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| The 49ers are overcoming every obstacle and are again considered Super Bowl contenders. |
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10. Sean
Payton
By now you all have undoubtedly heard about Sean Payton’s
contract situation. Just to clarify for people who may not realize, this is
something that happened shortly after Payton and the Saints had agreed on an
extension. It did not just happen this week; news of it only surfaced this
week.
People are saying that the Cowboys can lure Payton away,
which technically is true but I don’t see it happening. The Saints should have
their coaching icon back next year after his suspension ends.
9. Jerry
Jones
Jones said a few days ago that by now he would’ve fired
himself as General Manager of the Dallas Cowboys. Now he says he doesn’t see
himself hiring someone else to perform GM responsibilities, saying that he will
maintain his role of Owner, President and General Manager of the Cowboys. This
guy seems to get more senile each year.
8. ‘Giant’
Defensive Issues?
Tom Coughlin said his defensive unit was soft against the
Pittsburgh Steelers. I saw a soft defense against the Dallas Cowboys a week
earlier. New York was having a lot of issues on defense early in the season as
members of their secondary dropped like flies. They seemed to have covered the
holes, miraculously considering the personnel they had to replace the usual
starters. It seems those holes are flaring up. The Giants are always better in
the postseason, and the NFC East is particularly weak this year, so they
shouldn’t be too concerned, yet. Still, Giants fans are starting to feel antsy.
7. Going
Bald, in a good way
If you read my Sunday Football Afterword for the early
games, you may have clicked the link I provided to Chuck Pagano’s postgame locker room speech. Yesterday, several players on the Indianapolis Colts’
roster shaved their heads in honor of Coach Pagano, who is undergoing treatment
for leukemia.
I don’t believe Andrew Luck was one of those who shaved his
head, but I imagine he’d look pretty silly if he did that but didn’t shave his
caveman beard.
UPDATE (11:20am EST): According to Adam Schefter, Andrew Luck has, in fact, shaved his head. No word on the status of his facial hair.
6. Fantasy
Disappointments
There were plenty of fantasy disappointments this week, so
I’ll just list a few that stood out to me.
- The number one player to jump out at me was Percy Harvin. He hadn’t scored fewer than 10.5 points in my league all season, but he put up just two against Seattle. Granted his ankle is bothering him, and because of that he didn’t play this week, still, it’s a fantasy disappointment.
- Titus Young went nuts against Seattle, one of the best secondaries in the league. Everybody scrambled to grab him off the waiver wire, but for what? He scored just three points against a terrible Jaguars team. Hope you didn’t give up anyone important for him.
- The biggest fantasy disappointment of them all? Eli Manning. He has been a disappointment for fantasy owners and has failed to touch 20 points in the past four weeks. But Week 9 was the worst yet. He scored just three points as he threw for no touchdowns and one pick for the second consecutive week. At this rate, Eric, it might be better to start Sam Bradford, and he’s on bye!
5. Fantasy Surprises
- The obvious starter to this list is Doug Martin. Sure it was his fourth consecutive double-digit week in fantasy, and sure he scored 35.5 points in Week 8. But if anything, that was all the more reason to bench him. Nobody scores that many in consecutive weeks. Nobody, that is, except Doug Martin, who put up 59 points in my fantasy league this past week.
- Brandon Marshall had caught three touchdown passes over four games before hauling in three on Sunday against Tennessee. For his efforts, his owner was awarded 34.5 points in my fantasy league.
- The Saints defense scored 25 points this week. Funny, then, that they are projected to finish this week five points in the red.
4. Games to Watch
Like last week, I’ll be more specific on why these are the biggest games to watch
in my predictions post tomorrow.
- Tennessee Titans at Miami Dolphins (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
- Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
- Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
- St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
- Houston Texans at Chicago Bears (Sunday, 8:20 p.m.)
3. Power Rankings
For the sake of space, I will list just the top 6 and the
bottom 6 here. You can see the rest on NFL.com.
1. Atlanta Falcons
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27. Oakland Raiders
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2. Houston Texans
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28. Tennessee Titans
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3. Chicago Bears
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29. Buffalo Bills
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4. San Francisco 49ers
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30. Cleveland Browns
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5. Green Bay Packers
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31. Jacksonville Jaguars
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6. Baltimore Ravens
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32. Kansas City Chiefs
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The Saints and Panthers made fairly significant jumps after
winning their third and second games, respectively. Other than that, several
teams jumped or fell a couple of spots but by and large the landscape looks
much the same in the NFL.com Power Rankings.
The Power Poll is a better representation of where the teams
stack up, in my opinion. Check that out here.
2. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are the near-unanimous number one team in the
NFL according to NFL.com’s Power Poll. They are still undefeated after run-ins
with the Eagles and Cowboys in consecutive weeks. Now they face a New Orleans
team with a level of confidence few thought they would have at this point in
the season. Oh yeah, and the game is in the Superdome. If they win this, they
might not lose the rest of the way.
1. San Francisco 49ers
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