The AFC Would shape us as follows, ranked in descending order:

• Baltimore Ravens
• New York Jets
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Tennessee Titans
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• New England Patriots

There’s little doubt with the season just over halfway through that the AFC is generally stronger than the NFC and that list shows this very clearly. The Colts are also just a game away and can’t be ruled out either.

If there’s one team with a question mark there, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs. Although they’re atop the [relatively] weak AFC West, I’m not sure they can stay there all season. When you look at the teams they’ve played though, their schedule has worked strongly in their favour – they’ve played only one team of the twelve I have making the post-season here (the Colts) and they lost that. In this scenario, I think the Patriots would be more than happy to be heading to Kansas for Wildcard weekend.

The Ravens are for me the class of the NFL right now (Yeah, I’m expecting gloating from Craig) and having beaten the Steelers in Pittsburgh, there’s a big game coming in week 13 in the return match. If the Ravens go 2-0 over their closest divisional rival, they will probably be the top ranked AFC team come January. If not, then the Steelers could overhaul them and leave the #1 spot open for the Jets or Patriots.

The NFC:

• New York Giants
• Atlanta Falcons
• Green Bay Packers
• St. Louis Rams
• New Orleans Saints
• Philadelphia Eagles

If we ignore the Rams for the moment, there are no surprises here either. The South and the West are each sending two teams; the South are actually close to sending three teams and it’s hard to say that wouldn’t be fair at this point.

The Eagles have edged ahead of the Bucs after beating the Colts and they have the Redskins coming up. I’m man enough to admit that the ‘Skins don’t belong with the 6 teams listed but they’re managing to hang in there regardless. Monday night at FedEx Field should be a good game.

The Rams are the surprise here, but it’s a pleasant one. It’s not just Sam Brafdord (though he’s a big factor) but the whole attitude has changed in St. Louis. Much like Detroit, you have to bring your a-game now. However, like with the AFC, the West is in disarray. The Seahawks, despite some horrible losses, are at 4-4 like the Rams. The Cardinals (3-5) and even the 49ers (2-6) can’t be ruled out yet. It’s a close division, and unlike the South, it’s not close for the right reasons.

The Packers are hanging in there. Despite successive overtime losses (Redskins and Dolphins) and with plenty of injuries they’re still atop the North and remain very dangerous. The Giants are quietly going about their business with little fanfare, but their defense is again awesome and Manning-Nicks has developed into a killer combination.

The AFC might be stronger, but there are many interesting stories and sidebars to watch in the NFC too.

Whichever way you look at it the Rams are a much-improved team this season. At the end of last season you might have written them off right away against the Seahawks, but as things stand now this could be one of the games of the week.

Inside the Edward Jones Dome

Seattle have got off to their best start in three years (2-1). The Rams on the other hand are 1-2, but they have been putting in very good performances not least of which was last weeks’ win over an improved Redskins side.

The Rams will miss Steven Jackson who is out for an unknown period with a groin injury. That said, Kenneth Darby stepped up and proved that there is depth in the team. We should expect another big week from him this week.

All eyes are still on Sam Bradford, he seems to be getting better each week, but will be punished by the Hawks on any interceptions. His role will be massive in this game as there are holes in the Seahawks defence that are there to be exploited.

While Seattle have made positive moves signing wide receiver Brandon Stokley and linemen Allen Barbre and Breno Giacomini I think there are still enough weaknesses for the Rams to take advantage of.

Prediction: Slim St. Louis Win

Image Credits: Edward Jones Dome – Geir Arne Hjelle

This week I’ll be taking a look at the Oakland Raiders and their visit from the St. Louis Rams.

The Rams have been the whipping boys of the NFC West in the last few years, and have only managed 6 wins in the past three seasons and haven’t had a winning season since 2003. This is a far cry from the team that made the Super Bowl in 1999 and 2001.

Steve Jackson

Steve Spagnuolo goes into his second season as head coach with two big offensive weapons. Firstly, Steven Jackson. The yards that Jackson has managed in this team are incredible considering that he’s been behind a weak line and is usually against defences that stack against the run.

The second, and newer addition, is rookie quarterback Sam Bradford. Anything that can be done to spread the defence will be of great benefit to Jackson, and Bradford looked calm and composed once he get going last week. The Rams passed in situations that last season would have been clear running plays. This is the kind of flexibility any team needs to be successful. Bradford’s statline, with its 3 interceptions, are misleading and the team as a whole can consider themselves unlucky to have lost the game against the Cardinals.

Defensively though, they need to improve a lot. They ranked 29th last year in yards allowed and 31st in points allowed. Even last week only 5 teams gave up more yards (and 4 of those teams won and the other – the Lions – should have done). They do have some playmakers, and Spagnuolo has a proven defensive record so this is a unit that can only improve.

Which brings us to the Raiders. Is there a more dysfunctional team in the NFL?

Oakland Coliseum

In this off-season, the Raiders finally gave up on JaMarcus Russell and traded for Jason Campbell from the Washington Redskins, and they got for an absolute steal. Rolando McClain was drafted in the first round (8th overall) and Nnamdi Asomugha is probably the best cornerback in the game.

Every season there is one team that comes from a seemingly impossible position to turn around and make the play-offs. This year I had thought that it might be the Raiders as they’d seemed to be getting things together but last week’s outing was pretty poor in all phases of play. Admittedly there is no shame in having your secondary unable to catch Chris Johnson, but the Titans bossed the game with the swagger. There were some positives for Oakland, and there were able to move the ball but in the end it was a bit of a blowout.

The bottom line is that this should be a close game. I like the Rams; what they’re doing and how they’re going about their business but I think that the Raiders have a better core of players that when they perform will be able to get a home win.

Image Credits
Oakland Coliseum – LA Wad
Steven Jackson – MOmilkman – Darin House

The Redskins are sat at #4 and with the recent, and amazing, trade for Donovan McNabb have cleared things up a bit. Even if word from the front office is that they still might take a quarterback, if they don’t take a lineman then I’ll eat my hat. A proverbial hat at least. I think they’ll look to Trent Williams but it could easily be Russell Okung protecting McNabb next year.

The rest of the top 10 have specific needs but this is a strong draft class. Combine that with the dealing and trading that’ll go on, the bylines and plots involving lower round prospects and the studs and there’s a lot to watch. There’s nearly always a big story on Day One, and we wait with interest for that to shake out.

We’ll have our thoughts early next week once the three day affair is done and dusted.

Sexy Rexy Redskin

Not much I can add beyond the headline really. With The Todd being released, we needed a good backup to Jason Campbell (assuming he’s the starter) and I suppose we could do worse…

SR has apparently signed a one year deal so Shanahan is keeping his options open. With the 4th pick at the upcoming Draft there’s a lot of people thinking that the Redskins will take a quarterback (Sam Bradford if available, or Jimmy Clausen). We watch with interest.

Image Credit: iammeltron

It’s worth noting that going into the combine, most teams already have their draft boards about 90% done. A big combine workout performance shouldn’t affect a player’s draft stock. This is a change from the past, mainly because there are a lot of workout wonders who just don’t make it in the NFL. Teams are starting to realise that if you base your draft decision on workouts that actually have little to do with playing football, you are dooming yourself to failure.

Longhorn Colt McCoy

Look at Vernon Gholston. A workout wonder at the combine, he was talked about possibly going first overall to the Miami Dolphins or second overall to the St.Louis Rams, but ended up going sixth to the NY Jets. In his first two years, Gholston has played 379 snaps and blitzed on 207 of those. Out of those 207 blitzes he has just 11 QB pressures and one QB hit, with no sacks. Effectively he is only getting pressure once every 18 or so times he rushes the QB. That’s just terrible, especially for such a high draft pick.

Both the Dolphins and Rams effectively ignored the combine (although both Jake and Chris Long had very good workouts, they weren’t as good as Gholston) instead deciding on who to pick as a result of watching tape and the interviews with the players.

Jimmy Clausen

Gholston isn’t the first workout wonder though. Mike Mamula, a defensive end from Boston College, was not thought to be a first round draft pick prior to the 1995 draft. A strong combine showing propelled him up draft boards, so much so that the Eagles traded their first rounder (12th overall) and two second round picks to Tampa Bay to move up to 7th overall to take him. Mamula never managed much of a career, retiring due to injuries after the 2000 season, but only recording 31.5 sacks in that period. On the other hand, Tampa Bay used its first rounder, now at number 12 overall, to select Warren Sapp. Of course Sapp ended his career with 96.5 sacks, 7 Pro Bowl selections and one Defensive Player of the Year award. The next defensive end taken in the draft was Hugh Douglas, by the New York Jets. Douglas also became a Pro Bowl player, although funnily enough this only occurred once he was traded from the Jets to the Eagles for another two draft picks.

The most important part of the combine for the teams are the player interviews and medicals. Here they will get to talk to the players about their football knowledge and get an understanding of their attitude and personality. Rey Maualuga, a standout linebacker at USC, was thought by some to be the best MLB in the 2009 draft. Maualuga slipped to the second round, apparently due to concerns over his character and football knowledge. During his rookie year, Maualuga struggled to read plays and ended up having a poor year in comparison to fellow rookie linebackers Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and James Laurinaitis. The character concerns were also revealed to be true when Maualuga was arrested for drunk driving late in January. Players with strong character concerns could be removed from NFL Draft boards altogether by some teams.

This year, the combine medicals will be very important for the top QBs in the class. Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, Jimmy Clausen of Notre Dame and Colt McCoy of Texas are all unable to throw at the combine due to injuries, and the three were expected to be the first three QBs off the board during the draft. This could change if the medical reports are bad. The one that could be hurt most by this is McCoy. Sam Bradford has already dropped from being a consensus first overall pick due to his major shoulder injury that kept him on the sidelines for the majority of his junior year. But reports are that he has been healing well from the injury. McCoy suffered a relatively minor injury in his last game at Texas, and was thought to be healed by now. The fact he is unable to throw will lead to some questions regarding the severity of the injury, and also McCoy’s ability to recover from injury. Injury concerns from McCoy could see him drop from his spot as the third best QB in the draft and replaced by a player like Dan LeFevour, Tony Pike or Zac Robinson, all of whom performed well at the Senior Bowl.

Sam Bradford

Another important part of the combine for NFL scouts is the weighing and measuring of the players. Some strange measurements are considered important for certain positions. For example, arm length is considered very important for Left Tackles, and hand size is important for positions like Running Back and Quarter Back where fumbling could be an issue. The height of the QB is important, as he needs to be able to see over the Offensive Line and pass rushing defenders. While short QBs have been able to succeed in the NFL (see Drew Brees), a team could be unwilling to draft a short QB as high. Jimmy Clausen is one QB where the height measurement will be important. Listed at 6’3 while at Notre Dame, he could see himself drop down the draft if he measures in shorter.

As for player weights, I doubt anyone will be more scrutinised than Alabama NT Terrence Cody. With the 3-4 defence becoming more common, and true Nose Tackles being a rarity (just look how many were franchised tagged this offseason), a big NT like Cody could find himself taken quite high on draft day. The problem with Cody is he weighed a massive 370 lbs at the Senior Bowl, and he was quite a blubbery 370 too. Another issue is that he appears to put on weight easily, weighing in at 355 lbs just 16 days before the Senior Bowl measurement was taken. If he weighs in around 350 lbs at the combine, and keeps his weight at that level, he could end up as a first round pick.

In all, the combine is nothing more than a media event. Its fun for the fans to discuss the results, and makers of mock drafts will shift their positional rankings as a result. But NFL teams will almost pay no attention to the results of combine workouts. Unless they are the Raiders, where Al Davis will presumably get his spreadsheet of combine results and sort by 40 time.

Image Credits:
Colt McCoy – speedye
Jimmy Clausen – jim.cassady
Sam Bradford – SD Dirk