Chris's take: Winners and losers of this NFL season
Chris Smith
Issue date: 10/2/09 Section: Sports
10/02/09 - Week three in the NFL once again proved the theory that any given Sunday any team can win in this league.
Just three weeks into this young season the standings have been shaken up quite a bit as some teams are proving the naysayers wrong while other teams are left with many questions to answer for the rest of the 2009 season.
There have certainly been more than a few surprises so far. Nobody had the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, and even the New Orleans Saints at 3-0 and nobody had the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers at 0-3 and the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers at 1-2. The Cincinatti Bengals have also come out surprisingly strong and could definitely be 3-0 if not for a fluke last-minute play against the Broncos.
Oh and before I forget, the Detroit Lions yes the Lions, finally ended their drought and brought their fan base off life support as their young cast delivered their first victory since week 16 in the 2007 season.
Now I know it's only week three and it's too early to really tell how good some of these teams are, but I think it's still necessary to take a moment to chat about the seven undefeated teams focusing on the two most unexpected. First off let's start with the Broncos, who are in my opinion the most surprising of the seven teams.
After their disappointing 2008 season in which they basically handed the struggling San Diego Chargers the division, the Broncos began there offseason of controversy by firing head coach Mike Shanahan, who coached them for 14 seasons while delivering two Lombardi trophies. They brought in the 32 year old New England offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, to become the youngest head coach in NFL history.
Then the controversy escalated when reports came out that he wanted to trade the franchise quarterback in Jay Cutler for his quarterback Matt Cassel. The Broncos didn't end up with Cassel, but instead shipped Cutler off to Chicago for Kyle Orton, two first round picks, and a third rounder. This in turn upset star wide receiver Brandon Marshall, which led to some training camp drama.
Just three weeks into this young season the standings have been shaken up quite a bit as some teams are proving the naysayers wrong while other teams are left with many questions to answer for the rest of the 2009 season.
There have certainly been more than a few surprises so far. Nobody had the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, and even the New Orleans Saints at 3-0 and nobody had the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers at 0-3 and the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers at 1-2. The Cincinatti Bengals have also come out surprisingly strong and could definitely be 3-0 if not for a fluke last-minute play against the Broncos.
Oh and before I forget, the Detroit Lions yes the Lions, finally ended their drought and brought their fan base off life support as their young cast delivered their first victory since week 16 in the 2007 season.
Now I know it's only week three and it's too early to really tell how good some of these teams are, but I think it's still necessary to take a moment to chat about the seven undefeated teams focusing on the two most unexpected. First off let's start with the Broncos, who are in my opinion the most surprising of the seven teams.
After their disappointing 2008 season in which they basically handed the struggling San Diego Chargers the division, the Broncos began there offseason of controversy by firing head coach Mike Shanahan, who coached them for 14 seasons while delivering two Lombardi trophies. They brought in the 32 year old New England offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, to become the youngest head coach in NFL history.
Then the controversy escalated when reports came out that he wanted to trade the franchise quarterback in Jay Cutler for his quarterback Matt Cassel. The Broncos didn't end up with Cassel, but instead shipped Cutler off to Chicago for Kyle Orton, two first round picks, and a third rounder. This in turn upset star wide receiver Brandon Marshall, which led to some training camp drama.
Be the first to comment on this story