The theme of the week is teams who have exceeded expectations thus far through the season. The first three talking points are all about teams who I didn't think would have many positive things to say about through Week 11, but Houston, Arizona, and Green Bay all have a lot to be excited about today. Incidentally, I didn't expect any of these teams to make the playoffs this season (more on that later), but at least two of them are bound to be playing in January. Green Bay in particular looks like an offensive machine, putting up 50 points in each of their past two games. There aren't many teams in the league who can be expected to put that many points on the board week to week.
Of course, not everyone had a great Week 11....
1. Houston is much better than I had expected them to be. The Texans put a beating on the Browns, and once again J.J. Watt was the star on Sunday. While I had expected Houston to be better than they were last year, I did not expect them to be 5-5 after 10 games. I thought they'd finish around 5 wins for the season, but they actually have a chance - albeit a very outside one - to grab one of the Wild Card spots in the AFC. Ryan Mallet might even be their long-term answer at quarterback, which would put them at least a year ahead of schedule in rebuilding their team after last season's disaster. They still need help at wide receiver, but their fast turnaround has been very impressive.
2. Bruce Arians made me eat my words. Considering Arizona's tough defense, the Cardinals could actually still win the Super Bowl with Drew Stanton subbing for the injured Carson Palmer. Stanton made just enough plays against Detroit on Sunday to put the Cardinals two games ahead of everyone else in the NFC. Until someone really punches the Cardinals in the mouth, I will go on believing in the team. They have a real shot at not only the #1 seed in the conference, but they could be a true home team in the Super Bowl since Super Bowl 49 will be played in University of Phoenix Stadium in February.
3. Green Bay is also making me look very, very stupid. I have the nerve at the beginning of the season to predict that the Packers would fail to make the playoffs this season. I'll keep eating crow on that one since not only are the Packers going to make the playoffs somehow, they are one of the top teams in the NFC. They do have a huge game coming up in two weeks when New England comes to play in Lambeau; if there's one secondary in the league who can possibly contain Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, it's the combo of Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner. On paper, the only team who looks like they could slow down the Cardinals would be the Packers, but they'd only go head to head in the playoffs. The Packers have now won 5 of their last 6 games with 4 of those wins by at least 21 points.
4. In fact, none of my preseason predictions look likely to come true. Look at this and laugh. Of all my preseason predictions, the only one that looks like it has any chance at this point - aside from the Super Bowl matchup, which is always a crapshoot - is Andrew Luck winning MVP. Everything else ranges from "meh," to downright pathetic. I normally don't correctly predict more than three or four things in a season, but this round looks like the worst batch of predictions I've made by a wide margin.
5. The Goat of the Week Award goes to Eli Manning. Eli threw a whopping 5 interceptions on Sunday, but arguably the worst of the bunch was in the third quarter. The Giants kicked a field goal to narrow the score to 16-10 and attempted an onside kick. They managed to maintain possession (despite a Jim Harbaugh challenge that the San Francisco had recovered the ball), so the offense took the field again. Shortly thereafter, Eli threw a pass towards the Giants sideline that was picked off by Eric Reid.
What's most amazing about Eli and his career as a whole is that he still has two Super Bowls and two Super Bowl MVPs. Normally, any quarterback who has even one championship ring and Super Bowl MVP on his resume can at least hope to one day be enshrined in Canton. Eli's career to date just isn't Hall of Fame-worthy, and he likely could be the one of the only players in history to win multiple championships to not be voted in. Mind-blowing.
6. Getting back to teams on a roll, the Patriots are once again plowing through their opponents. Their Week 4 thumping in Kansas City feels like a distant memory now that the Patriots have won 6 straight games with only one margin of victory by fewer than 15 points. Their next three games look fairly tough, including the aforementioned Week 13 contest in Green Bay. If there's any slowing down for them, it will likely come during that stretch. They do have a Week 15 game at home against Miami which could wind up being very important because.....
7. The Raiders somehow look worse than the 2008 Lions. The Lions were the only team to go 0-16 in a single season, They lost 5 games that year by 7 or fewer points, which is the same amount of games the Raiders have lost thus far this season by the same margin. They've already gone a full calendar year since their most recent victory, so there is a real chance they could lose 22 consecutive games by season's end. On paper, they only appear to have two winnable games left on their schedule: at St. Louis in Week 13 and home against Buffalo in Week 16. The days of the Raiders being relevant in the NFL are so long ago, it's hard to picture them in my head. The worst part is they lack talent at so many positions they won't be able to compete for at least several more years either.
8. The Redskins are giving the Raiders a run for their money in most dysfunctional franchise too. After the Redskins looked arguably even more inept than the Raiders against the Bucs on Sunday, Robert Griffin III took himself to task while also calling out his teammates. Then yesterday head coach Jay Gruden responded by essentially telling RGIII he needed to shut up. Upper management, namely owner Dan Snyder, still clearly wants to stick with Griffin, despite all the negative publicity and controversy surrounding him since the Redskins had drafted him three years ago. The worst turmoil is still to come, however, since the front office has to decide whether they will exercise the fifth-year option on his contract, which will pay Griffin roughly $18.4 million. This is the same franchise that gave Albert Haynesworth a $100 million contract, so they have a history of spending money foolishly (yet another reason why they rival the Raiders for worst franchise in the NFL).
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