NFL Liquor Cabinet Week 7

For the entire NFL season, we will be breaking down the rest of the NFL not named Green Bay by looking at it like a liquor cabinet. Why did we choose this method? I like to booze and it makes things really easy to determine what's great, average and poor. 

TOP SHELF
Andrew Luck carries the Colts - This is another week where we are talking about Indianapolis beating an elite team. If this were the BCS, Indianapolis would be rated in the top three for their wins against Seattle, San Francisco and Denver. They have a better defense than people give them credit for with Robert Mathis beasting against the entire league right now. Luck will be without Reggie Wayne for the season which hurts their offense in a big way, but if Trent Richardson can figure it out, this could become an even more dangerous team. Colts owner Jim Irsay seemed pleased with the win. (H/T @cjzero for the GIF)

Pittsburgh back?! - The Steelers have notched back-to-back wins after beating Baltimore yesterday, 19-16. It was a classic Steelers win where Ben Roethlisberger does just enough to win the football game, a dash of good running for Le'Von Bell and good defense. The Steelers are only two games back from Cincinnati and could definitely be back in this dance if they could get to 4-4. It will be difficult with heading to Oakland and New England.

Andy Dalton silences the haterz - I am not ready to crown Andy Dalton's ass here, but it is still nice to see Dalton show the ability to make some big time plays on a Sunday afternoon. Dalton did finally hook it up with A.J. Green in a big way among other players as well.  Now Detroit's secondary is no other worldly, but they have been much improved this season. But let's settle down thinking Dalton figured it out. Let's see if this can continue for another week.

San Diego and San Francisco cruise in road wins - We do not usually do this for the Liquor Cabinet but it is fair to group them together. Both West Coast teams headed out to the AFC South and won the games with ease. Not much else to say, the Chargers and Niners beat teams that they were supposed to on Sunday afternoon.

MIDDLE SHELF
Cowboys defense comes up big -  Yes I realize they were facing Matt Barkley for a majority of the game, but at the same time, they did a pretty damn good job at containing the explosive Eagles offense. Let's remember this Dallas team gave up 50+ points two weeks ago and now they have only given up 19 in their last two games. Interested to see how they do against Detroit's offense next week.

What do we make of Buffalo? - This might be an above average football team. I pointed out in the picks they feel like a team who will not get blown out but this team has a good enough defense to keep them in every game. Additionally, they will get Stephen Gilmore back at some point in November and maybe Jairus Byrd will come back as well making that defense even stronger. Buffalo has a brutal schedule in the coming weeks playing on the road against New Orleans and a home game against Kansas City.

RGIII looks better, but pump the breaks on Washington - It seems like we are starting to see Robert Griffin III round into form with another strong performance. He had 298 yards with only eleven incompletions with two passing touchdowns as well as 84 yards on the ground on eleven carries. Chicago's defense is nothing to write home about though. They are not strong whatsoever as they are missing pieces all over the field. RGIII is better but Washington's defense is still crap. Until they can fix the defense, this team is destined for eight wins or worse.

Case Keenum... Competent quarterback? - You know what he did not look half bad on Sunday. He looks like Houston's best thing running right now and I would start him again in two weeks in primetime against Indianapolis. They really have no better options right now. I realize Matt Schaub is techinically the quarterback in town, but Keenum looked better than Schaub did against the league's best defense. No reason for him to get snubbed.

Not sold on Carolina just yet - I want to buy in to Carolina so damn bad, but I cannot get there yet.  A lot of it has to do with their blowout loss to Arizona. I keep coming back to that game when thinking about this Carolina team. Their defense looks like one of the best in the league, but still, they need to show just a little more before I can become truly convinced this is a good team.

BOTTOM SHELF
Time to panic about New England and Tom Brady - Maybe I went a bit too far when New England beat Atlanta. They do not seem well. Tom Brady is not looking like the same quarterback. People have been saying it but it is honestly true.  I have no idea if it has to do with the lack of his receivers or it is just Brady getting old. New England is on thin ice.

Everyone is injured - It is really a shame to see how many good players got hurt this week. I will probably go with Jay Cutler as being the most important with Reggie Wayne coming in a close second. Chicago is going from Cutler to Luke f----- McCown. He will not be a quarterback to save the Bears especially seeing as they do not have a defense. Wayne is the biggest leader for Indianapolis, but they have some solid corps behind him yet they are no Reggie

Minnesota, New York, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay... The battle for number one - These four teams are the worst in football by far. If you had to rank them, Jacksonville is the worst with Tampa Bay coming in second, Minnesota maybe next and New York probably coming in fourth. It should be funny to see these teams trying their best to spin to the bottom of the drain.

Charlie.