JC's Take: Stars, Goats and Notes From Week 10 of the NFL

Team of the Week: New Orleans Saints
-The Saints struggled mightily for the first month of the season. The offense put up points, but the defense had problems shutting teams down. But in the last two weeks, the Saints defense stepped up and helped them win games. Last week, the Saints defense held the Philadelphia Eagles to 13 points. This week against the Saints they came up with a huge 4th down stop inside their own 10 yard line with under 2 minutes left. Then they stopped the Falcons at the end of the game and handed the Falcons their first loss of the season. The Saints are now 4-5 and are in no way out of the NFC Playoff picture yet. If the Saints defense can show up and have a consistently strong performance every week, then they will be right back in the thick of things. Drew Brees and the offense can put up 30+ points like its nothing. If the Saints can hold teams to under 30 points every week, then they can win just about any game.

NFL Off-Season Preview: NFC North Edition

The NFC North was dominated by the Green Bay Packers last year. They were undefeated for most of the year and looked unstoppable at times. They ended up losing to the Chiefs, then were taken out at home by the Giants in the NFC Divisional Round. The Lions took a big step last year and made their first Playoff appearance in a decade. The offense was finally all systems go with a healthy Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. The Bears struggled on offense and couldn't make it into the Playoffs after winning the division in 2010. And the Vikings had one of their worst seasons in recent memory and still appear to be the 4th best team inside the division. This is still a pretty strong division. The Packers, Lions, and Bears can all make the Playoffs, and with some improvements on defense, the Lions could challenge the Packers for the division title this year.

NFL Week 11 Review

NFL Time! Two for one today. Because of the short week for me, I will have my picks up later!

Team of the Week: Denver Broncos
-Tim Tebow gets all of the attention on this team, but they have been putting together some solid all around efforts the past few weeks. This week against the Jets was no different. They shut down the Jets offensive attack and drove 95 yards down the field on a good Jets defense to win. The Broncos have won four out of their last five and are one game back of the Raiders in the AFC West. You have to give credit to coach John Fox, who has tailor made an offense that works for Tim Tebow. Can the Broncos win the AFC Wes or make the playoffs? Its possible. They have two winnable road games at San Diego and Minnesota, then two tough home games against Chicago and New England. It will be an interesting month ahead for Denver.

Game of the Week: Dallas 27  Washington 24- OT
-Hey, who knew that the Redskins could score 24 points? They gave Dallas everything they could handle. It almost seemed like the Redskins played the game against Dallas as if it were their Super Bowl. The Cowboys found a way to pull out the game in the end, and it gave them the lead in the NFC East thanks to their tiebreaker over the NY Giants. Tony Romo connected on 3TD passes, including a nice pass to Jason Witten. The Redskins caught a bad break on Graham Gano's missed field goal. You got to give the Skins credit for playing hard and not quitting. Where has this effort been the last few weeks?

Dog of the Week: New York Jets
-Had a tough time handing out this award this week. No one really did anything stupid. Rex Ryan cursed at a fan, so he was given a $75,000 fine by the NFL. But the Jets also failed to show up offensively for a second week in a row, and have now fallen a game out of the last Wild Card spot in the AFC and two games back plus a tiebreaker of the Patriots in the AFC East. The Jets play the Bills this week, a team they completely dominated a few weeks ago. But neither team can score recently. The Jets better win here, if not they can kiss their playoff hopes goodbye.

Other Week 11 Notes
-Another week, another injury to a starting QB on a potential playoff team. Jay Cutler broke his thumb and underwent surgery on it, and will likely be out for the rest of the regular season. Coach Lovie Smith thinks Cutler might be able to return, but that would be stretching it I think. This means Caleb Hanie takes over the reigns at QB. Hanie showed during the NFC Championship last year that he can play, and almost lead the Bears to the Super Bowl. The Bears play the rest of the AFC West then home to Seattle before finishing the season at Green Bay and Minnesota. The Bears have a good shot at the playoffs because they hold the tiebreaker over Atlanta and may over Detroit by years end, but the road just got a lot tougher. Expect more Matt Forte from the Bears from here on out. I still think the Bears make the playoffs. They have an easier schedule than Detroit, who have to play the Packers twice still.

-Does anyone want to claim the last playoff spot in the AFC? The Bengals are currently sitting in 6th place at 6-4, but they've lost 2 in a row. Then the Broncos, Titans, Jets, and Bills are all 5-5. The Jets have lost two in a row after winning three in a row. The Bills have lost 4 of their last 5, and the Titans like to trade off wins and losses every week. At this point, you would have to consider the Broncos the favorite for the last Wild Card Spot. They're playing the best football out of everyone in this group of teams. No one really knows what is going on with the Bills. All of the sudden they can't score points. Mark Sanchez is playing like bad Mark Sanchez for the Jets. Maybe Tim Tebow really is Jesus and he will lead the Broncos to a playoff birth on Christmas Eve right before his return? Who knows.

-So are the Eagles relevant again now? You know football analysts. When a team wins a big game like Philadelphia did, they are all of the sudden back in the playoff mix. But when they lose like they did last week against Arizona? Nope, they're done. That is why I hate most football analysts. They just go by how a team plays for the most part. They flip flop every week. But the Eagles defense finally played the way people expected them to play all year. They shut down the Giants offense and got a nice revenge win after the Giants beat the Eagles in Philadelphia. The Giants are now tied for 1st with the Cowboys, and the Giants have the Saints and Packers coming up. I still don't think the Eagles make the playoffs. They're 3 games back of Chicago and 2 back of Atlanta, and both of those teams have tiebreakers over the Eagles. If Mike Vick is back in time, maybe they can get to 9 wins, but the playoffs seem out of reach.

Hey I'm Just Sayin...
-A 49ers win and a Seahawks loss this week gives San Fran the NFC West. Will the 49ers ease up?

-Maybe that ends the John Skelton/Kevin Kolb debate in Arizona.

-Cam Newton just scored 3 TDs. So ESPN, I don't think he hit a rookie wall.

-Hey, at least the Colts didn't lose this week!

-Is there anything better than football, turkey, and family on Thanksgiving?

AFC Playoff Picture
Place  Team  Record  Next Opponent
1. New England Patriots  7-3  at Philadelphia
2. Baltimore Ravens  7-3  vs San Francisco
3. Houston Texans  7-3  at Jacksonville
4. Oakland Raiders  6-4  vs Chicago
5. Pittsburgh Steelers  7-3  at Kansas City
6. Cincinnati Bengals  6-4  vs Cleveland
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7. Denver Broncos  5-5  at San Diego
8. Tennessee Titans  5-5  vs Tampa Bay
9. New York Jets  5-5  vs Buffalo
10. Buffalo Bills  5-5  at NY Jets

NFC Playoff Picture
Place  Team  Record  Next Opponent
1. Green Bay Packers  10-0  at Detroit
2. San Francisco 49ers  9-1  at Baltimore
3. New Orleans Saints  7-3  vs NY Giants
4. Dallas Cowboys  6-4  vs Miami
5. Detroit Lions  7-3  vs Green Bay
6. Chicago Bears  7-3  at Oakland
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7. Atlanta Falcons  6-4  vs Minnesota
8. New York Giants  6-4  at New Orleans

Three Games I Would Like To See Next Week
Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions: Can the Lions end the Packers perfect season?
San Francisco 49ers vs Baltimore Ravens: Which Ravens team show up? And a big statement game for the 49ers.
New York Giants vs New Orleans Saints: Can the Giants stop themselves from going into a free fall?

Kept it short this week, but I'm crunched for time starting tomorrow. Have to get picks done today too.

Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka