Quarter of the way through the season... what are your thoughts?

[Everlong]

25 percent through the season for most teams. What are your thoughts on the following?

-Which team/player has been most impressive?

-Which team/player has been the biggest disappointment?

-Which team at .500 or below do you think still has the best chance of making the playoffs?

-Which team with three or more wins do you think is most likely to collapse?

-At this point, who is your league MVP?

-At this point, who do you see in the Super Bowl?

[DBSoT]

My thoughts on the first 4 games is : My team sucks, our QB sucks, our O-line sucks, and we will continue to suck.

Most impressive player: Aaron Rodgers (I hate myself for this). He has beat two of the best secondaries in football.

Most impressive team: Bengals

Most Disappointing team/player: You know who I would choose.

Below .500 team: Philly. The East sucks and Dallas still has time before they are healthy.

Team to collapse: Jets

MVP: I refuse to say it.

Super Bowl: New England and Green Bay. I will refuse to watch this game.

[The Legend]

Most impressive team is a two-team race to me, and I'll give the slight edge to the Arizona Cardinals. The Cards are firing on all cylinders beating opponents by an average of almost three touchdowns a game. I will give mention to the Atlanta Falcons as the close second place team in my eyes, because they are getting back to their previous form, but more on them later.

The most impressive player so far has far and away been Andy Dalton. I question Dalton's ability to maintain this level of play, but right now he's finally delivering on progress Cincinnati has been waiting to see for years.

I'll add a category, the most impressive coach/staff in the league right now is Atlanta. What Dan Quinn and Kyle Shannahan have done for that team and Matt Ryan specifically has been an amazing turnaround. And to think, when the Browns hired Mike Pettine, the runner-up was Dan Quinn, but they didn't want to wait two extra weeks to hire him while the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl.

I'll go personal for my biggest disappointment. The Cleveland Browns are currently paying their defensive players, led by Joe Haden, Donte Whitner, Tramon Williams, Paul Kruger, Karlos Dansby and Randy Starks; a league-high 82.1 million dollars. What have they received for that investment? the 22nd ranked scoring defense in the league, the 22nd ranked passing defense, the 31st ranked rushing defense and the worst overall yardage defense in the league. They've given up 30 or more points in a game twice already. The defense has forced exactly 1 interception, on a play where Brandon Marshall stripped Tashaun Gipson to give the ball right back to the Jets.

Losing teams with best chance to make playoffs in the AFC, there aren't any, but .500 teams - the Colts will win that division. The Steelers, Chargers or Bills will probably battle to have two of those three teams make the playoffs. In the NFC, obviously someone will emerge from the NFC East mess.

The team most likely to collapse in the AFC is obviously the Jets, and really the only option. In the NFC, the only winning team likely to collapse to me is Carolina, but I seriously doubt they do collapse.

The league MVP race could be one of the most interesting in a while with so many teams playing well right now, we'll see how many of them last.

As for playoffs, I think 5 of the 6 NFC playoff teams are sewn up. The only spot that isn't right now is the NFC East. I'm not sure what to make of that mess, but I think Green Bay, Atlanta, Arizona, Seattle and Carolina are locks for the playoffs. The one dark horse to me could be Minnesota if Carolina, Atlanta or Seattle stumble. In the AFC, New England, Indy, Denver are locks for the playoffs, as probably is Cincy. Who will emerge from the mess of .500 teams to be wild cards is anyone's guess.

If I had to pick Super Bowl teams right now, it'd probably be Arizona vs New England.

[Everlong]

Most impressive team is a two-team race to me, and I'll give the slight edge to the Arizona Cardinals.

I'd have said the same thing before this week, but they just got beat at home by the Rams. I know the Rams play the NFC West tough, but you just can't lose those games at home when you're a team looking to contend.

It seems kind of odd to me that nobody on Reddit or across the internet is really discussing the Packers as the most impressive team so far--probably because it's just expected for them to do this well. I see a lot of hype for the Falcons, which is understandable, but their defense still has a lot to prove and their offense has dominated week competition. I'm probably more impressed by the Broncos than the Falcons, simply because that defense could turn out to be one of the best we've ever seen when all is said and done (if thye keep playing like this, anyway).

The most impressive player has been Aaron Rodgers, but I'd give league MVP to Cam Newton right now. That guy is putting up a pretty impressive offensive output, especially when you consider his top wide receiver is Tedd Ginn (!!) and he's basically the team's top rusher as well. He's dragging that team to wins every single week, helped by the defense of course, but without him they're probably 0-4.

I'd agree that the Jets will probably collapse. I just don't see them as being a playoff team, but I could be wrong. I think the Giants are on pace to come out of the NFC East to make the playoffs and threaten to deal some damage a la 2007 and 2011. This team is probably more similar to the 2011 team.

I'm still taking Packers/Patriots for my super bowl pick. Right now those two teams look like the cream of the crop in the NFL and I don't really see anyone capable of going into their house and beating them in the playoffs at the moment. But anything can change over the next few months.

[The Legend]

I'm still taking Packers/Patriots for my super bowl pick. Right now those two teams look like the cream of the crop in the NFL and I don't really see anyone capable of going into their house and beating them in the playoffs at the moment. But anything can change over the next few months.

I'm not sure the Packers are going to so easily get home-field advantage. I would anticipate the Falcons and Cardinals to be right there with them all year long. And with the Packers having to face both West Divisions, not to mention the reigning champs in the NFC East and South they have a much more difficult path through the season than the Falcons especially have and even the Cardinals as well playing both North Divisions.

[Everlong]

ot to mention the reigning champs in the NFC East and South

One of those is the broken down Cowboys (we'll see if they have Romo back by then) at home, the other is the Panthers on the road. The Panthers just don't have enough offense to keep up with Rodgers. They may be able to slow the Packers down, but they need to be able to score points, too. I just don't see Carolina right now as being a team that can hang with Green Bay.

Arizona is a different story, I think they've got what it takes. But Arizona's in a tougher division than Green Bay, and is more likely to have some intra-divisional blemishes coming out of this season than the Packers, who will likely sweep the whole thing again. Even if Arizona does beat the Packers, I don't see them as finishing with a better overall record.

And I'm not 100 percent sold on the Falcons yet. They've got a flashy offense but they've got some convincing to do before I believe they're capable of playing what Messiah dubs as "big boy football." I think the Panthers have a better formula for late-season success than the Falcons do right now, and I'd give the Panthers a much better shot at traveling to Lambeau and winning than Atlanta, simply because I don't think the Panthers would wear down as easily.

Like I said, this Falcons team reminds me a whole lot of its 2010 team. That team won a lot of games on the strength of a flashy offense, but when all was said and done they were just soft. They've got more to prove to me yet.

[The Legend]

I'm not 100% sold on the Falcons when it comes to success in January, but the more I look at the schedule the more I think they will have the best record in the NFL in the regular season. They play the Bucs and Saints twice, they play the NFC East, they play the AFC South (which once again is by far the worst division in football, even worse with the state of the Colts). Then they get to play the Niners and the Vikings. Honestly, if they split home-home with Carolina I could see them going 15-1 in the regular season.

[lyonssv]

I'll have more to add to this later, but through 4 games....The Bengals are playing fucking awesome and I'm incredibly stoked. That is all for now lol

[Taveus]

Granted this thread was made a week ago and was aimed towards the results of week four, I'd still give the most impressive player to Andy Dalton. The guy has been seen as an average quarterback for the last four years and this year he's turned up the heat and is without a doubt a top 5, even a top 3, QB. His stats thus far this year (including the week five win against the Seahawks):

11 Touchdowns (Tied for 3rd in the NFL)
2 Interceptions
1,518 yards (1st in the NFL)
115.6 Passer Rating (3rd in the NFL)
83.7 QBR (2nd in the NFL)
Bengals are 5-0 for the first time 1988, the last year we went to the Super Bowl.

As a Bengals fan and a former Dalton Doubter, I've been incredibly impressed with not only how he's performing, but how he's been leading as well. He's been responsible for much of the Bengals success thus far when in the past, he's been responsible for our disappointment. Even with a subpar running game, which isn't the norm for the Bengals, he's been able to take the offense and make everyone a weapon.

Rodgers was expected to be great, Dalton wasn't. That's why he's the most impressive player this season (so far) to me.

[lyonssv]

Granted this thread was made a week ago and was aimed towards the results of week four, I'd still give the most impressive player to Andy Dalton. The guy has been seen as an average quarterback for the last four years and this year he's turned up the heat and is without a doubt a top 5, even a top 3, QB. His stats thus far this year (including the week five win against the Seahawks):

11 Touchdowns (Tied for 3rd in the NFL)
2 Interceptions
1,518 yards (1st in the NFL)
115.6 Passer Rating (3rd in the NFL)
83.7 QBR (2nd in the NFL)
Bengals are 5-0 for the first time 1988, the last year we went to the Super Bowl.

As a Bengals fan and a former Dalton Doubter, I've been incredibly impressed with not only how he's performing, but how he's been leading as well. He's been responsible for much of the Bengals success thus far when in the past, he's been responsible for our disappointment. Even with a subpar running game, which isn't the norm for the Bengals, he's been able to take the offense and make everyone a weapon.

Rodgers was expected to be great, Dalton wasn't. That's why he's the most impressive player this season (so far) to me.

fellow Bengals fan? Hell yeah man! I've been rocking the stripes my whole life, even through the dark ages. It's always good to see another fan!

I've always liked Dalton, he's easy to root for, a good guy, does a lot of charity work in the City, and just an overall great ambassador for the franchise. Watching him finally take that step forward we have all been waiting for has been a huge pleasure so far this year. Very happy for him as he has received a ton of shit (some deserved, some not) throughout his time here in the Queen City.

Watching him drag this team back yesterday with a never say die attitude, that's the stuff an elite quarterback is made of. And Dalton sure has looked the part so far this year.