Brandon Meriweather named AFC Defensive Player of the Week

Brandon Meriweather has received the honor (or is it honour when you play in England?) of being this week's AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Tom has already won Offensive Player of the Week twice this year, but he's just Tom, so we expect that.

Meriweather had a very good game against the Bucs, with two interceptions in the first half, one returned for a TD. He's shown glimpses of this before, but it's nice that it seems to be coming together for him. Also, since he plays in the secondary, this marks a considerable improvement from last season (he's a safety, not a corner, but still, what a change from last year).

What I remember was last season, Belichick turned to him during one of their games and gave him a run-down of what to do. The next play, Meriweather went out and made an interception. It was great, and also great to see that he's continuing this level of play.

Oh, and in case there are any lingering doubts about the overhaul of the D, check out this stat:

Points allowed
3rd (14.0 per game)
Last week: 3rd (15.1 per game)

Bear in mind that the two teams ahead of us, Denver and Indianapolis, have played one less game, and that Indy has the most ridiculous easy schedule, like, EVER (no, I'm not whiny/bitter).

Who was worried about our defense again?

Whoa! Vrabel traded, yet another RB signed, bye-bye to Gaffney

Okay, that was unexpected. Vrabel was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. Wow. Speculation runs rampant by Reiss on this one, but I think that the main train of thought remains, 'Huh?' Most comments range from, 'That was unexpected' to 'Wow, that was really unexpected.' My gut says that this is bad, but as others are also pointing out, we don't know what we got in return yet. So I shall save judgment until that time (unless it is another running back).

Speaking of which, the Patriots signed running back Fred Taylor, formerly of the Jacksonville Jaguars (remember when everyone thought they were going to tear up our D during the 2007 playoffs? One of those guys). This means that we now have, like, 87 running backs. Okay, I exaggerate, but not by a whole lot: LaMont Jordan, Lawrence Maroney, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, and Kevin Faulk. This begs the question of who is going to leave from our side, because I don't know that you need 6 RBs. However, considering how quickly we seem to go through them, maybe you do.

Finally, Jabar Gaffney has gone to the Denver Broncos. Okay, he was the third WR, and he did do his job....but not always.....*coughing* COLTS GAME. So perhaps it is his time to go.

And all of this took place in 1 DAY of free agency. Fun!

Mostly a frustrating day

Said Reiss before the game: "It is cold and wet here at Gillette Stadium. With that in mind, ball security will be something to watch." Wow. Was it ever.

I could talk about interceptions. I could talk about fumbles. I could talk about plays that really, hugely, gigantically cost us. I could talk about how Randy Moss couldn't hold onto the ball.

My main concern overriding most others though is that I hope Wes Welker is okay. Guess we will find that out later this week. Because if not, ARGH!

(I mean, it's already pretty much an ARGH all round, don't get me wrong, but that would be rubbing salt straight into that ARGH).

The knowledge that the Jets lost isn't even cheering me up at this point. To Denver. I guess I need to mention that they lost to Denver. So I guess I've got that going for me.

As you probably expected, Indy pulled off a 10-6 victory against Cleveland with their only score coming from an interception. ARGH! ARGH! ARGH!

How are we doing?

We're entering the last six games of the season (for most) and I wanted to take a look at The Situation. Naturally, my look is only at The Situation in the AFC. Stuff is happening in the NFC, whatever, Giants winning a lot, Arizona comeback QB, Green Bay not dead with Aaron Rogers, Carolina tearing it up, blah blah blah.

Right now, first place by division:

AFC East: New York Jets (7-3)
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3)
AFC South: Tennessee Titans (10-0)
AFC West: Denver Broncos (6-4)

Divisions that cease to hold my interest awfully quickly:

AFC West: The Broncos will, in all likelihood, win this division. However, they have not exactly proven themselves to be a powerhouse this year. Other teams are all below .500.

Divisions where I think the team currently in first has a lock:

AFC South: I seriously doubt that Tennessee will go 0-6 for the last six games. There could (and likely will be) a loss or two, possibly to the Jets (although ???) or, I think more likely, Indy. Just to mess with them.

Divisions that got wicked exciting when no one was looking

AFC East: Right now, the Jets are 7-3, the Pats and Dolphins are 6-4, and the Bills are 5-4, which means that it is technically still anyone's division.

Divisions where I feel confident they shall overcome

AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers. They have not been as strong as of late (and almost lost to San Diego yesterday), but I have confidence that they will pull it off.

Possible wild card teams (in the order that I feel they most deserve):

[As much as I hate to do this] Miami Dolphins: they are on a roll and have a really easy schedule remaining other than their two division games. I feel like New England can probably beat them (if they aren't caught off-guard by the same play 5 times again) and likely the Jets will too. However, other weeks include Kansas City, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Buffalo.

New England Patriots: they need to improve in the red zone and make up for losses to injury on the defense and if they play the Jets again, stop #81. That being said, they are a pretty competitive team and two of their four losses were very close (and against the Jets and Indy. And we really should have had that damned Jets game even though we played like poo in the first half). However, there are still some tough games remaining, including Arizona and Pittsburgh. Everyone take a moment and reflect back to 2001 with the 6-game win streak to end the season. You may now resume whatever you were doing.

Baltimore Ravens: unfortunately, they still have a pretty difficult schedule remaining against NFC East teams. Which is sad, because I think that they are currently fielding a better team than, say, the Broncos.

Indianapolis Colts: I was almost willing to give them a little slack after they beat New England and Pittsburgh in close games. Then they went and barely squeaked by the Houston Texans. That is no good. Still not sure on this one. They still have to play Tennessee (and I know I said above that this might be a Tennessee loss but it depends which Colts team shows up) and Jacksonville. Now, admittedly Jacksonville has mostly sucked this year, but they are divisional rivals and they did field a good effort against the Titans yesterday.

Buffalo Bills: they have been declining after their strong start. Considering that they are in a competitive division (and who would have guessed after last year), this is a bad move.