Anyway the Carolina Panthers, expected to be one of the worst teams this year, is now 7-6, and just beat the best team in football.

They are chasing a declining Tampa team which just managed to squeak by the shitty Falcons at home.

Tampa is 1/2 game ahead due to a bye, and also has the tiebreaker.

Several surprising situations so far in the NFL:

- 49ers 9-4 despite Purdy being in and out of the lineup

- Bears are leading the AFC North at 9-3 after 12 games. Still impressive even considering their easy schedule.

- Lions are just 7-5 and headed in the wrong direction.

- Baltimore started out shitty, then beat some failteams, now is shitty again, and sits at 6-6, possibly to be a game behind Pittsburgh at the end of the day.

- Speaking of the Steelers, they've been way better than I expected, as has ancient Aaron Rodgers (and he's playing hurt today!)

- Jacksonville, thought to be a clear bottom-half team, is 8-4 and tied with Indy in the AFC South.

- New England has the best record in the NFL after 12 games.

- Kansas City has regressed big time, and might miss the playoffs. Poor Taylor!


There's also a LOT of really bad teams this year -- the Jets (despite their win today), Raiders, Browns, Titans (absolutely horrendous), Giants (and seem to be getting worse), and Saints (awful). None of these teams are a surprise regarding being shitty, but several are a lot worse than I expected.

That's why so 898 people made it to Thanksgiving in Survivor -- about 5% of the field. There were a lot of reliable failteams to fade. It took Thanksgiving's all-favorite-carnage to wipe the field down to something small.