Wednesday Morning Mahatma Week 5

One more week has passed with the same conclusions as last week: we still don't know anything. Everything is random. The only given is that New York Giants are head and shoulders above every team in the NFL and it's not close. No team can do the same things they do as well. They can burn you through the air or ground offensively.

The Tennessee Titan Defense is special right now also. They have a legitimate chance to be like the Ravens in 2000 but there offense can barely score 10+ points a game at the moment. The question is if they can keep it up. Tennessee also has had the luxury of playing some one dimensional teams. They have yet to face off against a truly balanced offense. Moreover, this team can barely put up 2 touchdowns a game. There will be times when the defense will allow 20 points and I don't think this offense is diverse enough to do that not to mention, they will struggle as they did on Sunday, when Chris Johnson gets stuffed.

For the record both the Giants and the Titans have benefited from ridiculously easy schedules.
Both have beaten the 0-5 Bungs, and played another winless team (NYG - STL, TEN - HOU).
Granted neither team has any choice of who they play but neither team has been on the struggle. Furthermore, both teams have benefited from 3 home games. Tennessee's five opponents thus far are a combined 6-17 with only Only Baltimore had a winning mark (2-1) at the time it faced Fisher's team. New York's four opponents are currently 5-13, with four of those wins belonging to Washington (4-1). But the Redskins lost to the Giants 16-7 in the NFL's season-opener, meaning New York has yet to beat a winning team. The Rams, Bengals and Seahawks are a combined 1-12. This is not to say that neither team has looked good. The Giants and to a lesser extent, the Titans, both beat teams they are supposed to beat (granted Giants moreso to the fact they actually have a top offensive unit) but the further goes to show us that there will no longer be a truly dominant team in this day and age and what makes the Patriots string together last year all more impressive with or without spy cameras. Anyway power rankings!

Lucky 13 Power Rankings for Week 5:

1. New York Giants (4-0). The best team in the league by a wide margin despite not playing the toughest teams. First test will be in 3 weeks @ Pittsburgh.

2. Tennessee (5-0). I don't want to say they are the class of the AFC yet.

3. Washington (4-1). Questions remain but taking 2/3 from divisional teams away is a tremendous feat for any team.

4. Carolina (4-1). Beat the crap out of a bad team.

5. Dallas (4-1). Look unbeatable one week than horrendous the following. Romo is on pace for 23 horrendous turnovers this season.

6. Buffalo (4-1). Defense didn't look so hot against Arizona.

7. Pittsburgh (4-1). Beat up but bye week comes at a perfect time. Schedule only gets harder from here out.

8. Denver (4-1). Big Tilt with Jaguars Sunday will show the world how good they really are.

9. Chicago (3-2). Beat the crap out of a bad team part II. Everyone pick up Kyle Orton for fantasy!!

10. New England (3-1). Really struggled versus 49ers and are looking extremely vulnerable.

11. Tampa Bay (3-2). The definition of an average team.

12. Baltimore (2-2). Should be 4-0 right now.

13. .Indianapolis (2-2). Should be 0-4 right now.


Weekly Complaint from Media of the week:

Peter King:
Does every Cubs fan dissolve into an emotionless blob at the first sign of adversity? Talk about a couple of woe-is-me crowds at Wrigley. And six runs in 27 innings is not going to win an April series in Pittsburgh or an October series in the playoffs.

I'm calling bullshit. Does he even watch baseball? Has he ever seen the Pirates play? If we score 6 runs in 27 innings that's cause for a Fireworks display and a bobblehead.

Random Yahoo Sports Blog
Now, Eli is not only his own Manning after winning his own Super Bowl ring last season. Baby Brother is also – buckle up for this one – the Best Manning.

See this is why I can't listen to sports talk radio or ESPN during the week. The wild claims that are spewed forth from the media is downright embarassing. I don't even know how many Giant homers would even take Eli over Peyton. The reality here is bonehead is comparing 4 games for both and using that as a base. Why on earth do we have to rely on stats to tell a story. The reality these stats are meaningless without understanding the context of the game or the situation. Peyton was also missing half of his offensive line and weapons during 2 games into the season. Eli had the luxury of playing some really bad teams. Let's not get ahead of ourselves people.

Douchebag of the week:
Sage Rosenfelds.



Bravo jackass. Bravo. To quote Devo, I've seen John Elway and you Sage are no John Elway. It's funny how the Texans are the team that makes losing an art form.
Moreover, that's a loss that teams don't recover from. I'm surprised Gary Kubiak didn't pull a Dennis Green following that one.


Fraud of the Week:
Is Atlanta for real? No. They can't be. Matt Ryan is about to enter that stretch that all successful rookie qbs do. The dreaded 2nd half. Much like pitchers and QBs in general, the book isn't out on him but it's coming and for the record, they haven't played some of the tougher teams in the league either. I mean look you got Detroit who is the worst team in a league of bad teams in week 1. Lose to a decent Tampa Bay team in Week 2. Beat horrendous Chiefs in week 3. Lose to Panthers before beating the Packers in Green Bay with their one armed QB on Sunday. Is this enough to make this team the darlings of the league? There is no question that Mike Turner has been the free agent acquisition of the season so far but is this enough to make a big deal about them? That defense is also one John Abraham injury away (and you know its coming) from becoming horrid once again. That being said, Atlanta needs to add some depth

Coaching Complaint of the Week:
Defenses opposing the Eagles and getting shredded will not need to make (half-time) adjustments, Andy Reid will adjust the offense for you.

For the Skins / Iggle game: LJ Smith was killing the Skins early on (much like Cooley did to the Eagles). And then Andy Reid decides to quit calling his number after the 1st quarter. And this is not the first time this has happened (one game, the Eagles were running/or passing all over the opponent. Suddenly Reid stops calling these plays for no apparent reason, and in the end the Eagles lose. Reid's explanation: "Well I was afraid they would eventually stop what was working so well." Until Reid himself stopped what was working so well, there was not a shred of evidence the opposing defense would ever be successful at stopping the Eagles

Random Clip of the week:
I'm not a politico like some of the other ones here but I got a kick out of this. Which is random because I haven't seen the Simpsons in about 4 years and I don't think I'm the only one.




College Football games that I'm interested in:

1) Texas@ Oklahoma - Finally get a chance to see the Oklahoma offense which is the best in the nation from all accounts.

2) Oklahoma State @ Missouri - eh still not convinced in Missouri but watch Jeremy Maclin at WR.

3) LSU @ Florida - Being an SEC fiend, I love when two powerhouses like this go at it. I still see LSU winning despite the entire nation being sick of them.

It's too soon of the week:

Hockey season -- really, didn't we just have the Stanley Cup finals? Look I love hockey as much as anyone around but seriously it's too soon!