Pick Six: Top Rants From Week 8 of the 2011 NFL Season
With Week 8 of the 2011 NFL season officially in the books, here’s a look at the top six rants from Sunday’s games.
6. The Cincinnati Bengals have pulled off some pretty impressive wins so far this season, but Sunday’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks may have been their best–especially since it came on the road. Even though he threw two interceptions, Andy Dalton played very well once again and the Bengals continue to be one of the biggest surprises of 2011 after improving to 5-2. Still, the real test of whether or not this team has what it takes to be contenders comes in a few weeks when Cincinnati takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.
5. For the second-straight week, the Miami Dolphins appeared to be on the verge of their first win of the 2011 season before losing the game in the fourth quarter to the New York Giants. If the Dolphins played the entire game like the first half, this team would be sitting at 1-6 instead of 0-7 and Tony Sparano’s hot seat would have cooled down a little bit. On the bright side, at least Reggie Bush broke the 100-yard mark for the second time in his career–with the other time coincidentally coming against the Giants back in 2006.
4. If the Baltimore Ravens want to earn the respect from other teams and be seen as one of the top contenders in the AFC, they need to get out of this so-called funk they’ve been in over the last two weeks. It’s one thing to lose on the road against a Jacksonville Jaguars team with an underrated defense, but what almost happened on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals was embarrassing for a team with this much talent. There was no excuse for the Ravens to be down 21 points at one point during this game and it should be interesting to see how they perform against the Pittsburgh Steelers next weekend.
3. How does a team like the New Orleans Saints go from beating the Indianapolis Colts 62-7 one week to being embarrassed by the St. Louis Rams the following week? Considering the Rams had scored 27 points over their previous four games heading into Week 8, it was impressive to see them put up 31 points against the Saints on Sunday. And the best part is–Sam Bradford didn’t even play as he continues to recover from his ankle sprain suffered two weeks ago.
2. What took the Philadelphia Eagles so long to play at this high level? The “Dream Team” made Rob Ryan eat his own words with a huge 34-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night to stay close in the NFC East hunt. Not only did the Eagles score on their first six possessions, but the defense finally displayed the type of performance we’ve expected from them all season. It’s hard to believe this was the same Cowboys team that nearly pulled off a huge win against the New England Patriots two weeks ago.
1. Don’t look now–but the Pittsburgh Steelers may be the team to beat in the AFC after an impressive 23-15 win over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Steelers have now won four-straight games and the defense finally looks like their old dominant selves after allowing 20 points or less in seven straight games. If they can contain Tom Brady, Wes Welker, and the rest of the Patriots’ offense, there’s no reason why this team can’t defend their AFC title.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for www.RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for www.RantSports.com.
Be sure to follow Dan on Twitter @DanParzych
Email Dan: [email protected]
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