1. New Orleans Saints (1) – This beast is just steamrolling now. And have a look at their next three games: Carolina, at St. Louis, at Tampa Bay. I see no way they aren’t 10-0 headed into an epic November 30th battle with New England in the Superdome. That could be the game of the year.
2. Indianapolis Colts (2) – Okay, it wasn’t a great win against San Francisco, but it still counts. They hit a bit of a rough road for the rest of November: Houston, New England, at Baltimore, at Houston. I would target that Baltimore game as the end of the perfect season, but I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again.
3. Minnesota Vikings (3) – There was no way Old Man River would march back into Lambeau and not go wild. For the record, I was right about Brett Favre being washed up. He has only thrown 16 touchdowns and has an embarrassing 3 interceptions. Shoulda stayed retired, old man! Shoulda known when to quit!
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (4) – I actually think this outfit is better than the Vikings, but those early-season fuck-arounds with the Bears and Bengals are holding them down here.
5. Philadelphia Eagles (not ranked) – Fine! I’m SORRY for disrespecting you guys all year! Did you HAVE TO go out and systematically destroy my Super Bowl pick just to prove it? I guess you did, otherwise I’d probably keep overlooking you. Then again, you did lose to the RAIDERS a few weeks ago, so let’s not get all superbowly just yet.
6. New England Patriots (6) – Bye week. Big-time stretch of games for them, however. Miami, at Indy, Jets, at Saints, at Miami. Win three of those, and I’m going to have to start thinking number 4 for B&B.
7. Cincinnati Bengals (7) – I love mid-season bye weeks. Better than that week 4 crap. They needed the rest, too, because Baltimore comes to town, and then they travel to Pittsurgh. Could get ugly for the bungalows.
8. Dallas Cowboys (not ranked) – I haven’t shown the Boys much love this year, because they looked really bad in their losses, and fairly bad in some of their wins. But apparently they’re trying to get it together, and it’s about the right time to do so.
9. Denver Broncos (5) – Not exactly concrete proof of a fraud, but at least we know this team is human. And I assure you, they will continue to display their humanity quite a bit this year.
10. New York Giants (9) – Ughhh… what the hell? One more bad loss, and I may banish you to the hell from whence you came!