NFL Week 9

Ten (Not So) Quick Hits:

1/ Jerry Jones should have fired Wade Phillips at halftime. On the sideline, Wade looked like he knew it. The Cowboys are an embarrassment of a team. There is no other applicable word. (I actually feel bad for the guy, he's a beaten man)

2/ The players can complain about harsher hitting penalties all they want but when you see a helmet-to-helmet hit like the one Austin Collie took against Philadelphia and Collie laying motionless afterwards, you understand why they feel like they need to do anything they can to avoid a potential life-altering disaster.

3/ All of Detroit is holding this morning its breath as we wait for an update on Matthew Stafford's newest shoulder injury, on the same throwing shoulder which he separated earlier this season. That injury caused him to miss five games. More generally, though, Stafford has struggled to stay healthy in his young NFL career, and it's got to be beginning to become a concern for the Lions franchise.

4/ In this crazy season, where new best teams seem to emerge every week, keep an eye on the New York Giants. They've now won five in a row (on top of which they get Dallas next week) and in the NFC, where parity seems particularly dominant, that's no mean feat. Circle that Week 11 Sunday Night matchup against the 5-3 Eagles as a must-see.

5/ No let-up by the Saints defense then. They picked up right where they left off against the Steelers last week. They held Carolina (okay it is only Carolina) to three points and under 200 yards of total offense, on top of which they forced two turnovers.

6/ Asante Samuel might be the only cornerback in the league who loves playing against Peyton Manning. He had some famous interceptions of Peyton back when he played for the Patriots, and he repeated the trick, twice, on Sunday. Bet Manning's glad the Colts only play the Eagles once every four years in regular season games.

7/ If the Bills don't win one of these close games soon....I don't even know what to say. They've lost three straight games by a field goal. Best 0-8 team you'll see in a while.

8/ Stat of the week: the Atlanta Falcons are now 17-1 at home with Matt Ryan as their starting quarterback.

9/ Forget Jake Delhomme. Forget Seneca Wallace. Rookie Colt McCoy has proved himself enough to be the guy for the Cleveland quarterback job.

10/ I don't who to believe in this dust-up.

-Here's some of the studs of the week:

a. Packers linebacker Clay Matthews: No doubt in my mind that Matthews, only in his second NFL season, is the best defensive player in the league right now. After not even practicing this week, Matthews was all over the field Sunday. He really can do everything. He picked up another sack (he leads the league in that category), had two other quarterback hits, made three tackles, defended two passes, and even scored his second NFL touchdown. No wonder teammate Charles Woodson likes to call him the 'Claymaker.'

b. Raiders receiver Jacoby Ford: Made three spectacular and crucial plays which pushed the Raiders past the Chiefs. He returned the opening kick of the second for a touchdown, and then he made both big catches (a 29-yarder and a 47-yarder) which put the Raiders in field goal range to first send the game to overtime, and then to win it. The speedster finished with 306 all-purpose yards.

c. Browns running back Peyton Hillis: Pretty much was the Browns offense in a smackdown of the Patriots. His 184 rushing yards were almost half of the team's entire offensive production of 404 yards. Expect the Browns to continue to play good, old-school football with him carrying the rock.

d. Vikings quarterback Brett Favre: Was far from perfect Sunday (two interceptions thrown), but still threw for 446 yards (the highest single-game passing yardage in his career), two touchdowns and completed 76 percent of his 47 passes. He makes this list though because of the fantastic fourth quarter comeback he led, bringing the Vikings back from 14 points down with under five minutes to play. Say what you will about Favre and his legacy in the sport, but when it comes to leading comebacks in the final few seconds, there are very few quarterbacks on the all-time list he would have to take a backseat to.

e. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers: Makes any receiver he plays with look like a superstar (Peyton comparisons on the horizon someday soon??) and throws the best deep ball in football. On the day, his passer rating was 137.2, as he completed 17 of 23 passes for 295 yards and four TDs.

-Here's some of the goats of the week:

a. Panthers quarterback Jimmy Clausen: Certainly didn't look like the top ten draft pick he was once thought to be before last year's draft. He completed 8 of 18 passes after Matt Moore left the game with an injury. He also threw two interceptions to end with a 28.5 passer rating.

b. Seahawks quarterback Charlie Whitehurst: Was another fresh quarterback face struggling Sunday. Started in place of the concussed Matt Hasselbeck and silenced anyone who may been calling for the latter's benching. He threw two interceptions and was 12-of-23 for 113 yards passing.

c. Chiefs running back Thomas Jones: Found out just how hard it is to run on Oakland's defensive line as he was held to 32 yards on 19 carries, a paltry 1.7 average.

d. Cowboys receiver Miles Austin: Has the tools to be a dominating presence in any game he plays, but has disappeared during the Cowboys losing streak. Had three 100-yard receiving games in the first four games, but only one since. Two catches for 16 yards went his stat line Sunday. Sure, he doesn't have Romo throwing to him anymore, but he's done little to make Kitna better.

-Rookie of the Week: Chargers receiver Seyi Ajirotutu: What is it with receivers with long, complicated names taking the NFL by storm recently? After Devin Aromashodu, Danny Amendola and Michael Hoomanawanui, we may have discovered a new one in my boy, Seyi Ajirotutu. The undrafted rookie, a college roommate of Chargers first round pick Ryan Matthews at Fresno State, caught four passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, including this beaut.

-Play of the Week: DeSean Jackson. Doing work.

-Ridiculous Play of the Week: Ridiculous play of the week, ridiculous play of the season, and maybe of the decade. With the Lions regular kicker injured a few plays earlier, 307-pound rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh stepped up to tack on an extra point after a Detroit touchdown. This is what happened. You can bet Suh will be hearing it for a while from his father, a former semi-professional soccer player, and his sister, a collegiate soccer player at Mississippi State, after that one.

Picking NFL Week 9

How I did last week: 7-6

Peyton Manning and Clint Session helped me squeak another winning week.

Record on the season: 65-52

Boy, that's a lot of losses.

Chargers at Texans: I badly want to pick Texans because I've been burned by the Chargers poor form away from Qualcomm Stadium so many times this season. But Houston's defense gives up a ton of points (a minimum of 24 in every game they've played), and I think Philip Rivers will have a monster day against their weak secondary. Chargers.

Cardinals at Vikings: Two teams with very sticky quarterback situations will try to establish the run to win the game. Give me the one with Adrian Peterson running the ball. Vikings.

Saints at Panthers: Over the last two years, the Saints have made a habit of underperforming in games against unfancied opponents just like this one. So I expect this matchup to be much closer than everyone thinks after the Saints played well against Pittsburgh. But could they really play down to Carolina's level enough to lose to them?? Saints.

Patriots at Browns: I'm officially jumping on the New England bandwagon. Their defense, which was supposed to be very bad, has in fact taken great strides this season while their offense, with or without Randy Moss, has continued to roll. Best team in the league eight weeks. Patriots

Bucs at Falcons: Be wary of Bucs corner Aqib Talib, Matt Ryan. He'll be waiting for that deep ball you like to throw to Roddy White. Falcons.

Bills at Bears: Unfortunately for Buffalo, they don't have the pass rushing weapons to get after the Chicago's biggest weakness, its offensive line. The Bills rank 25^th in the league in sacks with 11, and the Bears have usually found a way to win games when their offensive line isn't completely overpowered. Bears.

Dolphins at Ravens: The Ravens have only one game by more than 7 points all year. The Dolphins have only once by more than 5 all season. Expect a squeaker, folks. Ravens.

Jets at Lions: Going with the upset in this one. Sure the Jets can't possibly be as bad on offense as they were last week but I think Detroit can score the points to keep up with them. A combination of injuries and a big contract appear to have slowed Darelle Revis down a step or two this season. Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson might just pick on him a little bit. Lions.

Giants at Seahawks: Seattle's undefeated record in home games will be severely tested by a New York team that rebounded from a poor 1-2 start to win four straight before its last week. The key matchup in this one will be the Seahawks offensive line against New York's impressive array of pass-rushers, because, as you may have heard, Matt Hasselbeck took 8 sacks last week. And I think the bruising will continue Sunday. Giants.

Colts at Eagles: Michael Vick may give the Colts fits with his legs, but Peyton Manning's arm will terrify the Eagles lackluster secondary. Colts.

Chiefs at Raiders: I love most everything the Chiefs have been doing this season, but after what has happened the last two weeks (reminder: Oakland won their two games by a combined 75 points and I picked against them both times), how am I not going to pick Raiders in front of their home crowd? Raiders.

Cowboys at Packers: Hah. If you think there's any chance of me picking the Cowboys again after last week's performance until they've actually won about five games, you're sadly mistaken. Just on principle if nothing else. Packers.

Steelers at Bengals: Can't see the Steelers losing two primetime games in a row, especially against an underachieving Bengals team that has lost four straight games. Cincinnati's dominance of the AFC North looks more like a one year fluke every time a week goes by this season. Steelers.

NFL Week 9 Rankings

The Fab Five

1. Saints (8-0): The last two weeks, The Saints have shown their resilience coming from behind in both games to stay undefeated. Don't expect them to have to come from behind against the hapless Rams though.

2. Colts (8-0): The Colts jump above the inactive Vikings this week. They were really tested by the Texans, and I'm still not sure they would beat Minnesota head-to-head, but they are still unbeaten. We are going to know a lot more about the Colts after their showdown with the Pats on Sunday night.

3. Vikings (7-1): Brett Favre didn't look like he needed a bye week to rest his reconstructed shoulder, but he got it nonetheless. Last season that shoulder was the reason his form dipped in the second half and Jets season fell apart. Favre's continued good health will be almost as important as winning games for Minnesota in the next two months.

4. Steelers (6-2): Getting Troy Polamalu back from injury has been huge for the Steelers defense, which looked to be getting back to its stiffling best against the Broncos. The Steelers jump ahead of the Patriots this week due to the fact that after all, they are the defending Superbowl champions.

5. Patriots (6-2): The Patriots will probably never again be the football-game-winning machine they were in 2007, but they have been getting better and better as the season wears on. Just like for the Colts, Sunday night will huge in forging this Patriots team's identity.

The Fat Five:

32. Browns (1-7): Cleveland falls to the bottom of the pile this week. Disarray on the management side of things, poor performances on the field, this Browns team might sit here for a while.

31. Lions (1-7): Matthew Stafford had his worst game as a Lion against the Seahawks, throwing 5 picks, and making a lot of poor decisions. Detroit also blew a 17 point lead against an average NFL team, and only scored 3 points in the last three quarters. Now they travel to Minnesota where Stafford will face a physical defense and the best defensive end in football right now, Jared Allen.

30. Chiefs (1-7): This is a rebuilding young team who played the Jaguars close last week. Interesting game against Oakland coming up, one that the Chiefs have a realistic chance of winning. Unlike some of the other teams in the bottom five, this is a team going in the right direction.

29. Rams (1-7): St Louis have only beaten the Lions this year, and that was the easiest game on their schedule this year. Time to start looking at next year's draft prospects...

28. Buccaneers (1-7): Tampa Bay jump up four spots this week on the strength of their comeback win against Green Bay. Coach Raheem Morris came out and heaped a lot of praise on rookie quarterback Josh Freeman after his performance in his first NFL start. The question is: can Freeman continue to perform as people start expect more from him?

NFL Week 9

-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 25^th 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.