After a day that saw the NFC get tipped upside down by several teams, the AFC is in the spotlight on Sunday Night Football. While the Falcons and Cardinals are tentatively sitting at the forefront of the NFC (umm, what?), the Patriots and Ravens are both looking to establish their own power in the AFC. The Texans would seem to be the team to beat at the moment, but the Ravens and Patriots will both could have something to say about that by the end of the season.
The NFL continues to keep us on our toes three weeks into the season. Just when it looks like teams are establishing themselves as the "team to beat", something happens to leave us shaking our heads. Right now Houston and Atlanta would seem to be the best teams "right now". Of course, as we saw today, the "best team" in the league can change in a matter of hours.
All of these teams are likely to be in the hunt at the end of the season, so that "best team" tag holds very little value right now. And that is why I am not quite so distressed about the 49ers loss. It was a huge disappointment and embarrassing to a certain extent, but it is one game early in the season. Now, if the 49ers do not get their act together next week against the Jets, then I can see the concern rising a bit. For now though, this is simply a game from which the 49ers had best draw a lesson.
For the rest of tonight though, let's enjoy a little AFC action. I've been high on Joe Flacco since the Ravens decided to go with more no-huddle, and he gets a chance to prove what he can do tonight. The Patriots defense is not great, but if this game gets into any kind of shootout, he'll get a chance to trade blows with Tom Brady.