Nick Barnett is sort of mad at that ref

I didn't really think much of Nick Barnett being taken down by an NFL ref this past weekend. It only registered for about a second before I moved on to more important things, like figuring out how a perpetually drunk Kyle Orton could lead the Bears to such an impressive victory.

I was ready to forget about Barnett, and most importantly, his embarrassing moment.

But Barnett won't let me do that.

That's because his agent told ESPN on Wednesday that the linebacker will file a grievance against linebacker-killer Jim Quirk.

The league told Quirk he went "over the line" when he pulled Barnett down in an attempt to break up a skirmish, according to an NFL report. The league also warned Quirk, but has said there will be no punishment.

Barnett's agent said to ESPN, "This guy puts his arm around Nick's throat ... he should get more than a warning. If Nick pushes (Quirk) to the ground just as a response, he'd be suspended and fined a couple of hundred grand."

While that may be correct, I like how Barnett's agent decided that continually reminding the public about his client's most embarrassing moment as a pro athlete is critically important.

I guess if that's how he wants it, then I'll grant him that wish and always remember Nick Barnett as the linebacker who got violated by a ref during a football game.

Because I'm sure that's exactly what Barnett wants.

-WCK

David Garrard: 1920s Crimefighter

Here's David Garrard doing his best Eliot Ness impersonation after beating the Steelers. Once the press conference finished he and 10 other Jags players stopped the flow of illegal hooch into Pittsburgh.

Here's Eliot Garrard in action.
Lady Liquor stands no chance against him and his men.

-WCK

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

One college football note before NFL stuff. So Rich Rodriguez is going to Michigan. That should be perfect. Instead of losing killer games at the end of the season to crappy teams, he'll lose killer games at the end of the season to Ohio State. Good choice Michigan.

Ok, on to NFL stuff.

1. I'm not sure there's anything else Brian Billick can do to get fired. He ended my dream of watching the Dolphins go 0-16, and I'll never forgive him for that. He also should be fired for not going for it on 4th and goal at the end of regulation. What in the hell are you playing for? You're not making the playoffs, just go for it you idiot. It also seems like after the game against the Pats, the Ravens could absolutely care less about this season, and with Billick as their coach I can't blame them. How else do you explain losing to the Fins? If Billick still has a job after this season ends, I'll be real surprised. The loss yesterday should be the final nail in the coffin. By the way, the Dolphins celebrated like they won the Super Bowl after beating the Ravens. Kind of embarrassing guys, you're pros who've won one game.

2. Speaking of teams quitting, I think we can now add the Lions to that list. They didn't even get off the plane in San Diego. Getting beaten 51-14 on the road when you still have an outside shot at the playoffs says "We're planning offseason tee times."

3. I rip on Eli Manning a lot, but I can't do that after what happened last night. His receivers dropped NINE passes, about 6 or 7 of which a physically disabled kid could have caught. Sure there was some wind, but seriously, Brandon Jacobs needs to learn how to catch a damn ball. By the way, Shockey being done for the season also really hurts this team. It also hurts his New Year's plans as well, I'm sure.

4. The Pats actually have a running game. It seemed to me the Pats were, of late, becoming incredibly predictable. Pass, Pass, Pass. Just like those Colts teams from a few years back that kept losing in the playoffs. And Sunday was the best chance for someone to beat the Pats given the elements. But they rode Maroney to victory. I know some people think Maroney is sort of a soft back, but I think it's just that the Pats have ignored him for about half the season. He's more than a decent running back. Still, the Pats might have some trouble in the playoffs if they wind up in a game where it's snowing and the passing game becomes pretty limited. Both the Steelers and the Colts have better running games than the Patriots and could make them pay in such a game.

5. The Browns look prepared to get back to the playoffs. The win over Buffalo was absolutely critical, seeing as the Titans also managed to win to get to 8-6 to stay alive for the wild card. Provided the Browns win one of their last two games, they'll in all likelyhood make the playoffs - and they can clinch if they win next week. If that happends, they should be the second best story in the NFL this year aside from the Patriots' run. Considering the Browns play the Bengals and the 49ers in back-to-back weeks, it may even be safe to say right now they'll make the playoffs. But one major question is, what do the Browns do with Brady Quinn? Romeo Crennel won't be starting Quinn next year with how well Derek Anderson has played this year. Plus, Derek Anderson is no longer on a short leash either. So even if he has a bad game or two, you won't be seeing Crennel looking to yank him for Quinn. Right now, I'm sure the Browns will hang on to Quinn for at least another season, but if Anderson has another good year next year, why not trade Quinn to get some defensive help? The Browns seem to have found themselves in the position the Chargers were in several years ago with Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. And something tells me the Chargers wish they still had Brees instead of Rivers. Cleveland definitely has something in Anderson, and with the way first round QBs have fared in the NFL - pretty much a total crapshoot - there's no guarantee Quinn will be any good at all. I'm on the Derek Anderson train, and my guess is Crennel is too. Unless Anderson craps out next year, I'd look to ship Quinn out in the not too distant future.

6. Matt Moore has to be one of the worst career passer rating QBs to ever start and win a game. He had a career passer rating below 22 heading into Sunday's game, yet passed for over 200 yards with no INTs and his team got the win. Is the NFL really that bad this year that something like this can happen? Yes.

7. The Packers relatively easy win over the Rams seems to say something about how bad the NFC is. I know everyone knows that the NFC is awful this year, but this game seemed to show it in more detail. Favre threw two picks (which seemed appropriate given how he also passed Marino), no receiver had a 100-yard game, Ryan Grant ran for under 60-yards and lost a fumble, and yet Green Bay won pretty easily. Even though Green Bay has a great defense, I still found the end result of the game somewhat surprising. I guess the basement of the NFC really is that bad. But is the top - aside from the Packers game - really that much better? On Sunday the Seahawks took a dive against the Panthers, who had Matt "career passer rating 21.2" Moore starting, the Giants lost at home to the Redskins, and the Cowboys lost to Philly at home too. The Cowboys also haven't looked real good since they beat Green Bay. I know I'm not exactly going out on a limb by saying whoever wins the AFC is going to win the Super Bowl, but right now, that seems inevitable rather than highly likely.

8. Anyone else wonder if Jessica Simpson has something to do with the Cowboys stinking of late? Just throwing that out there.

9. And just to continue on about how bad the NFC is, the Saints have a decent shot of making the playoffs. No team that started 0-4 has ever made the playoffs, but the Saints may do it. If that doesn't explain this entire NFL season in a nutshell, I don't know what else does.

10. The Jaguars took a huge step forward by beating the Steelers yesterday. People have been harping on them a bit for not beating a lot of winning teams, but the Steelers are a seriously legit team to beat. Plus the Jags beat them in Pittsburgh. What's crazy is that the Jags are going to be a wild card team. I sure as hell wouldn't want to play them in the first round. Also, I mention this every week, but it's true - Jack Del Rio can't get enough credit for choosing David Garrard over Leftwich. Just a great move. Garrard has 16 TDs and 2 picks this year. Just a great season for him. No way this team is 10-4 if they had stuck with Leftwich.

11. Even though I didn't watch Thursday's game, I think it's time people start stepping up and apologize to Mario Williams. He wasn't as bad a #1 pick as people made him out to be. He's had a better year than Vince Young and a ridiculously better year than Reggie Bush. I can understand people who say the Texans still should have drafted Vince Young, but at least Mario's play of late makes where he was drafted understandable. It's incredibly hard to find gifted pass rushers like Williams, so the Texans - in the end - may have been smarter than us all. That said though, there's still plenty of time left in all these guys' careers. We'll come back to this debate time and time again.

12. Lane Kiffin may ultimately be a pretty good coach. The Raiders played a real gutsy game against the Colts yesterday. That says something. Anytime you're 4-9 and you come into a game against a team like the Colts and give them everything they can handle, that speaks well of your team and coach. The thing was that a week prior, the Raiders looked like crap against the Packers. They could have just packed it in for the remainder of the season, and with a young coach like Kiffin you can easily see that happening. But Kiffin had them prepared for the Colts and they gave them a real game. It'll be interesting to see what the Raiders can do next year with JaMarcus Russell at QB. This team looks like it's pretty close to becoming relevant again.

13. I think Atlanta may be the worst team in football. And Chris Redman was 4/15 for 34 yards and 2 INTs. That's gotta be, what, a -32.7 passer rating? Atlanta really didn't think anyone could do better than him? Warrick Dunn could have done a better job than Redman. God, the Falcons are horrendous.

-WCK

Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch gets his own comic

You may remember that classic answer that Bay Area legend Marshawn Lynch gave during an NFL Draft camp when asked to describe his attitude: "Beast Mode! On the field."

It seems the Bills hired a comic book illustrator to Beast Mode Marshawn up for one of the Bills' recent home games and ran the flip-book comic on the scoreboard.

Here's hoping this becomes an actual comic. A mild-mannered Marshawn spends his time as an Applebee's regular who just so happens to turn into into gold-toothed, linebacker killing machine every Sunday.

Solid. Way too solid.

-WCK

The problem is not Reggie Bush, it's the NFL

Before the 2006 NFL Draft, there was a scout who said that if Reggie Bush failed as a pro football player, it would be because there was something wrong with the NFL.

Two years into Bush's career - since he's likely done for the season - it isn't looking particularly good. Bush has only rushed for 1146 yards through two years at 3.7 yards per rush. I should, however, also mention that he has 1159 yards receiving in those two years, which means he's not one dimensional. But his tendency to drop passes, along with being fumble-prone (7 times this year), is discouraging.

Even teammates are starting to sour on him a bit, as was made clear by AOL Fanhouse. The easy answer is that Bush needs to concentrate more, work harder, etc., etc. The more truthful answer is that he needed Deuce McAllister healthy to help him carry the load.

But there may also be another answer as to why he's struggling. And that is that there may actually be a problem with the NFL.

Bush is most often compared to Gale Sayers, who had a brief, but brilliant, NFL career. Sayers, like Bush, is 6-feet tall, and played at approximately the same weight as Bush currently does - 200 lbs. The problem for Bush, however, is that the NFL he plays in is not the same NFL that Sayers played in.

When Gale Sayers played pro football (1965-1971), there wasn't a single 300-lb. lineman in the game. In 1990, there were 39 players who weighed 300 lbs. or more. Today, there are over 300 guys in the league who tilt the scales at 300 lbs. or more. And not only that, they're faster and stronger than they used to be. Plus, Gale Sayers never had to face a guy clogging the running lanes like Broncos D-Tackle Sam Adams, who is politely listed at 350-lbs.

And it's not just guys that are over 300-lbs. that are a problem. It's also linebackers who weigh 240 lbs. or more and have ridiculous speed.

Shawne Merriman is listed at 6-4, 272-lbs. and supposedly runs the 40 in 4.6. The average linebacker in the NFL right now according to the Elias Sports Bureau weighs 242-lbs. Dick Butkus (1965-1973), one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history and considered an absolute monster in his day, was 6-3, 244-lbs., which would make him an average sized linebacker in today's NFL.

The truth is that everyone who plays in the NFL is a physical freak to some degree, since that's what the job demands. It's always been that way. But, over time, people who play in the NFL have become more than just physical freaks, they've become pharmalogically modified freaks.

Zach Thomas of the Dolphins is, by all accounts, a very small linebacker by NFL standards. He's 5-11, 230 lbs. Meaning he outweighs me by more than 60-lbs. even though we're the same height. But those extra 60-lbs. aren't fat. They're primarily muscle. Needless to say, that's unnatural.

We've seen guys like Merriman, Julius Peppers, Rodney Harrison, and countless other individuals receive suspensions for either steroids or HGH or God only knows what. We've also seen guys like Brian Urlacher morph from a college safety into a 258-lb. linebacker at the pro level. This kind of pharmalogical modification isn't the exception anymore - it's basically the rule.

And that, frankly, is what Reggie Bush is up against. An NFL that is no longer dominated by those with sheer talent, but by those with sheer talent who also have chemicals coursing through their veins.

While Tiki Barber and Barry Sanders both excelled in the NFL as small backs, they were shorter than Bush (Sanders: 5-8, Barber: 5-10) and weighed slightly more than he did (Sanders: 203, Barber: 205). They also not so surprisingly retired early to avoid the physical toll of playing in a juiced-up league. Bush may ultimately have to become a receiver in the mold of Wes Welker if he wants to have a significant impact in the pros.

But what's clear is that Bush would have been an every-down back in the days of Gale Sayers. In today's NFL, he can't be that, and it isn't his fault.

He was just born 40 years later than he should have been.

-WCK

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

At least there were some pretty good games on Sunday. Of course, not where I live. Both the Raiders and 49ers were blown out, which is why I went to a sports bar. Because I like to watch real football. Also, that guy on the Steelers, his prediction work out so well. But that was blown out of proportion. The sentence after he predicted the win he said, "If we do X, Y, and Z, then we'll win." Nothing like the media blowing stuff out of proportion.

On to what we learned.

1. As good as the Pats are this year, they could be ridiculously better next year. The fact of the matter is that the Pats have the 49ers 1st round pick for next year. If the 49ers wind up being the second worst team in the NFL, which seems pretty good considering they have someone playing quarterback that I think I repeatedly beat up in high school, then the Pats will have the second pick in the draft. Considering Miami desperately needs a QB, guess who could fall into the Pats lap. Darren McFadden, which would pretty much solve their running game problem. That's scary.

2. Looks like we're going to have 16-0 and 0-16 season this year. The Pats have the Jets, Dolphins and Giants left. We know they're going to beat the Jets and Dolphins. And while some people say they might lay an egg against the Giants because they'll have nothing to play for, I disagree. When you're 15-0, you want to win that last one to make it perfect. The Dolphins, meanwhile, have Baltimore, New England, and Cincinnatti. For some reason, people think they can beat the Bengals. Why? The Bengals still have a pretty good offense that's healthy while the Dolphins have no defense and no offense. Regardless of how bad the Bengals defense is, it doesn't really matter if you're playing a team that can't find any way to score. 16-0 and 0-16 look inevitable at this point.

3. It appears that the Packers definitely have a running game that isn't going away. I kept thinking Ryan Grant was going to crap out at some point, but he hasn't. In fact, he's gotten better. Yesterday he was a one-man wrecking crew carrying 29 times for 156 yards and a score. And who the hell is he? Well, he went to Notre Dame, but I don't remember him at all. He was also undrafted, yet he's running like a first rounder right now. I don't know what to say, except that the Pack desperately needed a running game this year and they found it in Grant, who is the definition of a diamond in the rough.

4. The Vikings are the most dangerous 7-6 team I've ever seen. They also were the most dangerous 6-6 team I had ever seen coming into Sunday. With Tarvaris Jackson playing well, combined with that devastating running attack, this team scares the crap out of me. Right now, Minnesota is sitting 6th in the NFC. But I think they can beat anyone in the NFC, including Dallas. I would not want to run into this team in the playoffs. They also proved on Sunday that even if you can stop Purple Jesus, you've got to stop Chester Taylor as well. The 49ers did a hell of a job on Peterson, and with the exception of one run by Taylor, they did a good job stopping him as well. But that one 84-yeard run by Taylor was a killer. The odds of shutting down both Purple Jesus and Taylor is basically impossible, and when you combine that with Jackson playing well, you've got one dangerous team.

5. The Chargers' win over the Titans should be the kind of victory that gives this team a ton of confidence to win the remainder of their games and make a serious playoff run. Of course, to make a serious playoff run, they have to avoid the Pats, but that's certainly possible given that there are three games remaining and the playoff seeding isn't finalized yet. But the problem with this Chargers team is that they're too unpredictable. I thought their win over Indy would spur them on, but then they lost to Jacksonville the following week. Still, a good win over the Titans.

6. Speaking of the Titans, Vince Young seems to be doing his best Eli Manning impression of late. Last week he was great against Houston, then this week he throws two picks. Is it possible that Mario Williams was actually the right choice as the #1 pick of the 2006 draft? Well, Reggie Bush has been terrible this year while VY has been a pick machine who's killed his team at times. Meanwhile, Mario's had a pretty good year for the Texans. This debate isn't anywhere near over, but right now, the Texans appear to be smarter than most people would probably give them credit for.

7. I can't be the only one that thinks the Giants are winning DESPITE Eli Manning, right? Even though he didn't throw a pick yesterday, he missed a ridiculously wide open Shockey in the end zone. He's got to complete that pass. Plus his QB rating is still below 80 for the season, which is not good. Even funnier is how on a weekly basis we hear announcers talk about how Eli keeps improving and how he's making progress. He's in his FOURTH YEAR! You're talking about him like he's a rookie. He isn't one. If the Giants are smart, they'll draft a QB in next year's draft to either light a fire under Manning's ass or to replace him. Hopefully replace him. Because with a good QB, this team would have the ability to seriously contend every season in the NFC.

8. I love them Cleveland Browns. They've given us quite an exciting season. We've gotten to see Braylon Edwards turn into one of the best receivers in the game, K2 similarly become one of the best tight ends in the game, and we've gotten to see Derek Anderson create a permanent bench seat for Brady Quinn. Not only that, but this season saved Romeo Crennel's job. Which is a good thing. Crennel is a good coach who got stuck with a lousy team when he first arrived in Cleveland. If he hadn't produced this year, I'm convinced he was going to get fired. Now, I think he could have a very long career as a head coach. Anyway, Cleveland's season has basically already been a huge success. And sure, if they make the playoffs they won't go far. But just getting there would be a huge accomplishment.

9. The Colts are the second best team in the AFC, and maybe all of football, but their special teams stink. I know there are arguments out there about how Vinatieri isn't a great kicker. That's debatable. What isn't debatable is that Vinatieri is one of the worst kickoff guys in football. He doesn't get the ball deep, never gets touchbacks, and teams consistently start well past the 20-yard line when he kicks. Combine that with crappy coverage and we start to see a huge weakness in the Colts. Hunter Smith is a bit different. He isn't a bad punter, his coverage team just isn't very good. What this all adds up to is that the Colts have given up 7 kickoffs or punts for touchdowns in the last two seasons, which is the most in football, and that doesn't include Hester's opening kickoff return in the Super Bowl. This is a glaring deficiency for the Colts, and I wouldn't be surprised if it killed them at some point in the playoffs. Remember, special teams was a huge part of what killed them in that horrible loss to the Chargers - a team they could face again in the playoffs.

10. Judging by how Baltimore played last night, I'd say they pretty much spent all their energy in the Patriots game last week.

11. I thought the Lions could potentially revive their season if they had beaten the Cowboys yesterday. And they should have beaten the Cowboys. But like the Lions pretty much always do, they blew it. It's kind of sad to see this team, at one point 6-2, drop 5 straight. But, in retrospect, even if they don't win another game this year, 6 wins will be a pretty good season in Detroit. I think Millen deserves another extension.

-WCK

What we learned from the weekend's football action

That's one bleak future.

I don't think there's a lot of point in talking about college football from this weekend. It's a disaster. And LSU v. Ohio State is ok, I guess. People can argue forever about who should be playing in the national championship, but it doesn't really matter. The truth is there really is no national champion this year. I'm just glad that Hawaii made a BCS game. But they went undefeated against a crap schedule, people say. Yes, but they tried to schedule some big non-conference games - like Michigan. Michigan didn't want to play them. So hey, if no one wants to play Hawaii, and they go undefeated, let's let them play one of the big boys and see how they do, just like Boise State. It only seems fair.

On to more important things, like pro football. By the way, this was not the best of weekends for games. But anyway, on to what we learned from the weekend (and the Thursday game) of pro football.

1. You might as well just write the Dolphins down for 0-16 at this point. An awful lot of people thought that if there was any game they were going to win this year, it was going to be this one against the Jets. Instead, they got blown out in the second half. I honestly can't remember a team anywhere near as bad as the Dolphins in my lifetime. They literally have nothing at this point. No quarterback, no running game, no defense, nothing. I'm not even sure pride can save them at this point, because right now I actually think a hot college team like USC could hang with the Dolphins for a period about a half or three quarters. If people are starting to wonder if a college team could beat you when you're a pro team, you're really awful.

2. Making the forced out of bounds call reviewable would probably be bad for football. Even though I'm mad as hell that Cleveland lost a game that they technically won, making a play like that reviewable puts you on a slippery slope. Because then you could argue that we should also make pass interference and holding calls reviewable as well. That's the problem with the "let's make this play reviewable" argument. Then technically we should make everything reviewable and games would last 5 or 6 hours. Of course, when Cleveland beat the Ravens, they technically reviewed a play they shouldn't have on the field goal. So in other words, the NFL has no clue what the hell it's doing. Truthfully, I've never been totally happy with the whole instant replay deal. I think it's necessary, but it's not infallible, and there are a lot of scenarios where you think to yourself "this really should be reviewable", but you know that if it was reviewable, games would last forever. It's a crappy system that needs reform, but what exactly that is remains a bit of mystery.

3. As much as it pains me to say this, Joe Gibbs has lost it. He's now fully responsible for two Redskins loses and arguably a third. I know the team had its mind on Sean Taylor yesterday, but they had a good chance to win as well, and Gibbs pretty much gave the game to the Bills. What's terrible is that Gibbs is a 3-time Super Bowl champion and made a mistake that is completely inexcusable. I hate to say it, but an awful lot of people know that you can't call back-to-back timeouts. It's not exactly some obscure rule.

4. Just when you think Eli's about to get benched, he manages to survive yet again. Quite frankly, he's horrible. The way the Giants are winning is defense and a good running game. Eli isn't even managing games well. This is winning DESPITE him. That's really all you can say. Imagine this Giants team with Romo. They'd be a lot better than 8-4. Meanwhile, it was interesting to see Rex play pretty well across the line. He played much better than Eli, yet his team lost. It's funny how this game came out. Eli was beyond dreadful except the last two drives but gets the win and survives for another week when he really shouldn't. Rex lost, but it wasn't his fault. I think my brain's going to explode.

5. Purple Jesus is my hero. He had 15 carries for 116 and 2 TDs and made some ridiculous moves in the game. My theory is he magically healed himself last week when no one was watching, because he didn't look like he was ever injured at all. Also, Tavaris Jackson is finally playing like an NFL quarterback, which sure is helpful. Finally might get defenses to stop keying on PJ and Chester Taylor. This team looks pretty good right now, and experts are starting to pick them as the last NFC wild card team. Which naturally means they'll lose their next 4 games.

6. God has left the Lions. They were overachieving earlier this year and now they've returned to earth. Their schedule is also brutal from this point on. But hey, 6 wins is like going undefeated during the Matt Millen era. Might as well give Millen that 10-year contract extension right now, Detroit.

7. There are too many mediocre teams in football. We all know this, but whatever, it needs to be said. I can't remember the last time I saw this many teams hovering around .500 this late in the season. Sure makes for some crappy Sunday viewing - like yesterday.

8. If you don't live in the Bay Area, you're lucky. We had only two day games today - SF v. Carolina and the Raiders v. Denver. And the Raiders game wasn't in HD. It was good to see the Raiders win, and JaMarcus finally get a few reps, but we all know nothing will be going on here until next year. Right now watching the 49ers and Raiders is like going to a funeral. You don't really want to go, but you go because you have to.

I'm getting tired, so the next few will be quick.

9. The Colts proved they are the second best team in the AFC. I really wanted to see Jax win that game to mix things up a bit, but Indy won without Harrison and Freeney, which made this an even bigger win.

10. People should stop assuming Aaron Rogers is some kind of bust. He's behind a QB that basically would be allowed to play even if he was in a wheelchair. Rogers finally had a chance to show what he could do in the Cowboys game, and he proved that he's definitely got something. Hell, I should know, I watched him at Cal for a few years. He's a damn good player. Green Bay is lucky to have a backup as solid as Rogers. Not many teams in the NFL have a backup of his caliber. Plus, he'll be a good replacement for Favre, you know, when Favre retires at age 57.

11. New Orleans, what can I say. You let a third string QB beat you. You suck.

12. I think you could say, right now, that Mario Williams actually was the right pick at #1 for the Texans. Bush has been awful this year, and cost the Saints their game on Sunday, and the jury is still out on VY and his passing ability.

13. Nice work on passing Walter Payton, LT. You just made the Hall of Fame.

-WCK

What we learned from Thanksgiving week/weekend football

Due to too much turkey, I didn't get around to writing much about either college football or pro football from this past week/weekend. So I'm just going to do the lazy thing and combine them into one post that's much shorter than normal.

On to what we learned.

1. That both the Eagles and Colts have given the NFL a blueprint for how to slow the Patriots offense. The Colts were able to give the Pats offense trouble by having a devastating 4-man rush that got pressure on Brady which allowed the Colts to frequently drop as many as 6 or 7 guys into secondary coverage. The problem was that the D-line ran out of gas in the 4th quarter and Brady started to get way too much time to pass. On the flip side, the Eagles had Lito Sheppard basically take Randy Moss out of the game. That way, instead of having to always double team Moss, they could frequently blitz an extra linebacker because they knew Sheppard would be all over Moss. The only problem was that just taking out Moss wasn't good enough, as Welker went wild. And he frequently caught passes in the middle of the field during a blitz package. So essentially there are two ways to slow down the Pats offense. One is to have a great 4-man rush that consistently gets pressure on Brady and allows you to drop as many as 6 or 7 guys into the secondary for pass defense. The other way is to have one or two shutdown corners that neutralize Moss/Welker (hopefully both) which allows you to consistently blitz Brady and force him to throw quickly. Of course, if the Pats ran more, they might be able to keep defenses like the ones the Colts and Eagles threw at them a bit more honest. But since the Pats aren't doing that (and I'm not really sure why) then these are really the only two ways to limit the Pats offense. Both the Colts and the Eagles were almost successful in doing their defensive gameplans for 4 quarters. However, both came up a little short. The Colts just kind of ran out of gas, and the Eagles had no answer for Welker, partly because they sold out on the blitz so much and partly because no one could cover him. The question then of course is - can anyone do what the Colts or Eagles did for 4 quarters to beat the Pats? I'm not sure anyone can. This may sound crazy, but one team I'd like to see play the Pats is the Broncos. With Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, two shutdown corners, they might give the Pats offense serious problems. Of course, they don't meet in the regular season and the Broncos might not even make the playoffs. The Packers with a healthy Woodson and Harris might also give the Pats some trouble, but both would have to make the Super Bowl.

2. The Eagles game also gave the NFL a blueprint for how to score on the Pats defense. The Pats don't have a great pass rush. Or at least they sure as hell didn't against the Eagles. Feeley often had all day to throw. If there's one gap in the Pats defense, it's the 10-20 yard in. That was open all night for Feeley, and it was how the Eagles managed to consistently score points. Considering the Eagles had a career-backup QB consistently leading his team up and down the field against the Pats defense, I'd say Andy Reid found a weakness and exploited it all game long. And strangely, the Pats never really adjusted to it. Now, will this weakness still be present in future games? I'm not sure. And I think Belichick will be working real hard this week to fix that problem. But there's no question that the Eagles, at least for one week, really showed a true weakness in the Pats defense.

3. I finally have to man up and say the Packers are for real. They beat a suddenly woeful Lions team, but hey, the Packers didn't create their schedule. Favre's definitely been on point this season, and when you combine that with some of the breaks he's gotten, look out. Plus when I said this team couldn't run worth a damn, they pulled Ryan Grant out from under a rock and he's done a hell of a job. They also have a great young defense and if they hadn't blown that game against the Bears, they'd be undefeated. That's pretty crazy. We'll get to see how legit they are this Thursday (or the five of us who get NFL Network will) when they meet up with the Cowboys in Dallas. I think to stand a chance they need Woodson to be healthy, and that looks doubtful.

4. This may be it for Eli Manning. Even though some people thought he had turned the corner this year, let's be honest. He was turning the corner from being a bad QB to a mediocre QB. Plus, he's thrown at least one pick in all but two games this year. That's terrible. Plus he's below the league average in passer rating. Have our expectations of Eli been reduced to such a level that we'll basically take mediocrity from this guy? I mean, he was the number 1 pick. It's ok to just admit he sucks and move on.

5. I think you can make an argument that Darren McFadden should be the Heisman winner right now. McFadden pretty much single-handedly lifted Arkansas over LSU. And despite some early game turnovers, his second-half and OT performances were truly ones for the ages. He also did what Tebow couldn't do - beat LSU. And McFadden's team only has one more loss than Tebow's Florida. I'm not saying give McFadden the Heisman now. I'm just saying that his performance against LSU - combined with Tebow's injury - made the Heisman race a lot more interesting all of a sudden. And it likely made McFadden the new frontrunner. Maybe.

6. So right now we're looking at a National Championship of Mizzou against West Virginia if both win out. Somehow I'd actually prefer that to one of the two of them losing and seeing Ohio State squeak in. Lord only knows what happens if they both lose. Ohio State v. Georgia maybe? That seems to make even less sense, because Georgia isn't even playing in the SEC Championship game. Man, I have no clue. Either way, it should be interesting.

7. A columnist said after USC beat ASU on Thanksgiving that USC is the best team in college football right now. He may be right. That team is finally completely healthy and playing like they should have been all season. Remember, they lost to Stanford in large part because Booty was playing with a broken throwing finger for most of the game. And they lost to Oregon because Sanchez was at QB. I honestly think USC, top to bottom, is the most talented team in the country. And now they're finally playing like it. Seeing them potentially match up against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl would I think be a bigger game than the National Championship.

8. I'd like to thank the Raiders for ending their 17-straight game skid to AFC West opponents. That's almost unreal when I stop and think about it. And thanks to the 49ers for finally stopping the bleeding at 8 games. That's life in the Bay Area as a football fan. Not good.

And that's it, I'm still messed up on tryptophan from one last helping of leftovers.

-WCK

We interrupt this interview to make you play more football

This is Matt Stover getting interviewed about the Ravens "victory" at mid-field right after Dawson's end of regulation kick was called no good. I like how Stover seems to know exactly what's coming.

-WCK

It seems the Packers put a bounty on Purple Jesus

Some people have asked me, what exactly do you have against the Packers? Well, nothing really, until now.

NFL officials are investigating whether Green Bay Packers players placed bounties on Purple Jesus and the Carolina Panthers.

League rules prohibit teams and players "from offering or accepting bonuses to a player for his or his team's performance against a particular team, a particular opposing player or players, or a particular group of an opposing team."

League spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed the investigation Monday.

Apparently Packers defensive backs offered to pay the team's defensive linemen $500 each if they were able to hold Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson under 100 yards rushing two weeks ago. This is new to me, but I believe that's code for "take that guy out." Which is exactly what happened. Peterson wound up rushing for only 45 yards before being removed from the game after tearing his LCL in the third quarter.

The hit was legal, but it sure stinks to high heaven that the Packers had a bounty on Peterson and he gets injured in the same game.

Speaking of bounties, I'll give $500 to anyone who can keep football announcers from gushing over Favre after he throws another stupid interception.

"Look at how much fun he's having out there!"

Yeah, that pick was just what the Packers needed.

-WCK

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

I just want to say that watching the Patriots blow out opponents is like watching a train wreck. After a certain point, there's really no point in watching anymore, but you can't look away.

Anyway, on to what we learned.

1. Unless Tom Brady suffers an injury of some kind, there's no way New England doesn't go undefeated and win the Super Bowl. The loss of Freeney killed the Colts' chances, the Steelers just lost to the Jets so I can't take them seriously, and the Pats already crushed the Cowboys. And I laugh at you if you even suggest that Green Bay has a chance against the Pats. Let's also remember that the Bills aren't exactly terrible. They had won 4 straight coming into Sunday's game. And the Pats drop 56 on them. Of course the Bills played without our Bay Area friend Marshawn "Applebee's" Lynch. Had he played, I think the Bills would have won. And by "won" I mean "lost 49-13."

2. Las Vegas may just kill the Patriots. If I'm correct, this team is 10-0 against the spread and Vegas is starting to freak out. Which means we'll see one of two things happen in the coming weeks. Either 20+ point spreads on Pats games, or a Tonya Harding attack on Brady's knees by La Cosa Nostra. By the way, what do you think the spread will be for the Pats/Jets rematch? 30? 35? 100? Can't wait to read Simmons' self-righteous piece of crap column that week. And by "read" I mean "take a dump on."

3. Bay Area football is horrible. Every week we're forced to watch the Raiders and 49ers play while games we'd actually want to watch like Cowboys/Redskins are going on that we can't watch. Both our teams are now 2-8, and this week the 49ers lost to the Rams while the Raiders lost to a Purple Jesus-less Vikings. San Fran and the Raiders are now battling to see which team is the second worst in football to the Dolphins. Sweet.

4. The Packers are the Kansas of pro football. I've been hard on the Packers, and have constantly said they'll collapse at some point. Well, that hasn't happened. But the question is why hasn't that happened? In truth, I think it's because the NFC isn't that good and the Packers are a good team. But we don't really know how good. Sort of like how we don't really know how good Kansas is right now. Because let's be honest, who exactly has Green Bay played? Technically, Green Bay has only beaten one team with a winning record at this point in the season - and that's the Giants. Well, they get the Lions and the Cowboys the next two weeks. That should tell us what we need to know about the Packers.

5. We could see an 8-win team win a division. I don't think this will happen, but it could. And that's kind of scary. The AFC West is horrible. When was the last time you could remember a 4-5 team playing a Monday Night game that if they won it they'd be tied for the division lead? Well, Denver has that chance tonight. Meanwhile the NFC West is also pretty bad. Seattle leads it with a 6-4 record, but who knows when Shaun "Professional Wuss" Alexander will be back. I don't even care, Alexander's so awful now, they're probably better without him.

6. Seems like Mario Williams is winning the best draft pick of 2006 contest right now. He had a great game against the once again putrid Saints, getting a sack and forcing a fumble while also making 6 tackles and continually applying pressure to Brees. Meanwhile Reggie Bush was horrendous, losing two fumbles, including one at the goal line. Also, Vince Young has kind of come back to earth, or maybe it's just that people finally realized he can't throw worth a damn. His back-to-back seasons of having a mid 60s passer rating may have something to do with that. Yes, that means he's a worse passer than Joey Harrington.

7. If there's any team you should be rooting for this year, it's the Cleveland Browns. I love watching this team play. They're hungry, they play hard, they have an exciting offense, and best of all, Derek Anderson is making Brady Quinn obsolete. Hell, I'll even say this right here and now. Derek Anderson will be a better QB than Quinn when both their careers are over. Plus Cleveland won the ultimate F-you game against the Ravens on Sunday. Nothing like having the Ravens think they've won a game, have them go into the locker room, then drag them back out again to lose in OT. That was awesome. And by the way, why did Billick kick to Cribbs at the end of the game and in OT? That may have been the stupidest coaching decision this season that didn't involve Mike Holmgren.

8. Miami's awesome march to 0-16 continues. Nice work in knocking out McNabb and giving yourself a chance to get a win. Not so nice job in letting A.J. Feeley beat you. At least Miami finally let Ted Ginn Jr. run a punt back for a TD without blocking someone in the back. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

9. The combined age of QBs in the Packers/Panthers game was 82. The combined age of QBs in the Steelers/Jets game was 49.

10. Indy looks like they're in a lot of trouble. Adam Vinatieri is starting to miss field goals he never misses, Peyton is struggling more and more without Marvin Harrison, and we all know the loss of Freeney is eventually going to hurt them. This team, even though it's 8-2, is starting to look a bit like it's on the ropes. They were pretty lucky to get by the Chiefs on Sunday. And something tells me that even when Harrison comes back, he's not going to solve all their problems.

11. Indy should be on the lookout for the Jaguars. With Garrard back, this team suddenly looks like a real force again. They can catch Indy, and they play them in two weeks. It's also worth mentioning how valuable Garrard is to this team. He's an incredibly intelligent QB who is mobile and makes excellent decisions. He still hasn't thrown a pick yet this year. As I said, with Indy reeling, the Jags might be able to grab ahold of the division in two weeks.

12. Carson Palmer's favorite new receiver is Antrel Rolle.

13. The Steelers continue to frustrate me. I thought they were the one team left that might be able to knock off the Pats. No longer. This team can look so good some weeks and so bad some other weeks. Their three loses are to the Jets, the Cards and the Broncos. Ugh. There's no way they beat the Pats.

-WCK

Just give the Patriots the Lombardi Trophy now

With word coming out today that Dwight Freeney is going to miss the rest of the year because of a Lisfranc injury to his left foot, we might as well just end the season now. Because no one will be able to touch the Patriots from this point on, period. Why? Because Dwight Freeney was basically the key to beating the Patriots. Here's what I wrote after the Patriots beat the Colts:

Although the Colts didn't win on Sunday, they gave us a blueprint for how to slow down the Patriots offense. The key is a consistent pass rush with minimal blitzing. The Colts, for almost three and half quarters, consistently got pressure on Brady by only rushing 4 guys and not blitzing. This allowed there to frequently be as many as 7 guys in coverage for the Colts and it allowed their safeties to play deep so as not to give up big plays. Even better, because the Colts linemen were getting such pressure on Brady, they had to bring in Faulk to help block, since he's a better blocker than Maroney. That subsequently decreased the number of receivers Brady could throw too, since Faulk had to concentrate on blocking rather than dropping into the flat, and it left the Patriots with a less good running back in the game.

The Colts ultimately lost because they basically ran out of gas in the 4th and couldn't get pressure on Brady. And when you're not getting pressure on Brady, you could have 100 guys in the secondary and he'll still complete passes. Really the only way to beat the Patriots is to get consistent pressure on Brady while not blitzing. That means Brady has to make snap decisions and throw into a secondary with as many as 7 defenders. The Colts may have been the only team in the league that had the pass rush necessary to do this with Freeney and Mathis coming around the ends. Now that Freeney's out, forget it. Mathis will get double-teamed all day. And if the Colts face Brady and the Pats again they'll be forced to blitz and they'll get crushed.

The image of Belichick lifting the Lombardi Trophy yet again is more real than ever now. I'm sure Gregg Easterbrook isn't pleased, to say the least.

-WCK

Drafting NFL quarterbacks is a total crapshoot

As a longtime 49ers fan, I'm well aware of how the NFL Draft can make or break your franchise. Back in 1979 the team drafted Joe Montana in the third round of the NFL Draft, and he went on to become arguably the greatest QB ever. We also drafted Alex Smith with the #1 pick in the 2005 Draft. Needless to say that hasn't worked out so well. But it brings up an interesting question. Does anyone in the NFL have any clue what they're doing when they're drafting QBs? The answer is not really.

Just from a more recent perspective this seems to be true. Philip Rivers has clearly regressed as a starting QB, defenses are catching up to Vince Young who was never a good QB anyway, Matt Leinart is basically immobile, and Alex Smith is a nightmare. And just think, those four guys signed contracts that in total hover around $200 million.

Meanwhile, we have players such as Derek Anderson, a sixth round draft choice, playing out of his mind. And Tony Romo, the QB with the third best passer rating so far this year, wasn't even drafted. I'd take both those guys over Smith any day of the week.

But rather than continue to just speculate, let's look at real data. Here are the primary QBs for this year's NFL teams with winning records and where they were drafted.

Giants - Eli Manning (First Round)
Redskins - Jason Campbell (First Round)
Bills - JP Losman (First Round)
Steelers - Ben Roethlisberger (First Round)
Colts - Peyton Manning (First Round)
Titans - Vince Young (First Round)
San Diego - Philip Rivers (First Round)
Packers - Brett Favre (Second Round)
Jacksonville - David Garrard (Fourth Round)/Quinn Gray (undrafted)
Seahawks - Matt Hasselbeck (Sixth Round)
Patriots - Tom Brady (Sixth Round)
Browns - Derek Anderson (Sixth Round)
Cowboys - Tony Romo (undrafted)
Lions - Jon Kitna (undrafted)
Bucs - Jeff Garcia (undrafted)

So if you add in Quinn Gray, then we have as many Sixth Round and Undrafted QBs leading winning teams as we do First Round QBs.

But wins alone aren't the best example of whether a QB is competent or not - I'm looking at you Vince Young. A passer rating gets us closer to that. So let's find the average passer rating by draft round for the primary QBs in this year's NFL. We're using career passer ratings (not just this year's) provided by NFL.com and have added Byron Leftwich, Jake Delhomme, David Carr and Vinny Testaverde to the list. Special note: Trent Green was drafted in the 8th round of the 1993 Draft. This means in total we're looking at 34 QBs.

First Round QBs: 17
Avg. passer rating: 80.05

Second Round QBs: 2
Avg. passer rating: 86.35

Third Round QBs: 2
Avg. passer rating: 81.05

Fourth Round QBs: 1
Avg. passer rating: 84.1

Fifth Round QBs: none

Sixth Round QBs: 4
Avg. passer rating: 87.48

Seventh Round QBs: none

Eighth Round QBs: 1
Avg. passer rating: 86.9

Undrafted QBs: 7
Avg. passer rating: 85.07

You don't need a linear regression analysis program to tell you that there is no correlation between career passer rating and draft round. But there are some important things to consider. One is that first round draft choices get more playing time to determine if they'll pan out while late round draft choices have to produce immediately. We all know about the Ryan Leafs and Akili Smiths. Meanwhile a bad Sixth Round pick may play one game and that's basically his career. Or he may never play at all. These scenarios will naturally deflate the first round QB avg. passer rating to a degree while boosting the late rounds. But, looking at it from another perspective, you can also make the argument with the data available that there are a fair number of pretty good QBs that go late in the draft or that don't get drafted at all. By this analysis, there are 12 current QBs who were drafted in the Sixth Round or later (or not at all) who easily surpass the 17 First Round players in average career passer rating. When you stop and think about that, it's stunning. And it also says that maybe some of those First Round picks really shouldn't be playing anymore and teams should be trying out new guys - like say my 49ers. One can only wonder how many Tom Bradys and Tony Romos weren't discovered because a higher draft pick, but inferior player, was ahead of them on the depth chart.

The most recent example is Derek Anderson. Romeo Crennel named Charlie Frye (a third round choice) as his starter at the beginning of the year, then traded him after Week 1. It's only because of that trade that Anderson saw significant playing time. Imagine if Crennel had stuck with Frye until week 8 or 9. He might have just inserted Brady Quinn by then, effectively shutting the door on Anderson's career. Instead, the trade was made, Anderson began starting, and another late round gem was found.

Year after year scouts and coaches drool over players with great arm strength (see: Boller, Kyle), or family genes (see: Manning, Eli) or God only knows what (see: Smith, Alex). And after they fail - although Eli appears to maybe finally be headed in the right direction - you hear excuse after excuse. He's an idiot; he didn't play in a pro-style college offense; he's slow; he doesn't get rid of the ball quickly enough. Well, if all that's so noticeable now, why didn't you notice it before? And why didn't you notice Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Derek Anderson, and Kurt Warner? Obviously something isn't working in terms of scouting.

Certainly more analysis needs to be done - as in looking back year after year - but there does seem to be a bit of a trend. And that is that there are a ton of first round QB busts along with a surprisingly high number of good QBs available late in the draft or who were never drafted at all. Which pretty much means one thing. The draft is frequently a total crapshoot when it comes to drafting QBs.

-WCK

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

After 10 weeks of football, there only seem to be a handful of great teams in the NFL. The Pats, Colts (despite Sunday's loss), and Cowboys. Maybe you can throw Green Bay and the Steelers in there, but I'm not going to do that. Plus there are two divisions that are clogged up with mediocre teams, the NFC South and the AFC West, and one division clogged up with horrendous teams, the NFC West.

Anyway, on to what we learned.

1. San Diego needs to find an offense, fast. Even though they beat the Colts last night, when your entire offense revolves around Darren Sproles and Antonio Cromartie, you're in trouble. The fact is the Colts should have won that game despite Manning throwing 6 ints and not having two of his biggest receiving threats. This was about the ugliest victory the Chargers could get and it showed in full detail how awful their offense has become. And quite frankly, it all starts with Rivers. Rivers seems to be continually regressing as a QB and can't seem to throw the ball with any consistency or zip. He's also underthrowing receivers regularly. His poor play has killed LT's running game and it's neutralized the receivers and Gates. What makes all of this strange is that Norv Turner, while a horrible coach, is a great offensive coordinator. He's the reason why the 49ers offense is so bad this year, because he left to coach San Diego. But how does a guy who's so good in the booth as an O-coordinator have such a terrible offensive team as a head coach? Especially when San Diego had a powerful offense last year and hasn't really changed personnel. It's mind boggling. Actually, it's just Norv Turner being Norv Turner. The lesson, as always, is never, ever, ever hire this man as your head coach.

2. Speaking of horrible quarterbacks, somebody needs to put down Steve McNair. He's beyond terrible. All the INTs, all the fumbles. It's become expected at this point in time. Plus you know you suck when a crowd cheers when you get benched for Kyle Boller. That can't be stressed enough - Baltimore fans cheered when Boller came in. Might want to pack it up after this season Steve.

3. Vince Young is starting to teeter in the direction of becoming a disappointing player. Deep into his second season, it's becoming apparent that VY may unfortunately be the second coming of Michael Vick, just without the dogfighting (I hope). As in, he's a QB that can keep you alive with his feet, but when push comes to shove, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a pass. The simple fact is that you can't go real far in this league unless you have a QB who can consistently complete passes. And right now, VY can't do that. Not to mention that in yesterday's game he threw his first TD pass in a month and a half - while throwing two picks.

4. Miami may have lost their one shot at winning a game this year. They could have beaten the Bills, but instead caved in during the 4th. Granted they still have the Bengals and Jets on their schedule, but the Bengals are getting better now that Chris Henry is back and the Jets may have found something in Kellen Clemens. If you're Miami, you've gotta win when you've got a chance. You can't wait for some supposedly good matchup. By the way, I didn't mention the fact that the Dolphins play the Pats in their second to last game because it doesn't matter. New England's third team could still kill Miami.

5. Just when I thought the Saints had finally turned things around, they fall back to earth. In fact, the Saints may be the perfect example of the NFL this year. As in the league is filled with a bunch of teams that seem to transform from Jekyll to Hyde on a weekly basis and hover around the .500 mark. Although the truth is that the Rams really never should have been 0-8. Their problem was that they had multiple injuries combined with a braindead coach. They've at least solved one of those two problems now, so I'd expect them to at least win one or two more games before the end of the season.

6. The Lions also fell back to earth on Sunday. I thought they'd beat the Cardinals, but instead I found myself questioning whether they'd even get to 8 wins after the game. This team has a brutal schedule remaining with tilts against the Giants, Cowboys and two games against the surprising Packers. 10 wins suddenly seems like a real stretch after this buzz killing loss to the Cards.

7. I'd like to welcome Rex Grossman back. He's still a horrible quarterback who seems unable to understand certain elements of the game, but it's not like Griese is much better. Rexy had a good game against the Raiders, but remember, they're the Raiders. Wait until Rexy lines up against the Giants in three weeks - if he's even still starting then.

8. The Cowboys definitively proved they're the best team in the NFC, even though everyone already knew that. Romo continues to be impressive and TO has been on a roll of late. Dallas's defense may not be great, but their offense incredibly potent. That said...

9. Green Bay is starting to become impossible to write off. They're going to win their division, but the real question now is how far can they get with no running game? It's never good when your team's leading rusher heading into week 10 has 203 yards and is on the IR list. But who knows, maybe the Packers found a diamond in the rough in Ryan Grant. Although I doubt it. That said, the Packers play in the NFC, so having a running game may not even be that important. The truth is we'll learn a lot about the Packers when they play the Cowboys in 3 weeks. All I know is that this team seems to be riding a wave of luck, like when two Vikings defenders nailed each other on Favre pass that should have been picked off but instead wound up in the hands of a Packers receiver. That isn't going to happen all year for Green Bay. Like my two days in Vegas last week, eventually your luck runs out and you double down on an 11 and get a 2.

10. How is it possible that we had a team in the NFL that hadn't thrown a TD pass to a receiver until yesterday, yet the team still had a winning record? Yeah, the Redskins hadn't thrown a TD pass to a receiver until yesterday. How that's possible is beyond me. But it says something about the NFL this year, and that is that a lot of teams are pretty mediocre.

11. The Steelers are a confusing team. They blew away the Browns on total yardage, but barely won yesterday. They've also lost two head scratching games this year to Arizona and Denver. Sure those were both road games, but those aren't good losses at all. I keep wanting to put the Steelers into the up echelon of NFL teams with the Pats, Colts and Cowboys, but I can't do it. Hell, Green Bay might even be better than them. Well, maybe not.

12. Did the Carolina/Atlanta game even air on TV? I know I saw I highlight of it somewhere I think, but I may have been hallucinating. God what a season, Vinny against Joey. That's about as awful as it gets.

-WCK

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

Did Sportscenter think they were going to gain a lot of fans by carrying Terrell Owens's press conference for 10 minutes last night? I honestly don't care what he thinks of Andy Reid's kids. Nor do I think most people.

On to what we learned.

1. Although the Colts didn't win on Sunday, they gave us a blueprint for how to slow down the Patriots offense. The key is a consistent pass rush with minimal blitzing. The Colts, for almost three and half quarters, consistently got pressure on Brady by only rushing 4 guys and not blitzing. This allowed there to frequently be as many as 7 guys in coverage for the Colts and it allowed their safeties to play deep so as not to give up big plays. Even better, because the Colts linemen were getting such pressure on Brady, they had to bring in Faulk to help block, since he's a better blocker than Maroney. That subsequently decreased the number of receivers Brady could throw too, since Faulk had to concentrate on blocking rather than dropping into the flat, and it left the Patriots with a less good running back in the game. New England has been able to abuse teams this year because the only way to beat them is to get pressure on Brady and other teams can't do that without blitzing. So when teams blitz New England, provided the Pats block it up right, that leaves guys like Moss, Welker, and Stallworth all with one-on-one coverage. Needless to say, those 3 receivers are going to win a lot of those battles. Indy's problem was that in the 4th quarter it seemed their pass rushers started to get tired or New England finally figured out how to block the rush, because Brady had more time to the throw in the 4th than he did the entire rest of the day. The key to being a non-blitzing team is that you have to have a great pass rush. Even 7 defenders in the secondary can't stop a QB if he has all day to throw. Problem is the Colts pass rush simply vanished in the second half of the 4th quarter, and that wound up killing them.

2. And just some other thoughts from the game. Wes Welker was an unreal steal from the Miami Dolphins. He was simply huge. A couple of great punt returns, a TD catch, and some critical catches, including the one that put the game out of reach for the Colts. On the flip side, Joseph Addai was awesome as well. By rushing for over 100 yards and turning a short pass into a long TD he did everything he could to help the Colts win, especially when you knew the Pats would be keying on him with Harrison out. Meanwhile, Manning didn't look so good, but I'd attribute that to not having Harrison and Gonzalez being out for most of the game. A rematch of these teams in the AFC Championship with both teams completely healthy would be epic.

3. It's impossible to ignore anymore, the Lions are for real. I thought this game against Denver would be a good litmus test to see how legit they are. And while I know Cutler got knocked out at the beginning of the second quarter, the Lions weren't going to be denied in this game. Plus Shaun Rogers is my hero for that 65-yard interception run back. 44-7 is a statement. And that statement is "We're legit."

4. The 49ers, our team, are officially done for this season. When you lose to the Falcons this season with Joey Harrington under center, you're done, period. You might as well just forfeit the rest of your games.

5. Speaking of teams that are done, the Bengals are as well. Except for them it's different. This team needs to be completely blown up. Marvin Lewis has lost this team, Chad Johnson is injured, their defense is awful - I mean it's a complete nightmare. Might as well just start over, because it sure as hell ain't working right now.

6. Green Bay seems to be a team destiny. How they're 7-1 is an absolute mystery. They have no running game and with the exception of a few amazingly clutch passes by Favre, he hasn't been playing all that well of late. But what they do have is a great defense. And right now, it's sure as hell carrying them. I can't see how this team could go 7-1 in the second half of the season. That lack of a running game is going to eventually catch up to them at some point soon, but hey, it's been a great ride so far. Except for all those announcers consistently slurping Favre. That's been horrible.

7. The Saints are back, and they're going to win their division. Even I thought I was crazy when I wrote a few weeks ago when the Saints were 1-4 that they could still win this division. But hey, here they are at 4-4, just a 1/2 game behind Tampa Bay. And their next three games are St. Louis, Houston and Carolina. Nice. Brees is on fire (last two games almost 800 yards passing with 7 TDs and no picks), Reggie Bush is looking good, and their offense is totally rejuvenated. It's amazing how bad they were at the start of the season and yet how good they've looked the past 2 weeks. Almost inexplicable. Of course, the fact that the Saints have a real shot at winning this division shows just how awful this division and the NFC is.

8. Purple Jesus is pretty damn good. Despite the fact that this game was blacked out where I live in NorCal, which doesn't make any sense, I still managed to catch some of it. Even though everyone knew PJ was going to running the ball on every play, he still ran for an NFL record 296 yards. He also averaged almost 10 yards a carry. Truly amazing. The funny thing is I wasn't sure how good PJ was going to be. Considering there were issues about could he catch passes, combined with his broken collar bone, and how he runs pretty straight up, I was somewhat skeptical. Well, no longer. He's by far the best running back in the NFL so far this year. It'll be interesting to see if he can get 2,000 yards this season. After all, he's their entire offense, so it seems like it's a real possibility.

9. Kellen Clemens may not have gotten the win today for the Jets, but he's definitely the team's future. He also showed some running skills, rushing for 48 yards on 7 carries. The season's already over for the Jets, but that's ok. They'll be able to get Clemens plenty of reps so he'll be ready to go as the full-time starter next year. Maybe he can even save Mangini's job if he plays well the rest of the season.

10. It's great to see Cleveland finally doing well. They've really got an impressive offense and one could make an argument that aside from Randy Moss, Braylon Edwards is the best receiver in the league this season. Meanwhile, there's no question Kellen Winslow is one of the best tight ends in football at the moment. They also seem to have found a real quarterback in Derek Anderson. Each week he keeps producing and each week he looks less and less like a fluke, and he may save Romeo Crennel's job at the rate he's going. It may be a while before Brady Quinn gets any time.

11. Speaking of Anderson, it's apparent no one in the NFL knows how to draft quarterbacks. It's been a total crapshoot with the exception of Peyton Manning. Two of the three best QBs in the game barely made rosters. Tony Romo was an undrafted free agent, and Tom Brady was a sixth round choice. So was Anderson. And you know what, I'd take all three of those guys over Alex Smith.

12. And the quote of the day comes from John Madden: "You ever notice when Donovan McNabb makes a bad throw, it's really bad?"

-WCK

Devin Hester as Mona Lisa

You know you've made it when someone does a full-scale painting of you. Here's a guy doing a painting of Hester being chased by a bunch of conference mascots, the weirdest of which has to be the NY Giant. Even though Hester is only in his second season, it makes sense to paint his picture. After all, he's basically the Bears' entire offense.

-WCK

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

Not the best of Sundays. A horrifying number of blowouts today, capped of course by that ridiculous Pats/Skins game. In addition, a ton of less than inspiring games - like Cleveland/St. Louis. And here in the Bay Area, we had to watch the Raiders lose a snoozer followed by the 49ers getting destroyed. Sweet.

Anyway, on to what we learned.

1. The Patriots are ultimately going to get someone injured at the rate they're going. I'm not going to get into the "did they run up the score" question. Because they did, no question. Running a pump and go when you're up by 38 in the 4th quarter and then later going for it on 4th down is running up the score. But you know what, the Skins could have played better defense as well. But the better question to ask here is why did Belichick leave his starters in so long and risk getting them injured? Michael David Smith at the Fanhouse alluded to this and he's right. Imagine Brady getting hit in the knees in the 4th when the Pats are up by 38. Man, Belichick would be hung by Pats fans. The fact is that the Pats really should take their first-string guys out when they're blowing someone out - not to be nice - but to prevent them from getting injured. Either on freak plays or on not so freak plays when some opposing player decides to take a cheap shot.

2. John Kitna is smarter than an awful lot of us. Kitna said the Lions would get 10 wins this year, they're now half way there. I'm still not 100% sure they'll get there, but I didn't see them winning more than six games this year, so what the hell do I know? Besides, they've beaten the Bucs and Bears in back to back games. The truth is that they play in what is quickly becoming a pretty weak division. And I say that because if anyone thinks Green Bay is going to keep winning with no running game as it gets colder out - forget it. Color me impressed Mr. Kitna.

3. Brian Griese is still a pretty bad QB. I always believed that the Bears had to make a change from Rex, but I was never really excited by Griese. And for good reason. Nothing like throwing 4 picks against the Lions, 3 of them in the end zone. Yikes. The fact is the Bears have no one really to play QB, they're defense isn't nearly as good as it was last year, and Cedric Benson sucks. He's horrible. The Bears will become yet another Super Bowl loser not to make the playoffs the following year.

4. St. Louis and Miami, I like your chances of going 0-16. Both these teams lost close games on Sunday, but whatever, they still lost. Also St. Louis lost Steven Jackson yet again and Miami is quickly becoming the Isiah Thomas Knicks of the NFL. What's even better is that these teams don't play each other, so both could go 0-16. That's probably pretty unlikely, but if I had to bet on one of them to do it, it'd be Miami.

5. It's officially time to revoke Mangenius's nickname. He'll now only be known as Mangini. He's about the only person in the world who wanted to stick with Pennington these last few weeks and needless to say, it hasn't worked out so well. And losing to the Bills, well, that SHOULD be the final nail in the coffin for Pennington. As we said last week Mangini, your season is over, might as well see what Clemens can give you.

6. The Chargers look like they're back. Basically stealing Chambers from the Dolphins was absolutely huge. It just can't be stressed enough how great a deal that was for the Chargers. That gives them a very legit receiver to take some of the defensive pressure off of Gates, and man did it work on Sunday. This team looks primed for a big time run and in all likelyhood we'll look back at that Chambers deal and say that's when things came together for this team.

7. Even though Norv's a bad coach, he's a great O-coordinator. And man, oh man do we miss him in SF. Our 49ers are abysmal on offense right now and it's easy to see why. Every week teams stuff 8 or 9 guys in the box against the 49ers to stop Gore and dare whoever's at QB to beat them. That's it. And it's working really well. The simple fact is that the only difference between this year's offense and last year's offense is Norv. Same QB, same RB, same TE, same O-line. Different O-coordinator. It's hard to say it's anything else.

8. I don't expect England to start liking our football anytime soon after Sunday's game. The Giants and Dolphins combined for 187 passing yards, 7 fumbles, and two missed field goals. Yes it was played in the rain and on a slicker than normal surface, but seriously, if Goodell wants to attract more fans he better provide a better game for them.

9. The Jags/Bucs was the best game of the day. I watched it, and yet I still can't figure out how Quinn Gray wound up being on the winning team. I know it was defense, but still, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that Quinn Gray helped lead the Jags to victory, while Alex Smith is totally inept.

10. Tom Brady is no longer the best dressed man in America. That hat he wore in the post game interview - bizarre and horrible.

-WCK