Carolina Huddle

by Brandon

1. Giants

The Giants may have a media circus surrounding them at the moment, but this is a team that has handled these sort of situations before. They are poised to take the first seed with the classic formula for winning late in the year, a strong defense and a very good running game. If they win against Philadelphia and Dallas, the Giants are in good shape to take the first playoff seed.

2. Titans

With their first loss out of the way it was back to business as usual for the Titans as they stomped the Lions in a manner so ugly most people couldn’t watch the whole game. With two extremely easy games coming up, the Titans are poised to grab the top honors in the AFC for the first time since the year 2000.

3. Steelers

The Steelers went into New England as the underdog, but come out having clearly shown what a dominating defense can do in December weather. With the return of Willie Parker and a team getting healthier at the right time, the Steelers are poised to take a deep run in the playoffs.

4. Buccaneers

The Bucs are one of the best teams noone really wants to talk about, along with the following team in the rankings, mostly because noone knows what to expect. Here’s what you need to know, the offense may lack the explosiveness of other top 10 teams, but they make up for it with a stifling defense. Their biggest game of the year is coming up, going into Carolina in a monday night showdown.

5. Panthers

With 5 rushing touchdowns from the 1 yard line or less, the Panthers set an NFL record as they won a game in which almost noone gave them a chance in. The important thing going on in Carolina is this: when one aspect of the team struggles, the other two pick it up and that’s a big part of the reason why they’ve won 5 out of their last 6 games. However, they’ll need everything against Tampa.

6. Colts

While some may say there’s no such thing as an ugly win, the Colts seemingly tried to do everything to prove those people wrong against the Browns on Sunday. Despite a less than stellar game from Peyton Manning, the Colts won because of their defensive play. Who would have figured that would be the reason they’re winning games these days.

7. Falcons

At the start of the year noone would have thought the Falcons could be 8-4 and on the verge of a wild card after 13 weeks of the season. The addition of coach Mike Smith has brought a previously lacking physicality to Atlanta. Almost as important has been the impressive and unexpected play out of rookie Matt Ryan.

8. Jets

Don’t believe the Superbowl hype. The Jets may have a good team but far too many were willing to anoint them the best team in the AFC after defeating the Titans, however their overall play (especially that of Brett Favre) went a long way to show that the Jets aren’t quite ready to be crowned yet.

9. Cowboys

The remaining schedule for the Cowboys is brutal, with 3 teams sitting at or above 8-4 coming up. Even though they are in position for a wild card spot at the moment, they have one of the most difficult remaining schedules in the league. Combined with a traditionally poor December record for the Cowboys, it does not bode well.

10. Cardinals

Heading into a short week and then traveling to the east coast set the Cardinals up to fail, losing in a tough game to the Eagles. A win over the Rams or a loss by the 49ers will guarantee them the division, and would be their first division win in over 30 years. The Cardinals will need to figure out how to win in the eastern time zone if they want to go deep in the playoffs.

11. Patriots

After two 400yd passing performances against mediocre pass defenses, Matt Cassel came crashing back to Earth against the Steelers’ defense with 2 interceptions and only 170yds passing. The performance of Kevin Faulk has been nothing to scoff at however, averaging 6.1 yards per carry so far this season.

12. Vikings

With the victory over the Bears, the Vikings have pulled into the division lead and with Adrian Peterson continuing to play at a high level they have a chance to maintain that advantage. The upcoming stretch of games after facing Detroit this week includes two division leaders and a wild card hopeful, and now is not the time to let up.

13. Ravens

With a schedule inflated by wins against teams with extremely poor records, the Ravens have yet to beat a team with a winning record at the time of facing them. This is unfortunate for the Ravens as they’ll see three teams in a row who are above .500, and it will put rookie Joe Flacco to his greatest test yet.

14. Broncos

The Broncos have been a mystery team all year. One week they will put up 30+ point and cruise to a victory, and then the next week they will lose to the Raiders. Fortunately for the Broncos, only one team remaining on their schedule poses any real threat and at this point are all but guaranteed the division title.

15. Dolphins

If it weren’t for the schedule, the Dolphins’ winning record would be the biggest surprise of the year. However the weak schedule also bodes well for a wild card berth. The addition of Chad Pennington under center has a lot to do with their turnaround, his mistake free play has finally given the Dolphins some stability from the quarterback position.

Carolina Panthers