Gotta love the Pigskin High Holidays. We've already had two days of tasty little gridiron appetizers preceding Sunday's main dish: A Week 16 slate of games that may prove to be the most compelling and most important of the 2004 season. And, of course, we still have college bowl week ahead of us. With all those games, the angry trolls at Cold, Hard Football Facts.com may not even have time to leave their box under the bridge to buy beer this week.
Of course, there is one problem that may force us out from the cozy confines of our cardboard box: A series of asinine NFL rules that prohibit CBS from broadcasting 1 p.m. games in the Boston market because the Patriots playing the late game. So, instead of watching the huge San Diego-Indy game at 1 p.m., we're force-fed N.Y. Giants-Cincinnati on Fox. (Of course, one reason we get that particular game is because the networks still live under the foolish belief that New Englanders actually care about the Giants. But that's a story for another day). The bottom line is a bad deal for football fans in Boston. It may even cause us to venture out from under the bridge and interact with the humans while watching the game at a barroom.
But before we face the harsh reality of public interaction, we took a look at the quality wins quotient to get a bearing on some of the bigger games on the docket Sunday.
Arizona at Seattle
How's this for an indictment of the woeful NFC? If the Seahawks lose one of their final two games this season, Arizona will have gone an entire season against 12 NFC opponents, none of which finished above .500. Still, here we are in Week 16, with 5-9 Arizona battling 7-7 Seattle, a preseason Super Bowl favorite, for a shot at the NFC West division title. Even at its worst in the late 1980s, the AFC was not this bad.
Here's where we stand: Arizona is 0-3 against quality opponents. Of course, all three quality opponents on their schedule – Buffalo, New England, N.Y. Jets – reside in the AFC. The Seahawks are also 0-3 against the same three quality opponents. Seattle, however, can claim a single (so-called) quality win against 8-7 Minnesota. The quality wins quotient expects Seattle to stumble into a win on a broken play in overtime in a game that, on paper, neither team is capable of winning.
Baltimore at Pittsburgh
The Steelers are 4-1 against quality opponents and only New England has more quality wins. Pittsburgh's one loss, however, came against Baltimore back in Sept. 19. That was before Roethlisberger made his first start and Pittsburgh's fortunes changed. Baltimore is 3-3 against quality opponents, with the losses coming against Philly, New England and Indy. No shame there. But we'll stick with the Steelers, who are undefeated at home and who thumped two of the quality opponents that beat Baltimore.
San Diego at Indianapolis
The Colts are 4-2 against quality opponents. The Chargers are 2-2. Neither team has beat an opponent that currently has more than nine wins (Indy beat 9-6 Green Bay; SD beat 9-6 Denver). San Diego is the toughest opponent Indy has faced since the Colts' Week One loss to New England. Indy is the toughest opponent San Diego has faced, period. Colts have taken and passed more tests against quality opponents and are playing at home. We'll stick with Indy.
New England at N.Y. Jets
The Jets seem to have everything working in their favor. They're at home, they're playing well, they need a win to make the playoffs. The Patriots are again hampered by a long list of injuries and are coming off their most embarrassing loss in several years. Despite it all, the Patriots are 5-1 against quality opponents and have more quality wins than any team in football. They've also outscored these quality opponents 144-91. The Jets are 2-4 against quality teams, haven't bested a quality team since Oct. 10 and have been outscored in those six contests 97-114. We'll stick with the defending champs. One other thing to keep in mind: New England's defense has struggled in recent weeks, but New England's offense is on pace to be the most prolific in team history and has outscored the Jets offense by nearly 100 points this season.
