Time to consider San Francisco as a legitimate contender
I would like to first disclose that I’m a Niners fan. If you don’t know by now, you do now. Anyway the Niners are contender right now and for the rest of the season. Their 8-1 record might be flawed playing in the weakest division in the NFL, the NFC West. However, they’ve only played one division opponent so far and that was back in Week 1. Now that they’re getting into the soft part of their schedule it’s to be expected that they can easily finish with a pretty good record. All but two of their final 7 games are against division opponents. Those other two opponents are Baltimore and Pittsburgh. San Francisco has already beaten Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Detroit and most recently the New York Giants. I’ve said it before that QB Alex Smith is finally being brought along the right way and isn’t being asked to do everything for once. RB Frank Gore has been great although he was injured against the Giants, but the Niners have been winning because of their defense. If you haven’t heard of LB Patrick Willis than I suggest you go to nfl.com and start watching some videos. This guy is a beast. He’s been the mainstay of an ever improving defense that has now become elite. For all the true Niners fans that have been through some rough years, that time looks to have finally passed. Go Niners Go!
How far can Houston go?
To answer, they can go pretty far. They have two great running backs in Arian Foster and Ben Tate. WR Andre Johnson will be back healthy before the season is done. However, with the recent news of QB Matt Schaub’s foot injury his season appears to be over. That could put a halt to the Texans playoff hopes, but in the weak AFC South I don’t think it will. Besides the Texans have been winning 4 straight games thanks to their rushing attack. Their defense is playing well and adjusting to the 3-4 scheme put in by Wade Phillips. Remember they don’t have DE/LB Mario Williams either who is out for the year with a torn pectoral. Houston so far has been pretty resilient to the injury bug, but they will have to play perfect football without Schaub. Backup QB Matt Leinart should be all right, but he failed miserably in Arizona and hasn’t started since. Houston needs to hope that Leinart has learned to just manage the game and not try to win it on every play.
The Lions and Bills are who we thought they were and I didn’t let them off the hook
To take a memorable quote from Dennis Green the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills are pretty much what we thought they were. Two teams that were riding high early in the season, but have fallen flat of late. Both are in danger of falling completely out of the playoff picture as well. Thankfully for Buffalo, New England and the NY Jets haven’t been playing great either and they are all still neck and neck with each other. Detroit on the other hand play in a very competitive conference where they had to win this last week against their division rivals the Chicago Bears. They were outplayed in every facet of the game. Why do you still kick the ball to Bears WR Devin Hester is unthinkable still, but the Lions have no running game with RB Jahvid Best sidelined with a concussion. It’s not so much that Best can run between the tackles, but he opens up the field for everyone else. As a result QB Matthew Stafford is being pressed more and more. WR Calvin Johnson has become a non-factor. And the defense has been on the field for far too long. Both the Bills and Lions still have time to turn it around, but we’re already going into Week 11.
westhesportsguy.com 