Judge: Disappointments
If you're looking for surprises you can start with the New England Patriots. Forget that they're unbeaten six games into the season. They've been there before.
Look how they got there: Passing, passing and more passing.
When I think of Bill Belichick I'm not exactly reminded of Air Coryell or the 1999 St. Louis Rams. But that's where Belichick's Patriots are going, with a blitzkrieg offense that threatens to obliterate every scoring record in NFL history.
Does that qualify as the unexpected? You bet. But the Patriots aren't alone. Here's my list of this season's 10 biggest surprises, and hold your applause until we acknowledge all of them.
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| Tom Brady and the Patriots have plenty to be pumped about. (AP) |
2. Randy Moss: I didn't know what to make of the guy, and neither did anyone else. The jury was divided, with some GMs convinced he'd make the Pats better and others convinced he couldn't play because of injuries. Well, he can play. And, yes, he makes the Pats better. Through six games he has nearly as many touchdowns (eight) as he did in two seasons with Oakland (11) and is the frontrunner for Comeback Player of the Year. Plus, he's managed to smile. Now there's an upset.
3. Brett Favre and the Packers: All I heard this summer was how Favre should move on with his life and not hang around a league where he can't win. Yeah, sure, and Colorado is no place for baseball, either. Anyway, Favre and the Packers are doing what they weren't supposed to do, which is knocking off opponents -- running the string to nine in their last 10 games. So Favre isn't the quarterback he was five years ago. Big deal. He's still the team leader, and he has the Pack on top of the NFC North. Yeah, I know, Green Bay's defense is responsible for a lot of what's happening here, but don't undersell Favre. You don't go far without a competent quarterback, and he's more than competent. He's marvelous, and here's hoping he sticks around another three or four seasons.
4. Tom Coughlin: Two games into the season I had him down as the first coach to get jettisoned. Now he looks like he's ready to squeeze Dallas in the NFC East. Look at the schedule, people: The Giants have San Francisco and Miami the next two weeks, which makes them 6-2 at the bye. Not bad. In fact, it's just where they were a year ago when the wheels came off. But this year is different. This year the kinder, gentler Coughlin has his players behind him, Tiki Barber away from him and his offense in front of him. Making Kevin Gilbride the play-caller was a smart move; making Steve Spagnuolo the defensive coordinator was a smarter one. Everything's upside down, including Coughlin's relationship with Michael Strahan. Once the defensive end took pot shots at his head coach; now he's president of his fan club. What's going on here? I'll tell you what: Coughlin has checked out of the ER and is on his way to a complete recovery.
5. Adrian Peterson: Shortly before the April draft people started knocking the guy, warning clubs of his history of injuries. Peterson insisted his shoulder wasn't a problem and that he wasn't a risk. Furthermore, he promised someone wouldn't regret taking him. Well, Brad Childress, come on down. The Minnesota Vikings made the right decision, taking Peterson when everyone else said they should've taken a quarterback. Peterson was one of the top three players in the draft, yet he went in the seventh position. I call that a steal. After watching him shred Chicago's defense I call it a Brink's job. He leads the league in rushing. He averages 6.3 yards a carry. And he's sent several clubs back to team physicians, asking them, "How could we have missed on this guy?" Chicago's defense posed the same question last weekend.
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| Cleveland's Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards form an unlikely touchdown duo. (US Presswire) |
7. Herm Edwards: The knock on Edwards is that he's a better motivator than he is a head coach. Yeah? All I know is he had the Jets in the playoffs four of six years and took Kansas City there last season. This was supposed to be the year the Chiefs fell off the map, and maybe that happens. But, for the moment, there are two teams tied for first in the AFC West, and Kansas City is one of them. No, the Chiefs aren't all that terrific, but someone must be doing something right to make them 3-3. So what's the big deal? So no one put up more than 20 on them all season, and they beat the Chargers in San Diego. And that, folks, IS a big deal.
8. Jeff Garcia and David Garrard: Between them there are 280 passes, 186 completions, 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions. That's right, neither has an interception through six starts. What's more, Garrard is the league's fourth-rated quarterback with a passer rating of 104.7, and Garcia is fifth at 103.6. Jack Del Rio and Jon Gruden can take curtain calls. Both insisted they knew what they were doing when they stuck with these two, and both were right.
9. Albert Haynesworth and the Tennessee defense: A year ago the Titans defense was in the jar and Haynesworth was in disrepute. Suspended five games for assaulting Dallas' center Andre Gurode, Haynesworth was the NFL poster boy for rotten behavior. Check that, it was teammate "Pacman" Jones, who got in so much trouble commissioner Roger Goodell finally, and mercifully, sat him down for the season. Anyway, Haynesworth did little that was good, and neither did his teammates. In fact, the Titans ranked dead last in team defense. One year later Haynesworth is having a career season, and the Titans are moving up the team rankings. Credit coordinator Jim Schwartz for finding something here to produce the league's sixth-ranked unit. Credit Haynesworth as a major reason nobody is better defending the run than Tennessee.
10. Vinny Testaverde: I don't care what he does the rest of the year. He threw for 206 yards, nailed a 65-yard touchdown pass and won a game at 43, for crying out loud! And he did it after climbing off his couch at home and stepping into the huddle. All together now: Vinny, Vidi, Vici.
Honorable mention
Terrell Owens: He hasn't self-immolated. Not yet. But the season is young.
