THOUGHTS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

(1) Eli Manning was the best and worst player in the league on the FIRST TWO DRIVES of the Monday Night Football game. There’s never been a player like him in the league.

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(2) After the first week of the season it became in vogue to question whether Tampa Bay made a mistake selecting Jameis Winston over Marcus Mariota. In the four games since Winston has been undoubtedly the better player and Mariota has shown two features that worried many scouts: inability to absorb contact and lack of ball security. Interestingly enough, nobody has revisited this question in the national media. If Winston wants to know how he’ll be covered an an NFL quarterback, he should just call Cam Newton.

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(3) Is Cincinnati the best team in football right now? New England and Green Bay are not good defensively. Carolina and Denver are not good offensively. Cincy does everything well. They’ll still lose in the playoffs but they may be losing that game in the division round instead of wild card weekend.

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(4) You know what the worst development of the NFL season has been? The games stink.

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(5) I don’t care what the stats say. Brandon Marshall has been the best wide receiver in football this year. He’s transformed the New York Jets offense.

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(6) I don’t hide the fact that I’m not a Russell Wilson fan. But considering he has no offensive line and gets hit more than any quarterback in the league, this has actually been his most impressive season.

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(7) Simply didn’t see this kind of regular season coming out of Andy Reid. Reid’s MO has been building a solid roster and wasting it with postseason game mismanagement. It has NOT been losing ugly every week.

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(8) What happened to all that Teddy Bridgewater love? Those preseason performances seem like ten years ago.

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(9) Only one team in the NFL has a losing record and a positive points differential? Any guesses? Seattle is 2-4. They are +9 on the season.

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(10) If the season ended today…

NFC Byes: Packers, Panthers

AFC Byes: Bengals, Broncos (Pats have played one less  game)

NFC Wildcard Match-ups: Vikings at Cardinals, Falcons at Eagles

AFC Wildcard Match-ups: Steelers at Patriots, Jets at Colts