Tagged As: NFL, Giants, Cardinals, Steelers

The NFL season is coming into the final few weeks and all the preseason predictions have been left behind. The importance of each game is now related to teams’ immediate record and not the far off games on the schedule.

This week the most impressive game looks to be between the New York Giants and the Arizona Cardinals. Both teams are about to run away with their divisions. Each team has reached that path with a different strategy.

The Giants have the league’s best running game at 182.7 yards per game. That number is almost 20 yards better than their closest competitor, the Atlanta Falcons. New York is also leading the league in scoring with that offense. A balance of a strong running attack, an opportunistic passing game, and great field position has helped them go 9-1.

The Giants this season are doing this…

The Arizona Cardinals have come to a 7-3 record thanks to a passing game that features the immortal Kurt Warner and a trio of receivers in Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, and Steve Breaston. The development of Breaston in Boldin’s absence gives the Cardinals the most dangerous receiving corps in the league. Pass happy teams are not supposed to lead a division, especially when they have one of the worst running games in the league (only 86.9 yards per game for 29th in the league) and surrender over 20 points a game on defense (at 22.8 points per game allowed they are 18th in the league).

The Arizona Cardinals are doing this…

A look at the schedule gives a little insight into both teams. Both have had fairly easy schedules. The Arizona Cardinals have had the easy NFC West slate of games to inflate their record, but have been average in the non-division schedule. The Giants lack of strength in their schedule has been well publicized, but they have been destroying teams that they have to beat because they are on their record. This game will interesting because it pits two explosive offenses against each other and brings to of the apparent cream of the crop that have had a cake walk so far. At the end of the fourth quarter everybody will have a real idea of how good these teams actually are.

The rest of the schedule has a few near “do or die” games. The Pittsburgh Steelers open the week on Thursday against the Bengals. Despite a 7-3 record, the team has been limping throughout the season. To make a run in the postseason, the Steelers need to take advantage of the minor league opponent and decimate them to begin building the momentum that can take them to the AFC Championship game.

The NFC North battle is crowded and the Vikings, Packers, and Bears have a six game season to win the division. The “new season” may sound like a cliché, but at 5-5, each team has six chances to separate them and take the one postseason spot that will land in the division. The Bears should have an easy time against the Rams, while the Vikings and Packers have to play to teams who have to relish the role of spoilers (the Jaguars and the Saints).

The Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons game carries a lot of weight with the NFC South in play. The Panthers have the lead at 8-2, but the Falcons have been a pleasant surprise all season long and hope to remain in contention for a playoff spot. The story is the same in the AFC East with The Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots continuing the fight for a wild card spot or the division.

Week 12 has a long list of great match ups and the laughers (the Browns versus the Texans) only hold fantasy value. Be ready to sit in your couch for half a day and watch the games on television or get NFL game tickets and watch the games that matter live.