>>>My team sucks, and I just had to shell out close to a thousand bucks to fix my car.
>>>
>>>That's about all the musings I feel like doing this week...
>>
>>
>>Look on the bright side. Your car will get better.
>>
>>I will pinch hit for you this week, although with nothing near complete coverage.
>>
>>My hopes that the Patriots will be knocked off are waning. It looked like the Jets had a shot until their late TD was taken away on review (correctly). All that's standing between them and the NFL's first 16-0 regular season are the Dolphins and the Giants. The Fish did win their first game to avoid going winless -- good for them! -- but it's hard to imagine them being much trouble for NE. And the Giants don't exactly inspire fear after laying over and dying for the Redskins. My hope is now that the Pats will go perfect in the regular season and then get knocked off in the playoffs, which in a way would be even sweeter.
>>
>>You sure called the Lions right. After their promising start this year the clock must have struck midnight because they have turned back into pumpkins. This week the Chargers beat them 51-14 despite resting their stars in the second half.
>>
>>Speaking of the Chargers, watch out for them in the postseason. They are red hot.
>>
>>Also back in touch with his roots: Tony Romo. He was awful in a home loss to the Eagles. Give the Eagles credit, they played well, but this was not a game the Cowboys wanted to lose. They now face the realistic chance of a late January date in Green Bay. If her name isn't Ingrid and she doesn't look like the pride of Norway, you don't want a late January date in Green Bay.
>>
>>You probably saw Brett Favre was named Sports Illustrated's sportsman of the year. I was surprised it was him and not Tom Brady, if they were going with the NFL this year, but not disappointed. If it's partially a lifetime achievement award, so be it. I can't say enough good things about Favre (who incidentally broke Dan Marino's career yardage record on Sunday). If you have any doubt about the kind of guy he is, read the article that went with the award.
>>
>>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/magazine/specials/sportsman/2007/12/03/sportsman.2007/index.html
>>
>>Speaking of football players I admire, Brian Urlacher played like a man possessed against the Vikings on Monday night. The Bears lost yet again but it can't be blamed on the defense. They had zero offense -- no rushing, no passing, no blocking. No Devin Hester rescuing them with kick returns this week. Urlacher has not looked like himself most of this season and the word was it was because of a bad back. The announcing crew said Urlacher addressed that by saying no, it's not the back, I just haven't played well enough; none of us have. What an adult thing for a pro athlete to say! (Earth to Roger Clemens .... earth to Roger Clemens .... are you there? ....)
>>
>>The Browns keep rolling. The Browns in the playoffs is almost a surreal thought but it looks like it's going to happen.
>>
>>That's about it from me. The floor is now open for others to jump in and plug the many holes in my coverage.
>
>I have one thing to say.
>
>DOO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
>
>And another... I needed 10 fantasy points out of Adrian Peterson #1 to go to the finals in my league. I was hyperventilating through the first half of the game because I thought he was going to lay an egg again. He pulled it out, though, and look for me to go 3-peat in my league. I am the 90's Dallas Cowboys of Fantasy Football.


The Bears did contain Peterson -- well, until those two short TD runs in the second half -- but you can't blame him. After he toasted the Bears to the tune of 200+ yards the first time they were completely focused on stopping him. It was like they were daring the rest of the team to beat them. (Perhaps ominously for the Vikings, they never could). The Bears played with 8 in the box for most of the game.

Did you see the stat about runners averaging 6 yards a carry for a season? Peterson slipped a hair under on Monday night. It has only been done three times in league history: by Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, and Barry Sanders. Once apiece. Not bad company for a rookie.

PS -- Good luck with the fantasy football outcome. We all bow down ;-)