NFL Pick 6 -- Week 9

As I think I mentioned earlier this week, I had another over-.500 performance in Week 8, going 3-2 on the weekend to raise my overall season record so far in 2009 to 23-12 in 7 weeks of picking five games a week. Given how tough the last few weeks in particular have been to find winnable games, I'm very pleased to have escaped the past three weeks with a total record of 10-5 to raise me to a season high of 11 games over .500. This week there seem to be some more pickable choices among the lines I am seeing, although I suppose only time will tell if that means I can really gain some more ground over break-even in Week 9 or if it will be my first sub-.500 setback since Week 2 of the NFL season, which you know is coming sooner or later. Here are this week's picks, once again in no particular order:

1. Green Bay Packers -10 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I absolutely love this game, even though I would like 9 points a heck of a lot more than the 10 this game is currentiy sitting at. The Packers have played three of "The Stinkers" -- my new nickname for the surprisingly large cadre of teams clearly at the bottom of the NFL talent pool this year -- and has trounced them by an average of 25 points apiece. Two of those wins -- the Rams in Week 3 by 21 points and the Browns by 28 points in Week 7 -- came on the road, so I don't have concern that the Pack can't step it up on or score the ball against the bad teams on the road, and let's be honest: Tampa Bay might be worse than both Cleveland and St. Louis as it is. The Bucs are averaging just 11 points per game over their last 5 efforts, and with the Pack averaging over 28 points per game over their last five, 10 points should be beatable for sure this weekend in sunny Florida.

2. Miami Dolphins +10.5 at New England Cheatriots. I'm not trying to say that the Dolphins are on par with the caliber of team that the Cheatriots have returned to this year, but getting more than a touchdown and a field goal in what I think will be a reasonably good matchup is just too much value for me to pass up. The Dolphins have historically played decent defense against the Cheaters on the road -- holding the Cheats to 20 points in New England in 2006, 28 in 2007 and just 13 points in a huge road win for Miami early in the 2008 season in the midst of what was otherwise a nice run for Matt Kassell as the Cheats' backup quarterback. What's more, since Chad Henne took over the Dolphins' starting qb position, the team has now quietly scored 38, 31, 34 and 30 points in its last five games (admittedly some of those points on returns). And those four 30+ point outbursts were more than just the first four times the team broke the 30 mark this season -- they came against what I consider to be four fairly tough team defenses in the Bills, the Jets, the Saints and then again the Jets. So Miami has been finding a way to score some points after Chad Pennington went down in Week 3, and along with always playing the Cheats tough, I just can't pass up the 10.5 points this week. I like the Dolphins as a dog for the third time already this year.

3. Houston Texans +9 at Indianapolis Colts. Here's another road underdog I just can't bring myself to stay away from this week, even though they are facing a clearly superior team overall. Houston has been playing well lately, winning three in a row on their way to their best first half ever in the NFL at 5-3 through 8 games so far in 2009. The last three matchups between these two teams have been close games, shootouts for the most part, with the teams playing to winning margins of 4, 6 and 6 for the Colts over the last three meetings in what has become a regular tough battle every time these teams come together. But what really moves me to pick the Texans here is their road performance so far in 2009, which has been pretty awesome all things considered. The Texans are 3-1 on the road this fall, including outright wins at Tennessee, at Cincinnati and at Buffalo and just a 7-point loss at defending NFC champion Arizona. And over their four road games, the team has scored an average of nearly 23 points per game, with the three road victories garnering 28, 31 and 34 points, including 28 at Cincy and 31 at Buffalo, both teams considered to have fairly good defenses this year. So Houston, whose quarterback remember leads the league in passing yardage and passing touchdowns, should be able to score the ball on the Colts this weekend if nothing else, and that should make it very difficult for the Colts to cover the 9 point spread.

4. New Orleans Saints -13 vs Carolina Panthers. At home or on the road this year, the New Orleans Saints have come to play, and they have scored like madmen. In the dome in Louisiana, the Saints have scored 45, 24, 48 and 35 points, with the only aberration in the 24 points coming against the New York Jets back when they were playing a very solid team defense. And despite their past history, Carolina has not been a strong defensive team this season, giving up an average of over 23 points per game in four road games this season, including allowing Tampa Bay even to score three touchdowns against them in Week 6 in Florida. Jake Delhomme has been beyond atrocious this year, and despite running up tons of yardage on the ground against the Cardinals last week, the Panthers have had a heck of a time trying to establish the running game with their qb situation as bad as it is, having a 100-yard rusher only twice so far in eight games this season. I'm expecting to see the Saints score at least 35 points in this one, which would be the fewest points they've scored in five games against not-great team defenses this season, and I would be surprised if the Panthers broke 20 points themselves given all their problems moving the ball this season. I always always always hate having to give this many points, but I really think the Saints should be able to cover here.

5. San Francisco 49ers -4.5 vs. the Tennessee Titans. Here's another line that just seems a bit too low to me. Everyone knows by now that the Titans are among the worst teams in football this year, just a year removed from starting off the season 10-0, but just because they won their first game of the season last week, that doesn't suddenly erase this team's many problems on both sides of the ball. Sure the Titans have a great running game behind Chris Johnson, but with absolutely no passing game to speak of (and don't forget, Vince Young recorded just 125 yards in the air last week in his first start of the season against the Jags), the Titans' offense has been abysmal on the road so far. In four road games this season, Tennessee has scored 10, 17, 17 and most recently 0 points, and the 49ers are sure to be raring to go on defense after three straight losses including a tough last-minute defeat last week at the undefeated Colts. The way I see it, this game is the 49ers' chance to get back on track with a clear win, and against a very young quarterback making his second start, whose team has had loads of trouble scoring on the road even with a veteran taking the snaps, I expect a very long day for Vince Young and the Titans on Sunday afternoon. The Niners should score somewhere at least in the 20s, and I don't see the Titans keeping it all that close this weekend in San Francisco.

Reflection

What a fun day to be a Yankees fan, and a terrible one to be among the Phillies faithful. It was terrible for the Phils because you just knew right from the getgo that the team had no chance to win Game 6 of the World Series on Wednesday night. As soon as the first inning, when Pedro was throwing fastballs that were registering a bare 84 miles per hour on the gun, you had to know. Most major league hitters are going to pound on any clown throwing 84-mph cheese up there, but when you're facing a lineup like the Yankees', the whole notion is an absolute joke. They were all over P-Mart from his first pitch to his merciful last in just the 4th inning, and thanks to Charlie Manuel's continued insistence on leaving his pitchers in for too long and for too many bad pitches, the Phils were out of it by the time they finally got Pedro out of the game in the 4th. But as soon as Pedro came out in the first with guns ablazing with 84 mph fastballs, this game was as good as done.

There are so many reasons the Phillies lost this series. Ultimately, they simply could not compete with the Yankees, who overmatched them about as badly as the Phillies themselves outmatched everyone else in the National League in this postseason. As much as I hate to admit it, this was not a close series in my book. It was about as bad of a blowout as the Yankees did to the Angels a couple of weeks back. Sure, like with the Angels, the Yanks lost Game 5 on the road to extend the series to six and come back home to New York, but as with the ALCS, once things got back to Yankee Stadium, the best team in America quickly retook control of the series, on the back of Andy Pettitte, who got the incredible sixth series-clinching victory of his illustrious career, mostly with the Yankees.

Just like I said here how the Phillies had an advantage both in starting pitching and on offense against every team in the National League and both of its postseason opponents in the NLDS and NLCS, the same proved to be true for the Yankees over the Phillies in this series. On the offensive side of the ball, I think the two lineups are fairly comparable, with the Yankees probably retaining a slight edge as far as their five or six "big boppers" at the top of the lineup. The biggest difference in the lineups to me is that the Yankees, as an American League team with a designated hitter, have that one extra big hitter -- I'm talking a 30 HR, 100 RBI type -- who in this case happens to be Hideki Matsui. I'm not just mentioning him because he utterly destroyed the Phillies in the World Series in nabbing his first ever World Series MVP award. I'm saying if you compare the lineups, both teams have a couple of poor hitters at the bottom of their rotation who are mostly in there for their defensive prowess on a team that simply does not need any more offensive firepower, but otherwise the biggest real difference is that the Yankees go one more man deep among the big hitters they can put at the top of their lineup. Sure the Phillies get the benefit of the same DH rule when they play World Series games in their American League opponent's park, but how can you even compare when the Yankees throw Godzilla's bat into that already stacked lineup, while the Phils are adding in Ben Francisco's, or Matt Stairs'? You can't, because there is just no comparison, and ironically that DH position ends up being one of the big items to tip the scale in the Yankees' favor in this series. The fact that the Yanks so thoroughly handled the Phillies throughout this series, even with A-Rod, Teixeira, Cano and Posada basically hitting like shit is really a testament to just how strong their lineup as a whole is when compared to the competition.

Then, moving on to the pitching, once again the Yanks just had a clear advantage in this World Series. Even though CC Sabathia failed to record a win in his two starts against the Phils, he pitched well enough both times, the second time for his team to secure the late victory off of Phillies idiot Brad Lidge in the 9th inning of Game 4 in Philadelphia. Even though AJ Burnett was hideous on three days rest the in Game 5 loss to the Phillies, he pitched extremely well in Game 2, outlasting a valiant attempt from Pedro Martinez to get his Yankees back into the series after the Phils' surprising Game 1 win. And even though Andy Pettitte pitched on three days rest for the first time in over three years in Game 6, the man was able to put together enough good innings to leave his team in a position to win when they needed to to put this series away. And meanwhile, on the Phillies' side of the ball, the story was pretty much totally reversed. Heading into the postseason I had viewed the Phils' likely rotation of Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Pedro Martinez and J. Happ as among the best baseball has to offer this season on one team. However, in practice, once the Yankees posed some actual competition to the skill level on the Phillies' team, Hamels sucked balls every time he went out there, Happ didn't even start a game in the entire postseason for some reason I will never ever ever understand, and when he did pitch in the Series it was constantly Charlie Manuel inserting him into games with guys on 2nd and 3rd, nobody out in the middle of a key inning, a situation which Happ was totally and completely unfamiliar with prior to this postseason. And Pedro, well, it looks like the oil well finally ran dry for the old man here during the World Series. After looking great in a dominating start in LA against the Dodgers in the NLCS, Pedro could not find that form in Game 2 of the World Series facing the Yankees' huge bats, and by the time Game 6 rolled around, even on five days rest, Pedro was worthless. As anyone who watched this series knows, in the end the Phillies simply had nobody on their entire team -- other than Cliff Lee of course -- who could stop the Yankees. Ever. In any inning. Period. Whether it was Hamels, Pedro, Blanton, Happ, Chan Ho Park, Scott Eyre, Ryan Madsen, Brad Lidge or anyone else, in the end the Phils simply could not keep those huge Yankee hitters off the basepaths, and when you combine that with the Yankee pitchers success against most of the Phils' lineup not named Chase Utley or Jayson Werth in this series, it's not hard to see why the Phils weren't even close in this matchup.

This morning on Mike and Mike, Buster Olney was on the air and he was talking all about what an amazing postseason this was for major league baseball. "Amazing"? Really? Try again, Robert. This was about as bad and as boring of a postseason as there has been in baseball in a long time, and ultimately the World Series did little to change that conclusion. Think about it -- the four LDS matchups saw three 3-game sweeps, and one 4-game win for the Phillies over the Rockies. I don't even remember the last time I saw that happen, but from there it just got worse. In the NLCS, the Phillies lambasted the Dodgers in five games, never trailing in the series and never even giving the impression that it was going to become close at any point. The Yankees had a very similar experience in the ALCS against the Angels, although as I mentioned they allowed their series to go six games, but again, it was not a series that ever saw the Yanks trailing or that anyone who understands the game actually ever thought the Angels were close to winning. The path of these two teams to the World Series here in 2009 was about as bad and as boring as possible. And then, sadly, even the World Series ended up not coming close to living up to the hype that a bunch of morons like me spread about it heading into the Fall Classic. This was supposed to be that amazing, historic series -- on paper -- and it was destined to go seven games, right? Wrong. Sure, again the Phils made it to six games in this Series and to that extent it might be tempting to consider this a close matchup, but it really wasn't that close if you actually watched the games, and from the moment that Game 1 ended, the Yankees took complete control of the series and just never looked back, like any championship team should.

As the Yankees bombed their way past the Phillies to win the 2009 World Series on Wednesday night, I did the obvious and took some time to reflect on what this Phillies team has accomplished over the past year or so. It really is amazing if you think about it. The Phillies are a team that in their 130-year history as a franchise, had only been to the World Series five times before last year, and only won it once, in 1980 when I was a mere babe. Staying up and watching that 1980 championship -- watching the late Tug McGraw strike out Willie Wilson to eliminate the Royals in Game 6 -- became my first real clear sports memory, the first time I can specifically remember a sporting event having a big effect on me and those around me. In Philadelphia, just making it to the finals in any sport has always been enough during my lifetime to make you a statue in front of the art museum and to be remembered forever in the lore and stories of old men on their porches in Northeast Philly, the local mailmen on Cottman Avenue, and the lifelong blue-collar workers down in Manyunk.

But this Phillies team really changed all that, didn't it? Those in Philadelphia know exactly what I'm talking about. These Phillies went all the way through the postseason last year and never even came close to losing any series. They won it all and did so in fairly dominatory fashion, putting an end to a 25-year drought of misery and failure that no other city with teams in all four major professional sports in this country has ever had to endure before. By the time the 2008 Phillies arrived at the World Series, they were there to win and they just clamped their collective foot down on the Rays' necks and never let up until the series was over.

And then they went back. It's never been done before in Philly -- two straight World Series appearances -- and in the eyes of the fans it really legitimizes what happened last year as not being some kind of a "fluke" or an accident. And that's not to say that the team wouldn't always have been remembered for being good, but I mean even that 1993 World Series Phillies team never made it back to another postseason, let alone another Fall Classic. Philadelphia has never before been a city of dynasties, but the 2008-2009 Phillies actually got people talking in the city about the "D" word for the first time in decades. In the end, I have never made any bones here at the blog about the fact that the Yankees were the best team in baseball this year. It became clear to me somewhere in the middle of the summertime, and nothing that happened anywhere in the season or during the postseason gave me any reason to doubt that the Yanks's superior talent would eventually prevail and they would win the 2009 World Series.

In a way, knowing how great this Yankees team was really helps ease the acceptance process for the Phillies fans out there. Despite all the bravado and braggadocio and pride from the Phillies Phaithful this postseason, despite all the bad calls, all the questionable coaching decisions, in the end in this World Series, the best team won. I can admit that -- I have no doubt about it at all, for that matter -- and so should everyone else out there. For now, it's time to put the memories of another incredible Phillies season on the back burner, and time to really focus on NFL football.

Thank you, Phillies, for another fabulous season. Here's to more to come in 2010!

World Series Game 6 Preview

Well, I figure I've been basically wrong about every other game of this World Series so far, so why not go ahead and make another prediction that only a jackass would follow with regard to Game 6 coming up Wednesday night in the Bronx. Game 6 pits Yankee ace and winningest postseason pitcher of all time in Andy Pettitte against another all-time pitching great in Pedro Martinez for the Phillies. The Series returns home for the Yankees, who already hold a 3 games to 2 edge in this best of 7 championship series, and as I mentioned they've got their all-time stopper on the mound in Andy Pettitte who has personally pitched the team to clinching five separate postseason series in his time on the mound for the Bombers. The Phils have had a couple of good games so far in the Series, but they've never quite been able to get everyone hitting at once in the series, and the pitching has not quite been able to hold the Yankees' power lineup at bay, at least not quite enough to hold on to any kind of a run advantage over the Yanks. So this one should be a clear clincher for the Yankees tonight then, right?

Wrong. I'm just not feeling it. It's hard to explain, but I just can't get over the fact that the Phillies are going to hit Andy Pettitte hard on Wednesday evening in the Bronx. As I've mentioned here many times over the past few weeks, this Phillies team -- World Champions that they are -- have shown a ton of heart, throughout this season and especially in the postseason. Although so far the series has been devoid of that special moment where the Phillies really rise up and make their greatness known, I can't shake this feeling that tonight we are going to see that moment.

Let's look a little deeper at that pitching matchup for a minute. Andy Pettitte has actually faced the Phillies now twice this season, once at each stadium. The Phils squared off against Pettitte at Yankee Stadium back on May 25, where Pettitte threw 114 pitches in giving up 4 earned runs in 7 innings, including two home runs to Raul Ibanez and the first-ever game for first baseman Jermaine Mayberry. Pettite fell behind 4-1 in the 5th inning and stayed behind 4-2 when he left the game in the 7th, and although he did not pitch terribly, the two homers and 5.2 ERA for the game were enough for him to leave the game knowing he got outpitched by rookie J. Happ of the Phils.

Pettitte also faced the Phillies on Halloween night just last week in Game 3 of the World Series, this time in Philadelphia. There, he threw 104 pitches in 6 innings, again giving up 4 earned runs and 2 homers, this time both monstrous shots to Jayson Werth, for a game ERA of 6.00, although this time he did leave the game with a 2-run lead thanks to his offense stepping up for him in the middle innings against embattled Phillies starter Cole Hamels.

And on Wednesday, Pettitte will face the Phillies a third time, this time back in New York with a chance to clinch the franchise's 27th world championship in front of the home town fans. But Pettitte will have to do so on three days' rest, something with which he is not nearly as comfortable as his colleague CC Sabathia in the Yankees' rotation. This will be the first time that the 37-year-old veteran pitches with just three days rest between outings since late September, 2006, when that arm was a much younger 34 years old. In 18 appearances on short rest in his illustrious career, Pettitte's numbers drop off dramatically: 5-7 with a 4.18 ERA, as compared to much better numbers over the rest of his career. What's more, Pettitte, now an old man by baseball standards, as well as an admitted steroid user who took "the cream" and "the clear" to help heal more quickly from injury but who no (presumably) longer has access to such miracle healing cures, has worked on an extra days' rest in his last eight starts, dating back to early September, and there's a reason for that: he needs it. At 37, his arm is old and used, just the kind of arm that the Phillies ought to be able to take advantage of on Wednesday in New York.

So, looking at all the stats, I think we can paint a reasonable prediction for what Pettitte will pitch like tonight. He was good for 7 innings against the Phils back in May in New York, and 6 innings against the Phillies' lineup in Game 3, and I see no reason to expect Pettitte to last any longer than 6 innings (at the outside) in Game 6 on short rest. What's more, he has given up two home runs and four total earned runs in each of his last two starts against the Phils -- again both on full or even extra rest -- and again tonight I can't see the Phils not at least equalling that feat and probably besting it slightly given the short time between Pettitte's starts. So for Game 6, a reasonable expectation based purely on the facts would have the Phillies scoring, say, 5 earned runs off of Pettitte in, say, six innings of work. Five runs.

The question is, what will the Yankees' run total be at the end of 6 when the Phils have had five men cross the plate? Will it be 5-0? Probably not. The 38-year-old Pedro Martinez was able to hold the Yankees to 3 earned runs in 6 innings in Game 2 of this World Series, and he has had not just the full four days of rest, but five days off since that Game 2 appearance. I still would expect the Yankees to hit him about as well as they did in Game 2, and possibly a little better, although Pedro on extra rest has pitched extremely well for the Phillies this season, and remember he is generally well-rested unlike a guy like Andy Pettitte because P-Mart didn't even play baseball until the middle of the summer this year. So Pedro should have the fresher arm, and Pettitte is likely going to be hit a little harder tonight in my view than the Phillies' starter is likely to be.

5-3 at the end of six tonight? 5-4? Or 5-5? It's going to be one of those, the way I see it. And then the Phillies' job, if they really want to extend this series one more game, is to get to the Yankees' middle relief -- which has performed atrociously all through this series -- without letting the Yankees get to theirs (which has also been pretty bad, but not quite as bad).

It's extremely hard to predict something like this with any precision of course, and as I mentioned above I have basically gotten every guess wrong in terms of individual games so far in the Series, so what do I know. But something tells me that you'll be reading here tomorrow about the anticipation and hype surrounding a Game 7 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night in New York City.

NFL Winners and Losers -- Week 8

Damn do those Saints look unbeatable or what? On Mike and Mike in the morning this morning on ESPN radio, they went through the balance of the Saints' 2009 schedule, and it's not exactly what you'd call tough. It's Carolina still twice, the Buccaneers still twice, the Rams and the Redskins for probably a damn near guaranteed six more wins right off the bat, bringing the Saints' win total to at least 13 right there. The other three games are all tough, but winnable: the Cheatriots in New Orleans on Monday night in Week 12, at the Falcons in Week 14, and home against the Cowboys in Week 15 when Dallas has not exactly shined over its recent history. 16-0 is not at all out of the question for this team after they've already beaten the Eagles, the Jets, the Giants, the Dolphins and the Falcons in just their first seven games. It's basically the halfway point of the season, and in my view the NFC is shaping up to be a two-horse race, whereas things are much more wide open in the AFC as far as there being anywhere between three and five teams seemingly capable of going to the superbowl.

And with that, let's get to this week's winners and losers in the NFL.

Winners:

1. The Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo. America's Team won its third straight game on Sunday at Dallas Stadium, besting the Seattle Seahawks 38-17 on the strength of three touchdown passes from Tony Romo and another solid performance from the runningback lineup. What's more, upstart Dallas wide receiver Miles Austin caught a touchdown pass for the third straight week, certifying him in my view as the real deal, and solidifying the fact that the Cowboys now have that legitimate downfield threat they've been missing since running TO out of town in the offseason. Even though this team has still yet to beat any great teams in its 2009 campaign, the last two wins against the Falcons and now the Seahawks at home both go a long way towards demonstrating the staying power that will be necessary to make it through the NFC East come December, which has always been Tony Romo's absolute least favorte month to be throwing the ball.

2. The Minnesota Vikings. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Brett Favre is and continues to be the most exciting -- if not overplayed -- story in the NFL this season. Favre's Vikings headed into Lambeau Field this weekend for a matchup that meant more than just Favre's uber-selfish personal quest to defeat his old team in front of his old hometown fans, as a win would also have left the Packers tied in the loss column with the Vikings for the first time since Week 2 of the NFL season. Even though the game ended with just an 8-point victory for the Vikes, it was never that close as Favre's team jumped out to a 24-3 lead before coasting to victory in the second half, cementing their position as the clear #2 team in the NFC. Unless things change drastically in the coming weeks, it seems all but assured that we'll be seeing a battle of the Vikes and the Saints come the NFC Conference Championship in January, most likely down in the dome in New Orleans.

3. The Houston Texans and Matt Schaub. Since getting crushed by the Jets on opening weekend of the 2009 season, the Texans have not made an appearance yet on the Winners board, but this will be their first as the team has finished the first half of the season at 5-3 for the first time in the franchise's short history in Texas. After leading his team to another big win on Sunday at Buffalo, Texans quarterback Matt Schaub currently leads the NFL in passing yardage with 2342 yards through 8 games, and he is also tied (with Brett Favre and Drew Brees) for the league lead in passing touchdowns with 16, to go along with just 7 picks for the Houston qb. With their Week 8 win the Texans are poised to make a solid run over the second half of the 2009 NFL season at the franchise's first ever playoff appearance.

4. DeSean Jackson. Eagles' rookie wide receiver DeSean Jackson scored on a 54-yard pass from Donovan McNabb late in the first half on Sunday in Philadelphia, lifting the Eagles to a 23-7 lead from which the G-Men could never recover. This would be DJ's sixth touchdown play of more than 50 yards already in just eight games this season, tying a Philadelphia team record that is nearly 50 years old, and it goes a long way towards filling the big-play void left by a certain wide receiver that goes by the initials "T" and "O" some years ago. With Jackson leading the way with the big plays on offense and on kick returns, the Eagles moved to 5-2 on the season, and setting up for a huge game next Sunday night at the Linc against Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys.

Losers:

1. New York football took a huge hit this weekend, no matter which half of the city's teams you root for. The Giants received an absolute butt-whipping at the hands of the division rival Eagles, 40-17, while the Jets chipped in with an arguably even more disappointing 30-25 loss at home to the Miami Dolphins that saw the Fins sweep the season series against Gang Green after yet another incredibly frustrating loss. For the Giants, the question now becomes just how good this team really is, after starting off 5-0 beating up on a bunch of awful teams but now dropping three straight games -- never even particularly close in any of them -- to conference rivals New Orleans, Arizona and now Philadelphia. Eli Manning completed just over 50% of his passes for 222 yards and one score, but two costly picks kept Eli's quarterback rating for the game around 50 and really did in his team's chances on the day, with the Eagles all too happy to cash in on Manning's miscues.

But it's the Jets who are the ones whose fans will be pulling the hair out of their heads for weeks after another brutal loss, as the team outgained Miami 378 yards to 104, had 23 first downs to the Dolphins' 10 and held the ball for ten minutes longer than Bill Parcells' team from south Florida, and yet still the Jets managed to give up 27 points to Miami in just the second half of their game and make it impossible for the Jets and rookie quarterback Ryan Sanchez to catch up. And unlike the Giants, who still have at least some air of a solid, playoff-caliber team in the NFC, the vultures are once again circling for the Jets' season after their loss dropped the team to 4-4, sinking them two games in the loss column behind the division-leading Cheatriots and, more importantly, into 9th place overall in the AFC in a league where only the top six teams are going to make it to postseason play.

2. The Arizona Cardinals. Fresh off of drubbing the Giants in New Jersey York on national tv last Sunday night, the Cardinals had a chance to move two full games ahead of the 49ers for a big lead in first place in the NFC West, and go a great deal of the way towards putting to bed the curse of the superbowl-losing teams failing to make the playoffs the following season since the turn of the millennium in the NFL. Instead, the Cardinals somehow found a way to lose 34-21 this weekend to a 2-win Carolina Panthers squad that had only scored more than 20 points one other time in eight games so far in 2009. Giving up 270 yards rushing to the Panthers I'm sure does not help Arizona's cause, nor does their quarterback Kurt Warner's five picks and a fumble on the day, which is enough to keep any team in the league from winning a game against pretty much any other professional football team. The Cardinals will now travel to Chicago to meet the Bears next week in Arizona's quest to become the first NFC team to repeat as conference champions since Brett Favre and the Packers went to two straight superbowls in the 1996-1997 NFL seasons.

3. Special teams coverage. Kickoff and punt return coverage has got to be one of the biggest losers in the NFL this season. How many games have been decided by punt and kickoff returns already in just the first half of the year so far? I personally have watched the Dolphins win two games on the strength of their return game alone, plus one for the Jets and another two games where kick returns played a huge role for the Minnesota Vikings. And I don't actually get to watch that many football games, so this is really saying something. If anyone out there reading this happens to be a stat-crunching type for the NFL, I would be interested to see the official numbers on the frequency of kickoff and punt returns this season -- in particular game-changing ones -- as compared to previous NFL seasons. For whatever reason it just feels like I'm watching way more instances of kickoff and punt returns, followed by a kick return for the other team on the very kickoff from the first team's return touchdown, etc. Something has gotta be the reason for this trend, and it is highly relevant because week after week, actual NFL games are being swung the other way by returns and special teams instead of the actual offensive and defensive action.

The JaMarcus Russell award: Normally I like to save this for the man whose name is forever enshrined on this weekly award. After all, Russell did put up a valiant run at the trophy this week, finishing 14 for 22 for 109 yards, no touchdowns and one INT in a 24-16 loss at home to the Chargers, with a final qb rating of 56.8 on the day. But sorry, JaMark....this week somebody just wanted it more. A now two-time winner of the JR award of the week, for Week 8 the hardware has to return to the mantle of Cleveland qb Derek Anderson. Anderson's line on the day in his team's 30-6 smushing by the Chicago Bears? 6 for 17 for 76 yards, no touchdowns, and two INTs to boot. Final passer rating on the day for DA? 10.8. So sweet.

The Worst Team in the NFL award again changes hands this week, after the previously winless St. Louis Rams came up big with a win on the road at 1-win Detroit to shuffle off this ignominious award for at least one more week. I was tempted at first to return the top spot to its most recent holder, the Washington Redskins, but then I realized that the Skins did not lose this week either, primarily due to the fact that this was a bye week for the anti-Native American team from our nation's capital. So I'm moving to the top spot the latest example of a team that just seems to get utterly blown out every single week, embarrassing themselves and their entire city almost every time they step foot on the gridiron: the Cleveland Browns. I may not have given this "team" enough due during the first half of the 2009 NFL season, but just take a look at what the hapless Browns have managed to accomplish already just by Week 8: a 3-point overtime loss to the state-rival Bungles in Week 4, that thrilling 6-3 victory over the Bills in Week 5, two-touchdown beatdowns by the Vikings and the Steelers, and of course the four other 20+ point drubbings by the Broncos, the Ravens, the Packers and now the Bears as well. Amazingly, the Browns have now managed to score 6 or fewer points in five of their last seven games, while allowing at least 23 points to all but one opponent throughout this season so far. Oh, and head coach Eric Mangini managed to trade away the team's best player in Braylon Edwards a couple of weeks back as well to boot, and now they have fired their GM mid-season (I'm sure that'll solve the whole problem). The Browns as a franchise, from the players all the way up to the owner, are easily worthy of being this week's Worst Team winner.

TO Watch: 5 catches for 39 yards and no touchdowns on Sunday at home against the Texans, although TO did manage to get into the end zone on his one running play of the day, a 29-year touchdown scamper on an end-around early in the first quarter. Still, TO's receiving stats for the season now move to 23 receptions for 281 yards and one touchdown. Ugh. Still sounds more like one big game of his than the eight games he has taken to reach this point so far in 2009. 281 yards receiving through half the season for TO? FAIL!