Time to rehydrate with the Monday Sports Hangover

We're nearing the halfway point of the 2008 NFL season, and only one thing can be proved without a reasonable doubt - this is a truly bizarre season.

I think the main reason for this is the fact that there are a lot of bad teams this year. I mean, a lot. The one remaining undefeated team, the 6-0 Tennessee Titans, have Kerry Collins as their starting quarterback. Kerry Collins. I made fun of the New York Giants eight years ago when they went to the Super Bowl with Kerry Collins as their quarterback. Eight years later he's under center for the best team in the NFL. I will never be able to figure out anything. Ever.

(Of course, I made fun of Vikings fans even more when they lost in the NFC Championship to that Giants team by a score of 41-0, and I still have the Sports Illustrated to commemorate that spectacular occasion. Yet, I digress.)

But the especially weird thing with this season is that even the teams with only 1 or 2 losses thusfar don't even seem to be that good.

The New York Giants are 5-1, but lost to the wildly inconsistent but generally pathetic Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football last week. Also, I'm still not convinced that Eli Manning is anything more than an above average quarterback with a very good offense.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 5-1, but already have had their top 2 running backs go down with an injury in addition to injury problems on their offensive line. Any team with a solid pass rush can beat the Steelers.

The Buffalo Bills might be the best 5-1 team, but I have a hard time being impressed by wins against Seattle (absolutely terrible) Jacksonville (too injured to block anyone) Oakland (Enough said.) St. Louis (intriguingly terrible) and San Diego, who was stuck in a trap game on the way to London for next week's matchup against New Orleans.

In addition to this, many preseason favorites such as the Cowboys, Vikings, Patriots, Colts and Jaguars are grossly underperforming and opening the door for teams that might not have thought to be in contention in 2008 such as the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Bears, Falcons and to a certain extent, the Packers.

Just a weird season all around. If anyone can make any sense of this year, I'd like to know.


But speaking of the Packers, how 'bout that win on Sunday!! The Pack took care of business at home against a good team and can go into the bye week with some swagger. That's what playoff teams do. Of course, the Pack somehow have one of the toughest schedules the rest of the way with games against Tennessee, AT Minnesota, Carolina, Chicago (twice) and Jacksonville. I'm including Jax as a tough game for the Packers because a) it's on the road, and I don't trust Rodgers on the road yet and b) any team that can run the ball consistently has a fighting chance against the Pack. Those two things (along with the injury to Big Al Harris) are my biggest problem with the Packers right now. I don't trust Rodgers on the road and I don't trust our run defense. The run defense can be worked on over the bye week, but Rodgers has to step up in big road games (NOT just in Detroit) to be taken seriously by the Green Bay faithful.

As always, comments, questions, links and other random interactive things are not only appreciated, but encouraged.

[Side note: I added a Widget for my favorite sports columnist, ESPN's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. It will be updated whenever he writes a new column and you can get it right on the Daily Dose. Following sports without reading Simmons' columns is like following politics without watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report - impossible. Always good for a healthy dose of level-headed American sanity and endless comic relief from this fast-paced insane world of ours. Check it out.]