Forget Carrie Underwood. Well http://www.patriotslockerroom.com/authentic-lawrence-guy-jersey , don’t forget her, she’s terrific.But the NFL’s theme song these days belongs to Maren Morris, Zedd and Grey. You know, “Meet Me In The Middle.”That’s where a bevy of NFL teams sat through Week 14 — all with shots, both reasonable and long, at making the playoffs.Take a deep breath and consider:—Seattle and Dallas at 8-5.—Pittsburgh at 7-5-1.—Indianapolis, Baltimore, Tennessee and Miami at 7-6.—Minnesota at 6-6-1.—Philadelphia, Carolina, Denver and Washington at 6-7.—Green Bay and Cleveland at 5-7-1.And, yes, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Cincinnati and the New York Giants at 5-8.All are alive for the postseason.Even Atlanta, at 4-9, if you can imagine Andre Tippett Jersey , isn’t eliminated.Just what the league loves heading toward Christmas: charity for nearly all.So let first-year Titans coach Mike Vrabel play the Grinch, trying to ignore any playoff chatter as his team heads to the Meadowlands to face the Giants.“We haven’t talked much. We try to eliminate all the scenarios,” he says. “The only scenario that we try to focus on is our preparation right now as we head into a road game against the Giants.“You could talk about scenarios all day. There’s scenarios where the Dolphins give up two punt blocks and score on a 70-yard hook-and-ladder; a scenario where a player jumps offside on a third-and-1 in a four-minute situation; a situation where a team executes a 50-yard hook-and-ladder and then the kicker slips. Those are all the scenarios that are crazy that happen in this league every week, so the one we’re going to try to focus on is our preparation versus the Giants.”Fair enough, because all of the playoff-qualifying scenarios for this week are enough to spark a migraine.The questions that should be raised are:—Is all of this competitive balance or simply mediocrity? Oasis or swamp?—Is it good for the NFL that such spiraling messes as the Falcons and Bengals remain in the running?—Do people really want to see a .500 (or worse) team playing in January, perhaps against a 14-2 opponent?LEVEL OF PERFORMANCENearly all the teams in the middle of the standings belong there. It’s fair to point out that the Redskins, Bengals and Falcons have been severely damaged by injuries — hey, Cincinnati was once 4-1 and Washington held the top spot in the NFC East until its current four-game slide.Still, there’s a flawed bunch of “contenders” for the playoffs. They are profiting because they are keeping company with equally blemished clubs.All of them have had impressive stretches and pretty much unwatchable ones, though Seattle and Dallas probably don’t deserve to be lumped with the stragglers because they seem to be legitimate threats to do something in January.What’s missing with the others is the consistency that the top teams possess. Look at the Colts, who went from 1-1 to 1-5, then won five in a row, only to get blanked at lowly Jacksonville before going to Houston, the league’s hottest team, and winning.FORGET THEMDo fans in Atlanta and Cincinnati and Washington envision any sort of turnaround in the final three games that would lift those teams into the postseason? Do those clubs’ front offices?They shouldn’t, even as the NFL boasts that 26 teams still have a shot at the Super Bowl.One likely good thing about such deficient teams being in the running in mid-December is that it should cool talk of expanding the playoff field — something that virtually would guarantee impostors getting in.MISMATCHESOnce in a while Womens Irving Fryar Jersey , a team scrapes into the postseason and catches fire. Wild-carders have won the Super Bowl often enough to keep that dream alive once you get in.But should, say, a 7-8-1 Packers or 8-8 Lions sneak in, does that make for must-watch TV in the playoffs? Is a game with 8-8 Miami at 12-4 Houston enticing?SEEDINGSWhat is nice about the chase in December is the intrigue of seedings. The general feeling in the AFC is that avoiding a trip to Foxborough in January is necessary. So, the other division winners not only want and likely need to win their games, they’re hoping the Patriots, currently seeded second, don’t win out. Kansas City tops the conference right now, but barely.The NFC is a two-team race for the top spot between the Saints and Rams, who met in a high-scoring affair won by host New Orleans in early November. Both are 11-2, making their final three weeks critical in that race.And then they have the prospect of sitting out wild-card weekend while a team or two emerging from the quagmire stokes up its fan base before probably getting routed. Revisiting the ground leaders from New England’s recent preseason memory." Patriots AnalysisPatriots Offseason CoveragePatriots’ rushing leaders over last five preseasonsNew,8commentsRevisiting the ground leaders from New England’s recent preseason memory.EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Patriots’ rushing leaders over last five preseasonsTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Al Pereira/Getty ImagesWho’s led the New England Patriots’ rushing attack over the last five preseasons?A motley crew that doesn’t include the likes of Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars or Tommy Lee.But here’s a glance back on the running backs – and quarterback – who’ve topped New England’s charts before the 2019 exhibition schedule hits the road against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Aug. 8.Meetings with the Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers and New York Giants will follow.And so will another summer’s worth of carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns for the archives.CARRIES2014: Jonas Gray – 372015: LeGarrette Blount – 312016: Tyler Gaffney – 352017: Dion Lewis – 182018: Ralph Webb – 31Gray finished the 2014 preseason with as many carries as he’d soon amass during his 201-yard Color Rush Hjalte Froholdt Jersey , four-touchdown showing versus the Indianapolis Colts that sent him onto the cover of Sports Illustrated. As for Gaffney, the dual-drafted Stanford Cardinal once claimed off waivers, his 35 carries in the summer of 2016 rank second in recent Patriots memory. Gaffney had a subsequent stop in training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The former MLB 24th-rounder returned to baseball last year as an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Class A-Advanced Bradenton Marauders, and later the Double-A Altoona Curve, before announcing his retirement this February.RUSHING YARDS2014: Jonas Gray – 1422015: James White – 712016: Tyler Gaffney – 1522017: Dion Lewis – 772018: Danny Etling – 120With the help of his 86-yard naked bootleg in the 2018 preseason finale at MetLife Stadium, Etling surpassed veteran Jeremy Hill for New England’s lead in rushing yards. “One of the most exciting plays I’ve seen in preseason, I’ll say,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick offered postgame. “Danny’s a little faster than maybe we thought he was.” Etling, taken in the seventh round via Purdue and LSU last spring, spent the duration of his rookie season on the New England practice squad before signing a futures contract. He’s now one of four quarterbacks in the fold for training camp after the war room selected Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham at No. 133 overall in April.RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS2014: Roy Finch – 12015: James White, Dion Lewis – 12016: LeGarrette Blount – 22017: Mike Gillislee – 12018: Ralph Webb – 2Only Blount and Webb have walked away with a pair of ground touchdowns over the last half-decade of Patriots preseason football. Blount proceeded to set a single-season franchise record with 18 rushing scores in 2016 before moving on to the Philadelphia Eagles and Lions. Webb, meanwhile, began his rookie year on New England’s practice squad before latching on with the practice squads of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers. An undrafted rookie out of Vanderbilt who’d also posted a receiving TD and a pair of two-point conversions during his stay with the Patriots, Webb agreed to a futures deal with Pittsburgh in January.