This season of the NFL has been an exciting one, with lots of new faces in new places, with everyone from Tom Brady to Deandre Hopkins changing teams. We’ve seen some teams shine, like the Steelers and the Cardinals, and seen some teams underperform, like the Patriots and the whole NFC East division.

The Steelers-Undefeated but Overrated?

If you look at any NFL power rankings, you’ll notice the Steelers lead the ranks, and for an obvious reason-they haven’t lost a game. So why are people questioning the strength of the team. Simply enough, they haven’t had a very difficult schedule. What this means is that, for the most part, they’ve been showing off their strength against low-ranked teams. One recent example is their game against the Cowboys. Keep in mind that the Cowboys were on their 3^rd-string quarterback this week, with both Dak Prescott and Andy Dalton injured. The Cowboys were down one point with 3 minutes left, but soon scored to take a lead of 24-19. Garrett Gilbert and the Cowboys had around 2 minutes to drive upfield and score. In this time, the Cowboys lost and the regained possession of the ball and drove up around 70 yards to the red zone. Unfortunately for Dallas fans, the Cowboys were not able to convert the play, but that is one of many close calls against teams that are much lower ranked than them.

New trades and emerging stars

This year we haven’t seen any shortage of exciting trades, but what has happened as a result of some of them. One star seems to be Deandre Hopkins, who joined Kyler Murray on the Cardinals. In previous years Arizona didn’t have too many receiving threats, unless you count veteran Larry Fitzgerald. Deandre Hopkins has not disappointed since leaving Houston, with the most receiving yards in the league this season. In the week 10 game against Buffalo, he made a game-winning catch while in triple coverage. The catch is even more impressive if you consider the fact that it was thrown by an on-the-run Kyler Murray from over 40 yards out as the clock ran out of time. It has been compared to a similar photo of Calvin Johnson making a catch in triple coverage. One Wide receiver who found the spotlight this season was DK Metcalf, a Seahawks player with a 4.33 40-yard dash. He made headlines for chasing down what would’ve been a Pick-6 by Budda Baker in week 7, where he was sprinting at 22.6 MPH. A rising star in the quarterback position has been Justin Herbert although he has been under the radar this year, because of the Chargers not being a very noticeable team this season, he is on pace to break multiple rookie records this season. One of the most famous trades this offseason was Tom Brady going the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay seems to be assembling the strongest offense they can, also picking up Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, and Antonio Brown. They joined Mike Evans, O. J. Howard, Ronald Jones, and Chris Godwin. So far, they seem to be an inconsistent team, with rough games against the Saints and the Panthers, but have exploded in games against the Raiders, and a second game against the Panthers, with 45 and 46 points in those games. Of course, Brady going to Tampa means the Patriots had a slot at QB to fill, and they tried Cam Newton.

The Rough Spots

With Cam at QB, it’s safe to say New England has had a tough start, as they are currently 5-6.

This year, like the Buccaneers, the Patriots have been very inconsistent. They barely squeaked out a win against the 0-11 Jets, but safely beat the 6-4 Ravens. The entire NFC East has been a mess, with no team above a .500 win rate. Currently, the Giants are winning the division with a 4-7 record. I interviewed Lafayette Junior and Giants fan Joey Sims. When asked about the Giants placement in the division, he said “I think the Giants have been improving a ton the past few years, and it’s crazy that we could win the division. The future seems to be bright for our franchise.” Joey said that the Raiders and Titans are also both sleeper good teams, saying “I could see both teams making a deep playoff run.”

This season has been a messy one overall, but it has still been exciting. The season still has enough time for lots to change, but some teams like the Chiefs and the Jets are showing their clear places on opposite sides of the spectrum. There are plenty of playoff spots to fight for, and lots of time to earn them for each team.