[Current] Best Team in the NFL?

[desolutionist]

Im betting on Seattle

[Smmenen]

Definitely not Seattle.    The Bears, the Ravens, NE, the Giants look like the best teams to me.  That would be my final four.  GB is still overrated.  The 49ers have been exposed a bit, as was Houston today.  I'm not buying the Falcons. Sorry. And Seattle has a great defense but is not elite offensively. I don't think you can win the Super Bowl with a rookie QB. . I'm not buying them either.  The Broncos look a lot better than their record, IMO. They will be formidable by the end of the season.  Every team has flaws right now.  

[desolutionist]

I haven't seen much of the bears here in Philly and I hate the Giants (But Eli is a Manning anyway)  Flacco? Eugh.  NE: I can agree.  I also agree on the Falcons.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Seattles QB Wilson outplayed Tom Brady yesterday. He had no picks and threw for almost 300 yds if I remember correctly. Yes he is a rookie but he is not a young rookie, so he may not be as immature and as poor in decision making. Keep in mind Seattle has a good defense, normally a good running game, and the QB is not making mistakes...

I by no means am a Seattle fan at all...if I picked 2 teams from AFC and NFC it would be Ravens, Houston (merely bc the rest of AFC is a wash right now), Seattle, and a tie btwn 49ers and Giants.

Falcons Defense is not good enough even with a good offense, bears have Cutler cry baby asshole, rest of AFC and NFC are both not playing consistent football yet...

[Meddling Mike]

Ravens.

[Onslaught]

Seattle won't even make the playoffs...

There are no great teams this year, it's weird. Look at the current seeding in the AFC, it's nuts.

1. Baltimore 5-1
2. Houston 5-1
3. San Diego 3-2
4. New England 3-3
5. Jets 3-3
6. Buffalo 3-3

7. Miami 3-3
8. Cincy 3-3
Denver, Indy, Tenn, Pitt, Jacksonville, Oakland, KC, Browns

It's still early, but the AFC is trash right now. Watch the Giants get hot in the playoffs yet again and make us all suffer through another horrible media narrative for a third Giants/Pats Super Bowl.

[Thecheese]

Falcons. Great teams find ways to win

[aforce808]

Probably the Giants, followed by the Bears.

[vaughnbros]

Ravens.

Maybe if their defense wasn't crippled by injuries. Ray Lewis out.  Ledarius Webb out.  Ngata playing with a major injury.  And Suggs coming back from a major injury...

Falcons. Great teams find ways to win

They never show up in the playoffs.  They also haven't been playing very good teams.  Their offense is probably the best in the league this year, but I still have major doubts about that defense.

The NFL has shown that the phrase "any given Sunday" is very accurate.  To try and rank teams off such a small number of games seems kind of absurd to me.  If you want a best team on paper I would have to pick the Houston texans though.  They are great at every aspect of the game.  All the other teams have glaring holes.

[Smmenen]

Ravens.

Maybe if their defense wasn't crippled by injuries. Ray Lewis out.  Ledarius Webb out.  Ngata playing with a major injury.

Yeah, I just discovered Lewis is out for the year.  Ouch

As Denver continues to gel as a team, they are going to be a force by the end of the year.    Peyton Manning is a master.  Period. 

[Ten-Ten]

Bears, then Giants 

[Meddling Mike]

Falcons. Great teams find ways to win

6-0 is 6-0, but look at the Falcons schedule thus far.

Chiefs (1-5)
Broncos (3-3)
Chargers (3-3)
Panthers (1-4)
Redskins (3-3)
Raiders (1-4)

Literally nobody with a winning record at this point and three one win teams. They're a good team, but I'm reluctant to give them too much credit at this point ESPECIALLY given their tendency to fall apart in the playoffs.

Ravens.

Maybe if their defense wasn't crippled by injuries. Ray Lewis out.  Ledarius Webb out.  Ngata playing with a major injury.

Yeah, I just discovered Lewis is out for the year.  Ouch

Yeah, maybe it's too many injuries at this point. I don't think losing Ray is that big of a deal from a talent standpoint, he's older and it shows, but he is the heart and soul of that defense. This Sunday against the Texans will probably say a lot about who the new sheriff in the AFC is.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Probably the Giants, followed by the Bears.

Damn straight

[Bon Hiver]

Bears, Giants, Texans and Pats are probably the four best teams... Tough to say much based on the records thus far though - lots of teams have had some pretty funky wins/losses.

[Suicideking]

The Packers lost some ugly games but they just crushed Houston, should be 4-2, won a super bowl and went 15-1 in the last 2 years.  Its a bad start but they're hitting their stride. They also have the reigning MVP.  They also handled the bears.

[Smmenen]

They also have the worst defense in the NFL.  Packers are very good, but won't win the Super Bowl.  They have elite QB but way too many other flaws. 

[JACO]

They also have the worst defense in the NFL.  Packers are very good, but won't win the Super Bowl.  They have elite QB but way too many other flaws. 

Green Bay's defense isn't even close to the worst in the NFL.
http://footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2012/week-6-dvoa-ratings

The best teams in the league are Chicago, San Francisco, Packers, Giants, and New England, in some order. The Texans will easily win their division but don't expect them to win the Super Bowl.

[Smmenen]

They also have the worst defense in the NFL.  Packers are very good, but won't win the Super Bowl.  They have elite QB but way too many other flaws.  

Green Bay's defense isn't even close to the worst in the NFL.
http://footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2012/week-6-dvoa-ratings

Green Bay had the statistically worst Defense in the NFL last season, ranked 32nd out of 32.  

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2011&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=TOTAL_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1

I didn't look at the stats for this year, but they aren't pretty either.  

The best teams in the league are Chicago, San Francisco, Packers, Giants, and New England, in some order.

That's pretty close to what I said, except that I don't think the Packers are real contenders.  They have huge holes all over their team.  They have holes on defense, special teams, rushing, etc.   Aaron Rogers covers up alot of flaws.  They have a shot to win a round or two in the playoffs, but I don't see them going all the way.  I'm not even convinced they'll win their division.

I had Baltimore in my top 4 until I saw they lost Lewis for the season, which is a huge blow for a team built on defense.

My top 4 teams are Bears, Giants, Patriots, and I'm gonna go out an limb here, and say the Broncos.  I think Denver is going to gel by the end of the season, and be playoff ready.   The Pats look like the class of the AFC.   There are a ton of good teams in the NFC.  Once again this year, the NFC is better than the AFC.  

[JACO]

They also have the worst defense in the NFL.  Packers are very good, but won't win the Super Bowl.  They have elite QB but way too many other flaws.

Green Bay's defense isn't even close to the worst in the NFL.
http://footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2012/week-6-dvoa-ratings

Green Bay had the statistically worst Defense in the NFL last season, ranked 32nd out of 32.  

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2011&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=TOTAL_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1

I didn't look at the stats for this year, but they aren't pretty either.

Last season was last season. Look at this season. They already have 21 sacks (more than a few other teams combined), and their secondary is playing much better than last year (which was the reason they were last in the league).

I had Baltimore in my top 4 until I saw they lost Lewis for the season, which is a huge blow for a team built on defense.

Not only is Ray Lewis out for the year with a torn triceps, but Lardarius Webb is also out for the year (their best cornerback, who just tore his ACL), Haloti Ngata sprained his MCL (and is their best defensive player period), Terrell Suggs is still out and recovering from his torn achilles from last year (their best pass rusher) but is allegedly close to returning, and to top it all off Ed Reed (their best secondary player) has a torn shoulder labrum and his status is totally up in the air. Joe Flacco is still mediocre, and the Ravens are screwed. There is about a 5% chance they make the playoffs with their remaining schedule.

My top 4 teams are Bears, Giants, Patriots, and I'm gonna go out an limb here, and say the Broncos.  I think Denver is going to gel by the end of the season, and be playoff ready.   The Pats look like the class of the AFC.   There are a ton of good teams in the NFC.  Once again this year, the NFC is better than the AFC.

Interesting that you are down on the Packers, but so high on the Patriots. The Patriots defense is much worse both giving up big plays and statistically on the year (http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef) than the Packers, and their secondary has zero impact players, or barely even replacement level players. It will be interesting to see what the Patriots do with such an obvious deficiency. Their offense is high powered, but it has been the past few years and has still not shown up against good aggressive defenses in the playoffs the last couple of years (or against good defenses like the Seahawks last week or Arizona week 2). I'm just not convinced anyone in the AFC is any better, or very good at all, other than Houston.

[Oath of Happy]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Saints.  Sure they dropped the first 4 but they ar the kind of team that can win out the rest of the season.  I'd have to say the Patriots are the best team, I might be biased being a NE fan but the 3 games they lost were games they should have won.

[vaughnbros]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Saints.  Sure they dropped the first 4 but they ar the kind of team that can win out the rest of the season.  I'd have to say the Patriots are the best team, I might be biased being a NE fan but the 3 games they lost were games they should have won.

The Saints should be 0-5 right now if they didnt get like 50 favorable calls to win their last game.  They have an awful defense, no running game, literally Drew Brees is that team right now.

Losing games you should win is a sign of a bad team.  Not the sign of a good one.  It means that they struggle overcoming adversity through the course of a game.  Patriots need to figure out their play calling running 60 pass plays 1 game and 40 runs in another doesnt win championships.

[Smmenen]

Ravens.

Maybe if their defense wasn't crippled by injuries. Ray Lewis out.  Ledarius Webb out.  Ngata playing with a major injury.

Yeah, I just discovered Lewis is out for the year.  Ouch

As Denver continues to gel as a team, they are going to be a force by the end of the year.    Peyton Manning is a master.  Period. 

I'll double down on this.   I expect to see Denver go far in the AFC. 

[desolutionist]

P. Manning has always been one of my favorites.  He and Brady make Eli look like a baby.

I'm really disappointed by the eagles plan for protecting Michael Vick...  There isn't one?  Okay, so they'll put a rookie in and let him get beat up trying to make impossible plays? 

[zimagic]

It's important to note at this juncture that the Cowboys are still shit and wasting the best years of the talent they have.

That it all.

[Meddling Mike]

It's important to note at this juncture that the Cowboys are still shit and wasting the best years of the talent they have.

That it all.

I honestly think that Tony Romo has damned that team for a decade. His Favresque decision making with his throws are a relic of a bygone era. He's good enough to keep your hope alive, but inconsistent enough that he'll never win a championship.

[zimagic]

It's important to note at this juncture that the Cowboys are still shit and wasting the best years of the talent they have.

That it all.

I honestly think that Tony Romo has damned that team for a decade. His Favresque decision making with his throws are a relic of a bygone era. He's good enough to keep your hope alive, but inconsistent enough that he'll never win a championship.

Personally speaking, I consider them capable of beating any team they come up against. They just find a way to end up on the losing side of those close games every single time and in most cases there's obvious and avoidable mistakes that cost them the game. Own worst enemy.

[Will]

It's important to note at this juncture that the Cowboys are still shit and wasting the best years of the talent they have.

That it all.

I honestly think that Tony Romo has damned that team for a decade. His Favresque decision making with his throws are a relic of a bygone era. He's good enough to keep your hope alive, but inconsistent enough that he'll never win a championship.

Personally speaking, I consider them capable of beating any team they come up against. They just find a way to end up on the losing side of those close games every single time and in most cases there's obvious and avoidable mistakes that cost them the game. Own worst enemy.

It doesn't help that they currently don't have a quality running back and their arguably best defensive player (Shaun Lee) are injured.  On that note, Dallas sucks...

[madmanmike25]

The Texans keep getting better.  They might actually make it to the super bowl this year, but if not it will be soon enough.

[vaughnbros]

The Texans keep getting better.  They might actually make it to the super bowl this year, but if not it will be soon enough.

They look like by far the best team in the AFC.  Patriots are really the only team that I could see beating them there.

How about Atlanta though with an absolute cupcake schedule the only good team left on their schedule is the Giants, and lately I'm questioning them with Eli playing so awful.

[Bibendum]

Atlanta will end the regular season with the best record but will not do anything in the playoffs. What tests do they have over the next 8 weeks? They have the Bucs twice, who are much better then expected but still a bubble team and the Giants/Lions once. 13-3 at worst 15-1/16-0 possible, but come playoff time without being tested for the second half of the season they are not gritty enough to beat San Fran or Chicago. Texans are through and through the best team on paper. They are absolutely scary.

As a Cowboys fan, I said the day they signed Romo they will never win anything big. He is the anti-clutch. Its choking and badluck but anytime a pressure situation happens something goes wrong.