3-0

Usually around this time in the season you begin to see the contenders and those who will play spoiler. The Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals are all undefeated at the moment with a record of 3-0. The Bengals and Cardinals are guaranteed to stay undefeated because of their upcoming bye week. The Eagles didn’t look great in any of their victories, but coming from behind to beat the Indianapolis Colts in their second game was impressive. Doing so against the Jacksonville Jaguars during Week 1 left a lot of us wondering what else was in store for them. The Bengals looked very good thru the first three games. The next big test for them will be a road game against the New England Patriots on Sunday night. As long as they don’t get overmatched they should still be considered a favorite to win their division and possibly the AFC. The Cardinals beat two good teams in the Chargers and 49ers. They’ve looked somewhat decent with a backup QB the last two games. One being on the road in New York against the Giants and the other against San Francisco. They’ll need Carson Palmer though if they won’t to remain in contention. None of these teams are juggernauts, but they are good. Make no mistake about that.

Overtime Rematch

I didn’t think it would be a blowout like their Super Bowl matchup. Neither did I think that it would take a Peyton Manning comeback to force the game into overtime. Seattle made the mistake of leaving too much time on the clock after converting a field goal with just over a minute left with a 20-12 lead. Sure enough, Peyton did what he does best and lead his team on a methodical drive down the field for a quick TD and then a two-point conversion to tie the game. Yeah, I figured if anyone could do it, it would be Peyton Manning, but I didn’t think it would happen. That’s just how naive we are nowadays. We’ve seen Peyton Manning do this so many times that we don’t believe he can keep doing it again and again. Regardless of Peyton’s heroics, the Broncos defense couldn’t stop Seattle on the opening drive in overtime. The Seahawks drove down the field for a quick touchdown to put an end to the game. This would have been a better result for last years Super Bowl. Alas we had to wait seven months for it to happen.

Steeler Football

Both of their running backs ran for over 100 yards. Their defense allowed only 42 yards rushing and put a lot of good pressure on Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton. Quite the showing for a primetime game by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Carolina was coming off an impressive win at home the previous week against the Detroit Lions. Pittsburgh was beaten down by division rival Baltimore in the Week 2 Thursday night game. Not many had the outcome being a Steelers one-sided victory. The Panthers don’t have a terrible defense, yet they were exposed in the ground game and with QB Ben Roethlisberger’s pump fakes all night long. A lot can be said after one game. This should be a good sign for the Steelers and their fans. Reminiscent of their old days of destroying opponents at the line of scrimmage. Carolina just got a taste of it. The Panthers will lick their wounds and get back up, but Pittsburgh should put this momentum to good use. They have a fairly easy schedule against Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Cleveland and Houston. Their next test will come against the Colts in Week 8 followed by a rematch against Baltimore in Week 9. Cincinnati and Baltimore are ahead, but might not be for very long.