Written by Matt Clapp at Bloguin
1. New England Patriots (5-0; Last Week- No. 1)
The Patriots continue to look nearly unstoppable.
New England is averaging an incredible 36.0 points per game (No.1 in the NFL), while Tom Brady has thrown 14 touchdown passes, just one interception, and has a 118.4 QB rating. That QB rating leads the NFL, and is better than any QB rating Brady has ever had in his decorated career. Yes, better than his 2007 season (117.2 QB rating), in which he threw 50 touchdown passes compared to just eight interceptions.
2. Green Bay Packers (6-0; Last Week- No. 2)
The Packers have their flaws, but it’s hard to imagine a better year in the NFC for that to be the case.
They have a Bye this week, and face a difficult stretch of their schedule after that: at Broncos, at Panthers, vs Lions, at Vikings. If the Packers can win at least three of those games (and especially if the Panthers are one of those games), it’s hard to see a scenario where they’re not the top seed in the NFC (provided Aaron Rodgers stays healthy, of course).
3. Cincinnati Bengals (6-0; Last Week- No. 3)
Nobody can be happier with their first six weeks of the season than the Cincinnati Bengals.
Cincinnati enters their Bye Week undefeated and with Andy Dalton looking like a completely new quarterback this season. We showed Tom Brady’s amazing stats earlier, and what’s even more amazing is that Dalton has almost matched him: 14 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 116.1 QB rating for the Bengals quarterback. Compare that to last season, when Dalton threw 19 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, and had an 83.5 QB rating.
Crazy improvement from Dalton, and it has his Bengals looking like a very real Super Bowl contender.
4. Carolina Panthers (5-0; Last Week- No. 7)
Incredible fourth-quarter comeback win in Seattle. We’ve questioned whether or not they have enough weapons on offense to keep it up all year, but that game showed they can find ways to win regardless. It also says a lot about how good Cam Newton is.
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