The 1 o'clock games are in the books and as I scrolled through the NFL standings, I realized that most teams have now been able to play the full first-half of their season. With that, I wanted to talk about a couple of surprisingly good teams and a couple of surprisingly bad teams.
SURPRISINGLY GOOD
1) Kansas City Chiefs
As I write this, they're in progress against the Oakland Raiders, so they could be either 6-2 or 5-3, but the point is that they're at a win total that most people would have predicted for the full season and not just half.
There was excitement about this team because of the 1-2 punch at running back with Thomas Jones/Jamaal Charles, but no one could have expected how dominant they could be. They've allowed the Chiefs to be tops in the NFL in rushing, and with that, it allows for KC to dominate time of possession, keep defences on the field and grind them out.
2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
A lot of people thought that the Bucs winning 5 games for the season was unlikely, but at 5-3, Raheem Morris has this team in the hunt for an NFC playoff spot. Are they the best team in the NFC as the head coach proclaims? Of course not, but they're way better than people would have expected.
The biggest thing helping this team is their ability on defence to produce takeaways and do something with them. They have 21 total takeaways with 6 of those being brought back for touchdowns, so the Bucs are benefitting from points created by their defence. Those points are so valuable in a ball game and it's allowed them to not only stay in games, but to steal them as well.
SURPRISINGLY BAD
1) Dallas Cowboys
It has to start here, doesn't it? Even though I'm writing this in advance of their Sunday nighter against the Packers, this team is bad whether it's 1-7 or 2-6. A year that was filled with so much promise has been unbelievably disappointing and will no doubt cost a few people within the organization to lose their jobs.
When you look at the statistics, there's a couple of things that stick out. Being near the top in total penalties is not a surprise, but being near the bottom in rushing with the talent that they have at the running back spot is very surprising. But to me, the biggest problem with this team is that the big players have just not made big plays all year. You need your superstars to be game-changers and too often, they've been on the field but have been bland, generic and many times, invisible.
2) Cincinnati Bengals
I feel like such a tool for singing the praises of the Bengals in the pre-season. I looked at this team on paper and thought that they were a lock to be near the top of the AFC standings, not the bottom. Many people will point to the Ocho/T.O. combination as the reason for their troubles just because of reputation, but it's not them.
Their defence was supposed to be a juggernaut, but instead, they've been just middle-of-the-road and their offence is just not good enough to overcome a defence that can only show up one out of three drives. The fact that they have 6 sacks in 7 games ahead of their Monday nighter against Pittsburgh is just embarassing.