NFL Games of the Week: Week Ten

I talked about the Texans earlier on this year and I wondered how good they are. There is of course the old adage that you can only beat what is put in front of you and it is true to a certain extent but the Texans have had two test this year (the Ravens have massive injury issues so you could argue that game wasn't even a proper test) and passed one and failed the other spectacularly. I'm talking Morris Claiborne's Wonderlic Exam bad. I'm referring beatdown they got v the Packers where Aaron Rodgers threw for 6 TDs matching the team record set only last season by Matt Flynn. The Texans have only beaten 2 teams with a winning record. They are one of the better sides in the AFC but I think most would concede that it is a pretty weak conference, even the better teams have pretty big weaknesses (Patriots' defence, Ravens defence etc). I think most Super Bowl favourites are coming from the NFC too, which probably says it all about the AFC really.



The Bears are a similar enough team to the Texans in some ways. They also failed their big test to the Packers albeit not as badly. The Bears seemed to have come on a fair bit since then, their offense is progressing nicely, their defence is not only great in terms of giving up yards but they have the greatest turnover ratio in the NFL, even if you take away last week's sterling work against the Titans where they made 5 turnovers, that is still pretty great work. Tim Jennings leads the league in interceptions with 6, while Major Wright (what a name) has 3 with several others like Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs and D.J. Moore all on 2. They are in a good spot with all the important stats. They have the best Red Zone defence in the league, second in points given up per game with an overall ranking of 6th. They are one of the top defences in the NFL in my opinion. An incredibly good unit, which has a couple of star names and some other unknowns who are making waves.

A lot of people wondered if Matt Forte could bounce back from his MCL injury last year and he in a pass heavy offense, Forte has still managed to carve out very solid numbers,. He is the 16th best rusher in the league with 593 rushing yards. He has around 30-40 less carries than most other people in the top twenty so I think even making it into that category is pretty admirable. Jay Cutler's early season struggles appear to be gone ( he threw 6 INTs over the first 3 games) and he possesses some incredible weapons. Brandon Marshall may be a complete psychopath, as some of his dealings with the law suggest but there is no doubt he is an incredibly good wide receiver.

Marshall is 4th in the league in receptions with 59 and has hauled in 7 Touchdowns. Those 2 3rd round draft picks are looking like an absolute steal for the Bears, last season there was a time when Matt Forte looked like one of the most complete backs in the NFL and this year he once again showing his ability to catch the ball from the backfield, with 29 catches for the Bears. 2nd Round draft pick Alshon Jeffery has shown some decent potential, but I think he will take another season or two to grow into the role like a lot of wide receivers in the NFL do. He has hauled in two Touchdowns so far this year. Tied for most receiving scores on the team after Marshall. He has shown some big play potential too as his decent yards per catch stats indicate.