Believe it or not, the NFL season has just about reached its midpoint already, which means that the standings and status of teams are really beginning to take shape. If you have not already been glued to your Direct TV football package taking in all of the action, it’s about time to start – this season has been full of intriguing and, in many cases, surprising drama.
There have been a number of unexpected performances, both in a positive and negative sense, and for the most part the division races are still quite open. However, no division may be more interesting at this stage than the NFC East, which was projected preseason as one of the toughest divisions, and which got off to, largely, a slow start. The New York Giants, however, have stood tall atop the division, and are ready to turn the corner to the second half of the season in first place.
While Washington, after a bit of a hot start, has dropped to a predictable losing record, and Dallas and Philadelphia have disappointed to this point, each sporting 3-4 records (though the Eagles may have found themselves last week in Dallas, and are starting to look like the team we expected), the Giants have had a very respectable 5-2 start, including wins at Philadelphia and at home against Buffalo. The Giants have been far from perfect, but thanks to solid defense and some largely overlooked but stellar play from quarterback Eli Manning, they certainly look like the strongest team in the division – a tough challenge awaits in week 9, however.
This Sunday, the Giants will head to New England to face off against the Patriots, who are coming off a tough loss at Pittsburgh, but who once again look like surefire Super Bowl contenders. Of course, at home and following a loss, the Patriots are favored by most analysts, writers, and even fans to win this one, and perhaps even to run away with it. However, the Giants have been somewhat overlooked for most of the season, as the Eagles and Cowboys steal a lot of the division attention, and even in New York the Jets get more coverage thanks to head coach Rex Ryan’s mouth. If you haven’t been paying close attention to this team so far, make no mistake about it – the Giants are a tough football team that is perfectly capable of knocking off the Patriots in Foxboro this Sunday. It won’t be easy – but then again, people said the same thing when these two teams met in the Super Bowl a few years back.
No comments:
Post a Comment