1. This, folks, is when I pull the plug on the Kerry Collins era in Tennessee. I don't care if he's not responsible for the team's self-destruction. The season is over, and there is no future with him. So make the change, and make it now. Vince Young, it's your turn. Again.
2. That should stop the Terrell Owens trade talk. The Bills weren't going to deal him anyway. One reason, I was told last week, was because they thought they weren't out of the AFC East race. Fat chance, I thought. Well, now they really aren't out of it. Start another rumor, people.
3. I'm with Tony Dungy. Jim Zorn shouldn't have agreed to surrender his play-calling. I know Vinny Cerrato was trying to help him, but Zorn is too far gone. If you can't trust him to do the job, get rid of him.
4. It's official: The NFC East is not the NFC Beast. Any claims it had as the conference's best division died Sunday when the teams that played all lost … with two of them bowing to Oakland and Kansas City, a combined 1-9 entering the weekend.
5. Need a win? Get a bye. Teams coming off of byes are 6-1 so far, with San Diego next up.
6. The front-runner for the Defensive Player of the Year award is one of two guys: New Orleans' Darren Sharper or the Vikings' Jared Allen. I just saw Allen, and he has my vote. The guy is unblockable, and I call Baltimore's Michael Oher as my witness.
7. So now the Seahawks lose Lofa Tatupu for the season? Some injuries you can overcome. I don't know how Seattle overcomes that one. So make the Arizona Cardinals the favorite in the NFC West again, and here's why: They're 2-0 on the road. If they can win there they can win anywhere. Or something like that. Anyway, we find out about Arizona when it goes to -- uh-oh -- the East Coast next week to meet the Giants. Good news, Cards fans: Your club won two of its last three games in the Eastern time zone. The loss? Super Bowl XLIII.
8. It's a quarterback's game, but, apparently, Tennessee and Cleveland didn't get the memo. The Browns had two completions last week. The Titans had two on Sunday. The two have one win between them, and I'll let you figure out why.
9. One year later, Carolina finally took the hint. I never understood why the Panthers threw -- and kept throwing -- in last season's divisional playoff game, but they did. And they paid for it. Jake Delhomme had five interceptions and a fumble, and Arizona had an unexpected win. Now fast forward to Sunday's game with Tampa Bay. After Delhomme threw his second interception to let the woebegone Bucs back in the game, the Panthers got smart. On their next series they called 15 runs and one pass. Now that's putting the ball in the right hands.
10. If Matt Ryan reminds Dungy of Peyton Manning, I want to know whom Joe Flacco makes him think of. The guy is tough, poised and accurate. You can question what's wrong with Baltimore's pass defense, but there is nothing wrong with its passing game. Flacco already has three 300-yard passing games, which is great, except you never had to throw for 300 yards to win in Baltimore. You might now.
11. Proof that bailouts in Washington are working: The Lions, Panthers and Chiefs all gained their first wins because of the Redskins. Forget the quarterback. The guy who should sit down is the head coach. That bye in two weeks? Maybe it should be exercised on Zorn.
12. I guess that puts the Peyton-Eli Super Bowl on hold.
13. Every time Drew Brees has a huge game, people wonder if the San Diego Chargers made a mistake letting him go in 2006. For the last time, no, no and NO! First of all, Brees had a serious shoulder injury, so serious that only one club -- New Orleans -- was willing to take a flyer on him. Second, the Bolts had Philip Rivers waiting in the wings. Please, people, let's not have that question again.
14. England gives us the Beatles, The Who and Jacqueline Bisset, and we respond by exporting next weekend's New England-Tampa Bay game? No wonder we're running a $1.4 trillion deficit.
15. Just wondering: What happened to that "schism" Brett Favre was supposed to have created in the Minnesota locker room?
Sez Them ... or Rapid Reporters' Rewind
From Lisa Zimmerman in New York ... Keep your eyes on defensive tackle Kris Jenkins' knee injury. The Jets' defense has struggled lately, with too many missed assignments, and losing Jenkins for any length of time would be a blow.
From Eric Gilmore in Oakland ... The loss of left tackle Jason Peters exposed Philadelphia's lack of depth on its offensive line. Without Peters, the Eagles went to backup King Dunlap, and he was no match for Richard Seymour -- with Seymour producing two sacks. But it wasn't just the loss of Peters that crippled the Eagles. They seemed surprised by a defensive scheme that featured more blitzing than Philadelphia -- or anyone, for that matter -- had seen from Oakland in previous games. "They did some things we weren't really expecting," said tackle Winston Justice.
From Gerrard Diaz in Green Bay ... Good news for Packers' fans: Everything seems right with linebacker Aaron Kampman again. After last weekend's bye, Kampman was put in position to rush the quarterback several times with his hand down -- just as he did when he was a dominant defensive end. Result: He seemed happy with the move. The Packers should be, too. They pitched their first shutout under defensive coordinator Dom Capers.
More from Diaz ... Green Bay's offensive line continues to be an issue. Center Jason Spitz missed Sunday's game, tackle Chad Clifton re-injured his ankle and the Packers surrendered five more sacks.
From Brian Carson in Pittsburgh ... Braylon Edwards is gone, but the Cleveland Browns keep on dropping passes. There were six more against Pittsburgh, which brings the season total to 14. Not too surprisingly, the Browns have only four offensive touchdowns.
From Larry Holder in New Orleans ... Former Giants' tight end Jeremy Shockey was subdued after beating his ex-teammates, but he couldn't resist getting in one dig at his old club. "We played tough opponents," he said of his team's unbeaten start. "We didn't play Oakland or any of those teams." Gee, I wonder whom he had in mind?
From Josh Katzowitz in Cincinnati ... Credit nose tackle Jeff Zgonina, filling in for the ill Shaun Cody, for playing a major role in checking Cedric Benson, the league's top rusher. "This guy has played the most consistent football of anyone we have," said Houston coach Gary Kubiak. "I don't care if he's 50. He belongs out there." For the record, Zgonina is 39.
From Ed Sheahin in Washington ... Bad news for Jason Campbell: Coach Jim Zorn would not say who his starting quarterback would be this week.
From Carter Gaddis in Tampa ... Rookie Sammie Stroughter, the team's seventh-round draft pick out of Oregon, is inching his way up the depth chart and might pass Michael Clayton soon. Clayton has dropped too many passes lately and had just one catch against Carolina.
More from Gaddis ... Conventional wisdom says that quarterback Josh Johnson gets one more start before the Bucs try another Josh, rookie Josh Freeman, at quarterback. Freeman, the team's first-round draft pick, is its No. 2 quarterback, ahead of Byron Leftwich. Coach Raheem Morris hasn't said what he will do with him, but starting Freeman at home following the Nov. 1 bye seems logical.
Five things I like
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| Ravens RB Ray Rice proves he's a force to be reckoned with ... at the Vikings defense' expense. (Getty Images) |
2. Eli Manning's outburst after Ahmad Bradshaw blew a second-half blitz protection. Bradshaw was supposed to block Roman Harper; he didn't. Instead, Harper made a bee line for Manning, who threw an interception. Afterward, the usually taciturn Manning chewed out Bradshaw ... and he should have.
3. Everything about Baltimore's Ray Rice. The guy is a first-class playmaker, with 194 yards of offense and two touchdowns against Minnesota. That's 43 percent of the Ravens' output and half their TDs. Rice's best move was his stiff-arm of linebacker E.J. Henderson, allowing the Ravens running back to score his first TD.
4. Drew Brees at home. He has 10 touchdowns, one interception and no losses.
5. Tom Brady at home. He has 10 touchdowns, one interception and no losses. Hmmm. Reminds me of somebody, and it's not Peyton Manning.
Five things I don't
1. Dante Wesley's hit on Tampa Bay punt returner Clifton Smith AFTER he signaled for a fair catch and BEFORE he could make it. No wonder there was a brawl. Next time, Dante, hit someone who can defend himself. Oh, and by the way, get ready to receive a letter this week from the NFL, notifying you of a substantial fine. The NFL ought to suspend him, too, to discourage something like this from happening again.
2. That third-down call on Minnesota's game-winning drive. The Vikes had third-and-9 at the Baltimore 17 and trailed by one -- ideal for a Brett Favre heroic. But instead of having him throw ... and maybe throw for the end zone ... the Vikings call a run to the middle of the field. They wanted a field goal, and they got it. But that left Baltimore two minutes to position itself for a game-winning field goal, and the Ravens succeeded. Unfortunately, Steven Hauschka missed the 44-yard kick. The Vikings look like geniuses. They weren't. They got lucky.
3. Cincinnati's tight ends. I'm sorry, Daniel Coats' hands are so bad he couldn't even catch a break.
4. Philadelphia's loss to Oakland. Donovan McNabb said he was "embarrassed" by the loss, and he should be. He was sacked six times and couldn't solve a secondary that was missing All-Pro Nnamdi Asomugha. Why does this game remind me of last season's tie with Cincinnati?
5. Chicago's running game. I know ... what running game? The Bears give the ball to Matt Forte twice at the goal line, and not only can't he gain a yard; he fumbled both times, losing it the second time. Man, oh, man, what happens to this team when it's November and December?
Just asking but ...
• Where was the Giants' pass rush?
• Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco?
• What does Rex Ryan tell his team now?
• Any more questions about Tom Brady?
• Mad Men or Sunday Night Football?
Significant numbers
• -7 -- Yards passing by Tennessee
• 0 -- Games where New Orleans has trailed
• 4.9 -- Kerry Collins' passer rating vs. Patriots
• 5 -- Tom Brady touchdown passes in one quarter
• 8.3 -- Mark Sanchez's passer rating vs. Buffalo
• 11 -- Straight games where Brett Favre has thrown at least two touchdown passes at the Metrodome
• 76 -- Yards rushing in the Arizona-Seattle game, including 14 by the Seahawks
• 318 -- Yards rushing by the New York Jets
• 619 -- Yards by New England vs. Tennessee
• 151-6 -- Yardage Houston outgained Cincinnati in the third quarter
My top five
1. Indianapolis
2. New Orleans
3. Minnesota
4. Denver
5. N.Y. Giants
My bottom five
32. St. Louis
31. Tampa Bay
30. Cleveland
29. Tennessee
28. Detroit
Next weekend's three best games
Minnesota at Pittsburgh ... Man of Steel? Why, it's Brett Favre!
Chicago at Cincinnati ... No, please, no more Bungles
Atlanta at Dallas ... Cowboys off a bye? I like it.
