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Ring Of Honor

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The Patsies. Before they played the Colts, I said the New England Patriots would not lose another game this season. I didn't learn my lesson and proclaimed before they played the New York Jets that the Patriots would not lose another game this season. Lesson learned: The Patriots simply aren't the infallible team they were three seasons ago. Their biggest problem right now is the complete opposite of what has been their biggest strength over the last three seasons: They're not playing mentally tough. In their last two games they have lost focus, dropping balls, blowing coverage and throwing awful interceptions. While their record is still a strong one, they seem to be re-earning the "Patsies" nickname that three Super Bowl victories washed away.

Possibly the strangest stat of the first half of the season is New England's home/road record. In Foxboro they're 2-3; away from home they're 4-0.

LT on a roll. Don't look now, but San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson is on pace to break the record for total touchdowns in a season (28), set last year by Seattle's Shaun Alexander. LT just needs 11 more in his last seven games to break the record. Barring injury, he's got it. Good thing I passed up on him (and Larry Johnson, for that matter) with the first pick of my fantasy football draft!

My Top Five:

1) Indianapolis. This is the mark that there is no "great team" this season. The Colts have won home games against Tennessee and Buffalo by a combined 2 points. The Titans and Bills are a combined 5-13.

2) Chicago. Big, big win Sunday night; Not just for the win but because they were able to come from behind to do it. They now have a two-game lead in the NFC and have beaten two of the other three division leaders.

3) Baltimore. They spotted the Titans 19 points before waking up halfway through the third quarter.

4) Denver. Most assumed the Broncos were going to roll over the Raiders, but the Black Hole defense doesn't get enough credit. The Raiders offense, on the other hand, was just bad enough to give Denver the win on an off day.

5) San Diego. What a strange team. They're like the Chargers of '05, and the Chargers of '04. This team has become what the New Orleans Saints were for several years: Completely unpredictable (as far as level of play) and constantly just not quite consistent enough to take it all.

Back to back: A tremendous streak came to and end Sunday when the New York Jets beat the New England Patriots, 17-14. It was the first time in 57 games that New England has lost back-to-back games, going back to 2002. The 1995-99 San Francisco 49ers hold the record at 60 games. 

The Patriots, a week after losing a high-profile game to the Indianapolis Colts at home, laid another egg on their own turf, which resembled a cow pasture more than a football field.

"Two in a row. I can't remember the last time we did it," Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. The Pats used to be almost invincible at home, but are 2-3 this season. It's still hard to see them not winning the division, but if they are to win their fourth Super Bowl in six years they will likely have to be this year's Pittsburgh Steelers and become road warriors. 

Lame: The saying goes that a prevent defense only prevents you from winning. That almost applied to the Jets at the end of the game. They rushed only three players on New England's last drive and Tom Brady quickly hit four consecutive completions to get past midfield. On the last play, the three-man rush did get a sack, but I am not sure why coaches play so conservatively on defense, giving quarterbacks a lot of time to throw. The Jets escaped, but might not be so lucky next time. 

Guns: The buff ref, Ed "Guns" Hochuli got a lot of airtime during Sunday night's Chicago at New York Giants game. It was played in a cold, steady rain, which means Hochuli had to wear long sleeves. This was noticed by NBC's Al Michaels and John Madden. 

Michaels: Ed Hochuli with the best biceps in officialdom, not happy to do this game in cold weather. Ed Hochuli works out like a maniac and loves to show off the biceps. He only wishes he could do a prime time game in a dome in November.

Madden: He probably does. 

Later, when Hochuli's microphone shorted out, Madden quipped: "Hochuli is so strong from lifting those weights he knocked his own mike out." 

Close: It was a great day for exciting, competitive games. Twelve of the 15 games were decided by eight points or fewer. Six underdogs won, with big upsets by the Jets, Cleveland (at Atlanta) and Miami (vs. Kansas City. 

Shootout: The wildest game occurred in Cincinnati, where the San Diego Chargers fell behind 21-0, but rallied for a 49-41 win, the most points a Chargers' team has scored since 1986.

"Being involved in that game, it was about like it was a cartoon or something," said LaDainian Tomlinson, who tied his career with four touchdowns. "Exhausting. I can't wait until I get on the bus, where I can think and wonder what happened today." 

Tomlinson played the part of Road Runner, constantly darting through the Bengals defense. He scored four touchdowns, giving him a record 15 in five games. Equally brilliant was first-year starting quarterback Phillip Rivers, who threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bengals were also terrific on offense as Carson Palmer threw for more than 400 yards and receiver Chad Johnson had 260 yards receiving and two touchdowns. But the biggest play was Chris Henry's drop of a Palmer pass in the end zone with less than a minute to go; had Henry held on, the Bengals would have been within two points. 

Bouncing back: Another big comeback came in Tennessee, where the Baltimore Ravens rallied from 27-26 down to beat the Titans, 27-26. The Ravens blocked a late Titans field goal try to preserve the win. At 7-2, Baltimore has a three-game lead in the AFC North, but this was the second time the Ravens had to rally from a double-digit deficit against a weak team (the first was against Cleveland). I don't see the Ravens doing much in the playoffs since their offense is way too erratic and falling behind to a good team in January is usually fatal. 

What a difference a week makes: Have to say I was impressed by the Bears going into the Meadowlands and whipping the Giants, 38-20. Down 13-3, the Bears outscored the Giants 35-7 from the final minute of the first half on. At 8-1, the Bears have a two-game lead over everyone for NFC home field. While I still think quarterback Rex Grossman in erratic, few teams want to go to Chicago in mid-January. 

Bad calls: The St. Louis Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks by two points on a last-second field goal for the second time this season. The Rams can blame Coach Scott Lenihan for horrible strategy. Early in the fourth period, with the Rams ahead 16-14, Lenihan eschewed a short 28-yard field goal and instead went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Seattle 11. A bizarre play was called – a pass in the end zone to tight end Joe Klopfenstein, who has all of nine catches this season. The pass was broken up and the three points left on the field proved to be critical. 

Just winning: The Indianapolis Colts, 12-point favorites, had to hang on to beat the 3-6 Buffalo Bills, 17-16. The Colts became the first team in history to start 9-0 in consecutive seasons, but six of their wins are by seven points or left. That's good on the one hand, since the Colts know how to overcome pressure. But letting teams hang around like that in the playoffs could be a a recipe for another early playoff exit. 

The Bills played smart defense, forcing the Colts to be patient by taking away the deep pass. "They just stayed real deep and double-covered the outside receivers," Colts quarterback Peyton Manning said. "When a team does that, taking away the deep patterns, you've got to be able to run the ball and you've got to be able to throw underneath and get yards after the catch. We were doing that." 

Manning is also not too upset that the Colts have had a lot of tough games. "Winning like this is good because if we're down 3-0 or 7-0, it's not like, 'Oh, my God, we didn't score on the first series,' " Manning said. "There's been zero panic on the sidelines at any point this year. There never should be, but when somebody gets accustomed to being up 21-0, especially the young players, it's a false feeling of what it's really like in the NFL. This was a real NFL game. What we've had around here the last couple of years, there have been some unrealistic NFL games.'' 

Colts rookie running back Joseph Addai continues to shine, rushing for 78 yards and a touchdown, plus picking up two key first downs, allowing the Colts to run the final 6:22 off the clock. The Colts let longtime star running back Edgerrin James go in the offseason and they haven't missed him for a second. Addai has outrushed James this season on 80 fewer carries and has a burst that Edge had lost. 

Bengals kiss of the week: Chad Johnson gave a get-well smooch on the cheek to receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh after the latter was knocked out of the game. Three weeks ago, we saw Johnson get kissed by lineman Willie Anderson.  

Whither Vick?: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick had two great games in Weeks 7 and 8, but has stunk in consecutive upset losses to Detroit and Cleveland. Vick has thrown four interceptions and fumbled once in the last two weeks. Vick has been the biggest underachieving superstar in the league, never quite yet living up to his billing or huge paycheck.  

Ouch: From Don Banks of Sports Illustrated: "Terrell Owens had another two drops in the first half of the Cowboys' win at Arizona. If you're keeping score at home, and we know Donovan McNabb is, that's eight on the season, with at least three of those being potential touchdowns. Word is, Owens is no longer referred to as 81 in Dallas. His new number is 50/50." 

Falling apart: Arizona won its season opener, but has now lost eight in a row.

Top 5

1. Indianapolis (9-0): The Colts have played to the level of their opposition, winning road games at Denver, New England and the Giants –- all division leaders – but winning by one over both Tennessee (2-7) and Buffalo (3-6) at home.

2. Chicago (8-1): The Bears' Devin Hester tied an NFL record by running back a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown. He tied teammate Nathan Vasher, who did the same thing in 2005. 

3. Denver (7-2): The Broncos struggled to beat the Raiders, but a lot of the top teams struggled Sunday. 

4. San Diego (7-2): I might have the Chargers ranked too high since they haven't beaten a team with a winning record this year. 

5. New England (6-3): Tom Brady looks more miserable losing than any player I can recall. He looks like his pet dog, cat and hamster all died the same day.