Crazy grades the first quarter of the NFL Season

We just finished Week 5 of the NFL season, and that means every team has played 4 games... so let's take a look around the league to look at the winners, losers, and surprises in the early part of the 2009 NFL season.

AFC EAST:
Winners: The Jets taking a young rookie quarterback and winning their first three games was pretty amazing. Perhaps even better is how completely the entire team has bought into the brash bravado of Rex Ryan. If there was anyone on the team that didn't buy into his hiring before, they seem to all be on board now. And even having lost to the Dolphins Monday night, any Jets fan would take being atop the division even if it did mean only 3-2.
Losers: After a tough loss to the Patriots in week 1, and then crushing Tampa Bay in week 2, the Buffalo Bills have looked awful of late. I actually had some higher hopes for the Bills, thinking Lee Evans and TO would actually be able to work well together to move the offense, and I also thought the defense was improving. But the loss to Cleveland (who I think is one of the worst teams in the league) solidifies how pathetic they are right now.
Surprise: The biggest 'surprise' to me is the Patriots being 3-2 at this point. This is not anything Pats fans have to worry about. New England will be fine-Brady will eventually be Brady again, they'll put up points, they'll play good defense-they'll be fine. Keep in mind that the Patriots being on your schedule is STILL one of those 'circle' games (games that other teams circle before the season as a big game), and their two losses this season have been very emotional games for both of the winning teams (NY Jets and Denver). So, while a 3-2 record for the Patriots is surprising, I don't think it's indicative of who they are as a team.

NFC EAST:
Winners: Clearly, the New York Giants are the class of the NFC. I almost wanted to put them into the surprise category because the receiving corps has really surprised and impressed me. Steve Smith and Mario Manningham are playing very well with 57 receptions and 7 touchdowns between the two. It seems the only question for the Giants going into the season has found two answers.
Losers: Even though they are sitting at 2-3, I think the Washington Redskins have looked pretty awful so far this season. Jason Campbell is still in limbo between solid NFL starter and permanent backup quarterback. This team has too much talent to not play better than they do.
Surprise: The biggest surprise of the young season in the NFC East is that the Eagles offense didn't really miss a beat when All-Pro quarterback Donovan McNabb was out for a couple of weeks with a rib injury. Is the fact that the offense could still be so effective an endorsement of Kevin Kolb, or is it an indication of how potent the Eagles offense has now become? Regardless, the Eagles are rolling over teams right now.

AFC NORTH:
Winners: I think any team that can claim wins against the Steelers and the Ravens is the winner so far in this division: that team is the Cincinnati Bengals. Palmer is returning to form and a defense which has been suspect in recent seasons has solidified... the emergence of Antwan Odam as a legitimate pass rusher (8 sacks so far) has helped the front seven and the secondary has been aided by the acquisition of Roy Williams. All a lot of teams need to learn how to win those close games, and with three of their victories by 3 points a piece, it seems the Bengals have finally figured out how to win.
Losers: The Cleveland Browns are terrible.
Surprise: When I sat in Lambeau field and watched the Cincinnati Bengals dismantle my Packers, I thought it was just the ineptitude of my Packers. But the win this week against the Ravens, and their spot at the top of the AFC North, shows that this team is for real. Cedric Benson looks well on his way to winning Comeback-Player-of-The-Year... as he has more yards at this point in the season than Adrian Peterson.

NFC NORTH:
Winners: While most people thought they would be good, I don't think anyone had the Minnesota Vikings at 5-0 through five games. And, if they did, I bet they thought Adrian Peterson would have way more than 481 yards and Favre would have less than 1,000. But Favre, for yet another time in his career, has turned a crappy receiving corps into a serviceable one. The defense is again proving how good it is... this team seems to have no major flaws.
Losers: As much as it pains me to say this, the most pathetic showing in the NFC North so far this season has been my Green Bay Packers. A 'pressure' defense that can't get pressure? A bunch of deep-threat receivers who can't go deep because the quarterback is too busy getting killed? The Packers have looked pathetic on offense, and have been fortunate enough to create some turnovers on defense. Where is the team that destroyed its preseason opponents? All I know is that Mark Tauscher better be ready to play, because that offensive line has been... (wait for it)... OFFENSIVE!
Surprise: Despite having no wide receivers to speak of, and losing their All-Pro middle linebacker for the season, the Chicago Bears are sitting at 3-1. Jay Cutler may be one of those special quarterbacks who can make terrible wide receivers into pro-bowlers. Or maybe not. Regardless, he has this team believing in him and the Bears look like they're gaining momentum as the season has progressed.

AFC SOUTH:
Winners: Clearly the Colts are the best in the AFC South. Peyton Manning is playing out of his mind right now and Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie are playing very well for the injured Anthony Gonzalez and the cut Marvin Harrison. Unless the rest of the league figures out a way to slow Manning down, the Colts are going to compile a lot of victories this season.
Losers: While this is also one of the bigger surprises in the league, the Tennessee Titans being 0-5 at this point in the season completely astounds. I can understand but can't entirely agree with the outcry for Vince Young... whether or not I feel he's a good quarterback is irrelevant--being 0-5 with a 36 year old starting quarterback, it's probably time for the Titans to see what the future holds in VY.
Surprise: While I could see the Titans being here, I'm going to say that the continued mediocrity of the Houston Texans is my big surprise here. The Texans have all the pieces: a good quarterback, an amazing Wide Receiver in Andre Johnson, a good running game, an emerging defensive line (thanks to Mario Williams), fantastic young linebackers like Brian Cushing and DeMeco Ryans... but here they are again at 2-3 staring another 8-8 season in the face. We all keep waiting for the Texans to get over the hump, but it doesn't look like this is the season either.

NFC SOUTH:
Winners: The New Orleans Saints are looking great so far this season. Drew Brees continues to defy all logic for the size of an effective NFL Quarterback and challenges passing records. I can say I certainly didn't see this coming, I haven't watched much of the Saints so far this season, so I have no idea how good they are or can be.
Losers: While I will admit, the Tampa Bay Bucs being 0-5 is pretty bad, but the Carolina Panthers have WAY more talent than the Bucs, yet are 1-3. Perhaps the worst off season move was the extension of Jake Delhomme... who looked absolutely awful against Arizona last season in the playoffs. I thought at the time that he was done in Carolina, but, instead they extended his contract and didn't bring anyone in to challenge him. This would be an "I told you so" moment, had I actually committed what I was thinking at the time down to paper. Or told anyone who I could now gloat to.
Surprise: Honestly I'm surprised by both the Saints being this good, and the Panthers being this bad. Can't anyone, for the love of God, win this division two years in a row? What is it about the NFC South that dictates a good team one year should be a terrible team the next?

AFC WEST:
Winners: With a 5-0 record, the Broncos are definitely the winner so far in the AFC West. That defense which was a complete sieve last season has sured themselves this season, allowing only 26 points through the first 4 games. And after watching the Denver/NE game, I think that Knowshon Morano is much better than advertised. I was very impressed by his vision and power. And Brandon Marshall is one of the most talented young receivers I've seen in a very long time.
Losers: Both the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs are awful. They are horrible teams.
Surprise: While I almost want to put the Chargers being a mediocre 2-2 here, the surprise in the AFC West is without a doubt the 5-0 Denver Broncos. While I, myself, figured they'd go 3-0 (just look at the schedule), I had them at 3-2 at this point. And did anyone think the Brandon Marshall situation would end in anything but disaster? Is Josh McDaniels a genius? or have they been lucky? What the hell is the "wild horses"? I guess the rest of the season will tell us.

NFC WEST:
Winners: The San Francisco Pants Droppers are playing very well, despite only a 3-2 record. Patrick Willis may be the next great linebacker and Frank Gore's talent cannot be denied. It'd be nice if he didn't get injured so much, but Gore is a beast. Even though they might be the best in the NFC West, they got absolutely destroyed by Atlanta this weekend. What happened there? Perhaps this is only a good team compared to the rest in the division?
Losers: Anyone who roots for a team in the NFC West.
Surprise: The defending NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals are 2-3 and have, so far, not looked very good. I thought, after last year's playoffs, that Larry Fitzgerald was ready to be THE best wide receiver in the league... but so-far he has disappointed, ranking third on the team in receptions. Where is the explosive offense and the ball-hawking defense we saw in the post-season last year? I don't count them out yet, as they really made their push last season near the end, but I thought the momentum gained by almost winning the Super Bowl would have carried over a bit more.

C'est La Vie say the old folks...

The beauty of the baseball playoffs, especially the first round, comes in their brevity.

Take the series sweeps we just saw. Two were beyond shocking, the other, totally predictable, if slightly frustrating to watch.

The Dodgers, a team that for eight days couldn't get the single win it needed to finally put its division to bed, managed to defeat two of the best three starting pitchers in the National League in two days, while sending out major question marks from their own rotation. Meanwhile, the best hitter on the planet, Albert Pujols, is made to look like Nick Punto for three games, and Matt Holliday, a man who's about to make $120 million this winter, gets to live on in the nightmares of every Cardinal fan for years to come. St. Louis was the best team in the National League in the second half, and the margin was not close. Yet the Dodgers, the best team of the first half, crushed them.

The Angels have been the wholly owned property of the Red Sox since the tragedy of Donnie Moore in '86. They were blitzed in 04, 07, and again last year. To be frank, I expected them to win a game, perhaps two, in this series. What I didn't count on was Jared Weaver beating the best postseason starter of his generation, then the Sox wasting a most unexpected effort from Clay Buckholz, and having a pitcher who hadn't given up a postseason run in his career give up three, all with two outs. Five consecutive Angels reached base after the second out off of Papelbon, who may well have pitched his last game as a Red Sock.

Perhaps it's fitting then, that the Yankees beat the Twins in the way they always do. Doing everything "the right way," is great, until you run into folks who do the same thing, and have more talent than you do. The series really was the proverbial knife to a gunfight scenario. The Yankees flicked their wrists to send balls out, the Twins had to scrape and scrape. The minute Punto ran through the stop signal, the series was over. I'll admit, I didn't quite know who to root for, but frankly, game three was a no lose situation. Either the Yanks would lose or that G-d-forsaken building, with it's funny hops and baseball colored roof, can finally be simply an unpleasant memory.