Pirate Galaxy » when they need it, not interfer

A mere five weeks into the NFL schedule and theres already been a massive separation between the true Super Bowl contenders, the pretenders, and the vast ocean of mediocrity in the league.For fans in New England, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Seattle, and perhaps Green Bay, making travel plans for late January and early February is not farfetched. Those appear to be legitimate championship threats.Evaluating other successful teams -- Atlanta, Oakland, Dallas, Philadelphia -- and even the defending champion Broncos, who have lost two in a row, is more difficult.And then there are the clubs who stand just outside the morass that makes up most of the league right now: Buffalo, Los Angeles, Washington, Kansas City. It probably will take two more months to figure out whether they belong in the postseason.I can tell you that 100 percent of our attention and our focus is to try to accomplish that, says Bills coach Rex Ryan, whose franchise has an almost unfathomable string of non-playoff seasons dating to 2000. But playoffs, anything like that, were not even close to that. And as Ive mentioned before, weve still got a lot of dirt on us from opening up the season, losing those first two games.What seems certain is that the NFL has too many substandard teams, even though a few of them (AFC South members, thats you) figure to be in the race right up until 2016 ends.But you cant get ahead of yourself, says Colts coach Chuck Pagano, whose team could tie for the division lead with a win at Houston this Sunday. And with the Titans (2-3) hosting winless Cleveland, a three-way tie is quite possible. You cant sit there and look at what could be. If we do this, were this -- youve got to go take care of business now. You have to worry about today. Youve got to prepare.So, looking at the NFL today:TRUE CONTENDERSTheres no denying that the 5-0 Vikings, the leagues only unbeaten squad despite several devastating injuries (Adrian Peterson, Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Kalil), have proven they belong in the conversation. Their defense, led by Everson Griffen and Harrison Smith, is championship material, and the way Sam Bradford has stepped in to replace Bridgewater at quarterback has been inspiring.Theres also no denying that the offensive firepower of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Co. in Pittsburgh, and Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the boys in New England has those teams on a collision course atop the AFC. We get a showdown in Steel City next Sunday, too.Seattle tends to build toward the winter months, and might have the most-balanced roster around. The Packers have Aaron Rodgers, pedigree as a playoff team and, for once, a defense that looks reliable.POTENTIALSAvoiding overreactions after each game is tough in a 17-week season. So Denvers demise is not at hand, folks; comparing these Broncos to the 2015 champions simply is unfair at this point, particularly on the Peyton-less offense. Dismissing that defense, though, is unwise.Teams on the upswing with more to prove are in position to do exactly that this weekend, when the Cowboys visit the Packers , the Eagles are in Washington,the Falcons are at the Seahawks, and the Raiders host their archrivals, the Chiefs.The biggest statements would be made by Dallas if it can move to 5-1 behind rookies Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott, and by Atlanta. Coming off the most impressive victory of the season at Denver, the Falcons would stamp themselves as legitimate candidates to be in Houston in February with a victory in Seattle.Sure, they went 6-1 last season before flopping to 8-8, but this version is more balanced and experienced.One negative thing happened and then it was like a snowball effect on us, star receiver Julio Jones says of 2015. This year, were definitely a different ballclub as far as the mentality of the team. Were just sticking together and holding each other accountable.MUCH TO PROVEThe Bills, Rams, Redskins, Ravens and Texans all have winning records. Anyone out there really believe in any of them as title threats?Kansas City needs a lengthy streak of wins like it had a year ago to make us take notice, something even less likely with Oakland having emerged in the AFC West.For now, Arizona and Carolina are outsiders who must show they can emulate in some way the clubs that reached the NFC championship last January. The Cardinals seem vastly more capable of that than the banged-up Panthers.THE SORRY SETIt sure is a challenge to have any faith in the Jets and Bengals, who each won at least 10 games a year ago, but have been either unimpressive (Bengals) or unwatchable (Jets).Pretty much everywhere else stands the uninspiring, teams such as the Dolphins and Bears and 49ers, who we expect to remain also-rans when the holidays hit.As for that AFC South race, well, a four-way slog to the finish wouldnt be a surprise.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap Custom Hockey Jerseys . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Custom Jerseys Wholesale .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. http://www.hockeyjerseyscustom.com/ . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Custom Hockey Jerseys China . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Cheap Custom Jerseys . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi -- Toto Wolff says the Mercedes pit wall will do its best not to impact Sundays title fight at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but expects his drivers to adhere to the teams rules of engagement in return.Rosberg and Hamilton will go head to head of the championship on Sunday, with Rosberg still the favourite thanks to his existing 12-point lead in the championship. Hamilton will start from pole position ahead of Rosberg in second, but in order to stand a chance of winning the title needs Rosberg to finish fourth or lower.It has been suggested that Hamilton could back Rosberg into the chasing pack in order to put his teammate under pressure, but Wolff says he trusts his drivers will be sportsmanlike.Ive heard the comments before, he said. We cant really interfere in the final race, we let them race until now. They both know what we deem as being sportsmanlike. There is a lot at stake tomorrow, it is a drivers world championship to be won or lost.I think both will have thought about all possibilities, as long as they are not overstepping the mark in what we see as being unsportsmanlike driving we are fine. I think we need to let them go and race.We dont want change the result tomorrow because it would be wrong for the title decider and turn everything upside down that we have developed in the last couple of years. The drivers are great sportsmen and they know what it would mean to overstep the line which would cause a lot of controversy and therefore I have trust this is going to go well tomorrow for the benefit of the team, the team spirit and the fans.Wolff said Mercedes willl do its best not to impact a straight fight between its drivers on the track.ddddddddddddIt is a difficult situation for all of us in the team. You might say we are in a very privileged position that whoever wins this weekend is going to be a Mercedes driver but the truth is we have kept neutral over these last three years, tomorrow is going to be difficult, it has been already, to give them support when they need it, not interfere too much or over-manage but just let them fight it out on track.We need to give them a car that has pace, which we have seen today we were able to achieve, a reliable car for tomorrow and a strategy that works for both. That is another tricky area with the Red Bulls on an offset strategy and the Ferrari pace. So the main objective is to interfere the least in the F1 driver world championship and let the drivers fight it out on track.Asked how big a headache Red Bull could be, Wolff added: We were expecting them to have one car on the super-soft and not both, it was interesting. It is an offset strategy, it is not the fastest strategy. Our algorithms say the ultra-soft is the better tyre because you cant take the super soft much further, only a couple of laps.I guess Red Bull hasnt got the pace to win on the same strategy and the offset strategy gives them potential. It is a bit of a headache in a same way that Ferraris pace is a headache. Our main objective is being fought out on track, when the lights go green it is all that matters. ' ' '