The Weekly Bandwagon

Last week it was the Manning/Colts bandwagon and the Michael Vick bandwagon and the ‘Andy Reid is smarter than us’ bandwagon. Manning and the Colts were mauled. Michael Vick lived up to the hype, but against a pathetic run defense. And Andy Reid proved nothing more than that his team can beat an average team after resting for 4 weeks. If the Eagles had played a better team, they would probably have lost.

This week, the repentant media have, after going over the cliff with Manning, jumped en masse onto the Belichick/Patriots bandwagon and the McNabb is a better passer bandwagon. Hmmm…

Last week all the attention went to the Colts and how they would pick apart the depleted Patriots’ secondary. Manning was just too good. The Patriots responded with a 20-3 thumping of the Colts.

Now we are hearing how the Patriots' brilliant coaching staff and the presence of Corey Dillon, who missed the first game, will lead to a Patriot victory this week. I agree that Belichick and Co. are the best coaching staff in the league and Dillon makes the Pats better in this game. But, why are so few people overlooking the obvious. Pittsburgh has the best defense in the league. Period. They didn’t allow an offensive TD last week, either.

Belichick has a plan for Roethlisberger, he has a plan for running the ball better, he mixes things up. I agree. But don’t you think Bill Cowher and Co. know that, too? Do you think Cowher is sitting around deciding whether or not to re-carpet his office? Cowher beat the Eagles and Patriots this year, in consecutive weeks.

This will be a great game. But it is not the lock for New England that so many think it is.

As far as McNabb being a better passer, so what? Vick is a better runner. The Eagles stopped Culpepper? So what? The Vikings’ coaching staff did as much to stop Culpepper’s success as the Eagles did. And Culpepper is NOT a running QB. Vick is.

Atlanta’s defense is not Minnesota. The Falcons actually get pressure on the QB. That will negate some of McNabb’s passing advantage. Getting pressure on Vick only makes him run more, which may be a benefit to the Falcons.

I am not saying who will win or lose, yet. But it is foolish to jump on all these bandwagons every week. One performance does not indicate how a team will fare the next week. After watching the Vikings dismantle the Packers, many people hedged their bets on the Eagles last week. And the Vikings didn’t look anything like the week before.

And next week we will have some new bandwagons to jump on, no matter who wins on Sunday.