Even With Soft Schedule, 49ers Seem Top Team
John Lynch, the strong safety for Tampa Bay, was looking at the upside after his team lost its third straight game since opening the season with five wins.
“Hey, the Giants have the same record we do,” he said. “It’s just that they’re winning now so people are getting on the bandwagon.”
Yes, the Bucs have been supplanted. The New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets are now the NFL’s surprise teams.
Who will be next? Who knows.
Some perspective at the midway point:
1, Super Bowl contenders: 49ers, Packers, Vikings, Patriots, Steelers, Jaguars and Broncos, with the Chiefs on the bubble. It would be a surprise if someone else cracks this group, even if it’s Dallas.
Right now, San Francisco and Denver (both 7-1) are at the top, the 49ers’ soft schedule notwithstanding.
“It doesn’t matter who we’ve played,” safety Merton Hanks says. “A win is a win. Everybody’s paid to kick your butts.”
But it does matter and it’s a plus for San Francisco - even beyond the record. Waltzing through the awful NFC West has been the perfect way to get ready for a schedule that gets harder, though not overwhelming, in the second half. It’s allowed the offense to adjust to the loss of Jerry Rice and the defense has remained solid.
Denver?
It remains vulnerable against the run and blew a 20-nil lead before winning in overtime against the Bills. Then again, the Broncos had to fight their way through a blizzard just to get to Buffalo.
Jacksonville made a good account of itself by playing tough in Pittsburgh.
Kansas City? Elvis Grbac gives them a quarterback and Marty Schottenheimer has mixed and matched nine new starters with his usual aplomb. Big game: at home to the Broncos on Nov. 16.
Minnesota? If Brad Johnson continues to play at close to MVP level and Dennis Green’s literary career doesn’t bother the players, you never know.
2, Out of it: The Colts, Bengals, Cardinals, Bears, Rams, Saints and Falcons.
3, Playoff contenders: Everyone else in a mediocre league, with the Cowboys, Giants, Jets, Seahawks, Oilers, Bucs and Raiders the most interesting.
Yes, the Cowboys are written off at some point every year. But every year they’re not 1-4 in their own division and they still can’t score touchdowns.
“Our struggles continue,” Emmitt Smith said after the 13-12 loss in Philadelphia (four field goals, no TDs). Smith had 126 yards on 25 carries but he doesn’t have Daryl Johnston to block any more and the end zone drought is likely to go on.
So Dallas is stuck at 4-4, tied with Washington and Philadelphia 1 games behind the Giants (6-3) in the NFC East.
Can they win the division? Of course. The Giants are young and flawed, particularly on offense, where most of the weapons they do have are hurt.
Still, they’ve won as many games under Jim Fassel as all of last year under Dan Reeves.
And like the Steelers’ Bill Cowher, Fassel seems to find nobodies and turn them into somebodies - Kevin Alexander, No. 86 in your program, had five catches for 100 yards Sunday.
Most important, they’re 3-0 in the division.
The Jets are proving what their fans thought - they had talent, they needed a coach.
The Seahawks (five wins in six games) are also meeting preseason expectations, the Kingdome is full and Warren “Life Begins at 40” Moon is playing like he did 20 years ago at the University of Washington.
The Oilers have won three straight to improve to 4-4 despite (again) no home field. Steve McNair ran for two touchdowns and threw for two against the Cardinals in a game played before 30,000 empty seats that made the Oilers feel right at home.
The critics in Tampa are starting to look at the Bucs the way they’ve always looked at them - congenital losers. But they are better - although the offense doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do right now.
But the Bucs could still regroup.
The Raiders?
On paper, they’re in contention, but they won’t make the playoffs by giving up 554 yards, as they did to the Seahawks on Sunday.