State of the NFL

The Super Bowl matchups sometimes feel stale or fixed, but this season, there’s no clear frontrunner. No team has gone undefeated, showing that the State of the NFL league is truly competitive.

The New England Patriots have the best record at 10 wins and 2 losses, with several other teams such as the Eagles, the Rams, the Vikings, the Saints, and the Steelers clocking in at 10-2. Playoff regulars like the Cowboys, Falcons, and Broncos, on the other hand, are not meeting expectations whatsoever, and the Raiders have fallen flat on their face despite all expectations. Teams like the Jets and Bengals, who had very low expectations, have 5 wins each, while storied franchises like the Giants, Browns, and 49ers have a combined 4 wins. The Packers were meeting their high expectations until week 5 against the Vikings, when all hopes of ending the season with some new rings were lost when quarterback Aaron Rodgers pulled a Tony Romo, leaving the field with a broken collarbone. The backup quarterback, Brett Hundley, is no Aaron Rodgers, but he isn’t doing too badly. On the other hand, Houston’s season started poorly with uneven quarterback play by Tom Savage, but the emergence of the rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson, fresh off a national championship with Clemson, led the Texans to an impressive win over the Titans and good showings against heavyweights Kansas City, New England, and Seattle. With Texans fans ecstatic about finally getting good quarterback play, disaster struck as Watson tore his ACL in practice and is lost for the season. This brings harrowing comparisons to another bright young rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin III, whose rookie season was also cut short by a knee injury from which his career never recovered. Maybe we’ll see a different end for Deshaun Watson, though. As the season approache the halfway point, the contenders and pretenders will soon reveal themselves and key injuries will continue to define the hopes of many. With the season being so shaky as is, it’s unclear who will be in the Super Bowl, but maybe the safest bet is the Patriots from the AFC (as usual) and the Eagles from the NFC.  No matter what, though, we do know that whoever’s hurling a pigskin through the hazy stadium air on February 4 will do so under the watchful eye of performer Justin Timberlake.  Hopefully there won’t be any complex costume changes for him to learn this time.