It happens every year around this time. Everybody wants to take what we've seen so far in the NFL and use it to predict how the postseason picture is going to come into focus.
That old saying is starting to crop up: "If the playoffs started today, then ..."
Well, if the playoffs started today, we would say, a) "Why are they starting in the middle of the week?" and b) "What happened to the second half of the season?"
As another unpredictable Sunday reminded us, it's too early to draw any solid conclusions about which teams will rise and fall in the second half.
That Arizona and Seattle played to a 6-6 tie, with both kickers missing chip shots in overtime, is almost beyond belief.
Or what about Miami's Jay Ajayi running for a combined 418 yards in 54 carries the last two weeks?
"He makes it hard to go away from the run, because it's just positive plays so many times," Dolphins coach Adam Gase said Monday, still basking in the afterglow of a 28-25 win over Buffalo. "You just know if we're in third down, it's going to be third-and-manageable."
There's the synchronicity of Indianapolis kicker Adam Vinatieri, the NFL's oldest active player at 43, making his 43rd consecutive field-goal attempt, the longest such streak in league history. He made both of his tries Sunday against Tennessee to break the record of 42 held by former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt.
It's surprising, too, that with the regular season nearing the midway point, only one team, Philadelphia, has returned a kickoff for a touchdown. And the Eagles have done it in back-to-back weeks. Wendell Smallwood ran one back 86 yards in Week 6, and Josh Huff had a 98-yarder in the Eagles' 21-10 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
Philadelphia is the first club since Kansas City in 2013 to have kickoff-return touchdowns by different players in consecutive weeks.
