those Saints commercials? Every time I see them, I just break out into laughter thinking about how much hype was around the Saints this year and how much it must hurt Saints fans every time one of those comes on. Drew Brees had an unbelievable year last year and showed once again that A.J. Smith doesn’t deserve to be an NFL GM. What happened to the breakout year for Reggie Bush, he was supposed to play a major part in putting this team in the Super Bowl this year.
Instead they got smacked twice on Monday Night Football by Indy and Tennessee, and Sundays haven’t been treating them any better thanks to a beat down from the Bucs and a tough loss to the Panthers. In their defense, all of those teams have winning records and will probably make the playoffs, but when you were tagged as a possible Super Bowl team, 2-4 doesn’t cut it.
They have notched wins in the last two weeks and are heading to San Francisco this week, but in the end, the loss of Duce for the season will be what crushed this team’s offense.
2. Fantasy Football Follies
For anybody else who is in a fantasy football league, I feel your pain. When I pull up my live scoring window every week all I can do is shake my head. Two weeks ago I traded away Frank Gore and Reggie Wayne for Brett Favre and didn’t think twice about it. Before the season started if my buddy offered me this trade I would have laughed in his face, however in the year that every fantasy running back is a bust, I practically had to buy him dinner just to think about it.
Looking at my draft board, I would assume it looks a lot like everybody else’s in the order of LT then a mixture of; Gore, LJ, Steven Jackson, Shaun Alexander. Now looking at the season stat leaders, LT is the highest of those five coming in at number 7 on the rushing yards list, while Frank Gore leads this group at number 13 in touchdowns this year. What happened to the sure thing?
It was a no brainer for anybody who had a top five pick, you couldn’t possible screw it up, you were going to get a fantasy point machine. But instead, everybody just stares at that live scoring window with the same expression of disbelief, with an occasional comment like; “Steven Jackson has -1”, or “Frank Gore got me 2 points this week that will help” and even the unthinkable, “I think I’m going to sit Larry Johnson next week in favor of Derrick Ward…”
1. The Pats/Brady and Moss
Nobody expected the Pats to be this good, and I mean nobody. Yeah, they looked like a better team due to a significant upgrade at the wide-out spots but nobody could have expected the thrashing the Patriots have been putting on the rest of the league. Tom Brady and Randy Moss look like they have played together their entire career, and the defense only looks to improve as they now have Rodney Harrison back. Even Richard Seymour looks to be coming back to action soon.
And the X factor is that they still have the best coach in the NFL, who somehow gets every player that puts on a Patriot jersey to buy into his system and leave their egos at the door. I don’t think I have been this excited about a football team since the Packers won the Super Bowl back in ’96. This team is something special and it doesn’t matter how much they are winning by, I still don’t change the channel, because I know they are going to keep running up the score in spite of everybody who called them cheaters.
It has been an exciting and interesting first half of the NFL season and I am loving every minute of it. Let just hope the second half can keep up.
