NFL Midseason Review

The NFL is a little more than halfway finished, and aside from the Colts being the class of this season's NFL, nothing is established. So what can we expect in the next 8 weeks? Who knows.

But I will review what we've seen in the first 9 weeks, and maybe thru it, we can pick up some clues as to what to expect down the stretch. In my attempt to be cool & different, this review will be done fantasy-style, with nothing to do with fantasy sports.

Here are, in order, the 32 highest ranked position players in my fantasy league so far this season, and some information about them or their teams that has nothing to do with fantasy football:

1. LaDainian Tomlinson- You'd think if your star player was on pace for 2200 yards from scrimmage & 29 TDs, you'd be better than 5-4. The Chargers are still the class of the NFC West, now we have to see if they'll figure that out before it's too late.

2. Shaun Alexander- Now here's a guy taking full advantage of a contract year. Hopefully Seattle will take notice. It'd be a shame for a talent like this to end up in Arizona or San Francisco.

3. Carson Palmer- Breakout star on a breakout team. Now if only somebody can tell the Bengals that you can't get by on just beating the bad teams-- what's that, they can? If this team just beats the teams it should the rest of the way, and fails to showup against the good teams, like it has so far this season, it'll still finish 11-5, which will be good enough for the 5 seed in the AFC.

4. Donovan McNabb- God how great has it been watching the Eagles fall apart this season? I love it. This team still scares me though, and with 4 divisional games remaining on their schedule, they have a huge hand in determining the winner, the winner that could ultimately still end up being them.

5. Edgerinn James- Why is this years Colts offense better than last years? This man. He's involved. They control the game now, instead of just throwing 7 TDs a game against lesser opponents and struggling against good D's. Watching this O, you get the feeling it can score against any D at any time on any field, which makes their impending homefield advantage that much scarier.

6. LaMont Jordan- Which division is better? The NFC East or the AFC West? Who knows. But the fact that these two divisions play each other & 7 of the teams are in playoff contention is thrilling. The Raiders not being in playoff contention makes them the ultimate playoff spoiler. This team could really enjoy their last two months of the season.

7. Steve Smith- 6 letters for you: NFL MVP.

8. Peyton Manning- One sentence for you: Not even his team's MVP.

9. Eli Manning- One sentence to end the insanity: He is not the best Manning in the NFL this year.

10. Drew Bledsoe- Dear Buffalo Bills Offensive Line; we're sorry for criticizing you for allowing to let Bledsoe get sacked & rattled all those times these last few seasons. The "great" Dallas line has allowed him to get sacked 20 times in 8 games. Maybe it's not their lines, maybe it's him. But then, why is he having such a great season?

11. Stephen Davis- Might he be the most unrecognizable RB to ever lead his team to two super bowls? I don't know. More on this in February.

12. Tom Brady- Funny that his best season comes in his teams worst season with him at the helm. Maybe the fact that Peyton is playing like Brady confused him, and now he thinks he has to play like Peyton.

13. Drew Bress- Or Philip Rivers? Or LaDainian Tomlinson? Who is the QB of the future for the Chargers? I don't know, but if the Jets managed to tank this season, draft Reggie Bush & sign Drew Brees, they'd immediately be awesome next year.

14. Jake Plummer- Yes, he's playing better. No, that doesn't mean he is better. He's simply not being asked to win games anymore. He's getting the Trent Dilfer treatment, if you don't lose the game, we'll win the game. It's working.

15. Brett Favre- I know I said no fantasy talk, but I'm shocked he's this high. Maybe my league is a little bit too QB heavy? Might have to fix that next season, so that Aaron Rodgers doesn't become a "top 20" fantasy-player.

16. Stephen Jackson- The man's a stud. And now that Mike Martz is PERMANENTLY out of the picture in St. Louis, Jackson is going to have himself quite the career. Forget Jones & Jones, this is the best RB of the '04 class.

17. Kerry Collins- Does anyone else think he has his week 17 game against the Giants circled? How he'd love to eliminate them from the playoffs.

18. Jake Delhomme- Forget what was said about Stephen Davis. Jake Delhomme as a two-time Super Bowl QB? Wow. And to think, the Saints let him go so they could keep Aaron Brooks. Wow.

19. Antonio Gates- Yes, if he played in week one the Chargers would be 6-3, the Cowboys would be 4-4, and the AFC West & NFC East would be two totally different looking divisions.

20. Tiki Barber- Just because I have to relive the game once more before I let it be and move on to worrying about the rest of the season: The Giants destroyed the "suddenly good" Washington Redskins 36-0. Yup. That felt good.

21. Terrell Owens- Ahahahahahahahahaha. Ok, that's wrong. I'm sorry Philadelphia. Wait, wait- ahahahahahahaahahahaha. Moron.

22. Mark Brunell- Don't you hate when a team finally finds their franchise QB, and he's 45 years old? I almost feel bad for Redskins fans, almost. They've been given so much false information about how good their team is this year, their poor hearts are going to be broken in the coming weeks.

23. Joey Galloway- Has any team gone from superbowl contender to top10 pick team as fast as this years Bucs did? I've never seen anything like it. They don't even scare me anymore, at all. This team is bad.

24. Ben Roethlisberger- Last year the Patriots were just a better team. This year, the Colts are just a better team. The Steelers better hope one of these years is their year before Roethlisberger turns into Vinny Testeverde & just becomes a career journey-man.

25. Byron Leftwich- It's a fact, he is the toughest QB I've ever seen. If the Bengals, Broncos, Chargers & Chiefs aren't careful, they're going to find themselves on the outside of the playoffs looking in because the Jaguars powderpuff schedule down the stretch could leave them at 12-4 and with one of the two wildcard spots.

26. Matt Hasselbeck- Repeat after me: I'm in shock that the Seattle Seahawks, of all teams, are going to have homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Only question left to ask, is which team "upsets them" in their first game, the Giants, Redskins, Cowboys, Bears or Falcons?

27. Priest Holmes- If the reports of his impending retirement are true, he'll be missed. Definitely one of the mroe fun guys in the NFL to watch. Lucky for the Chiefs, they won't even miss a step with Larry Johnson back there.

28. Santana Moss- Wow, the whole world knew the Moss-for-Coles deal was onesided, but I don't think anybody thought the Jets were the team that got robbed.

29. Chad Johnson- Like T.O., he's a full of himself arrogant showoff. Like T.O., he's full of talent. Unlike T.O., he's got a job.

30. Thomas Jones- Never been a topflight NFL RB, but he's always gotten the job down. Now he's going to get it done to the tune of a divisional championship, with a rookie who has twice the talent of him sitting on the bench.

31. Brian Westbrook- He got his longterm contract on the same day the Eagles lost their passing game. Let's see if it was worth it, now. Can he carry the Eagles the rest of the season? Because he has to.

32. Marvin Harrison- One of the best WRs of all time, and this February he'll finally get to play in a Super Bowl. Unfortunately for him, #'s 7, 11 & 18, as well as a defense up to the task of stopping this Colts O will see to it that he doesn't get a Super Bowl ring. At least, not this year.