Through 6 weeks of the NFL season, there has already been a lot of changes. The one area that has stood out in my mind, is the 
decline of teams that started off hot. These kind of teams remind me of the Balloon Boy, who were seemingly flying high, but in reality they are not THERE just yet. Here are the teams that come to mind:
Ravens – After getting off to a 3-0 start, and going as high as 4th in my Power Rankings, the Ravens have hit a rough patch in their last 3 games. They have had opportunities in the last 3 weeks, but they have just not been able to pull them out. This defense is certainly not playing as well as they have in recent history, but their offense has picked up the slack. If they can get the defense to match the offense, which I think is very possible, they can be one of the toughest teams in the entire league. I still think that the Ravens are one of the better teams in the AFC right now, but they are only going to be as good as their record indicates. Right now, they are average, with a record of 3-3.
Jets – The Rex Ryan Hysteria was off the charts in the first 3 weeks, as the Jets had gone 3-0, including a win against the Patriots. However, following their 3-0 start, the Jets have landed back down to Earth. They have lost their last 3 games, the last 2 against beatable divisional opponents. They, like the Ravens, had chances to win all 3 games that they lost, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t get victories. Sanchez is coming off his worst performance of his short NFL career, and he will need to protect the ball a lot better moving forward. If the Jets want to be considered a legitimate threat in the AFC playoff race, the quarterback cannot continue to be a liability for this team. He does not have to play spectacularly, but he does need to keep the turnovers to a minimum. As long as he does that, I believe that defense can take care of the rest. How the Jets fare in their next 10 games will be very interesting to me.
Are each of these teams feeling the curse of Rex Ryan? Only time will tell.
Filed under: NFL
