-Last year they experimented with the Wildcat, this year the Dolphins are trying to play with two quarterbacks: The Pat White experiment was in full flow against the Patriots. Particularly in the first half of the game, White split time with Chad Henne at the quarterback position, throwing one pass and rushing six times. White broke one rush of 33 yards, but apart from that he wasn't particularly effective.
There's something strange about seeing a quarterback who has just completed a pass and picked up a first down trudging off the field, as Henne did a number of times against New England. While the Wildcat has been a big success in Miami, the two quarterback offense still has a ways to go. Just ask Michael Vick...
-The education of Vontae Davis: One of the fascinating subplots of the Patriots-Dolphins showdown was the play of rookie corner back Vontae Davis, the younger brother of 49ers tight end Vernon Davis. Entering the draft out of Illinois, questions surrounded Davis over his attitude and ability to be coached. The Dolphins gambled and picked him with the 25th pick of the first round.
On Sunday, Davis showed his potential early on when he intercepted a slightly under-thrown deep ball from Tom Brady while covering Randy Moss. However, he then witnessed first hand why Moss is one of the league's premier pass catchers.
First, Moss got up over Davis' tight coverage to catch another long Brady pass which set up a Patriots touchdown, and then in the second half, Moss broke free from Davis' coverage on a crossing route, caught the ball, and delivered a beautiful stiff arm to Davis. As Davis stumbled and fell, Moss raced 71 yards to the end zone to give New England a lead they would not relinquish.
Davis flashed his potential one more time late in the game, when with 3:43 left, he came up with a big defensive play, breaking up a bubble screen thrown by Brady on a third and 5, forcing the Patriots to punt and giving the Dolphins one last chance to win the game.
All in all, so far Davis has responded well to the criticism he received for his attitude in college, and looks to have a great future ahead of him. It is interesting that four rookies who had question marks surrounding their character entering the draft, Davis, Percy Harvin, Michael Oher, and Rey Maualuga, have all seen lots of playing time so far this season and have been amongst the most impressive rookies.
-Something good is cooking in Cincy. The Bengals are hot right now, and running back Cedric Benson looks like a different player than the one who struggled both on the field and with the law in Chicago. With Benson having another 100 yard day, and Carson Palmer healthy and throwing the ball well, the Bengals at 6-2, and 4-0 in division play, look in a good position for their first playoffs appearance since 2005.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Bengals is their defense, which has been dismal over the last few seasons. In addition to boasting one of the best corner back tandems in the league in Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall, who both picked Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco on Sunday, they have only allowed 16.9 points per game this season.
-The Texans-Colts game lives up to expectations: The Texans have an atrocious record against their conference rivals, and although they lost again on Sunday, the Colts needed to produce a great performance to stay perfect at 8-0.
With neither team moving the ball in the running game, the match up turned into a shootout which Peyton Manning won, barely, as Texan kicker Kris Brown missed a 43-yarder as time expired which would have taken the game to overtime.
-Two rookie quarterbacks have very different days: While Josh Freeman was leading the Buccaneers to their first win of the season against Green Bay, Matthew Stafford, the no. 1 overall pick of last year's draft, got off to a hot start before letting the game slip away.
Freeman threw for 205 yards and three touchdown passes as he led the Bucs to a fourth quarter comeback. Freeman was far from perfect on the day, as he threw an interception, and had another interception wiped out because a penalty on the go-ahead drive. But he did enough.
Stafford threw two touchdowns in the first ten minutes, and the Lions were up 17-0 at the end of the first quarter. Not much went right for Stafford after that though, as he threw 5 interceptions, including a couple to linebacker David Hawthorne.
You have to feel a little sorry for Stafford, he hasn't had a lot of help from his offense, and he's now been upstaged by both the other first round quarterbacks, Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman. But until he stops trying to do too much, and making some of the horrible throws like he did on Sunday, his slump will continue.
-For a second, I believed in Alex Smith's comeback. When, at the end of the second quarter, Smith got away from pressure, looked as if he was going to just throw it away, but instead threw a touchdown strike at the back of the end zone to Jason Hill, I believed in his comeback. I really did.
Then in the fourth quarter, the old Alex Smith reappeared. He practically bore holes in his primary receiver Josh Morgan as he stared him down, allowing Chris Hope to step in front of the pass and intercept it. On the very next offensive snap, he threw a interception to Cortland Finnegan who returned it for a touchdown, putting the final nail in the 49ers coffin. I wouldn't be surprised if Shaun Hill was back next week.
-Cowboys emerge from ugly game in Philly. 19 penalties and 3 challenges, Dallas came off the laundry-littered Lincoln Financial Field with a victory and control of the NFC East. Their defense did a fantastic job of constantly pressuring Donovan McNabb, and shutting down the Eagles young receivers. For his part, McNabb had an indifferent day, tossing up two picks and making a number of inaccurate throws.
How about Miles Austin? After lighting up the league the last few weeks, the Cowboys' receiver hadn't made a catch through three quarters, as the Eagles seemed intent on shutting him down. Then with eight minutes left in the game, Austin absolutely scorched the Eagles' experienced corner Sheldon Brown on a slant-and-go route, and took it to the house. He finished with one catch on the day, the game winner.
Whisper it for now, but Austin may just be the spark to the Cowboys offense that allows Tony Romo to recapture his mojo and saves Wade Philips' job.
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