ESPN’s power rankings are out and once again it has some flaws.  Apparently it is the NFC East’s world and everyone else is just living in it as the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles all claim the top 3 spots in this week’s poll.  The TItans, Steelers, Bills, and Broncos claim the next 4 spots as the top teams the AFC has to offer.

I have an issue with the Steelers being listed as the #2 team in the AFC.  The Steelers have some serious flaws to deal with in terms of their offensive line and they were thoroughly dominated by Philadelphia’s defense on Sunday.  The Titans and Bills are currently playing the best football in the AFC.  I would also move the Broncos ahead of the Steelers on the basis of them being unbeaten though they cannot seem to stop anyone defensively.

The Chargers move back into the top 10 on the heels of kicking a mediocre Jets team up and down the field on Monday.  What’s more is they move ahead in the rankings ahead of a 2-1 Carolina Panthers team despite the fact the Panthers beat them on their own field.  Does it make sense to rank a team with a lesser record ahead of a team with a better record that has beaten them?

The Colts and Pats both fall out of the top ten for what is probably the first time in several seasons.  Given the Colts have two home losses to a pair of teams currently 1-2 how is it they are still 12th.  Furthermore how is it that those two other teams, the Bears (20th) and the Jaguars (14th), are ranked behind the Colts when they have the same record and own victories against them?

The 2-1 Redskins are ranked behind three teams with two losses.

Once one gets past the Redskins it is tough to quibble too terribly much and honestly one can randomly sort those teams and not have too much to argue.  The lower tier two win teams are there because they have beaten bottom feeders and lost to the only real competition they have played and the one win teams are higher for playing tougher competition to-date.

However, the one team I wonder about is the Oakland Raiders.  Granted they did lose this past week, but after being run out of the building by the Broncos in week one they have rebounded to beat the Chiefs and took an undefeated Bills team to the wire in Buffalo this past weekend.  They deserve some credit for that and should certainly be ranked ahead of winless teams like the Bengals, Browns, and Texans.

The third week of the NFL season saw a pair of rookie runners show off their blazing speed and the top QB taken in the draft rebound from an abysmal outing to post another solid start.  We also saw another rookie quarterback make his pro debut and the top tight end taken in the draft score his first career touchdown.

Steve Slaton, Houston – Week three was Slaton’s time to shine as he cruised to 116 yards on 18 carries including his first career touchdown against a stout Tennessee defense.  For the year Slaton has 159 yards and is averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

Felix Jones, Dallas – Continues to use his elite speed to deliver big plays for the Cowboys.  Jones was rather ineffective aside from his 60 yard touchdown run.  Jones compiled a career-high 76 yards on six carries.  For the season he has 148 yards on 18 carries for a whopping 8.2 yards per carry.  Jones has also made a major impact for the Cowboys as a kick returner.  In 3 games he has two returns of 40 or more yards including a 98-yarder for a touchdown against Philadelphia.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – Ryan rebounded from an abysmal outing against the Buccaneers to post another solid game against the Chiefs completing 12 of 18 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown.  It is tough to gauge just where Ryan is along the developmental process as his two best games have come against two of the worst teams in the league while his only game against a potentially playoff caliber team was not good.  For the year Ryan has completed 53.1% of his passes for 511 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Matt Forte, Chicago – Forte continues to plug away posting 155 yards of total offense, 89 rushing and 66 receiving, and a touchdown against Tampa Bay.  Forte keeps producing but his yards per carry are steadily declining with each passing week.  As the season progresses and the Bears continue to struggle to establish any kind of a passing game Forte’s numbers may continue to flounder a bit as teams key on him as the lone offensive weapon for Chicago.  For the season Forte has 304 rushing yards, tops amongst all rookie backs and 4th in the league, and 105 receiving yards on 13 catches.  He also has a pair of touchdowns to his credit.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Another solid effort for the rookie burner out of East Carolina.  Johnson ran up 74 yards on 16 carries for the Titans.  For the season Johnson’s 276 yards and 5.5 yards per carry rank him 7th in the league and 2nd amongst rookies in both categories.  Johnson also has one touchdown to his credit.

Dustin Keller, New York Jets – Had the best game in his young career on Monday night catching 4 passes for 41 yards and scoring his first career touchdown agains the Chargers.  For the season Keller has caught 5 passes for 60 yards and one score.

Jerod Mayo, New England – The rookie linebacker out of Tennessee recorded a career-high of 12 tackles in the loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.  For the season Mayo’s 25 tackles are a league-high amongst all rookie defenders.

Joe Flacco, Baltimore – It was not pretty but Flacco helped guide the Ravens to their second victory of the season over the hapless Browns.  Flacco completed 13 of 19 passes for 129 yards.  One positive is that he completed 68.4% of his passes which is up from the 51.7% he completed in his first game.  However, the big mark against him in this game was that he threw two interceptions.  For the season Flacco has completed 58.3% of his passes for 258 yards and two interceptions.  He also has one rushing touchdown to his credit.

Jamaal Charles, Kansas City – The rookie runner from Texas posted career-highs with 38 rushing yards and 24 receiving yards.  For the season Charles is averaging a 4.9 yards per carry and is starting to emerge as a viable second option in the Chiefs rushing attack.

Tim Hightower, Arizona – Hightower ran for 23 yards on 5 carries and posted a career-high of 38 receiving yards against the Redskins.  Hightower has emerged as an option out of the backfield in the Cardinals passing attack and as a short yardage back.  For the season Hightower is averaging 11.3 yards per reception and has punched in a pair of touchdowns.

Darren McFadden, Oakland – McFadden was unable to follow up his outstanding performance against Kansas City with another one in Buffalo.  The rookie runner was held to just 42 yards on 14 carries.  For the season his 252 yards rank 3rd amongst rookie backs while his 5.7 yards per carry is tops amongs first year players.  He has also scored a touchdown this season.

John Carlson, Seattle – The league’s most productive rookie tight end to-date caught two passes for 38 yards against the Rams.  For the season he has caught 12 passes for 168 yards.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – Was held in check for the most part by the Steelers defense catching just 5 passes for 40 yards.  His 256 yards and 15.1 average per catch are still tops amongst league rookies.

Eddie Royal, Denver – Royal seems to have gone from the penthouse to the outhouse since the return of Brandon Marshall to the Broncos’ lineup as he has caught just 9 passes for 48 yards since Marshall’s return from a one game suspension.  For the season Royal still leads all rookies with 18 catches and his 194 yards rank second amongst rookie wideouts.  He also has a pair of touchdown catches to his credit.

Jonathan Stewart, Carolina – Stewart never really got going against a strong Minnesota defensive front that decided the Panthers were going to have to beat them throwing the ball.  The Vikings held Stewart to a career-low 15 yards on 7 carries with the lone highlight being the touchdown he scored.  For the season Stewart’s 145 yards rank 6th amongst rookies and his 3 rushing touchdowns are the most amongst all rookie backs.

Ray Rice, Baltimore – Posted a respectable 21 yards on 5 carries in a win against the Browns.  Rice has struggled a bit at times and is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry and has yet to establish himself as a key player in the Ravens offense.

Kevin O’Connell, New England – O’Connell made his NFL debut in a blow out loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.  There is not much to take away from this other than he completed 3 of 4 passes for 25 yards in mop up duty.

Chad Henne, Miami – Took some snaps in mop up duty in the blow out win against New England but did not attempt a pass.

ESPN’s weekly power rankings are out and based on what ESPN is telling me the NFC is starting to strut its stuff again.  With the Cowboys, Steelers, Giants, Packers, and Eagles manning the top five spots that means the NFC holds four of the top five and with the Panthers coming in at number eight that gives the NFC five of the top eight teams in the league according to ESPN.

Just like last week there are some things that do not make sense to me here.  First is the Patriots move back up to the sixth spot despite the fact they have looked rather lackluster in their two wins against the Jets and Chiefs.  The Jets are supposed to contend in the AFC East but they do not look as though they have their stuff together just yet and the Chiefs are one of the worst teams in the league right now.  It seems as though ESPN is overvaluing that win against the Jets who were only ranked 14th last week to begin with.  Do not get me wrong I still think the Pats are a playoff team but I want to see how they respond to a challenge before ranking them in the top 6.

This leads me to the next two on the list.  I am trying to figure out the justification for rating Colts, and the Pats for that matter, above the Panthers.  Consider the Panthers just beat a Bears team that humbled the Colts on opening night in their own stadium.  It was all the Colts could do to get past what is appearing to be an overrated Vikings squad.  The Colts offensive line is a mess right now and they would probably lose to several teams ranked below them right now.  I have a hard time ranking a one loss team against an unbeaten team when that loss came from a team ranked lower than they are.  I don’t have a problem with the Eagles being rated that high because their only loss is on the road to the top rated team.  Honestly, given the way they are playing right now I think I would put the Broncos, Titans, and Bills ahead of the Colts. 

The Cards are a big mover this week jumping up from 21 to 14 just behind the Chargers.  I find it interesting that they would rank an 0-2 team ahead of a 2-0 team.  I think 14 is about right for the Cards given their two wins are against the Niners and the Dolphins but I would slot them ahead of the Chargers simply because of the discrepency of their respective records.  The upcoming games against the ‘Skins and Jets will give us a better feel for how good this team is.  Whose bowl of Cheerios did Ken Whisenhunt pee in?  What is up with making the Cards travel to D. C. and New York for back-to-back games with 1:00 kick offs?  That seems hardly fair.

The last rankings I have a real issue with is that of Seattle in relation to San Francisco.  The Seahawks have lost both of their games this year, including one to the Niners at home, yet they are somehow ranked ahead of the Forty Niners in this week’s rankings.  Explain that one to me.  How do you justify ranking the team that just beat them at home ahead of them when Seattle’s overall record is worse.  Given how early it is in the season don’t this past week’s results San Francisco is the better team right now?  Granted, on paper, Seattle is probably the better team but until they prove it on the field they have to be rated lower than the Niners for the time being.

That is about it for now.  Maybe, one day, ESPN will be able to produce a power rankings that does not have as many glaring deficiencies as the current one does.

Darren McFadden, Oakland – McFadden had a breakout game this week piling up 164 yards on 21 carries against the hapless Chiefs.  McFadden showed everyone why he was considered the top talent available in the draft.  The only real knock on his performance is that he put the ball on the ground twice which was main knock on his game coming out of Arkansas.  McFadden’s performance made him the second leading rusher amongst rookie backs this year with 210 yards and 5th in the NFL.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Continued to shine for the TItans posting his first 100 yard game of his career piling up 109 yards on 19 carries.  Johnson’s 202 yards rank him third amongst rookie runners.

Johnathan Stewart, Carolina – Stewart came up big for the Panthers scoring two second half touchdowns to go with a career high 77 yards.  Stewarts 130 yards rank 4th amongst rookies and his two touchdowns are the most amongst all rookie running backs.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – Jackson posted another 100 yard recieving against Dallas hauling in 6 balls for 110 yards.  Jackson’s 12 catches rate second amongst rookies and his 216 yards are tops amongst rookies and 4th in the NFL.  He is quickly emerging as the top wideout in the 2008 rookie class.

Chris Horton, Washington – The rookie safety had his best day as a pro snaring two interceptions and knocking away two others against the Saints.

Lawrence Jackson, Seattle – Had a strong outing this week recording two sacks amongst his five tackles.

Matt Forte, Chicago – Posted another solid outing against Carolina on Sunday rolling up 92 yards on 23 carries and caught 3 balls for 21 yards.  After two games Forte still stands atop the league’s rookies with 215 rushing yards and 4th amongst all running backs in the league.

Eddie Royal, Denver – Royal was held in check for most of the game until catching the touchdown and 2-point conversion that led to Denver’s win over San Diego.  Royal’s 14 catches are tops amongst rookies and his 183 yards rank second.

Antoine Cason, San Diego – Continues to make plays in the Chargers secondary collecting an interception and two passes defensed.  For the season Cason has an interception, a recovered fumble, and 3 passes defensed.

John Carlson, Seattle – The rookie tight end from Notre Dame continued his solid play catching six passes for 78 yards.  Carlson’s 10 catches and 130 yards rank third amongst all rookies.

Felix Jones, Dallas – After posting a solid debut against the Browns Jones contributed very little to the Dallas ground attack on Monday night.  However he managed to make his mark on the game with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Kendall Langford, Miami – The rookie defensive end out of Hampton has been one of the lone bright spots for the Dolphins this year recording sacks in each of his first two games.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – After a strong performance in week one Ryan came tumblling back to Earth as the Falcons faced a more formidable opponent in Tampa Bay.  There is not a whole lot of positive things to say about Ryan’s performance.  He completed just 39.4% of his passes, threw 2 picks, and got sacked four times.  Bottom line is Ryan looked like a rookie QB making just his second start in the NFL this week.  No reason to give up on him at all just yet.

Chad Henne, Miami – Henne made his pro debut getting mopup duty in a blow out loss to Arizona and looked fairly competent while out there.  He completed 7 of 12 passes for 67 yards and led the ‘Phins to their only touchdown.  However, no need to get to revved up about Henne just yet this is still Pennington’s team as Miami likely just wanted to get Henne some snaps in an actual game.  The Dolphins are likely wanting Henne to sit and watch this year and compete for the starting job next summer.

As an Eagles fan last night’s loss was awfully tough to take.  It is not solely because it was against Dallas but because of the feeling that Philadelphia had a chance to put Dallas away and could not pull the trigger.  Not to mention the last play they ran.  Was that really the best they could come up with.  I thought we have always been told that you have to throw to or past the marker on 3rd or 4th down.

The game was somewhat encouraging in that McNabb looks like he is playing with a purpose this year.  He was moving around in the pocket and hitting his targets.  If not for some dropped passes he would have had his second 300 yard game in as many outings.

I was also very impressed with how well the run defense played.  They kept Marion Barber contained most of the game and held the Cowboys as a team to just 2.8 yards per carry.  There were only two runs where Barber really had significant gains.

The secondary, on the other hand, was atrocious at times.  What they were doing with Sheldon Brown on Terrell Owens at times just boggles my mind.  Fortunately they made the right adjustments and Owens was a nonfactor after he scored his second touchdown. 

It may also be time to start thinking about who is going to succeed Brian Dawkins at safety.  Dawkins is still a good player but he got burnt a couple of times last night where he typically would not have in the past.  He looks as though he has lost a step.

DeSean Jackson was both a positive and a negative.  His speed is just what the doctor ordered however he seems prone to stupid mistakes and lack of concentration.  I don’t what he was thinking when he flipped the ball like that and he dropped a couple balls he should have caught.

The officiating in that game was horrible.  I saw at least two blatant face mask penalties that did not get called and then there was the pass interference penalty called on Dallas in the end zone that should have gone against Greg Lewis as he clearly had a handful of the defender’s jersey on that play.

It appears as though we can still count on Tony Romo suffering vapor lock in big games and the Cowboys as a whole are still committing too many penalties.  They will likely coast through the season again and then lose in the playoffs because of the lack of discipline and mental lapses they still seem to suffer from at times.

Can the Cowboys tackle anyone without grabbing the facemask?  They were flagged at least three times for a face mask penalty and there at least two or three others that were overlooked.

As for the other games around the league.  The Panthers are the team to beat in the NFC South. They look awfully tough and look light years ahead of last year’s team. Once Delhomme went down last season the team pretty much folded up shop for the year. Jonathan Stewart is an absolute beast of a running back. He had a couple of carries Sunday where he just shrugged off two or three tacklers. It will not be long until he is getting the bulk of the carries for Carolina and DeAngelo Williams will be relegated to #2 status again.

Aaron Rodgers is on fire right now and until proven otherwise Green Bay is the team to beat in the NFC North.

The Lions and the Rams are the two worst teams in football right now with Bengals nipping at their heels.

So much for the Saints re-vamped improved defense. They gave up 29 points and 455 yards to a pretty inept Redskins offense.  Until they do something to drastically improve the secondary and the pass rush I’ll never understand all of the love they get from the media as potential Super Bowl contenders.  They put a ton of money and effort into upgrading the linebacking corps but the defensive line and secondary needs some added depth as well.

The Falcons defense is still not very good and Matt Ryan looked like a rookie QB yesterday. It just goes to show how awful the Lions are on defense right now.

Arizona is the team to beat in the NFC West simply because they seem to be the only team capable of playing some semblance of defense right now.

How many tough losses can San Diego withstand until they implode and this becomes a lost season for them?

Tarvaris Jackson continues to show why Minnesota is not a Super Bowl contender.  He was routinely booed during the game on Sunday and I cannot help but wonder how much longer Brad Childress waits until he goes with Gus Frerotte at quarterback.

When does Derek Anderson start looking over his shoulder in Cleveland? The Browns had high hopes coming into this season and Anderson has not gotten the job done against two of the leagues better teams. In fact he has been downright mediocre to bad.

It looks like everything is starting to finally click for Jay Cutler. He has been very impressive the first two weeks of the season, but what is up with inexplicably coughing the ball up twice in the 4th quarter with no real pressure?

Some of the things I see on ESPN boggles my mind from time to time.  I was perusing their NFL power rankings online today and some of what is listed on here does not make a ton of sense.  Let us just go down the list in order.

First, the Chargers drop from second to third despite the fact that they lost at home to what was the 17th ranked team in the Panthers.  Not to mention the Panthers were playing without their biggest offensive weapon in Steve Smith.  In relation to that beating the second best team on the road ws only good enough to move the Panthers up to 12th.

The Saints move from 7th to 4th on the basis of beating the Buccaneers.

Defensive overhaul is working wonders and Reggie Bush is off to a hot start. 

So basically because the Saints held the Buccaneers, a team who averaged 21 points and 327 yards of offense, to 20 points and 352 yards of offense the defense is now fixed.  The Bucs ran up 9 yards per carry against the Saints.  I fail to see how that was a stout defensive performance by New Orleans this past weekend.  What makes this comment even dumber is the one they listed for the Bucs:

Showed no big-play capability and the defense is looking old.

So wow, they held a team that shows no big-play capability to 20 points.

The Jags drop to 10th, one spot above the team who beat them in the Titans.  If you are going to rank them that close together would it not stand to reason that the team who won the head-to-head matchup get the nod for the week?

The Vikings (16), Browns (17), and Seahawks (18) are all ranked immediately above the Broncos who just mauled the Raiders on Monday Night.  Granted it was the Raiders but Denver did it on the road while the Browns got plastered by the Cowboys at home and Seahawks were totally inept in Buffalo.

The Falcons are ranked immediately behind the Redskins (23) and Texans (24) both of which absolutely inept on offense in their openers.

The 49ers, Dolphins, and Chiefs all move up two spots despite losing their openers.  But to be honest that is just knit picking and tough to argue against considering they were shuffled upwards in favor of placing the Lions and Rams in the bottom two spots respectively as those two were arguably the most inept teams this week.  Although I probably would have stuck the Raiders at the bottom as they got the ever-loving snot beat out of them at home while the Rams and Lions both lost on the road.

The first week of the NFL season featured some impressive debuts from the class of ‘08.  We saw two rookie quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, win their pro debuts for the first time since 1971 when Archie Manning and Jim Plunkett won their debut games.  We also saw a back go for 100 yards rushing a reciever catch over 100 yards worth of passes, and another back compile 100 yards of total offense.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – Ryan played about as well as could be expected for a rookie making his first start in the NFL.  The Falcons game planned this one perfectly to a tee relying heavily on the running game which has plenty of quality depth with Micheal Turner and Jerious Norwood toting the ball for the Falcons.  Ryan simply delivered when asked to.  His ability to complete passes downfield kept the defense honest allowing Micheal Turner to rack up 220 yards on the ground.  Ryan looked sharp completing 9 of his 13 passes for 161 yards and no interceptions.  He made a couple of big time throws and did not make any of the dumbs ones that rookies are wont to do.  

Joe Flacco, Baltimore – Flacco was essentially good enough to get the job done.  The positives are that he did not turn the ball over and showed some wheels in taking a 38 yard scramble to the house.  The negatives are he only completed 51.7% of his passes against a bad defensive team in the Bengals and did not complete one throw over 15 yards.  Basically he did not do anything to screw it up and Coach Harbaugh was willing to utilize a dominant running game to monopolize the ball.

Matt Forte, Chicago – Forte was the league’s top rookie rusher piling up 123 yards, including a 50 yard romp to the end zone, leading the Bears to a 29-13 blowout of the Colts.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Some folks snickered when the Titans selected Johnson in the first round, especially when they desparately needed to find someone for Vince Young to throw the ball to.  Johnson proved his crtics wrong yesterday by racking up 127 yards of offense (93 rush, 34 rec) and a touchdown.  Johnson was one of the lone brights spots on offense in what was an otherwise pedestrian game.  Ultimately the Titans needed to get a playmaker on offense and it appears as though they have one in Chris Johnson.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – The lone rookie wideout to catch more than 2 balls and had about as good of a debut as one could have expected catching 6 balls for 106 yards including two that went for over 20 yards.  He also gave the return game a shot in the arm with a 60 yard punt return.

Ray Rice, Baltimore – A rather lackluster debut of 64 yards on 22 carries including a fumble.

Felix Jones, Dallas – Scampered his way to 62 yards on 9 carries including a TD run the first time he touched the ball.

Jonathan Stewart, Carolina – Gave the Panthers exactly what they wanted with 53 yards on 10 carries in relief of DeAngelo Williams. 

Steve Slaton, Houston – A so-so debut of 43 yards on 13 carries in a game that Houston was never really in from the start.

Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh – Mendenhall managed just 28 yards on 10 carries in a game that saw teammate Willie Parker go for 138 yards and 3 scores.

John Carlson, Seattle – The rookie tight end caught four passes for 52 yards in a solid debut outing.

Keith Rivers, Cincinnati – The top rookie tackler of the week recording 10 tackles against the Ravens.

Antoine Cason, San Diego – The rookie corner recorded six tackles including a forced fumble that led to a Chargers touchdown.

Derrick Harvey, Jacksonville – Drafted by the Jaguars to bolster the pass rush the rookie defensive end was ironically the only rookie to record an interception this week.  He also managed to knock down two other passes but failed to record even a tackle.

One initial thought as the Bears maintain comfortable lead with just under ten minutes to play: Is the balance of power finally shifting back to the NFC?  Consider that the Carolina Panthers, considered to be a marginal playoff team, stunned the San Diego Chargers at home with a last second touchdown and the Bears coming off of a 7-9 season and not considered a serious threat are handling the Colts quite easily.  The Chargers and Colts were two teams heavily favored to make deep playoff runs this year.  In fact the Chargers and Colts were second and third respectively in ESPN’s preseason power rankings while the Bears and Panthers were 25th and 20th.

Living in Durham I hear a lot of Panthers fans say Delhomme has to go, but after the throw he made to win that game today I wonder what they think now.  It is amazing how much better the Panthers are with Delhomme under center and they won this game without Steve Smith, their best player.  Carolina was able to basically run the ball at will racking up 142 yards getting 4.9 per carry, however, without Smith in the lineup the passing game suffered from untimely drops and a costly fumble that eventually led to a Chargers touchdown.

The defense held its own.  It allowed only two touchdowns on sustained drives while the Chargers other score came on a 28-yard drive following a D. J. Hackett fumble.  The one negative to take away was San Diego was able to get deep a few times and the pass coverage broke down in the middle of the field a few times.

Watching DeAngelo Williams carry the ball yesterday I could not help but wondering why DeShaun Foster go the bulk of the carries the past two seasons in Charlotte.

The Patriots losing Brady for the year is going to hurt their chances at getting back to the Super Bowl, however, they should still be okay.  One has to assume that if Bill Belichick did not believe Matt Cassel could hold down the fort in the event of a Brady injury then he would have cut him loose by now given that this is his 4th year with the Patriots.  It is being reported that Chris Simms is flying up to Foxboro for a physical and tryout.  Given that tidbit one has to think the Pats want to find someone to backup Cassel and not take over the team for the rest of the season.  Besides, Cassel played well against the Chiefs and really did not give the Patriots a reason to push the panic button just yet.  The Pats have enough weapons and talent to remain in the playoff hunt this year, although, they are probably now hunters instead of being the hunted with Brady out of action.

As an Eagles fan there was a lot to get excited about after yesterday’s 38-3 drubbing of the St. Louis Rams.  Chief among them is Donovan McNabb throwing for 361 yards and 3 scores and looking like the Donovan McNabb that took this team to the Super Bowl not too long ago.  Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis, and DeSean Jackson all racked up over 100 yards through the air.  I cannot remember the last time Philly had three wideouts go for over 100 yards.  Brian Westbrook ran the ball well and the defense was as stingy as ever allowing only 166 yards of total offense, sacking Marc Bulger 4 times and not allowing the Rams to convert one third down. 

As exicting as the outcome was I still take it with guarded optimism as, well, it is the Rams and they are not exactly one of the league’s elite franchises any more.  The next two weeks will let us know how good this team is as they have Dallas and Pittsburgh up next on the schedule.

Very impressed with how Matt Forte ran the ball for the Bears.  Apparently the Colts have forgotten how to defend the run again.

Ditto for Micheal Turner who showed exactly why the Chargers fought tooth-and-nail to hang on to him for as long as they did.  But, it was the Lions who have been so inept on defense for the past several years.

Peyton Manning looks very rusty.  Those who don’t think preseason games really matter in the grand scheme of things just take a look at how flat Manning was against Chicago.  I don’t think teams need 4 games to get ready but they do need to get in some reps at game speed to get back into the flow of things.

The Redskins offense looked absolutely brutal against the Giants on Thursday night.  I am afraid it is going to be a very long year in D. C. for Skins fans.  I never understood why Daniel Snyder decided on an unproven Head Coach in JIm Zorn to lead a team that made the playoffs last year.

The same looks to hold true for the Bengals this year as well.  The offense was abysmal as Carson Palmer could not even pass for 100 yards and the defense was not much better as the Ravens ran the ball down their throats to the tune of 220 yards.

So much for the Texans building on last year’s success.  They could not even give the Steelers a game and only managed to make the score look somewhat respectible after the Steelers had built a 35-3 lead and dialed it down in the 4th quarter.

The same can be said for the Browns as well.  I don’t think anyone expected them to beat Dallas yesterday but Derek Anderson was all over the place and the defense did not even bother to show up as Dallas rolled up almost 500 yards of offense.

The Cowboys suffered what could be a significant injury on Sunday when Marion Barber bruised his ribs.  His availibility looms large with Philly coming to town this weekend.

With St. Louis and the Seahawks both getting plastered this weekend on the road the NFC West could very well be the weakest division in football.  The only reason one of its teams one this week was due to the fact that Arizona beat division foe San Francisco.

As we move closer to the beginning of the regular season there are some interesting storylines developing around the league:

Are the Giants seriously considering luring Strahan out of retirement?  I know they desperate to find another pass rusher with Osi Umenyiora going down for the year.  And, I know Strahan sat out most of camp last year but he was also working out on his own and staying shape.  Do the Giants really believe Strahan has kept himself in game shape?  Furthermore how many weights is Strahan lifting while he is living it up over in Greece right now?  Strahan says he would come back for $8 mil but then again who wouldn’t?  He still looked like he has some lead left in his pencil at the end of last year, but, then again, he also had the luxury of not having to be the guy and played in a rotation that was 3 deep in terms of quality pass rushers with Justin Tuck in the mix.  Would Strahan have enough to go back to being an everydown end in the NFL again?  Are the Giants even willing to take the $8 million gamble that he does?

On the heels of an impressive showing in his last preseason game against the Titans Matt Ryan has been dubbed the opening day starter at quarterback for the Falcons.  This always has the potential to go either way but QBs who spend four years in college and start for two plus seasons, including 3 bowl games, tend to succeed more times than not at the next level.  In watching Ryan play quite a bit last year he impresses me as one of those guys who easily shakes off the bumps, bruises, and mistakes that go with playing the position and moves on.  He seems to be one of those guys who impresses with his leadership skills as much as his QB skills.  Besides, it is not as though Joey Harrington, Chris Redman, or D. J. Shockley provide Falcons fans with anything to be excited about.  With Micheal Turner and Jerious Norwood to hand the ball off to Ryan should be okay for now.

Apparently Kurt Warner has beat Matt Leinart out for the starting job in Arizona.  Is this a wake up call to Leinart who made the news for his wild offseason co-ed parties or does Ken Whisenhunt truly believe Warner is the best fit to lead his team?  Given Warner’s inability to stay healthy during his tenure in Arizona Leinart will probably be back on the field before you know it.

Why does ESPN insist to insult my intelligence?  Why are they gving any credence to the idea that LeBron is seriously considering a jump to Europe?  Sure he is willing to consider a move for $50 million a season but does anyone truly believe that offer would ever come to fruition?

Consider that the deals that Josh Childress and Earl Boykins recently signed are two of the more lucrative deals in their respective leagues.  Childress is only getting roughly six to seven million per season and that is the richest on his team.  Does anyone believe the cash is out there for a European team to legitimatly make this kind of offer to a LeBron James?

LeBron puts that price tag out there because he knows it is not a realistic possibility.  He is essentially saying, “Yeah I’ll go play in Europe if you give me $50 mil a year”, because he knows the likelihood of getting his asking price is remote at best.  I just have a hard time believing that any European teams have the resources to be able to compete with the NBA when it comes to the overall amount of money an elite basketball player can make playing in the NBA.

You see European teams do not pony up $100 million guaranteed contracts the way NBA teams do.  Nor do European players gain as much exposure or garner the endorsement opportunities the way NBA stars do.  Is a European team going to be able to match the $200 million or so LeBron would be walking away from in guaranteed salary and endorsement money he would likely receive if he stayed in the NBA?  I seriously doubt it as if they could they would have already made a run at American players better than Josh Childress and Earl Boykins.  The European leagues are a long way away from being able to financially compete with the NBA for the elite basketball talent of the world.