ESPN sets new standard for premature analysis. Talk of undefeated NE

[Assani Fisher]

Baltimore is 1-0 at home this year and was 7-1 last year(the only loss by just two points).

Two years ago they were 6-10 on the year....a horrible team. Yet they still went 6-2 at home!

They year before that they were just 9-7 on the year, but they went 6-2 at home.

The year before that they were 7-1 at home.


In total, they've won 26 out of their last 32 home games.

I think you need to move them up from 4th toughest game there.

[NT!]

so assani, do you think the ravens will be able to convert all those wins from 2005 into some yards vs. the pats? because otherwise i don't see how they are going to move the ball, especially if ogden isn't 100% and they insist on trotting mcnair's corpse out there again.

i'm not sure dallas deserves to be #2, i think it might be closer to a tie between dallas and baltimore for #3, but i still think it's going to be tougher in dallas because their offense might be able to give their D a break every now and then. baltimore's D is great, but the pats have shown that they are excellent at sustaining drives and wearing you down. look at the chargers defense, they just plain quit in the second half.

[kidcolin]

I think you've got CIN rated too high, but I agree that they could all be tough games. I'd probably go IND, PIT, BAL, DAL, CIN, MIA.

[bottomset]

[ QUOTE ]
IMO the toughest games will be ranked as follows:

1. @ IND
2. @ DAL
3. @ CIN
4. @ BAL
5. vs PIT
6. @ MIA

miami always plays us tough at their place.

[/ QUOTE ]

they are probably 10/1 underdogs at best to go 6-0 in those games

[NT!]

to be 10:1 against they would have to be favored an average of 65% or so overall...

if i had to actually lay a number on them i would say they are about a 3:2 dog at INDY, maybe a little worse, and are no worse than even money against anyone else right now. by my gorilla math 10:1 against is a pretty good number, although they are probably worse off than that.

[NT!]

anybody watch the cowboys tonight and still think they don't deserve to be ahead of BAL and CIN?

[CharlieDontSurf]

Cowboys worked the Bears.

But they nearly lost to the Giants

and beat the Dolphins.

So they beat a solid team with a crappy QB and two crappy teams.


I'd still take Balt over Dallas.
and Cinn vs. Dallas would just turn into a shootout given Dallas pass d isn't any good.

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]
The season is 2 weeks old and ESPN just led off NFL by asking if the Pats can go undefeated. Even for ESPN, this is astonishingly absurd.

[/ QUOTE ]

Both network pregame shows (Fox and CBS) talked about the same thing. The best answer I heard was from Dan Marino. He said the Patriots were capable of going undefeated, but it would not happen. He said that as soon as the Pats clinch home field advantage for the playoffs, Belichick will back off, protecting the health of his stars and giving his backup players some experience.

When Marino mentioned clinching home field, Boomer said, "Yeah, about week 5."

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]
[Marino] said that as soon as the Pats clinch home field advantage for the playoffs, Belichick will back off, protecting the health of his stars and giving his backup players some experience.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a reasonable take on the possibility.

So the question becomes, what are the chances of Indy or Pittsburgh entering the final week of the season with just one loss?

Still, all very premature. Wait until December, then we can talk.

[MacGuyV]

I hope they do it even though I hate them with a passion just so all the '72 losers can STFU.

Boy being a Bills fan sure is fun.