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I’m going to hold off doing a top-five this week until the Monday Night Football game is actually over. The Packers are a member of the current top-five, but are probably going to have to win to stay among the NFL’s elite.

Every season, a couple of teams come out of nowhere to make surprising post-season runs. Last year, the New Orleans Saints and the New York Jets weren’t expected by any to make the playoffs. Yet they did. The year before the Redskins used their small and speedy wide receivers and an excellent defense and running game to claim a playoff spot in the NFC. Why does this happen every year? Well it certainly isn’t just luck.

Teams that have the worst records the year before have easier schedules than teams that do make the playoffs. That is a fact. The Patriots are stuck playing elite teams like the Colts every year while the Lions always have soft games against the Cardinals and the Raiders. In addition, teams with losing records are more likely to improve their team through free agency and the draft than teams that made the post-season are. All these factors combine will almost always result in one to two surprising teams per year.

With that said, here are the top-three surprising teams in the NFL this season.

1. Detroit Lions - Everyone was laughing when Jon Kitna boldly predicted ten wins before the season. Well seven games in, the team already is halfway there. The Lions have a terrific passing game and talented, young running backs who can provide balance. But the real x-factor this season has been their defense, which has produced the most turnovers in the NFL. Detroit has a winning formula brewing.

2. Cleveland Browns - Almost quietly, the Browns have been a pretty good team this year. Derek Anderson has made fans forget who Brady Quinn is and their high draft picks are finally paying off. The problem? They play in the AFC where they have little chance of making the playoffs.

3. New York Giants - I don’t know why but just about everyone wrote this team off before the season. Heck I did too. They lost their star running back, they were coming off a so-so season where they got into the playoffs by sheer luck of playing in a bad conference, and they had seemingly written off their too-tough coach. And they started the season by losing two in a row. But lately they have looked like the class of the NFC and have rolled off six straight wins. Who could have predicted that?

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Week 7 was an odd week in the NFL. The only match-up between winning teams was played by the Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But what should have been an easy week for the league’s elite turned out to be quite the opposite for many good teams. With that said, here are the new top-five rankings.

1. New England Patriots - I’m not sure which Tom Brady stat is more ridiculous at this point. He has twenty-five more touchdowns than interceptions. He is on pace to throw over sixty scores and is only getting better from week to week. And his passer rating is close to 140. At this point the Patriots are demoralizing and destroying every opponent they face and it hard to imagine them losing to anyone.

2. Indianapolis Colts - The only other undefeated team in the NFL also solidified their position in the top-five with a surprisingly easy win over Jacksonville. At this point, it looks like both the Pats and Colts are on cruise control until they have to face each other in two weeks.

3. Green Bay Packers - There is no reason to drop a team in the rankings for having a bye week.

4. New York Giants - No disrespect to the Cowboys, but the Giants are officially the hottest team in the NFC. They brushed off an early 0-2 start to win five in a row and put themselves back into the playoff picture. With a London game against Miami next week, the winning should continue into their bye week.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers - Was a close loss to Denver enough to drop the Steelers out of the top-five? It might have been if the Cowboys or Titans won in a more impressive fashion on Sunday. But as it happened, both teams squeezed out games that they should have won easily. So we’ll treat the loss to Denver as an abnormality for now. But the team better impress next week.

Dropped out - Jacksonville Jaguars - If you want to be considered a serious power within your conference, or division, you have to do better than this team did on Monday night. Playoff teams should be able to do better than a 22 point loss at home to a divisional record.

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One of the greatest unknowns in every NFL season is how well, or bad, rookie players will do. No matter how high or low players go, some rookies always exceed or fall below expectations. After seven weeks of play, one of the most talked about youngsters already is Adrian Peterson. Peterson, or All Day as he likes to be called, has been called everything from a steal to already one of the best at his position in the league.

I’ve seen Peterson play. He is good. No, strike that, he is very good. His performance against the Bears single-handedly kept the team in the game and he probably would have even better numbers if he started for the team. And his play is no fluke, he was the best running back in college by far when he played for Oklahoma. Looking back, it was quite foolish for teams to pass on him because of a minor injury he had in his last college season.

But to judge him as a better pick than players taken before him already is a mistake. Calvin Johnson, a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, has scored three touchdowns despite getting minimal looks and throws in his direction a game. His sheer physical attributes make him a match-up problem to just about every team and there is no doubt that he will continue to improve his numbers when he learns the system and plays better.

And lets not rush to judge JaMarcus Russell, who has yet to take a snap as a Raider, Joe Thomas, Gaines Adams, Levi Brown, or LaRon Landry yet either. The jury is still out on who the best player from the class of 2007 will be.

So its OK to admire Peterson, to give him praise, and to want to watch him every time he runs. But don’t rush to judge Peterson or try to degrade other rookies to further increase his stature. He just hasn’t played long enough to deserve it yet.

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Because of the relatively short schedule of the NFL season, it is extremely rare to see any coach get canned before the season even ends. With that said, however, there are many coaches who are doing nothing to help themselves once the season is over. Here is a short list of which coaches should be feeling the heat the most after seven weeks of play.

Marvin Lewis - Outside of one playoff season, what has Marvin really brought to the Bengals? The discipline needed for the team hasn’t been there since day one. The team has become a league-wide laughingstock off the field and mediocre on it. With two great receivers and a top-five quarterback, it is a shame that the team itself is sitting at 1-4 (1-5 if the Jets score holds up today) and out of the playoff picture. Lewis would need a miraculous turnaround at this point to keep his job.

Cam Cameron - Maybe it isn’t fair to put an enormous amount of blame on a first-year coach arriving at a bad job. But the team is winless and doesn’t look like it is going to get much better soon. And even if they get the top pick in the draft, Cameron’s bungling of last year’s pick still remains vividly in my mind. No one in their right mind put Ted Ginn Jr. in the top-ten. But Cam, apparently wooed by what Devin Hester has done for the Bears, saw an opportunity to add a special teams playmaker and took it.

Look Hester is a needle-in-a-haystack type player and if your only explanation to drafting someone higher than they should have gone is that you think he might be like Hester, you made a pretty bad decision.

Tom Coughlin - Tom always seem to be on the hot seat, doesn’t he? Even though the Giants have won five in a row, it doesn’t help Coughlin’s job status much for the future. The team needs to progress past a first-round exit in the playoffs. They need to show they haven’t tuned Coughlin out completely. And they need to keep winning.

Can they keep doing all these things? Maybe, they do play in the NFC and they do have a pretty good offense and defensive line.

For now, those are the only three coaches in serious trouble. The majority of teams in the NFL are doing pretty well or average right now. After another six-seven weeks, however, I expect there to be more names to add to this list.

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Coming into this season, expectations were high for the Tennessee Titans. Vince Young was coming off a pretty successful rookie season and team itself had finished the year 2nd in their division and at 8-8. But after six weeks of play, the Titans seem to top the power rankings on just about every sports site and are generally viewed as a team in the upper-echelon of the league.

But are they really this good? Their record is just 3-2, despite all the clutch play they have had. And they are third in their division, behind last year’s champion Colts and the tough-to-beat Jacksonville Jaguars. And Vince Young is battling bruises and other injuries week-in and week-out to keep the team afloat.

Simply put, I think this team gets too much credit because everyone likes the quarterback. Heck, I like Vince Young and I agree he has had his share of clutch performances. But where is his support? The Titans don’t have an elite corp of wide receivers and their running game is nowhere near as effective as Indy’s or Jacksonville’s. And while they have an excellent front line on the defensive side, their cornerback support was greatly weakened by the loss of Pacman Jones.

Look I understand giving credit where credit is due. But when writers start giving credit to the Titans for losses with questions like “If Vince Young hadn’t gotten hurt, don’t you think he’d have found a way to pull out that game against Tampa Bay?”, it is a little ridiculous. They are 3-2 and are in a very tough conference. The playoffs, while not out of the question, still seems like an unreachable goal for the team. Top-ten team? Sure. Top-five? No way.

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Last week, I went through the thirty-two teams in the NFL and picked out the five best. As promised, I will continue to do so on a week-to-week basis. This week’s matchups featured a big time game against my number one and two teams. After watching the game, it became clear what the rankings this week should be.

1. New England Patriots - This team may have the best chance of anyone to go 16-0 and their dominating win against Dallas proved it. They didn’t just beat Dallas, they dismantled them. They took Romo and co.’s best blow and hit back harder. Much harder. In fact, if Tom Brady hadn’t overthrown Moss on a couple of plays where he was wide-open down field, the game never may have been close.

2. Indianapolis Colts - The spot where they, now, rightfully belong. Maybe I took this team for granted. It is easy to forget that before every team in the league realized offense was in fashion, the Colts were trying to win by outscoring opponents. The Colts shouldn’t lose too many games this year, but to move up they have to beat New England again and prove they are number one. Super Bowl wins from last season, again, don’t mean much for the current season.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers - It is funny that every team in the league will get a chance to prove they are better than New England. Pittsburgh stopped the Pats from going 16-0 a few years ago, can they do it again this year? We’ll see.

4. Green Bay Packers - They have a great defense and it is the main reason they are 5-1. But how long can they keep winning with an inconsistent passing game and a non-existent running game? It is a good thing they play in the NFC.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars - There is little not to like about this team. Great run game, good defense, and solid quarterback play. But will they ever be able to jump past the Indianapolis Colts? Not at their current state. But for now, they do round up the top-five teams in the league.

Dropped out - Dallas Cowboys - This may seem a little harsh but the Cowboys proved that they were not on a championship level last Sunday. They gave in to New England in a game that was within their grasp and imploded over and over and over again.

Back next week!

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Before he came to Dallas, Terrell Owens was quite a nuisance throughout the league. His disparaging comments of quarterbacks Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb got him run out of San Fransisco and Philadelphia. Even with the Cowboys, Owens played a major role in getting Drew Bledsoe the boot as starting quarterback.

So far things have gone well with Tony Romo. The team is undefeated and running on all cylinders offensively. Owens is involved and has a good amount of catches, yards, and touchdowns. And Romo is playing like a Pro Bowler. And oh yeah, Owens is still getting paid good money to play for the team in Dallas.

But what happens if the team loses a game or two? We all remember the outburst Owens had with McNabb after the team’s first loss in 2003-04. So what happens if the team loses one, two, or even three games? What happens if Romo has another six turnover game and the team doesn’t come back? And what happens if Owens stops getting looks because he is double and triple covered? Can he still keep his cool?

History would tell us no. Its hard to give Owens the benefit of the doubt after all of his past antics. So the Cowboys better have to keep winning and Romo has to make sure that if the team does lose, it isn’t because Owens didn’t get ten to twelve looks. Because the last thing that any team needs, especially the Cowboys, is an unhappy Terrell Owens.

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Going into this season, the San Diego Chargers had all the tools for a long run through the playoffs. They have an elite, if not the best, running back in LaDanian Tomlinson. They have a growing quarterback in Phillip Rivers who was coming off a great first season as a starter in the league. And they had an intimidating defense that carried them to a fourteen-win record last year. The only real difference between the 2006-07 Chargers and the 2007-08 Chargers was the coaching staff. So why is this team 2-3 and losing to inferior talent?

The obvious answer to this question is the coaching staff. Norv Turner has never had a good track record as head coach in the NFL and it is no surprise to most that he is struggling again. But is it really all his fault? It really is a lot to ask from a first-year coach to take a fourteen-win team and improve them. Especially one who faces as much scrutiny as Turner does. While some of the losses may be his inability to adjust and put his players in the wrong place, it would be wrong to give him all the blame.

In fact, the players seem to have a hangover from last season. Many seem arrogant and over-confident that they can waltz into the playoffs. It is an attitude I have seen before, and one that can ultimately destroy a season. The players should know that the fourteen wins they earned last year are gone, in the history books. They started this season at 0-0 like every other team.

To win enough games to make the playoffs, these Chargers have to remember what got them there last year and start playing harder and smarter again. They need to get Tomlinson more carries and put Rivers into comfortable positions. And they have to stop acting as if wins are going to be handed to them on a silver platter.

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Unlike any other sport, football has had the most problems when it comes to overtime. The college game allows both teams a chance to score but effectively removes a giant part of the game (special teams) by removing the kicking and punting parts of the game. Meanwhile, the pro game keeps every aspect of the game intact, but puts way too much of an emphasis on receiving the ball first. A good offense that wins a coin flip is likely to win the game without the other team ever getting a chance.

The truth is that neither of these systems are perfect. Kickoffs and punts should not be removed from the game and no team should ever have the chance to win a tied game without giving their competition an equal opportunity. I don’t care if the statistics show that the coin flip outcome is insignificant, it just isn’t fair to the teams that don’t get a shot to score.

It may seem like there is no good answer to this question, but by using parts from both systems a perfect overtime scenario can be found. Here is my perfect overtime system;

1. Have a coin flip that allows one team to receive and forces the other to kick off.

2. If the team drives the field and scores a touchdown, they win automatically.

3. If a team kicks a field-goal, the other team should get an opportunity to tie or win the game. If the other team fails to score, the game is over and the scoring team wins.

These rules will force teams to use all parts of their team and motivate the offense to try harder than to get into field-goal range. How can it be fair to tell a team they will lose if the other team scores three measly points? This system may not be perfect, but it is a heck of a lot better than watching two teams squabble over getting into kicking range to decide the outcome of a game.

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No team in any sport, arguably, has had as much success as the Patriots have over the last few years. Because of the competitive nature of football, it is much harder to run a dynasty in this sport than in any other. For that reason, three championships in four years is as impressive of a mark as in any sport. But recently, many Patriot-haters have taken the Bill Belichek cheating scandal out of proportion and used it to degrade the team’s success.

Let me start out by saying that what Bill, and perhaps the team as a whole did, was wrong. Everyone knows that coaches are under pressure to win and will do anything to win. But cheating purposefully in any way is just wrong. If he were any other coach, he probably would have gotten fired over this. But no one would fire a three-time Superbowl winner for a minor cheating scandal.

With that said, this matter has been taken way out of proportion. The Patriots players were not aware of this going on. They should not suffer because of a mistake their coach made. Look beyond the scandal and you will see that the team regularly shuffles players in and out. Would players really keep this cheating a secret if they knew? Eric Mangini sure didn’t when he left the team, why would a player cut by the team for financial reasons?

The point is, if you want to rag on Belichek and call him a cheat, go ahead. It is probably true. But Patriot fans and players had nothing to do with this and the team still went out and earned their championships. The players still go out and play their butts off to win close games. And they don’t deserve to be booed for “cheating.” You can boo them for other reasons, their success, their arrogance, whatever. But don’t be petty and jeer for the wrong reasons. It isn’t worth it.

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