1. So Bill Belichick can't beat Mike Shanahan. He beat him to running back Laurence Maroney, whom Shanahan would've drafted had he not taken Jay Cutler, and it's Maroney who will put Corey Dillon on the bench more and more as the season progresses.
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| Dallas lineman Andre Gurode holds ice to his head after Haynesworth stomps on it during the third quarter. (AP) |
3. I know Odell Thurman is gone. I didn't realize he took the entire Cincinnati defense with him. I'm sorry, but if the Bengals can't figure out how to stop the run -- and they looked dreadful the past two weeks -- they're not going far.
4. Please, someone suspend Tennessee's Albert Haynesworth. Jeff Fisher ... Roger Goodell ... someone ... anyone. Two games. Four games. Six games. I don't care. The guy must pay for a classless, gutless and mindless act.
5. Memo to Marty Schottenheimer: Take the handcuffs off quarterback Philip Rivers. I thought I'd learn what this guy was about against Baltimore, but I didn't ... and it had more to do with the Chargers playing not to lose than it did with Rivers.
6. Congratulations, Damon Huard. Not only did he play a near-flawless game in the Chiefs' 41-0 waxing of San Francisco, he sidetracked any ideas the Chiefs might've had of turning to rookie Brodie Croyle in a couple of weeks if Huard went into the jar.
7. Here's my reservation about the Colts: They can't stop the run, and Sunday's last-minute defeat of the Jets is the latest evidence. The Jets ran for 135 yards, and this is why that's no good: These guys not only hadn't run for more than 91 yards in any game this season, but entered the game averaging a league-low 2.6 yards a carry.
8. OK, so it's official. Chicago is the team to beat in the NFC. That dyspeptic look on Mike Holmgren's face just told me.
9. The more Daunte Culpepper flounders, the smarter Minnesota looks.
10. Just my opinion, but the Tennessee Titans should have waited on Vince Young. I know they were going nowhere with Kerry Collins, but why not wait until the seventh game -- following their Oct. 22 bye -- to start Young? He not only would have had the benefit of four more weeks of schooling, he wouldn't have had to face Dallas, Indianapolis and Washington in succession.
11. All that was missing from the Jets' last play was the Stanford band.
12. Maybe Houston was right after all about David Carr. The guy is beginning to look like a quarterback, and it's not the seven touchdown passes that convince me. It's the two interceptions. Remember: He spends most of his life playing from behind.
13. That's four straight games without 100 yards rushing for Edgerrin James. Think he misses that offensive line in Indianapolis? Me, too.
