Undefeated Through Week 4
Kristian Wiles
October 6, 2009
Posted under Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants
The Vikings round out the top 5 teams in the NFL so far becoming the fifth to go 4-0. The range of preseason expectations for these teams is dramatic. We have the Giants and Vikings who many picked to go deep into the playoffs, the Colts and Saints as teams with strong offense and what we thought would be questionable defense, and finally the Broncos who no one expected to be in this conversation. It’s time to pat myself on the back and apologize to my Denver fan readers, at least for now.
I know it’s early but the Giants and Vikings look like the most complete teams in the league. Both are strong on defense bringing great pressure on the QB while playing the run well. Both can run the ball exceptionally well with a one-two punch that lasts long into the 4th quarter. Finally, both have quarterbacks, in Manning and Favre, who can win games when they need to and manage the game when the offense is rolling. There isn’t much else to say here. Even though the NFC North and East divisions are tough, each team will end up on top if they continue to play at the level they have for the first quarter of the season.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
The Colts have looked like a powerhouse the last couple weeks playing against two teams in the weakest division in the NFC. It is almost comical how bad they beat the defending NFC Champs (and I use that title loosely) and piled on by taking out the injury plagued Seattle team. Even with Peyton Manning rolling on offense the defense is still in question. They will be tested when they start playing better teams (the first 4 have a combined record of 5-10). However, they could be 7-0 by then and well ahead of their AFC South rivals.
The Saints are a different story proving Sunday that they can play defense against a pretty good Jets team. We have known for a while that Brees and company can score but the defense put up 14 points last game and has been play well enough to supplement the powerful offense. Will this hold? I don’t know. But with Atlanta and the Giants coming up in the schedule the Saints will be able to show just how good they are on both sides of the ball.
This is the one that hurts the most. Despite every preseason indicator, Josh McDaniel looks like he might have pulled it together. I still don’t think that Orton is better then Cutler, especially after watching his two TD throws in the Dallas game that were nearly picked off. However, the defense has been much improved over last year holding 4 teams in 4 games to a total of 26 points. That is impressive even if 3 of those teams are absolutely horrible. Here’s the catch. Their next 4 games are brutal. The Patriots, Chargers (at SD), Ravens, and Steelers equal no better then 2-2. Good thing the Broncos are in the worst division in the NFL because I count 7-8 losses left on their schedule.
Despite all of this speculation 4-0 doesn’t mean a whole lot. There is a lot of football left to play in the next 13 weeks and I am looking forward to all of it. Well, all except games involving the Browns, Chiefs, Raiders, and Rams. I have some standards.
