Mid-season blues

The New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings played a horrible Monday Night game tonight. Usually, the Thursday night games are bad, but this one was worse. Somebody had to win this one and the Giants did to wrap up week 7. The real story of this week was injuries. It's that time of the season when bodies are sore, legs are weak and minds are tired. Guys - both superstars and no-namers, went down all over the place yesterday. Sam Bradford, Reggie Wayne, Brian Cushing, and possibly Doug Martin are all out for the season. Jay Cutler, Nick Foles, Jermichael Finley, Lance Briggs, and Arian Foster also went out and I am sure I am missing some other names. This shows how violent this sport is despite all the rule changes and softening of the blows. It does pain me to watch these guys get hurt. But thats the reality of the NFL.

As for the games, Colts welcomed Peyton Manning back to town in what was the game of the week. Despite all the chatter from their blabbering owner Jim Irsay leading up to the game, the Colts welcomed Manning with class and treated him well at the game. But Andrew Luck showed why Manning is in Denver and not in Indy anymore. Luck is the real deal. His maturity and skill-set is better than most 10-year vets and he looks as close to being the next Peyton Manning as anybody ever has. Plus, he is more athletic and can make some things happen with his legs. Out of all the young-uns, Luck and Russel Wilson look like the most complete talent. It was a real impressive win for the young Colts. They are 5-2 and have already beaten the Seahawks, Niners, and now the Broncos. I have no idea how and why they lost to the Dolphins and the Chargers. The only bad thing for Luck and the Colts was the bad pass he threw to Reggie Wayne, who was wide-open, but had to bend down and twist trying to catch the ball and ended up with a season-ending injury untouched. I am sure Luck is beating himself up over that today pass. But this Colts team is going places both this season and in the future.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the only unbeaten team in the league. I can't wait for the Chiefs-Broncos division games. This used to be THE rivalry back in the John Elway days. The rivalry is back now. In the NFC, the Niners are hitting their groove and look like a true contender finally. The Seahawks will be there at the end too and thats the other division rivalry that has super bowl implications written all over it. The NFL season is rolling into shape, but let's hope injuries don't derail the flow of some of these teams. It wouldn't hurt to see a new team or two contend as well. Teams like the Patriots don't look as dominant as they used to and thats a good thing. Speaking of New England, the World Series is here and fittingly, it features two of the most baseball crazy cities in the country - St. Louis and Boston. This series might go 7 and Boston takes it. I want Saint Louis to win, but I don't think a NL team can do a lot of damage at Fenway park.

Quarterbacks running wild

Just like that, 25% of the NFL regular season is in the books. After 4 games, Denver, Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City, and New England are all 4-0. Not a whole lot of surprises there except Kansas City. Seattle and New England were Peter King's Super Bowl pick in the pre-season. But after watching the Patriots in the first game or two, I have to say they are a bit of a surprise. They are a little thin and injured at the receiver position and the offense looked shaky and anemic at times in the early going. With Gronk and Amendola coming back from injuries and the rookie receivers improving, I thought the Pats will improve later in the season, but they are 4-0 already with the fourth win coming on the road against a good Atlanta team yesterday. Kudos to the usual suspects Brady and Belichick for keeping the flag of excellence flying high in foxboro. Speaking of usual suspects, Brees and Peyton Manning are on fire as always and are carrying their teams and their fantasy owners to incredible heights. These guys wake up from bed and throw for 4 TDs on a whim! That level of quarterbacking and translates to a 4-0 record in today's NFL pretty seamlessly.

Seattle is the only team in the 4-0 list that is built more on old school values like defense and a running game. They are the most complete team and they also have a solid QB in Russell Wilson and a great home field advantage. That makes them a super bowl favorite especially after dismantling the Niners two weeks back. After the first 4 games of the season, my pick for the Super Bowl is Denver V Seattle. The most surprising 4-0 team is Kansas City and kudos to Andy Reid and Alex Smith for turning the culture there overnight. I still don't consider them a legitimate contender though. As injuries pile up, team chemistry improves, and the weather gets colder, new forces will emerge in the NFL, but these 4-0 teams will stay in contention all season.  If you are looking for fascinating match-ups in the near future, look for Peyton Manning's visit to Indy and New England. Those are potential playoff previews with a side of QB drama that should tell us a lot about how this season will turn out. The elite teams that we expected to join this list, but struggling right now are the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons at 1-3.

The 0-4 list is very surprising to say the least. New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers headline this list and even Tampa Bay was supposed to be way better than their 0-4 start. Bucs QB Josh Freeman has lost his job to rookie Mike Glennon and rightfully so. Jacksonville is the other team that's staying true to it's form, but somehow Blaine Gabbert still has a job. Even his third year QB batch-mate Christian Ponder is in a little bit of a trouble with Matt Cassel coming in for him as an injury replacement and doing very well. Minnesota, Houston, Green Bay, San Francisco, and Atlanta are some of the teams that has the talent and were hoping to be better record-wise at this point. But some of those teams will be there at the end. I am a little surprised they are burning Matt Schaub's jersey already in Houston. He did throw that horrible interception, but where is the love and the loyalty? Our sports culture is so different and on edge these days. It's no surprise fans in Oakland were booing Matt Flynn at every chance they got. Raider fans were clamoring for Pryor like he is the second coming of Peyton Manning. To be fair to the Raider fans, Flynn was pretty bad and if Schaub is in so much trouble after all that he has done, Flynn doesn't stand a chance.