Now that the first half of the NFL season is over, it is clear that this season has been just plain mediocre and has given fans little to cheer about. The blame for this mediocrity rests in the laundry list of injuries plaguing NFL stars.
There is essentially a Pro-Bowl team's worth of injured players this season. The most notable injuries come from the quarterbacks such as the Patriots' Tom Brady, the Colts' Peyton Manning and the Cowboys' Tony Romo. All three of these teams are underperforming, given the lofty expectations they had at the beginning of the season.
Filling in for Brady is backup Matt Cassel, who has kept the Patriots in contention in the AFC East division. However, the Patriots also lost their running back Laurence Maroney and safety Rodney Harrison to injury. Keeping the lead in the AFC East will be no easy task for the Patriots this year.
The Colts' Peyton Manning has played this season but on a hobbled knee. Normally an AFC powerhouse, some wonder whether the Colts will even make the playoffs.
Perhaps the most talented team coming into the 2008 season was the Dallas Cowboys. However, they have been incredibly inconsistent in their play, and they cannot expect to be in the playoffs given the fact that they share a division with the reigning Super Bowl Champion the New York Giants and the surprisingly good Washington Redskins.
Some teams do not have the luxury of blaming their poor play on an injury. As of the season's eighth week, there are three divisions in the NFL that have only one team above or at a .500 winning percentage.
The divisions are the NFC West - lead by the 4-3 Arizona Cardinals, the AFC South - led by the 7-0 Tennessee Titans and the AFC West - led by the 4-3 Denver Broncos. The other three teams in each of those divisions are playing sub-.500 football. Would-be savior Brett Favre has managed to make the New York Jets simply an average football team opposed to a terrible one. Unfortunately, it does not seem as though Brett "The Jet" Favre will march this team into the playoffs.
This year's cellar dwellers who are fighting for the top pick in the upcoming draft are the 0-7 Detroit Lions, the 0-8 Cincinnati Bengals (who have likely lost former Pro-Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer for the season) and the 1-6 Kansas City Chiefs. In this year's NFL season, it takes true talent to distinguish yourself from the middling play of most teams and be seen as a truly hopeless one.
Luckily there is still hope for this season. There are a few diamonds in the rough.
The Tennessee Titans have shocked the league with their great play. The Titans, as of week eight, are 7-0 and are the only undefeated team in the NFL. Filling in for another injured quarterback in Tennessee is former New York Giant Kerry Collins, who took the reins from Vince Young who is out with an injured knee. However, Collins is 35 years old and not the quarterback he used to be.
The other surprise of the first half of the season is the Washington Redskins who are neck and neck with last year's Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants.
So football fans should not get so down at the ho-hum 2008 season; there are still a lot of games to be played, and as sports fans know, anything can happen.
You can reach this columnist at sports@theeagleonline.com
