How balanced in the National Football League this season?
In most years, we have five or six teams that have emerged by this time in the season that clearly have the inside path to a Super Bowl appearance. And, even more evident, four or five teams that are clearly the worst squads in the league.
This year, any of ten teams could be considered to have all the tools to go all the way, while finding the worst teams is much more challenging. Every time we think we have that group corralled, the bad teams seem to transform into a middle squad, one that can take advantage of a good situation with at least a point spread win.
A couple teams that looked as if they belonged on the bottom of the league have in recent weeks bounced up with big efforts. Those teams are the Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders. And, yearly cellar dwellers have emerged as legitimate contenders, read that as the New York Jets, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons.
With eight full weeks in the books, the Seahawks are leading the NFC West Division in a year that was scheduled to be a rebuilding one for them in the wake of trading Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. That’s right, Seattle is leading a division they were clearly picked to finish last in against the likes of the defending Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.
In the NFC South Division, it was anticipated by most that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the returning Tom Brady would have an easy time out-distancing the rest of their division composed of the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. But, Brady looks like an old man playing a kids game and first-year head coach Todd Bowles looks as overmatched on the sidelines as Vince Tobin did during his five years coaching the last place Cardinals.
No team in the NFC South has won more games than they’ve lost, and the Falcons four wins and four losses is good enough for a perch alone in first place.
The Tennessee Titans lost their first two games but now have at least a two game lead over the rest of their division that includes three teams with losing records; the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans.
Last week, the Titans potent ground attack, led by runningback Derrick Henry, slashed through the Houston defense for 314 rushing yards. Their ground attack made rookie quarterback Malik Willis’ debut as a starting quarterback a successful one. Tennessee won on the road over the Texans, 17-10.
This week, Ryan Tannehill has not been ruled out by the Titans, but the point spread indicates the bookmakers know that for a second straight week he will be sidelined with an ankle injury and Willis will make his second NFL start.
It may not go as well as his initial NFL start.
While the NFL is a league of parity, there remains a few teams that can be counted on to dominate their opponents in the right spots. That list includes the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, the team most consider the best in football, the Buffalo Bills, and the team that hosts the Titans this week, the Kansas City Chiefs.
One stat that held up for 20 years was Brady’s winning mark against rookie quarterbacks. He did all that winning in his prime, and now, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is in his prime. How do you think he will fare against rookie quarterbacks?
Me too.
He gets a perfect shot at one this week when the Titans play a second straight road game in search of a sixth consecutive win. The Titans five game winning streak has been accomplished against teams that don’t own winning records, namely the Las Vegas Raiders, Indianapolis Colts (twice), Washington Commanders and Houston Texans.
The last time the Titans played a team with a winning record was a second week contest against the Buffalo Bills, and they lost that game by 34 points, 41-7. This Sunday night, they meet a Chiefs team that can be considered the only AFC squad capable of challenging the Bills for the AFC title this year.
The final score may look a lot like the one the Titans absorbed against the Bills seven weeks ago.
The books know it, that is why they have set a double-digit underdog role for a team riding a five game winning streak. The line is enough to lure a lot of bettors to the wrong side of this proposition, don’t you be one of them.
Qoxhi Picks: Kansas City Chiefs (-12) over Tennessee Titans