Week Nine Observations

1. Miami pulled every rabbit they had out of the hat in an effort to make plays against New England. It wasn't enough. The Patriots were too good. But you have to give the Dolphin coaches credit for trying. From a talent standpoint, Miami bears some resemblance to the Cleveland Browns.

2. Atlanta's Eric Weems is one of the best return men in the game right now.

3. I really don't know how or why Michael Turner got back to his '08 form. This sort of rare midseason renaissance makes me think he may have been nursing a secret injury the first half of the season and is now healthy.

4. Atlanta has a nice package of plays they can run for Jerious Norwood when he returns from injury. These plays don't look so hot going to Aaron Stecker, but they will give Norwood a chance to showcase his athleticism.

5. It's Jonathan Babineaux, not John Abraham, who is having the most impact rushing the passer for the Falcons. Abraham, arguably the most effective pure pass rusher in the league last season, has entered the witness protection program.

6. Everyone likes to call out Green Bay's offensive line as the worst in the league, but Washington's is worse.

7. Not sure what happened to LaRon Landry, who was supposed to be an All-Pro at this point.

8. The Redskins played one of the dumbest games I've seen in a while Sunday in Atlanta. This game should have come with a bow and wrapping paper.

9. I believe the Bears would be one of the worst teams in the league if their quarterback was Kyle Orton instead of Jay Cutler.

10. The Colts cannot get a yard when they need it. They look a little like the '08 Saints only with a better defense.

11. Houston was called for a ridiculous number of offsides penalties Sunday against the Colts. Nobody can really have an excuse for that. It just went on and on the whole game and was never corrected.

12. The rookie years of Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez, and, soon enough, Josh Freeman are proving just how fluky last year’s campaigns from Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were and just how brilliant their offensive coaches are. Freeman played as well as any Tampa quarterback has this season. Here are my rankings of the league’s relevant quarterbacks based on all factors at this moment:

1. Peyton Manning
2. Drew Brees
3. Philip Rivers
4. Kurt Warner
5. Aaron Rodgers
6. Brett Favre
7. Ben Roethlisberger
8. Tom Brady
9. Tony Romo
10. Carson Palmer
11. Donovan McNabb
12. Jay Cutler
13. David Garrard
14. Eli Manning
14. Joe Flacco
15. Matt Hasselbeck
16. Matt Schaub
17. Matt Ryan
18. Matt Cassel
19. Kyle Orton
20. Tarvaris Jackson
21. Jason Campbell
22. Vince Young
23. Kerry Collins
24. Jake Delhomme
25. Mark Sanchez
26. Seneca Wallace
27. Matthew Stafford
28. Alex Smith
29. Shaun Hill
30. Chad Henne
31. Byron Leftwich
32. Marc Bulger
33. Josh Johnson
34. Trent Edwards
35. Kyle Boller
36. Josh Freeman
37. Daunte Culpepper
38. Ryan Fitzpatrick
39. Derek Anderson
40. Brady Quinn
41. JaMarcus Russell

13. Drew Brees finally got burned throwing one of those no-look passes to Marques Colston when Chris Gamble picked him off.

14. In third and long, it is customary for the Panthers to run the ball. They might as well. Steve Smith is triple teamed and they don’t have anyone other than DeAngelo Williams with any speed.

15. What if the Panthers had made a play for Brandon Marshall in August?? Carolina would be a totally different team with his services. If the Broncos don't lock Marshall up this season, the Panthers might have to throw a lot of cash at him.

16. Oh wait. Carolina has no money. Or draft picks. Whoops.

17. Punter Andy Lee of the Niners could be the best right now.

18. Colleague Jeff Feagles is done.

19. Coming into the season it appeared the Giants would have the best defensive line in the league, but they have been just another unit.

20. So we were watching the Eagles/Cowboys game on DVR, and the first program ran out and paused at its end right as LeSean McCoy caught a screen pass. The frozen frame showed a perfectly designed and executed play, with all the Dallas defenders blocked and a nice juicy lane set up for McCoy. We were sure it was going for a big gain.

Then we boot up the second program and watch McCoy juke three ghosts, dance like me at a wedding, kick it outside, and pick up the minimum. McCoy is a big dropoff from Brian Westbrook.

21. Philadelphia could have won that game, and there are many reasons why they lost, but Dallas WON it because when they had to get a first down they could, and the Eagles couldn’t.

22. Champ Bailey may have had the worst game of his career against the Steelers.

23. The Denver Broncos are a pretty easy team to figure out this season. They have the best defense in the league (though Pittsburgh’s is coming on now that Troy Polamalu is back) and they run a low-risk, low-variance ball control offensive attack. What they cannot do is throw the ball down the field. Consecutive bad losses to the Ravens and Steelers were due to matchups and shouldn’t be construed as a sign the team is falling apart. The 6-0 start got a lot of people comparing the Broncos to classic New England teams of the past decade, when in fact the team is closer to the ’08 Dolphins or even ’09 Niners. They should take care of business against a bad Redskins team this weekend.

Goat of the Week: Tommie Harris, Chicago
Defensive Breakout Player of the Week: Vontae Davis, Miami
Offensive Breakout Player of the Week: Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay
Defensive Coordinator of the Week: Mike Zimmer, Cincinnati
Offensive Coordinator of the Week: Mike Heimerdinger, Tennessee
Defensive MVP of the Week: David Hawthorne, Seattle
Offensive MVP of the Week: Chris Johnson, Tennessee

Power Rankings:

32. Cleveland (32)
31. Oakland (31)
30. Kansas City (30)
29. Detroit (27)
28. St. Louis (28)
27. Tampa Bay (29)
26. Buffalo (26)
25. Washington (25)
24. Jacksonville (24)
23. Seattle (21)
22. Chicago (20)
21. Carolina (22)
20. Tennessee (23)
19. San Francisco (18)
18. San Diego (19)
17. New York Jets (16)
16. Miami (15)
15. Houston (17)
14. Atlanta (14)
13. Green Bay (12)
12. New York Giants (7)
11. Arizona (13)
10. Philadelphia (10)
9. Denver (9)
8. Dallas (11)
7. Baltimore (6)
6. Cincinnati (8)
5. New England (5)
4. Minnesota (4)
3. Indianapolis (2)
2. Pittsburgh (3)
1. New Orleans (1)