NFC Midseason Power Rankings

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It took a while longer than I had planned, but I magicly went from working 22 hours a week to being told I can't work my whole shift on Tuesday because I was on pace for about 46 hours for the week on Tuesday. Needless to say, the blog has suffered, but with it now being the midway point of the NFL sesaon, it's time for me to weigh in about the conference of my beloved Chicago Bears, and the conference where the majority of the people would be reading this favorite teams reside. I'm going to go with the same format as my AFC post a couple of weeks ago, with my 16-1 ranking of the teams, followed by my All-Division squads.

16. Arizona (1-6): I think it's safe to say that paying Kevin Kolb big money wasn't the answer. I thought the Cards would be a lot better, but the bigger names on their defense have pretty much done nothing.

15. St.Louis (1-6): The schedule gets easier, and the addition of Brandon Lloyd was a nice touch, but the Rams have dug themselves too much of a hole to do anything. I thought Sam Bradford would be better by now.

14. Washington(3-4): These will be the most satisfying 50 or so words I type throughout this post. I'm literally smiling as I type this. The Skins are heading for about a 5-11 finish as the "Deadly Duo" consisting of Wrecks Grossman (If I ever start a garage band, this is what I'm calling it), and John Beck suprising no one by being catastrophicly terrible. They lost Santana Moss, Chris Cooley, and Tim Hightower within a span of two weeks. If I had to grope around for a silver lining, I'd say that Ryan Kerrigan has been a nice compliment in the 3-4 to Brian Orakpo. But I'd be unsafely stretching it to find much else.

13. Seattle(2-5): After his epic playoff run, I thought Marshawn Lynch would be able to parlay that into a 1,000 yard season. I thought wrong. Whoever thought getting a starting QB with the first name Tavaris was a good idea should not be employed anymore. (Notice a trend here: If your QB sucks, you're team is probably going to suck. I don't need ESPN's "Year of the Quarterback " series to tell me this).

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12. Carolina(2-6): The future looks bright for a team that honestly could be 4-4 if they could close out games. Obviously Cam Newton has been spectacular, but so has Steve Smith, who's destined to be remembered as someone who would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer, if he had a decent QB all these years. Charles Johnson has been quietly living up to his huge contract, and James Anderson, Chris Gamble, have been solid on D.

11. Minnesota(2-6): Take away Jared Allen and Adrian Peterson and they would be 0-16. Outside of Percy Harvin and the other two, they really have nothing else of merit on their roster.

10. Dallas(3-4): I thought Dallas would be a lot higher after they hung with New England for about 59 minutes, but they regressed terribly against the "Dream Team" Sunday night. Sean Lee was having a great year, and now might be out for the year, leaving Keith Brooking and Bradie James as their LB's. This isn't 2006, so that's not good news. DeMarcus Ware can't play 1 on 11.

9. Tampa Bay(4-3): The Bucs are still really young, and they play like it at times. They have a bunch of young playmakers on D, and they need Josh Freeman to play like the Josh Freeman of last year to make the playoffs.

8. Atlanta(4-3): I'm still not sure what to think about the Dirty Birds. Roddy White doesn't look like he's healthy, but Michael Turner, Tony Gonzalez, and Julio Jones have been solid. Sean Weatherspoon has been a tackling machine for the D.

7. Chicago(4-3): I wanted to put my boys in the top 3, but let's let them win a couple more games before they make the jump. Can the front office please fucking pay Matt Forte whatever he wants? For the love of God, I love watching his evolution from decent running back to superstar.

6. Detroit(6-2): I'm starting to hate these guys just as much as Green Bay, which means that they are no longer the "Harmless Detroit Lions". Their pass rush is downright scary, as is that Megatron guy. I'm still waiting for the inevitable Matthew Stafford injury.

5. San Francisco(6-1): I'm still not sold, but I'm getting there. With the division being as terrible as it is, I can see the Niners ripping off a 12-4 or 13-3 record, followed by losing a home playoff game. Alex Smith is still your QB San Fran, just remember that before you get too uppity.

4. N.Y. Giants(5-2): Is Eli Manning really turning into an elite QB? The numbers say so, and he's been playing better than he ever has. The secondary has been playing really well, and with Pierre-Paul, Osi, and Justin Tuck coming back from injury, their pass rush is among the best in football.

3. Philly(3-4): Despite the shitty record, you can't tell me this isn't arguably the most talented team in the NFC. What you saw last week against Dallas is what you can expect the rest of the season, as Andy Reid's teams always seem to gel around this time of the year.

2. New Orleans(5-3): The Saints are still number two even after their meltdown against the Rams last week. Jimmy Graham is now the best TE in football, the offense as a whole has about 5-6 weapons, and S Roman Harper has 4.5 sacks from his Safety spot.

1. Green Bay(7-0): I hate the Packers, and I hate them even more because they are the best team in football. I feel dirty that Aaron Rogers might help me win 700 bucks in one of my fantasy leagues.


All NFC East:

QB: Eli Manning, Giants
RB: Leshaun McCoy, Eagles
RB: Ahmad Bradshaw, Giants
WR: Jeremy Maclin, Eagles
WR: Miles Austin, Cowboys
WR: Hakeem Nicks, Giants
TE: Jason Witten, Cowboys

DE: Jason Pierre-Paul, Giants
DT: Cullen Jenkins, Eagles
DT: Chris Neild, Redskins
DE: Jason Babin, Eagles
LB: DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys
LB: Sean Lee, Cowboys
LB: Ryan Kerrigan, Redskins
LB: Anthony Spencer, Cowboys
CB: Aaron Ross, Giants
CB: Corey Webster, Giants
S:  Kenny Phillips, Giants
S: Antrelle Rolle, Giants

MVP: Leshaun McCoy: Has easily become one of the best running backs in the NFL, and has been the main weapon on the emerging Philly Offense.

Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Pierre-Paul: Not even listed as a starter, Pierre-Paul gets the slight nod here over DeMarcus Ware and Jason Babin. JPP has 9 sacks and 11 TFL's.

Rookie of the Year: Ryan Kerrigan: The Skins are terrible, but Kerrigan has been a bright spot as he and Brian Orakpo have been solid for a D that isn't that bad.

All NFC North

QB: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay
RB: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
RB: Matt Forte, Chicago
WR: Calvin Johnson, Detroit
WR: Greg Jennings, Green Bay
WR: Jordy Nelson, Green Bay
TE: Jermichael Finley, Green Bay

DE: Jared Allen, Minnesota
DT: Henry Melton, Chicago
DT: Ndamagong Suh, Detroit
DE: Kyle Vanden Bosch, Detroit
LB: Desmond Bishop, Green Bay
LB: Lance Briggs, Chicago
LB: Brian Urlacher, Chicago
LB: Clay Matthews, Green Bay
CB: Chris Houston, Detroit
CB: Charles Woodson, Green Bay
S: Morgan Burnett, Green Bay
S: Amari Spievey, Detroit

MVP: Calvin Johnson: Megatron gets the nod barely over Aaron Rodgers. At least the Bears get to play both of them twice a year.

Defensive Player of the Year: Jared Allen: 12.5 sacks, 10 TFL's and 3 forced fumbles for the best DE in football. He's also doing it with less help than ever with the "Williams Wall" only consisting of an aging Kevin Williams.

Rookie of the Year: Randall Cobb: He's been quiet lately on a team with too many weapons to mention, but in division without any real impact rookies, he gets the nod.

All NFC South

QB: Cam Newton, Carolina
RB: Michael Turner, Atlanta
RB: Darren Sproles, New Orleans
WR: Steve Smith, Carolina
WR: Roddy White, Atlanta
WR: Robert Meachem, New Orleans
TE: Jimmy Graham, New Orleans

DE: Charles Johnson, Carolina
DT: Peria Jerry, Atlanta
DT: Brian Price, Tampa Bay
DE: John Abraham, Atlanta
LB: Sean Weatherspoon, Atlanta
LB: Curtis Lofton, Atlanta
LB: James Anderson, Carolina
LB: Stephen Nicholas, Atlanta
CB: Jabari Greer, New Orleans
CB: Brent Grimes, Atlanta
S: Roman Harper, New Orleans
S: Sherrod Martin, Carolina

MVP: Cam Newton: Despite the Panthers record, Cam has been spectacular. I thought he would be good, but I don't know if anyone thought he'd be this good, this early.

Defensive Player of the Year: Charles Johnson: Johnson still is kind of under the radar, but he's been making plays and living up to the hype of the big contract he signed.

Rookie of the Year: Newton.

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All NFC West

QB: Kevin Kolb, Arizona
RB: Beanie Wells, Arizona
RB: Frank Gore, San Francisco
WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona
WR: Ted Ginn, San Francisco
WR: Sidney Rice, Seattle
TE: Vernon Davis, San Francisco

DE: Chris Clemons, Seattle
DT: David Carter, Arizona
DT: Justin Bannan, St. Louis
DE: Justin Smith, San Francisco
LB: Patrick Willis, San Francisco
LB: Navarro Bowman, San Francisco
LB: Paris Haralson, San Francisco
LB: Aldon Smith, San Francisco
CB: Carlos Rogers, San Francisco
CB: A.J. Jefferson, Arizona
S: Adrian Wilson, Arizona
S: Kam Chancellor, Seattle

MVP: Beanie Wells: Good lord this division is terrible. Wells gets the edge over Frank Gore just barely. Wells has 506 yards on the ground and 7 TD's for an Arizona team that should be better.

Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Willis: San Fran's D has been the catalyst to the Niners 6-1 start. The LB's have been playing out of their noggins, and Willis is still the leader of this emerging unit.

Rookie of the Year: Aldon Smith: Smith came out of college kind of undervalued, but he's got 6.5 sacks for San Fran.