Deep thoughts with CHFF

 

Who's the best quarterback in football right now?
It's a four-way race, between Brees, Peyton, BrettFavre and Big Ben, with Brady making a move on the outside.

 

The Big Four have have all put up spectacular numbers, but you gotta go with Brees right now. His numbers are gaudy. He's got a lot of weapons. He's firing on all cylinders. And he has a very good shot of leading the first 600-point offense.

 

What more can you say?

 

Oh, this: paired with a shut-down defense, it's a deadly combination.

 

Can the Saints go undefeated?
Yes. Absolutely. Doesn't mean they will. But they definitely can.

 

Look at the schedule. Who's going to beat them? The only team that looks like it has a legit shot is Atlanta, and the Saints face them twice. But that's it, really.

 

Dallas? No way. Not in New Orleans. Not with that defense. Not after what the Saints did to the Giants.

 

The rest of the schedule is nothing short a joke. If the Falcons don't beat the Saints, it looks like the second 16-0 team in three years.

 

 

We'll know after the Detroit game next week. But, if we're making odds here, they have about the same shot of going winless as the Saints have of going undefeated.

 

The Rams will get crushed by the Colts this week. That leaves the Lions game next week their last best hope for victory. The only other game after that where the Rams appear to have a shot is on Dec. 13 at Tennessee.

 

The Titans are currently 0-6 and floundering. But it's still hard to believe they're bad enough to lose to the Rams.

 

Personally, we're rooting for both 16-0 and 0-16 in one year. That's great for business.

 

Should CHFF adopt a theme song?
This issue keeps us awake night after night. Or maybe it's the late-night all-you-can-eat chalupas at Taco Bell. In either case, suggestions, anyone? We were leaning toward Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach." But turns out it's not about George Halas. "Muskrat Love" by Captain & Tennille seems promising. We love eating muskrats as much as the next guys. Or maybe we need something that describes our passion for cheesy 1970s pop and the performing arts:

 

show video here

 

 

Not positive. But here's our guess: the NFL, with so many players and so many coaches and so much turnover and so many moving parts, is all about management.

 

And, right now, management has never been more important. We're starting to see its effects unfold in pretty stark detail here in 2009.

 

The efforts to legislate equality have failed, as these efforts always do in any endeavor at any time in history. Humans are not equal in talent and the notion that a few rules will "level the playing field" is being mocked openly on the fields of the NFL right now.

 

What the NFL has done, actually, is create a system that ends up rewarding well managed teams and punishing poorly managed teams. The Colts, Patriots and Steelers continue to fine tune the system year after the year and win year after year. The Browns, Lions and teams like (in recent years) the Redskins make poor and sometimes desperate off-the-field decisions that make them uncompetitive on the field.

 

Back in the day, before the efforts to "level the playing field," a poorly managed team could splurge for a season or two on talent and compete. Money is the great equalizer. But that weapon has been removed and now, more than ever, not less than ever, NFL teams are dependent upon smart decision making. The NFL has maximized, not minimized, the concept of human inequality.

 

Yes. In fact, it's probably bigger than we realize. The chasm is evident to the naked eye almost every Sunday this year, from the unprecedented string of double-digit spreads – normally rare for pro football – to the once-in-a-generation blowouts like 59-0. It's evident by the fact that we had the first 16-0 team in history in 2007 followed by the first 0-16 in history in 2008.

 

The lack of competitiveness is also evident in the shocking statistical gaps we're seeing between teams this year. 

 

For example, the Saints this year (118.4 passer rating) have a chance to break the record for offensive passer rating set by the 2004 Colts (119.7). At the same time, it's quite possible that the Browns (47.5 passer rating) could set the record for the worst mark of any team in the Live Ball Era (1978-present). The current Live Ball Era record for passing inefficiency was set by the 1998 Chargers (44.9).

 

These are gaps in performance literally never seen in the history of the game.

 

When the 2004 Colts set their passing efficiency record, for example, the worst passing team that year, the Bears, posted a 61.7 rating.

 

If CHFF could take back one thing from the preseason, what would it be?
Picking two teams from the NFC West to reach the playoffs.

 

It was a stretch then and we knew it – kind of a logistical leap to ask for two teams from the worst division in football to reach the playoffs. But sometimes it pays to go against the grain.

 

In retrospect, it already looks like it won't happen, even after just six weeks. The division is already a league-worst 1-11 against Quality Teams and San Francisco looks like the only real hope of making some playoff noise.

If CHFF was capable of emotion, what statistical storyline would excite them this year?

It's a tie between Denver's Defensive Hogs and Dallas's record-setting pace running the ball.

 

Both carry a lot of weight as they pertain to CHFF maxims. The Defensive Hog Index, as we mention so often that people think we have tourette's syndrome, has been a spectacular indicator of postseason success (20-2 past two years).

 

Denver is No. 1 right now. It looks like they'll cruise to the AFC West title. And, at this point, it looks like the gap is only widening between the Broncos and the rest of the pack on the DHI. So the indicator will be put to the test once again this year.

 

Conversely, we've long contended that running the ball effectively is nice, but ultimately useless if you're not strong in the passing game. The Cowboys can either confirm or refute this CHFF Law of the Gridiron. If they go the whole season averaging nearly 6.0 YPA, and don't even make the playoffs, it will be the end of the belief in the running game for even its most devoted advocates.

 

Will CHFF admit it was wrong about BrettFavre?
No. Come back and talk to us in January.