Happy Thursday!
I'm compiling up some Power Rankings stuff for later, but I've been thinking pretty hard about the state of the NFL so far. I think it's completely reasonable to think of the Jaguars as the 6th best team in the League right now.
My top 6
- New England Patriots: An obvious if not painful choice. Though I want them to beat Buffalo in order to keep the Bills out of any sort of wild card picture.
- Dallas Cowboys: Again, fairly obvious. They're the best team in the NFC, for whatever that's worth.
- Pittsburgh Steelers: This could be the only team that beats the Pats. I love their "Eleven Angry Men" Defense.
- Green Bay Packers: If, and I mean IF the Packers can find a ground game, they could be the only team in the NFC that can score enough to keep up with Dallas. In fact, I'll take the Packers over Dallas right now.
- Indianapolis Colts: The Colts have been hit by injury so hard that I can't even be happy about it. They had their number 3 left tackle in the game last week. They put Dwight Freeney on Injured Reserve. This ship could be sinking. Oh wait..what's that? They play the Chiefs? Never mind, they'll be fine this week.
6. Jacksonville Jaguars: With David coming back, healthy players (Hooray Brian Williams!), a revitalized defense, and solid play from everyone, they're clearly a team that can make some noise. They also play the Steelers, Chargers, and Colts in the next few weeks. We are playing teams that we'll likely see in the first round of the Playoffs. If that doesn't battle harden us for a deep run, I don't know what will.
Let's take a look at what some other folks are saying this week.
- Ernest Wilford (who we should re-sign next year) has a special guest this week. His Dad, who will see him play professional football for the first time. As special guests of Wayne Weaver, no less.
- Speaking of Wayne Weaver, we have an "Owner Fluff Piece":
We clearly have some work to do with our roster for the team to get to the next level, but we have the cap room to do it."
I think the Jaguars will be pretty active in the coming off-season, and I like hearing evidence backing that up out of the Owner. It's a pretty uninteresting article though, a lot of double-speak, owner talk, etc.
- For all of you in Jacksonville, the TV Blackout was lifted for the Chargers game. I'm going to assume this is because the City is filling the stadium with Jags fans rather than people going to see the Chargers.
- Speaking of the Chargers, LaDainian Tomlinson is 91 yards away from joining the 10,000 yard club: LT is doing it faster than Fred (LaDainian has only missed one game in his entire career), but Fred did it in less carries (2,187 carries to 2,226.) and has a slightly higher YPC (4.6 to 4.5). Yes, I'm getting defensive because when LT crosses the mark it'll completely cover up Fred's achievement.
- WR John Broussard (ankle) and TE Greg Estandia (foot) are the only injuries of note this week. It's upsetting though, because they are two of my favorite players. C'est la vie.
-C