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To beat the Rams at home by a score of 9-7 isn’t exactly impressive, but they’ll take it however they can get it. At least the defense seemed to be effective. Then again, it all happened against the Rams, a team that struggled to score throughout 2008 and seems to have the same problem in 2009.

They lost to the Detroit Lions in week 3. Either the Detroit Lions were finally do for a win and it just happened to be against the Redskins – or the loss against the Lions showed the lack of focus and determination the Redskins have.

The Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles play competitive football nearly every year, and attempting to win that division is an extremely tall order for a team like Washington. For this reason, every game and every week matters to the fullest.

The Washington Redskins have a very tough schedule when you consider they must play the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles twice a season.

If the Redskins can’t beat the Detroit Lions, what chance do they have against the better teams of the league. The Redskins need wins against the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Bucs and Oakland Raiders if they hope to even taste the top of the NFC East division.

The Redskins have to create offense and do it quickly before they fall too far back in the NFC East division race. The Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Philadelphia eagles are all better teams at the moment.

Their running game hasn’t been looking like it has in the past. Clinton Portis is no doubt one of the best running backs of the decade; he’s aging a bit, and seems to have lost a step.

Head Coach Jim Zorn is on the hot seat if he can’t create some spark with his offense. The Redskins are a proud franchise with a rich history, if Zorn can’t produce for the Redskins fans and ownership by motivating his players he won’t last the season. The players must come ready to play and not play the blame game either as well. .

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The Minnesota Vikings are now 2-0 after two weeks of the 2009 NFL season. Led by veteran quarterback Brett Favre, the team has the best running back in football and one of the best defensive units.

The Vikings opted to sign Brett Favre for the fact that they felt the team was ready to contend for a championship, and a quarterback was one of the only missing pieces. Despite Brett’s age, they knew he still had another year or two left, especially since Adrian Peterson will take a ton of pressure off of him.

Favre had a good season with the New York Jets in 08′ – but because of shoulder injury the New York Jets weren’t contenders at the end. Favre also fits the Vikings offensive formation much better than the Jets. The formation the Jets were using was actually new for Favre.

In week one, the Vikings defeated the Browns in Cleveland by a score of 34-20, and in week two, the team bested the Detroit Lions in Detroit by a 27-13 score.

The Vikings franchise hasn’t had this good of a team since the 98′ Vikings went 15-1 with WR Randy Moss, QB Randall Cunningham, RB Robert Smith, WR Chris Carter, and DT John Randle. The team was upset in the NFC Championship game to the Atlanta Falcons in overtime. Hopefully, the 09′ Vikings can avoid such a fate.

Adrian Peterson looks like the best running back in the NFL, and more importantly, Brett Favre is playing efficient football at the quarterback position. Jared Allen’s also stepping it up and looks like the best defensive end in the league.

Besides Favre and Adrian Peterson, another notable player is Jared Allen. If you’re a QB, you don’t want to play against this man!

Easy opponent or not, Vikings fans have to be pleased with the results thus far. He’s not throwing as many passes as someone like a Drew Brees, but that’s not what this team needs. They just need a steady presence at the QB position, there to come through when the team needs him to. And Favre has been just that so far.

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The Chicago Bears 09′ season is one filled with optimism. The Denver Broncos did the Bears a favor by creating trade talk with Jay Cutler, the Bears knew if they wanted to reach and win the Super Bowl they needed more then a game manager quarterback.

Having acquired a stud quarterback in Jay Cutler, the Bears were ready to eliminate and overcome the one major question mark that may have weighed them down over the past few seasons.

Now with their franchise QB (hopefully for Bears fans’ sake) the Bears can score points on offense and compete in a division that is winnable for them.

The loss of Brian Urlacher was devastating to the Bears defense – he is the quarterback of the defense. With his loss, the rest of the Bears defense must raise their game to a whole new level if they expect to compete for a division title.

The Minnesota Vikings might be the favorite to come out of the NFC North – the Bears have a chance to be there as well at the end of the season. With the exception of facing the Detroit Lions, every game the Bears play against the Vikings and Green Bay Packers should be well contested.

WR Devin Hester must elevate his wide receiving skills to the same level his kick returning skills once were. Hester was one of the greatest return men of all time and if he could translate that to the wide receiver position, Cutler to Hester will be the norm all season.

Cutler redeemed himself in the team’s second game. Facing the defending Super Bowl champions, Cutler and the Bears looked like a different team out there, finding their way to a 17-14 victory over the Steelers, highlighted by a 4th quarter comeback that saw the team score 10 points.

This was a nice way for the team to redeem itself, and the Bears suddenly have a clean slate going forward.

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The Baltimore Ravens were one of the more successful NFL teams in 2008. Under the steady leadership of rookie quarterback Joe Flacco (who, despite his rookie status, showed the steady command of a seasoned veteran), the team had a successful 2008 campaign both offensively and defensively.

The Ravens ended up making the post season and while they lost, they were certainly pleased with the caliber season they’d had, and looked forward to the 2009 football season.

Entering the 2009 season, there were a few small question marks, especially those relating to the departure of defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. Ryan, who had left the Ravens to take on the head coach position with the New York Jets, was largely credited for the defensive dominance in Baltimore through the course of this decade.

Would the team be as prominent on defense without Ryan? This was a hard question to answer at this point in time, but one that is beginning to show its face in light of the first two games of the 2009 season.

While the defense in Baltimore seems to be somewhat weaker than in seasons past (the team allowed 24 and 26 points in weeks 1 and 2), this hasn’t been too much of an issue just yet. The offense has made up for it, as the Ravens have scored over 30 points in both week 1 and week 2.

The Ravens are averaging over 400 yards in total offense per game thus far. With the combination of a consistent offense and a defense that still strikes fear in other teams, there is no telling how far the Ravens can go.

There is no “sophomore jinx” with Joe Flacco – if anything Flacco has improved as a quarterback. His decision making and poise are a fantastic skill set all young quarterbacks aspire to have.

The AFC must know that the Baltimore Ravens will be a threat to raise the Lombardi Trophy in February.

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The Indianapolis Colts came into the 2009 season with high expectations. Always a competitive team, anything short of a Super Bowl may be seen as a disappointment in their minds.

Having the football on offense for less the 15 minutes and still winning just shows you have talented on offense the Colts can be. Peyton Manning is completing nearly 70% of his pass attempts and will certainly make another run at the league MVP again this season.

The Colts are favored to win this game by about 3 points, but odds aside, there are some minor concerns about the state of the Colts team entering this game.

While Peyton Manning looked to show his best stuff and Reggie Wayne received for over 160 yards in game 1, the bigger issue at stake is the absence of Anthony Gonzalez. With Marvin Harrison no longer an option for Peyton, the Colts will hurt out wide with Gonzalez injured on the sideline.

Peyton Manning looked great during the first week of the NFL season, there’s no doubt about that. He connected with Reggie Wayne like they did in 2007, and made use of the rest of his receivers too. However, Anthony Gonzalez, the team’s number two wide receiver, was forced out of the game with injury and will probably miss the remainder of the year as a result. Since the team no longer has Marvin Harrison, this is ample cause for concern.

This is a tough loss for a Colts team that is suddenly not too deep at the wide receiver position for the first time in several years.

Keeping NFL teams from scoring, on average, less then 20 points per game gives the Colts the opportunity to win every single game with Manning leading the way.

The Monday night game at Miami is a must win for the Indianapolis Colts. Expect Manning to rise to the occasion, that’s usually what he does!

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