i'm not that surprised by the texans... i had a feeling schaub would be good, and they've added so many good pieces over the years that they were bound to turn the corner eventually.
the chargers? not surprised there, either. rivers is still very unproven, and despite his uncanny ability to choke it away come playoff time, marty schottenheimer > norv turner. turner's just a joke... and the fake LT (there shall be only one LT
) is a bit of a pansy ass.
the bears? they're not surprising either... they're actually right where they should be... great, great, great defense, incredibly shitty offense. the bears really should have looked into either schaub or garcia this offseason. perhaps they saw what happened to the ravens when they got rid of their super bowl QB the following season and it scared them away (although dilfer's better than grossman but still). put the bears and giants together and we're going to the super bowl
the biggest surprises to me are the packers success and the saints lack of success. i wasn't all over the saints super bowl bandwagon like some people but i certainly wasn't expecting them to tank (then again, it's early).
and there are only two things that could stop the Pats this year.
1. injury
2. the patriots
seriously... they were a second half choke/comeback from winning the super bowl last year, and they vastly improved every single weak spot they had. everyone else is playing for second place.