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As week 7 dawns in the NFL, several teams have already separated themselves from the pack and lead the charge towards the playoffs. Of course there are also teams who amazingly stink up the joint. Obviously the teams off to a fast start have a very good chance to make the playoffs whereas their dubious counterparts starting off 0-6 or even 1-5 will be hard pressed to attain a .500 record much less even dare to dream of crashing the big dance.

What about the rest of the league? The teams in the middle of the pack who could pull an Arizona Cardinal circa 2008/2009 and catch fire at the right time despite a mediocre regular season? In this perpetual age of NFL parity and free agency, we’ve quickly learned it’s hard to sustain a dynasty and the fact remains that it’s not how you start but how you finish. The 2008 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants can attest to as such. In that same grain, the 18-0 New England Patriots of that same season can make their case that despite a fast and unprecedented unbeaten year in football, by the time they played the Super Bowl, they simply ran out of gas and/or just ran into a buzz saw that was the Giant’s pass rush and overall hunger from the whole team despite what many may call luck (see David Tyree).

Case in point, we can expect good things from the Indianapolis Colts, the Denver Broncos, the Minnesota Vikings, and the New Orleans Saints. Nevertheless if history has taught us anything, being undefeated in September/October pales in comparison to being undefeated in December/January. Take it from a tortured Cowboys fan of recent late collapses, you want your favorite team to have a winning record in December.

As long as the aforementioned fantastic four keep their torrid pace in the win columns, we will see them succeed deep into January. However don’t be surprised if 3 out of 4 fizzle and either miss the playoffs completely or back their way in only to lose in the first round. One good example is Brett Favre’s New York Jets from last season who were at one point 8-3, only to find themselves gone fishing once the 2nd season started. Minnesota fans everywhere just cringed at that last statement, but the staunch defense and Peterson’s legs can assure a different ending if both stay healthy. Which brings me to my point brought up in a previous article; that is as long as the Viking’s brass is keeping Favre fresh by limiting his practices during the week, then backup QB Tavaris Jackson better be taking all the advantage with his extra reps and mentally prepare himself to be available at a moment’s notice because Mr. Ironman is suddenly a liability in light of his AARP status and the glaring memory etched in Jets fans everywhere when Favre had an arm injury late in the season that led to more INTs than TDs.

A few teams to watch as we are approaching mid-season are the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, and the Dallas Cowboys. I would stick the New York Jets in that short list seeing as they have a great defense, but Mark Sanchez who will be a great quarterback, is going to go through his rookie pangs and their success will hinge on protecting while developing him instead of relying on him to win games for them.

Strange as it sounds, the defending champion Steelers are flying a bit under the radar thanks to tough losses to the Chicago Bears and bitter divisional rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals. The loss of all-world safety Troy “head and shoulders” Polamalu makes things harder, but they seem to have weathered the storm just fine as Polamalu readies to return to the lineup. His absence cannot be overstated enough as the range he is capable of in the secondary coupled with his tenacious run support ties the whole defense together. Offensively, Pittsburgh is a passing team as evidenced by Ben Roethlisberger’s lofty career pace pass yardage. They won’t admit it to you just yet even with their traditional commitment to the running game. Even with 2nd year RB Rashard Mendenhall’s emergence ahead of incumbent Willie Parker, expect the Steelers to try to balance their ground game in as cold weather hits, but I would think riding the hot hand of Roethlisberger would serve them best as it’s worked well thus far.

Nothing more could be said more for the Ravens other than that if they can mentally recover from three heartbreaking losses in a row, they will be a force to reckon with once the playoffs roll around. Their D seems to be slipping a bit, as they seem to really miss LB Bart Scott who ran off to New York with his coach, Rex Ryan. However it can still hold its own with Baltimore finally boasting a good offense led by QB Joe Flacco to complement their defense. Again with three straight losses all within a TD or FG, the only thing the Ravens need to work on is to mentally plow on through and string together some wins. They are too talented. The bye week could prove to be helpful or it could actually hurt as they have more time to stew on their recent struggles in the win column.

The Packers are another team who could use a string of wins. Thus far in the season, Green Bay has been wildly inconsistent and it shows as they have 3 wins and 2 losses, waiting for their first consecutive winning weeks. The O-line has been the crux of their struggles, leaving QB Aaron Rodgers picking himself off the ground frequently while the running game has been just below mediocre with little room created by the boys up front. If they can get healthy and play better than their NFL-worst 25 sacks, Green Bay could catch fire and in turn catch their opponents by surprise. The offensive line is the only glaring thing that is holding back this very talented team.

The Dallas Cowboys share Green Bay’s plight as they have also yet to win in consecutive weeks. Many negatives to note are QB Tony Romo’s inconsistency and the bewildering sentiment that he seems to have regressed. Be it a confidence or physical problem, hopefully the bye week or reading another Cowboy alum taking pot shots at him will light a fire. The powerful running game also presents itself as a problem with RBs Marion Barber and Felix Jones cannot stay healthy finding both shuffling in and out of the lineup. The bye week should allow both to return at somewhat full strength for their tilt vs. a strong 4-1 Atlanta Falcons team this Sunday. After a slow start by their defense recording no sacks in the first few games, the Cowboys now “just” need to solve that nagging problem of giving up leads late in the game. In spite of the many negatives, some of the positives to take are that their only losses were to the New York Giants, and the Denver Broncos who have proven to be formidable opponents with only 1 loss between the two. They may not have looked too hot vs. the hopeless Kansas City Chiefs, but yes I will say at least they got the win. Like I mentioned before after seeing so many late collapses, I will welcome September struggles for December dominance any day of the week and 3x over. It remains to be seen if the latter will come to fruition.

Last week: 7-7-0
Year to date: 34-40-0

Green Bay Packers -9 @ Cleveland Browns

San Diego Chargers -5 @ Kansas City Chiefs

Indianapolis Colts @ St. Louis Rams +13

Chicago Bears @ Cincinnati Bengals -1

Minnesota Vikings @ Pittsburgh Steelers -5.5

New England Patriots @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers +14.5

San Francisco 49ers @ Houston Texans -3

New York Jets -6 @ Oakland Raiders

Buffalo Bills @ Carolina Panthers -7

New Orleans Saints @ Miami Dolphins +6.5

Atlanta Falcons @ Dallas Cowboys -4

Arizona Cardinals @ New York Giants -7

Philadelphia Eagles -7 @ Washington Redskins