Question: Can a team with a losing record this deep into the season, be considered a good team?

Question: Can a team with a winning record this deep into the season, be labeled a bad team ?

It's almost as if we have more information to form our judgement than 11 games and a one-game swing.

The Vikings have a 7 point lead or more in every game this year is an incredible stat

Colts had an 18 pt. lead vs the Ravens. Lost in OT
Colts had a 14 pt lead vs the Titans. Lost in OT
Colts had two separate 10 pt leads against the Bucs. Lost on the final drive.

Theoretically, they might be able to hold a lead in a playoff game against any team in the AFC (see: Buffalo), but who the **** knows.

Yes.

Yes.

All three tough losses.

Colts can beat anyone. Can they run the table 4-straight come playoff time against better competition? Possible but unlikely... hard for Wentz to not go full Wentz at least one game.

[QUOTE=g-bebe;57434312]WEEK 12 RANKINGS

ELIte

1.Cardinals (9-2)

Sticking with it.

The Hall of Very Good

2.Bucs (8-3)
3.Packers (9-3)
4.Chiefs (7-4) (up 2)
5.Bills (7-4)
6.Rams (7-4) (down 2)
7.Cowboys (7-4)
8.Pats (8-4) (up 1)


Surprised no Pats fans complained about this yet. I think if the Bills lose to the Pats Monday, you can probably move them into Bills spot and knock Bills out the top 10. If Bills win I think you can put them as the best AFC team.

Cowboys and Pats should both be ahead of the Rams. I’m not even sure if the Rams can be considered very good anymore. 3 straights losses where they weren’t really in the game. Their defense is letting them down and their offense has not been great. Not to mention 5/7 wins are NYG, Hou, Chi, Lions and Sea. They have a get right game this weekend against the Jags.

I’m not sold on the Cowboys either. They’re always a Fat Mike decision away from imploding. And they’re a bit inconsistent.

Football world not going to know what to do when the Pats win on Monday.

Pats at 8 is spot on imo....better than teams like Ravens/Titans but not above the big 2 in the AFC

As good as they've been, and I do think people tend to underrate the value of killing bad/mediocre teams since this isn't college, they haven't really beaten anyone that other teams haven't also exposed recently as well.

Jets 2x, Hou, Falcons were depleted when they got them, LAC win looked nice but teams like Denver/Minn also made easy work of them not too far removed from that game, Cleveland hasn't been killed like that but they also barely beat the Lions/Ravens 4 INT's and still won/Pitt beat them at home and their issues speak for themselves, got Carolina the last week of Darnold but they haven't looked good since as well.

Schedule just really aligned nicely for NE+incredible durability which matters a ton for non-elite QB teams. Doesn't mean they should be below 8 but there is still a question as to how good they are and for how long it can be sustained.

Good argument. I think MNF will be very telling. Although just one divisional game so who knows.

Dallas has had injuries though. If they need to get their OL/DL/WR's healthy and if they do then I definitely think they're a top 6-7 team. They went up and down the field @ NE as well.

Not sure what to think of the Rams really, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Titans games were mostly turnovers, Shanahan always own McVeigh when teams are comparable in talent and @ GB is no joke/Rodgers was sick that game. Woods loss was huge but still think that is a dangerous team come playoff time.

@Bills/@Colts/Bills/@Miami 4 of last 5 as of right now looks to be no joke, so we'll definitely get a better idea sooner than later.

NE/Bills MNF then Rams/Cards MNF the next week

Finally some primetime island games to believe in

(don't care about SNF too much really, I'm usually tilted from fantasy by then to enjoy that game anyway)

I'd put AZ, GB & TB in the top tier. One of AZ's two losses was w/o Murray. One of GB's losses (by 6 points @KC) was w/o Rodgers, the other was their season opener. They also won @AZ w/o Adams. TB is the other team w/ three or fewer losses and defending SB champs.

I'd put Raiders, PHI, DEN & NO in a sort of unknown/mediocre purgatory right now.
Jags, ATL, Jets, DET & HOU are the ugly. The rest are the bad.

Oh no I love SNF. Usually the best game of the week and I like NBC guys. Fox and ESPN guys are mostly cringe.

Not the most difficult schedule, but as you said, soundly beating bad/mediocre (and even kinda good teams, like TEN, CLE & Chargers) is mostly what it's about to make the playoffs. I don't think the schedule aligned perfectly or anything. CAR was mediocre/bad with Darnold and same with Cam. Do you think BB would have difficulty devising schemes to frustrate a rusty Cam that played for him last year? They ran right through CLE, forcing them to abandon the run game. They had to play Saints w/ Jameis and when they were relatively healthy early in the season. Two close losses to TB & DAL. They do just about everything well, although they do seem somewhat susceptible to a strong running game. AFC is wide open: BUF has been up and down, KC playing better but I think people are rather quick to anoint them as the best based on past success (I don't think squeaking by Giants & Rodger-less GB, pounding the Jekyll & Hyde Raiders, and beating banged up DAL means they are back to their previous form just yet).

I have raiders under 10 and steelers under 8 both looking live

Well I do think getting Jets 2x/Hou in that 1st 7 games when they were losing was certainly a nice way to stop some bleeding. If they had to play average teams in those spots instead of those teams then maybe they don't recover from their early hole as easily. That was basically 3 free wins (even though Hou game turned into a battle)

In general their schedule setup nice in that the 2 weaker divisions the AFC East/South play one another where the West/North play one another.

Yeah, Panthers basically are what they are but they did get a few of those teams at the right time. Tampa in bad weather with almost their entire secondary as well.

But I do think they're a solid, high floor team as presently constructed (if they can avoid injury bug) and that might be enough in the AFC if BMore/KC/Buff/Tenn are all worse than last year.

This sounds remarkably similar to the Bills, except the Pats didn't get beaten by the Jags or stomped by the Colts

yeah, if you just go by how they're playing this year then NE is clearly superior to Buffalo

But obviously we factor in priors and give the Bills some level of respect for their resume of being the #2 team in the AFC last year.

One thing about the Bills that doesn't get talked about much is their lack of weapons. Beasley/Sanders are 32 and 34 and haven't really had the big games lately they were having earlier in the year, maybe they're banged up/worn down but besides Diggs no one on that offense really scares you much. No 1-2 punch like Kelce/Hill and they can't run the ball.

More I think about it I like NE on MNF but hate buying high on teams.

We're going into week 13, I'm not completely ignoring the prior year but seems like we have plenty of data at this point. Last year the Pats were missing a lot of their defense due to covid sitouts and had the shell of Cam at QB for example. I'm not as enamored with Mac Jones as national media seems to be but he's a clear upgrade

Oh man, I think the NBC guys, especially Collinsworth, are the ones who led me to discover that I really don't mind watching football with the TV muted. It's nice.

No actually for the most part Aikman might be better than Collingsworth, he pretty bad with his 4 pick throwing Lamar love last Sunday. Normally though he and most of the color commentators don’t annoy me as much as most people are annoyed by them.

My SNF like is that they usually have the best game, my kid is in bed, HD quality on SNF seems better. Not a Joe Buck fan who is the Fox prime game guy, Trico and Micheals much better. I also hate the FOX clown show pregame, halftime, there people are so bad. It’s gotten to the point where Terry Bradshaw might be the smartest guy. Have you seen Vick, he’s atrocious. On NBC it’s a much more quite deal with Dungy doing most of it and one other guy.

Could they get 3 1sts for Russ? The Jamal Adams deal was terrible but Seattle should probably pack it in.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun here but not sure how well Russ ages given how much he uses his legs, feels like his athleticism is declining and his issues seem to extend beyond the injury.