Contenders And Pretenders

We have Reached the halfway point of the NFL season  and its time to sort the Contender's  and Pretender's. We will start by looking at the top 5 most impressive teams Thur 8 games.

1. Indianapolis Colts: This team always seems to show up week in  and week out they find a way to win and that what matter's. The Key component to this offense is Peyton Manning he has a great arm and is extremely accurate with his wide Receivers.When Anthony Gonzales went down due to injury everyone was worried about the Colts only having one true wide receiver in Reggie Wayne. Peyton Manning has taken guys that usually sit on the bench and watch the game and has made them into stars those two being #17 Austin Collie  and #85 Pierre Garcon. While one is consistent the other one not so much but both have had huge contributions this season and have helped the colts to their 7-0 record

2. Minnesota Vikings: This is a team who last season had an incredible running game the one thing they lacked was a decent quarterback. The Vikings tried to find the answer in the young and speedy Tarvaris Jackson but he was not the answer he had no accuracy and through too many interceptions. In comes Gus Frerotte who played the role of QB he had a little more accuracy but still not the answer. This year after months of negotiating the Viking were able to lure #4 Brett Farve to the team and had him starting week 1 where he looked average maybe a little rusty completing 14 of 21 passes for 110 yd 1TD 0 Int. But since that game Brett has had his bumps and bruise but continues to march this team toward a strong playoff run. We cant talk about the Vikings without talking about the outstanding running back #28 Adrian Peterson who thus far through the season as been nothing more than outstanding possibly the best running back in the league and has been the #1 reason the Viking are no longer pretenders and they are now contender with a 7-1 record

3. New Orleans Saints: Its starts and it ends with #9 Drew Brees who has having one of his best seasons as a pro. Brees has 14 TD and only 5 Ints this season and is leading his team to a strong playoff run. When you talk about the Saints you can't forget their defense that has forced 18 turnovers and converted 4 of them into TD.

4. New England Patriots: Tom Brady is Back its official there was some speculation on whether Tom Brady would return to form after the knee injury in the 1st quarter last season. A Year of rehabbing the knee and boy has it paid off Tom Brady took over where he left off 2008 season. Tom Brady thus far has 15 TDS and 4 INTS and has also recorded 3 300 yd passing games and once again New England Looks to be a huge player in the playoffs and possibly the Superbowl

The #5 team was a difficult decision you have the Broncos,Cowboys,Eagles,49ers,Steelers all of these have had pretty decent season but in my opinion the 5th best team and the team that will round out the contenders is..

Dallas Cowboys: While #9 Tony Romo has not been a "Great Quarterback" he has done just enough to keep his team moving in a positive direction the slack has been picked by Romo's running game which is commanded by #24 Marion "The Barbarian" as some like to call him has been injured and missed 2 games still has 397 yd's rushing and 4 TDS this season. Lets not forget about the speedy #20 Felix Jones who also takes care of the the Kick Returns. This season hes rushed for 288 yds and 1 TD. This Cowboys team doesn't have a great defense or a great offense but the manage to win games. There are some of you reading this saying the cowboys at 5 that's obsurd and your right they could be part of the pretenders but for now they are with the contenders

Now we move on to the Pretenders these are teams that have had great games on offense and defense and then other nights its almost light they dont even show up.

1. San Francisco 49ers: This team has had 2 opportunities to prove they are a for real team. Week 7 vs Hou the 49ers went down early 21 to 0 at the half and everyone was like this team just is not what we thought but they switched QBs benching #13 Shaun Hill in-favor of #11 Alex Smith who came in and threw 3 Tds but in the 4th quarter the money quarter where games are won and lost Alex Smith tried to connect with veteran wide receiver #88 Issac Bruce the pass was intercepted with under a minute to play. This put the 49ers in the pretender category for this season. Im not saying the 49ers are a bad team but they are not a team i see making any noise this year.

2.Denver Broncos: Im sorry im not buying this team how can i with any team that is run by #8 Kyle Orton who has really never been a commanding QB this season is no different the real Kyle Orton is bound to show up. The big thing for Denver has been there defense which is ranked in the top 10 in every category and that is the sole thing keeping this team a float. Conclusion any team run by Kyle Orton is bound for failure.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers: This team seems to be Jekyll and Hyde as far as I'm concerned the Steelers have wins vs San Diego and Minnesota but they have losses to Chicago and Tennessee i just don't have enough faith in this team to put them into the contender category.

4. The Green Bay Packers: Arron Rodgers while his numbers have been good the record does not show the Green Bay Packers are 4-3 there offense and their defense are good enough to make them contender but their schedule makes it tough for them to be able to do too much let alone the offensive line is allowing too many sacks on Arron Rodgers. The other reason the Packers fall into the pretender category is they have no running game their starting running back Ryan Grant had over 500yds rushing but it seems the only way Green Bay can get into the end zone is through the air.

This is a tough one because their are several teams that could go into this spot those teams are the Bengals,Eagles,Ravens,Bears,Texans. and the final team to round out the pretenders is..

5. Houston Texans: While most people didn't think much of the Texans this season i thought they could be a solid team a good qb a solid running back and a decent defense the makings of a possible playoff team. But i was wrong the Texans are 5-3 while they have had impressive wins they have had a lot of problems on defense and the defense has allowed on average over 100 yds on the ground each game and in a league where the running back runs the show you wont be able to do much if you cant stop the run you wont make it in the playoffs.

Well remember this is just one mans opinion and this is how i see things we will see how things end up. Maybe one of these pretenders and step their game up in the 2nd half of the season and prove me wrong and show they really are contenders only time will tell.