Some Thoughts on the National Football League Season Currently Underway

There is plenty to consider this Friday morning -- a breakthrough on Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU is rumored; the Saudi-UAE-U.S.-led offensive against Hodeidah is approaching a tipping point; peace talks between the U.S. and North Korea have been postponed -- but I want to unburden myself in regards to the National Football League.

We're currently in week ten of a 17 week regular season, which is followed by another month of playoffs, capped by the U.S. religious national holiday, the Super Bowl.

At an earlier time I used to post regularly on the National Football League. So far this season, I've done only one. It had to do with the season opener and the continuing panic over the ratings drop.

There is some evidence from the beginning of the season that the loss of viewers has ceased. The reason being given is an increase in high-scoring, competitive games.

I think that's a fair assessment. The problem is, I'd say, is that the games over the last month-plus, while still high scoring, have not been competitive. Take last night's game in Pittsburgh. The Steelers routed the Panthers in a blowout. From early in the second quarter the outcome was never really in doubt.

It's a problem for the league if two of the marquee teams can't provide engaging entertainment.

Another example: Last Sunday night's ballyhooed match-up between Brady and Rodgers, Patriots vs. Packers. It was basically a nothing burger. Brady is still Brady, maybe a notch or two below what he was in his prime, but Rodgers is clearly not the player he once was. His game is based on mobility and peak athleticism. He's suffered too many injuries; and now that he's in his mid-30s, his powers of rejuvenation are greatly diminished. It's a problem for the league because Aaron Rodgers is its commercial exemplar.

There are other problems too: the horrendous quality of the Oakland Raiders and the disappearance of Marshawn Lynch; the poor start of the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles; the horrendous quality of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Bright spots are the rise of the Los Angeles Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs and their prolific offenses.

We'll have to take a look at the ratings after the Thanksgiving holiday. We very well could see a return to last year's poor numbers.

NFL Week 10 + NFL Week 11: Run to the Super Bowl Begins Now

We have arrived at that point of the NFL season, NFL Week 11, where the match-ups assume a measure of urgency absent in prior weeks. A team that can start a run now can ride it all the way to the Super Bowl.

So NFL Week 10 was a dividing line of sorts. Parity is the watchword. The one team, the Arizona Cardinals, that, based on won-loss record stands atop the heap, was brought back to the scrum with Carson Palmer's season-ending knee injury.

This Sunday we'll get to test the viability of the Cardinals as a force in the playoffs when backup Drew Stanton takes on the Lions. I've seen two Detroit games in the last three weeks: the NFL Week 8 last-second squeaker in London against the Falcons and last week's last-second squeaker against the Dolphins. Both wins the Lions came from behind.

Needless to say Detroit is a team that lives by the pass. Matthew Stafford to Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate is powerful medicine. But the Lions also have a virile ground game. And I'm not talking here of Reggie Bush. Bush seems to be entering that phase of his career where he is constantly sidelined with injuries. I'm speaking here of Joique Bell. At times in the game against Miami I thought I was looking at Marshawn Lynch. Bell doesn't have the moves, the glide or the tenacity of Beast Mode but he has power.

Detroit has a defensive line that is truly formidable. Couple that with an improved secondary and an overall professional deportment brought along with Jim Caldwell when he replaced the buffoonish Jim Schwartz, and I don't think the Lions can be ruled out as top dog in the NFC. First, let's see if they can beat the Cardinals in the desert.

Before all is said and done though I think we might have to start acknowledging Green Bay as the best team in the NFC (meaning that Peter King might have been on the money after all when he selected the Pack to go all the way). Their Sunday night humiliation of Chicago showed the nation not only how bad the Bears are but also how good the Aaron Rodgers-led Green Bay offense is.

In the end it is going to come down to the Packers D. Chris Collinsworth, the NBC analyst, could not stop raving about the move of Clay Matthews to inside linebacker. He played well. It is an excellent defense. Julius Peppers, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Sam Shields are all topnotch.

The Eagles should be an interesting match-up. Mark Sanchez can't throw deep like Nick Foles, but LeSean McCoy is showing some of his league-leading moves from last year.

But before we sign off, a word about the defending champion Seahawks. Brandon Mebane's loss for the season is enormous. Kam Chancellor continues to struggle with his hip injury. Bobby Wagner is still out with turf toe. The entire defense seems as if it is banged up. Brock Coyle, Malcolm Smith. We'll see how they hold up in Kansas City. Judging by what the Chiefs did to the Patriots at Arrowhead, things are not looking good for Seattle. The Vegas line began the week with the Seahawks as a one-point favorite. I think Kansas City should be the favorite.

The only way that Seattle wins this game is if Russell Wilson is hot and Marshawn Lynch, who has been nursing a calf, is productive. The Chiefs have been playing well; their beat-down on the Chargers several weeks ago sent San Diego into a tailspin.

We'll see Sunday. I just hope Darrell Bevell keeps the read-option as the mainstay of the offense.