It’s a long season, NFL fans. Rising to the top is far different from remaining at the top. You want dominance? You’ll have to wait and see. The only real dominance at roughly the midway point of the 2014 season is the media’s consistent ability to pillory or coronate based on incomplete evidence. “Prevailing wisdom” often neither prevails nor does it count as wisdom.
Crown a king, the king goes down. Bury an also-ran, they rise from the dead. So, how do you make sense of the NFL’s zeitgeist? Bet against it.
Hype: believe it at your own peril
The Pittsburgh Steelers stumbled out of the gates with a 3 – 3 record. They’re done. They’re old. They have no playmakers. Fast forward to now: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has thrown 12 touchdowns over the past two games. Winners of three straight, even the most skeptical have to acknowledge the Steelers as a viable playoff contender and possible division winner. Or do we?
The Cincinnati Bengals do, at least. They can feel the Steelers breathing down their necks. Speaking of which, the confounding Bengals took early command of the AFC North division with three opening wins, hit the skids after their early bye with two ugly losses and a tie, then have now rebounded with two straight wins. They were kings. They were paupers. Now they’re kings again … whazzat? The Cleveland Browns are 5 – 3?
The NFL’s saddest franchise, the Cleveland Browns, currently have the identical record of the reigning Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. Question: How long will that last? Answer: It won’t. With this week’s sure-to-be-laudatory Cleveland headlines, the Browns are doomed to recede back to mediocrity in short order.
The zeitgeist will get ‘em.
Not for long
Don’t believe me? Take the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys reeled off six straight wins after an ugly opening day loss and became, if not America’s Team, at least America’s darlings. Before the ink had dried on the last proclamation of Cowboy resurgence, the ‘Boys subsequently dropped two straight to land themselves back behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East standings. They were the kings. Now they’re lying in the Weedens.
Will the real Cowboys please stand up? Well, they did, actually. They’re as flawed, mediocre and susceptible to an untimely injury as pretty much the rest of the league, save for the hapless Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets.
So cheer up if you’re a fan for either of those three teams. I may have just guaranteed wins for them in their next games.
Returning to the AFC, the flip-side of the Cowboys, the Denver Broncos, have charted a similar path. The explosive Broncos started the early part of this season looking like world beaters. Then, apparently, they read their own headlines before nap time. The New England Patriots woke up the NFL world by thrashing the overmatched Broncos on Sunday, to the tune of 43 – 21.
All hail the king Patriots now, right? The too old / washed up / Brady-has-no-playmakers Patriots have dug themselves out from the dirt heaped upon them earlier in the season to assert themselves as the team to beat in the AFC. As of today, that is. The zeitgeist says they’re going down against the Indianapolis Colts when they resume play on Nov. 16. In the meantime, the headline writers in Pittsburgh and Boston can just continue to borrow from each other.
Spinning wheel
Perhaps the only real truth about NFL fortunes is this: What goes up, must come down. There is no shortage of blood, sweat and tears expended throughout an NFL season. As they say, the other guys get paid too. Didn’t we just hear how the Baltimore Ravens returned to championship caliber play? Today, they’re in fourth place in their division.
They’re happy in Miami today with headlines of how the formerly dysfunctional Miami Dolphins now look like playoff entrants. With their head-scratching blowout of the previously unbeatable San Diego Chargers (final score: Dolphins, 37: Chargers, what time does the game start?), it’s a new day in south Florida. After beginning the season 5 – 1, the Chargers have not been able to buy a win since squeaking past the Raiders on Oct. 12. They currently rest one game above .500, safely out of the spotlight.
Which brings us to the champion Seahawks. After dominating in the season-opening win over the Green Bay Packers, the Seahawks have mucked about to a nearly even 4 – 3 record since, displaying little of the authority that marked their 2013 season. The headline writers noticed the discrepancy between the 2013 and 2014 versions of the blue birds. The Seahawks’ epitaphs were prepared in advance:
- “Are the Seattle Seahawks going to miss the playoffs?” (USA Today)
- “Another bad day for Seahawks’ offensive line” (ESPN)
- “Seahawks continue their stumble” (Seattle Times)
- “Injuries, offensive woes concern Seahawks” (Spokesman-Review)
- “Why the Seattle Seahawks are struggling” (ESPN)
Today, having escaped the gutty but talent-deficient Oakland Raiders at home by less than a touchdown, the Seahawks are back from the dead and ready to feast on the mediocre New York Giants next weekend. So, yes, national media. It was fun to bash the Seahawks for a few weeks there, wasn’t it?
What storyline will take hold in the NFL’s zeitgeist? Take your pick: “The Seahawks are back, baby!” Or, “They got issues, man.” Whichever way the zeitgeist goes, bet against it.
This much is true: The Seahawks are a patchwork array of talented but broken parts on defense and still in need of a reliable third offensive weapon beyond Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch. At 5 – 3, the Seahawks have edged their way into second place in the division, just head of the 4 – 4 San Francisco 49ers and well behind the marauding, unbeatable, gosh-we’re-all-really-impressed Arizona Cardinals at 7 – 1.
Sorry, Cardinals fans. Couldn’t resist.
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