After five weeks, it seems there are always pretenders and teams that come back to life. I have hit on a few, like the Denver Broncos a couple of years ago when they started 6-0 and the Giants as well as they started 5-0, only to miss the playoffs that year. I did think the Chicago Bears were pretenders last year, but they were able to win the NFC North and make it to the NFC Championship as well, so I missed on that one. So this year, I am going to name who I think is faking it and who I think is real.
First pretender is going to be the Cincinnati Bengals. They are a good story and I think they have a solid defense, but they have yet to play the Ravens and the Steelers and have only been able to barely beat some bad teams. They are 3-2 and I can see them finishing with maybe 8 wins and will miss the playoffs.
Pennsylvania will be happy to know that both of their teams will be able to turn it around as they have the talent and the coaching staff to do it. If I had to put my money on one, I would say the Steelers are the better bet as Roethlisberger has a better chance of making it through the season as opposed to Vick. I see Big Ben and the Steelers fighting to get to the Wild Card due to its bad start. The Eagles might have to fight really hard and start cleaning up the NFC East as they might have to win it to make the playoffs.
Detroit Lions are for real, which is pretty evident to most at this point. Not much needs to be said about this as they will be able to get the 5 seed as I don't see them beating out the Green Bay Packers for the division.
The Buffalo Bills are a good team, but I see them start to lose more than win as the season gets moving along, especially with the weather coming early in Buffalo, which will allow defenses to key on Fred Jackson and the running game a bit more. The Bills might be able to get 9 or 10 wins, which might be enough to fight for the last wild card spot especially if the Jets can't beat them. Speaking of the Jets, they have turned it on towards the end the last 2 years to make the playoffs and make a run in them as well. I can see them making the last wild card as it will be a fight between the Steelers, Bills, Jets and maybe the Raiders.
The Washington Redskins, these guys are an enigma as they have Rex Grossman leading the way, but have only lost one game and that was a game that could have easily been won. I am going to say that they are going to fight the good fight and could make a wild card or even win the division by default as the NFC East loves to give games away to each other and it could be a four way brawl for the crown. I do like this defense, so it should be interesting.
The San Francisco 49ers, I think by default they will win the division. They are a solid team that has a great coach in Jim Harbaugh, but if they make the second round of the playoffs, that will be a great ending to their season. I look for them to lose in the first round of the playoffs.
That is what I have so far and there are other teams to analyze, but I will stick with these as they are the teams that could be in contention or look good right now at the minimum.
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