Wyatt Cushman, Staff Writer |
The NFL season is flying by. We’re already through 7 weeks, and the colder months of November and December are quickly approaching. This season continues to show that no win comes easily, and that there are a lot of evenly matched teams out there.
Every team has at least two losses already, besides the Philadelphia Eagles who are leading the pack at 6-1. Before the season, nobody would have predicted that the Patriots would have two losses less than halfway through the season, and two weeks ago nobody would have thought that the Chiefs would lose two straight games after winning their first five of the year. Surprises are good for the NFL though, as people love good competition and unpredictability, and that’s exactly what we are seeing.
As aforementioned, the Chiefs are now 5-2 on the season, and they just lost a heartbreaker in Oakland last Thursday night. In one of the wildest games of the season, the Raiders’ Derek Carr threw a game winning touchdown with no time remaining, sending Raiders fans home happy. With this win, the Raiders snapped a four-game losing streak, and they kept the Chiefs from extending their lead in the AFC West.
This Sunday, we once again saw some great football on display, showing us that no lead is safe in the NFL, and that defense can still win games in this age of high flying offenses. The Jets, who were surprisingly 3-3 through 6 weeks of the season, led by 14 points in the fourth quarter of their game against Miami and looked as though they were going to beat their division rival for the second time this season. However, the Jets fell to 3-4 on the season after surrendering 17 straight points to the Dolphins, led by Matt Moore.
We also saw the Bears and Mitchell Trubisky get their second straight win in a defensive driven game against the Panthers. The Bears scored twice on defense, and they allowed the Panthers only three points. A few weeks ago, the Panthers were seen as one of the better teams in the NFC, but now they’ve lost two straight games and were embarrassed by the Bears. We also saw the Browns nearly get their first win of the season on Sunday. Although the Browns didn’t end up with a win, this game was a kind of win for Cleveland fans, because their team isn’t any good, and they’ll take anything they can get — even if it is a losing game.
Looking ahead to next week, we see two divisional matchups that will prove to be big as we hit the midway point in the season. The Cowboys and Redskins are set for a showdown next Sunday in D.C. in a game that will be pivotal in determining the NFC East crown. The Eagles have looked like the best team in the division thus far, but these two teams are gunning for them, and whoever wins will still have a chance of winning the division when it’s all said and done. Another game to watch next week is the Monday night game between the Chiefs and Broncos. These teams play in one of the best divisions in football, and this game may allow the Chiefs to pull away from the rest of the pack with a win. But the Broncos aren’t going down without a fight, and are going into Kansas City looking to rebound from two straight losses.
After next week’s games we will be halfway through the NFL season. This is a great time to evaluate where your team is at and to see where you stack up against the rest of the NFL. We still have a lot of football left to be played and, as we’ve seen, a lot of things can happen that could change the complexion of any team in the league. So no matter where your team is at presently, keep faith that they can turn it around. Every game is important, even if results are not immediate.
Leave a Reply