Well I have the feeling that Pagano is out after the end of the season. They have a game that they should win this week vs the Saints, just because the Saints Defense is just trash. The colts don't have to play very well to win that Division though, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The only game I have my eye on this week is the Steelers Chiefs game, mainly because the Steelers are the only competition the Bengals have in the AFC North. I want KC to win so bad, but they won't because their O Line is trash, and Jamaal Charles is out for the year. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they finished last in the AFC West.

The Jets Patriots game is the game of the week to watch. Should be a lot of fun with two teams playing well and big divisional rivals.

Cowboys Giants game is usually fun just because of the history and the rivalry. Neither team playing well but it will probably be an interesting game. Cassel playing for the Cowboys and they might have Dez back in a week or two....interesting.

Philly and the Panthers might be interesting as well. The rest of the weeks slate is sorta underwhelming, but I'm sure some of the games will wind up being more entertaining than initially thought.

Thursday Night Football features the Dolphins at Gilette stadium, and while two weeks ago looked like this game would be a disaster, it looks like interim coach Dan Cambell has the team believing what he's selling, as he's one of only a handful of interim coaches in the last decade and a half to win his first two games in his tenure. Will the result fare differently? New England still looks like they have this game in the bag, but division rivalries and a revitalized Dolphins team after two emphatic drubbings after Philbin's firing can play a big role in the flow of this game. The Dolphins have had a history of being able to mess with Brady and keep themselves in the game due to their strong defense, and now that the pass rush has finally shown up, who knows where this game can go?

Do you think the Dolphins have a chance to make this upset happen? Or do you still believe that this is going to be yet another clear-as-diamond showing of pure dominance in the AFC East from the Patriots? Thoughts?

Line: New England -7.5

Over/Under: 51.0

I don't think anyone really thought the dolphins had a chance in that game. Sure they had played decent the last two games since Philbin got fired, but they also played two mediocre (at best) teams. The end outcome of the game was pretty much what I was expecting.

Again, I would like to state how much I HATE the Thursday night games. They are always so one sided, sloppy/etc. Just horrible football really.

Well, sounds like my Bengals will be facing a Steelers team with Ben Rothlisberger in the lineup. Fortunately for the Bengals, it sounds like they will also be getting a key player back from injury, Vontaze Burfict looks like he'll be back in the lineup for the Bengals. From what I've heard, it sounds like he'll see limited snaps, but the fact that he's back is excellent news for the Bengals defense.

Well the Steelers came out in their ugly Bumblebee unis today and then had one of their best players, and probably the biggest key to their season - Leveon Bell go down with a knee injury. (Looked pretty bad. I'm almost positive he will miss the rest of the season) Fantasy owners that held on to him through his early suspension and drafted him fairly high, only to see him play a handful of games are probably pretty upset.

The Steelers looked like they had a good chance to win that game but let the game go away through their hands. Bengals looked sloppy at times with a bunch of penalties, but a win's a win. 7-0 is looking pretty good right now. With Bell now prob out for the season, the division looks like it's theirs. Now their sites should be set on the #1 overall seed.

Can't believe the ending of that Giants Saints game. Was sad it didn't go into OT. Was crazy scoring and zero defense being played but both teams were trading blows like prize fighters lol.

The Browns came out well early in this game, but really fell apart late. Many injuries on defense for the Browns contributed to Palmer picking them apart in the 2nd half..

How bad have the Falcons looked the past few weeks? Winston schooling them and the Falcons just can't hold onto the dang ball. Couldn't believe Lovies decision with a min left in the 4th up 7 on the road going for it on 4th down on their own 20 and basically giving the Falcons an easy possession to tie up the game. Give Winston credit though he bailed out his coach in OT and led them on a nice drive that led to 3 points. The defense had a good game too. Big win on the road.

My Bears defense let them down again. Losing Forte hurt too. Bears probably would have converted that 3rd down late that Langford dropped if Forte was in instead. Was an easy catch right off his hands.

Jordanv78 : You can probably imagine how upset I was when they kept on having penalties that got them out of field goal range and the interception in the endzone Dalton threw, but I still had faith in the Bengals.The main reason I had faith was because of what they did back in the Seahawks game when they overcame a 17 point deficit. They did that, so why couldn't they beat the Steelers? I'm glad that the Bengals D was able to intercept Big Ben twice in the 4th quarter and do enough on offense to prevent the Steelers from coming back. The Bengals D is way better than what their current ranking says they are.

I figure that it was a huge hit to the Steelers game plan and really, Psyche that L. Bell went down earlier in that game. From there it was both teams kinda trading mistakes. But like I said before, a win is a win especially when you are playing a division opponent. Those games always seem to be close and sloppy.

Jordanv78 : For how bad that game was, I was expecting at least a slight chance. But as much as I like to defend Tannehill, Miami's shoddy offensive performance is all his fault, exemplified by a miscue that resulted in a safety. Even though that only made the score 9-0, you could quickly tell that this game was going to go nowhere. Might as well have gift-wrapped the victory right there.

I realize that Tannehill is not the best quarterback, but that was a lousy, LOUSY performance. The Dolphins offense should, in theory, be fairly simple: give the ball to the tons of playmakers that the Dolphins have spent good money on, and let them make plays. But that just hasn't been happening lately. And I'm not talking of those one-hit-wonder plays where a five yard pass suddenly turns into a 50+ yard touchdown. I'm talking about even making that five yard pass, with potentially a little extra, consistently.

I'm happy that the run is coming back, but there has to be some additional help. While running is better than only passing the ball on drives, there has to be more to it than that. One extreme is no better than the other; a one-dimensional team is still one-dimensional, regardless of which dimension they're using, so to speak.

Also, to clarify, I wasn't expecting the Dolphins to win against the Pats.

But I also wasn't expecting what happened. I was expecting something slightly resembling a close game. Obviously, I didn't get that, and I realize I was probably shooting for the stars, but with our season pretty much as a bust, I might as well hope to ruin someone else's day.

WOOHOO! My Bengals are 8-0, and Andy Dalton went 21 of 27 for 234 yards and 3 TD's, all of which were caught by Tyler Eifert. I'm so glad that Andy was able to put up a super impressive primetime game, and get the doubters to shut up (for now anyways). Also, Eifert now leads the NFL in TD catches this season with 9. I knew this was going to be his breakout season, but I didn't expect him to already have this many TD's. Then again, I wasn't expecting an 8-0 start either.

Well I'm still not bought completely into the Bengals yet. Although they do have a nicely balanced team a good line and some nice offensive weapons, I still don't really believe in them to go anywhere when the games start to matter.

Why do you ask? Strength of their schedule. Actually it's pretty bad if you look at the numbers.

Here's the teams they've played so far.

Raiders
Chargers
Ravens
KC
Seahawks
Bills
Steelers
Browns

Combined record for these teams? 24-39 - Ouch.

Only 3 of these teams have a .500 record or above (The 4-3 raiders being the only one ABOVE 500) the other 5 teams are closer to the bottom dwellers of the league rather than legit contenders in the AFC. I know you can only play who's on your schedule, but that's not an 8-0 that has me really taking notice of them in any way. Really, the rest of their schedule is pretty easy as well with only the Cardinals and Broncos road games being tests against possible contenders. How they do in those two teams will say a lot to how they might do in the playoffs. Still though a bye is a bye and home field advantage can help them win a playoff game.

The rest of their schedule is pretty much a mishmash of the same divisional opponents and nothing really that special outside of maybe the Rams solid defense. SO they certainly have a chance of only losing somewhere between 1-3 games total. Unless they take some sort of key injury or something.

Oh, wow. How in the world did I miss posting in this thread so far this year??? I mean, the season is already almost halfway over and I just now noticed this XD

Anyways, here is my take on the season so far...

gamerforlifeforever2 : For one thing, this isn't college football...so don't let ANYONE tell you that you're Bengals are pretenders because of who they played so far. Strength of schedule means NOTHING here. This is the NFL, which means anyone can get beat on any given Sunday ( or Thursday, Monday ). I watch the Bengals almost as closely as my Falcons because they're almost in the same boat. Everyone thinks "Oh yeah, they have a great regular season but they'll falter come playoff time." In my opinion, from what I've seen from the Bengals the past couple of years, this team is different and its because of one player...Andy Dalton. He's had a marvelous year so far, probably the best in his career. And I think they'll win at least one game in the playoffs...maybe even more than one. The Bengals being 8-0 is no joke, they are FOR REAL this time. It sounds to me like Jordan is a...dare I say...hater??? XD

As far as the rest of the AFC, obviously the Broncos dismantling the Packers last week proves they might be for real as well. Everyone's talking about how Peyton Manning has "lost his arm strength." Well, it seems like to me that they don't need it. Their defense has obviously been just awesome so far, and the addition of Vernon Davis is only going to help them on offense. Of the 3 undefeated teams in the AFC ( Bengals, Patriots, Broncos ) it will more than likely be 2 of them in the AFC Championship game. I would love to see the Bengals and Patriots meet...that would be interesting.

The Panthers are the only undefeated team left in the NFC, but that might come to an end when they meet the Packers on Sunday. Obviously, I'll be rooting for the Packers in this one to give my Falcons a chance to close the gap in the lead for the division. But honestly, Carolina is NOT the team I'm worried about in the division. I'm more worried about the Saints. Drew Brees was having one of his worst years statistically going into that Giants game, and he turned it around BIG TIME. The Saints are always tough to beat when Brees is on a roll. I think Carolina slows down a little bit with a loss to Green Bay, and the Saints win their next game against Tennessee to have 3 winning teams in the division. After the year this division had last year with the Panthers record of 7-8-1, we might see 3 playoff teams come from this division alone in the NFC. If Minnesota starts losing and the Saints start winning, that could very well be a possibility. Ultimately, I think it will be Green Bay and one of those teams in the NFC South ( Falcons, Panthers, Saints ) in the NFC Championship.

But the bottom line is ANYTHING can still happen since we're not even halfway through an already very exciting season. As fans, we have the pleasure of sitting back and watching it unfold.

I couldn't disagree more. Who would you rather your favorite team play this week? Some of the worst teams in the league or the Patriots? I think you already know the answer to that question.

Sure anyone can win in any week, but honestly when you are talking about teams that are far closer to the worst in the league than the best, that matters. Saying that I doubt the Bengals can go to the super bowl at this point of the season isn't far fetched when you realize the fact that they haven't played anyone good. Tempering my enthusiasm on them until I see how they fare against winning contending teams is perfectly reasonable. There's still a lot of season left here and I still don't believe that the Bengals would even make it to the AFC title game at this point.

Trust me, I to watch plenty of the NFL every week. I have Sunday Ticket and watch Redzone channel on one of my other monitors so I basically watch almost every game every Sunday. I'm not saying the Bengals aren't good, I'm just not saying that they are as good as an 8-0 record would have you believe.

Well, I was really rooting for the Giants to beat the Patriots, but as I thought, they couldn't hang on... It was a great game though. That and the Lions beating the Packers were definitely worth watching. Speaking of which, what was up with the Packers offense? They were terrible all day until the very end. Also, how did Matt Prater miss 2 extra points!? He's lucky they held on to win, that's for sure.

One more thing, HOW DOES A TEAM LET THE REDSKINS PUT UP 47 POINTS!? The answer of course is because they were going up against the Saints. They literally have no defense, which makes the Saints offense have to put up like 50 points just to have a chance to win. It's absolutely pathetic. I don't get why those idiots still have Rob Ryan as their defensive coordinator? They should've fired him last year. Maybe they'll actually use their brains now and get rid of him.

There's certainly a lot of bad football being played in the NFL this year. I mean the fact that teams like my Bears still have an outside change of making the playoffs is proof of that.

Packers offense has been stuck in neutral for awhile now. Lost 3 games in a row. Certainly makes the next 2 weeks pretty important to them with back to back games against division opponents in the Vikings and Bears.

The ending to that Pats Giants game was pretty interesting. Seems like the Pats got the benefit of the call bigtime. Honestly I figured the Giants would get blown out. The pats need to worry more about the health of Edelman. They have to be crossing their fingers that he's not out multiple weeks. With already losing Lewis for the season they can't afford to lose Edelman.

Well, today couldn't have gone any better for my Bengals as far as the AFC North race goes. The Bengals beat up the Rams 31-7, and the Steelers lost to Seattle 39-30. They have a 3 game lead over the Steelers now. The one thing that's got me concerned right now is the cornerback injuries. Darqueze Dennard is out for the year, and I could tell Adam Jones wasn't 100%. The secondary still managed to pick off Nick Foles 3 times though, and Free Safety Reggie Nelson now leads the league in INT's at 6. So now they not only have the league leader in TD receptions in Tyler Eifert, but they also have the leader in INTs, Reggie Nelson.

Wow, what an insane few weeks it's been in the NFL...

I just want to cap a few points that I've started to notice, since I have the chance:

1. Bengals roar back after a sudden two-game skid.

I believe that plenty of people saw it as inevitable that Dalton's potential for inconsistency would eventually produce a loss for Cincinnati. And while the Texans have had a history of being trouble to them, I don't think I'm the only one who had not expected Houston to be that first loss. And then for them to drop yet another game (by no means due to Dalton's play) was even more surprising.

After the 8-0 start, a two-game losing streak was the last thing I expected.

However, today they once again get another win to be 9-2, still in a great position for the playoffs, especially with 3 of their last 5 games being very winnable (Browns, 49ers, and Ravens; these three teams have a combined record of 8-23 at this point).

At this point, though, this last stretch is less about getting to the playoffs (which has surely been near guaranteed at this point, anyhow), and more about maintaining their position, which they can solidify in their penultimate regular-season game against the Broncos. If they can win out, they'll be in a very solid position.

2. Panthers remain unbeaten; Patriots look to join them leading 21-7 in the fourth.

And the two unbeaten titans continue to look like the two best teams in the nation.

Although New England is still pending the result of the ongoing game against the Broncos, they have been looking plenty worthy of their undefeated status thus far, even with their injuries.

And I don't believe I have to say much of the Panthers, but I will anyway. Their defense has continuously shown up to play, and Cam Newton is starting to look like the face of the team. His overall tremendous play this season has given Carolina the biggest thing they have lacked: consistent and powerful offense. This team no longer has to rely on its defense to win ball games. Even when the defense may falter, the offense has shown that they can keep up.

I'm looking forward to the game against these two coming up; it's sure to be a good one.

3. The race for the AFC South continues! Yes, you read that right.

To those of you who don't know, the Colts are not guaranteed this season to win their division.

After the Texans have found new life and won four straight, they are suddenly tied with the Colts at 6-5 to stay in the running for fist place in their division, after an abysmal 2-5 start that looked to be an omen to a shamble of a season.

While the Colts have won the first game already against the Texans, this is not the same team that it was in even the fifth game of the season. It's very possible that the Texans may take this second game late in the season if they continue to keep it together. But for now, they must look at what's right in front of them, and that's a game in Buffalo against the Bills.

I'm not expecting the Texans to win out. But even if their only loss is against the Patriots (the rest of the last five looking quite winnable for them), it's very likely they could take first in the division. Colts fans, watch out.

4. Fins up. Fins down.

Inconsistency continues to make Miami's season a complete wreck.

Today's game also solidified what had already been rather established: the Dolphins are the doormat and laughingstock of the AFC East. And this comes after Tannehill's standout 2014 season, where he looked like one of the higher-end quarterbacks in the NFL. He wasn't perfect then, but this season has been one disaster after another with him.

The offense continues to struggle in the hands of Tannehill, and I can no longer defend his mistakes. He has to make adjustments, and make them fast, if he wants to be seen as anything beyond mediocre, especially since he's probably staying with this team for another few years with the contract he was given. While the sham of an offensive line and a running game don't help him out, he has to step up.

The only cause for hope comes in the defense having been able to keep some of these games close. However, they keep allowing the game to get away from them before they even have a chance to score. Now with the Dolphins at 4-7, with the 0-5 record against its own division (and its sole game remaining being against the Patriots), fans are surely begging for this painfully long season to end, so they can look forward to the 2016 season.

To be honest, I still don't expect much from the Bengals and the last few weeks haven't really made me any more confident in their play. Especially with the way that their defense is so banged up.

St. Louis is a train wreck, and honestly that was a pretty easy win to predict. Especially throwing more than 40 times with Foles, who the only reason why he was playing was because of the Concussion to Keenum.

The fact that the Bengals lost to TJ yates (who had been with the team less than 2 weeks at the time of his start) and the Texans was a pretty big shock to those that were trying to say the Bengals were the class of the league. To be honest I would still be surprised if they made it to the AFC title game. I just don't think they have the consistency on either side of the ball to beat the better teams in the NFL.

I also would be somewhat concerned about the status of Eifert and his "Stinger" he suffered in yesterdays game. He struggled with that in his rookie season and was a lot less effective after that. Hopefully this one isn't as bad and he can still play at a high level because having him in the red zone opens everything up for that offense.

That being said, the AFC might be up for grabs if Gronk is out for any length of time for the Pats, and maybe even more importantly for them and their defense. Hightower. The Pats have lost almost all of their best playmakers in the past 4-5 weeks (aside from Brady) Gonna be tough for them to make the title with all those pieces missing.

KC is starting to make people notice, with their 5 game winning streak after going 1-6. Still on the fence about them. Maybe if Charles was still playing for them, I would have more faith.

Make no mistake about the Panthers. That team lives and dies by it's defense. No doubt. But Cam Newton has shown that he can be huge, even with limited weapons. Their type of game only translates better to when the weather starts to turn so they are in great shape. They look to be heads and shoulders the class of the NFC with Cam close to Brady as the MVP of the league.

As far as the Dolphins are concerned, their defense has been TERRIBLE all year. So I'm not sure what SWTerra is looking at. They rank near the bottom of the league in total Yards given up per game, Points given up per game, Passing yards given up per game and are 2nd WORST IN THE ENTIRE LEAUGE in rushing yards given up per game (the Browns are only a couple decimal points higher)

Considering the money they gave to Suh and others to shore up that defense, I would say the rebuild is a TOTAL failure. Although Tannehill has been inconsistent, that's not all his fault. The back to back weeks with a bad snap that lead to safeties, the unbalanced play calling where the run game was totally non-existent prior to the coach being fired, and a poor line has contributed to his inconsistent play. I would like to point out that Pro Football focus has the Dolphins line rated as 3rd worst in the league. Is Tannehill a franchise QB? Probably not, but I figure Dolphins fans should give him another year to see how he rebounds as this season was lost for them by week 5.

The AFC south is a Joke really. The Texans, I wouldn't get too excited about. Honestly a team with no running game and Hoyer at QB is bound to lose some of these road games down the stretch. Considering 3 of their next 5 are road games, and the fact that 3 of the last 5 games are on the road and another 3 of those last 5 being division games, it's silly to think they will win out. Especially with little to no running game to speak of.

The Colts have a little softer of a schedule to end the season and Hasselbeck has been playing a decent game manager role with a balanced rushing attack. I guess it all depends on if their defense can keep playing solid. Really though, this whole division is a train wreck.

In response to the point about Miami's defense:

To be fair, all I said is that their defense has kept SOME games close. Emphasis on SOME here. And to be fair, it's, um, decent.

Or, at least, it's certainly decent in comparison to, oh, I don't know, the rest of the team.

While you are right about the entire team and staff contributing to the offense's anemic state, I still have to start placing responsibility on Tannehill. I've defended him with those same points this entire season thus far, but enough is enough. While this is a shamble of a team, someone has to show some more leadership within the players, and I think Tannehill should at least assist with that much. And while I realize Landry has continued to try hard, and surely will for these last five games, helping to set some sort of example for everyone, I don't believe the rest of the team is following suit, and that includes Tannehill.

I have not given up on Tannehill. But I must admit that he takes some of this blame, as well.

They've just fired Bill Lazor today, although that's no surprise. It's time to see who's in and who's out, and no one is safe from being relieved of their duties. These five games will determine a lot for who's sticking around in the off-season. I have a feeling it's not many. But then again, how much do they still have in them after two off-seasons of heavy pay?

I'm looking with skeptical hope that they'll somehow clean up this massive mess of a team that, at times, has looked to be trying to become the worst team in the NFL.

And I'm sorry for talking consistently in extremes when talking about them. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a Dolphins fan. Yay for me, I guess...