The Other Games

Before we return to cooled-down evaluation of the Packers' loss, let us consider some of the rest of the action around the NFL...

What can you say about the Browns/Bears game? Both teams were coming off embarrassing losses in Week 7, and so both needed a bounce-back performance this week. I think we knew who was capable of getting it. And, sure enough, the Bears easily dispatched the horrible, horrible Browns. Eric Mangini earned the nickname "Mangenius" early in his Jets tenure, but the first weeks in Cleveland are not working out that way for him. Not at all.

While the Bears' easy defeat of the Browns was not surprising, it was terribly surprising to me how easily the Eagles defeated the visiting Giants. After exploding out to a 5-0 start, the Giants have now lost 3 in a row -- and lost badly, at that. Through the first quarter of their season, it looked like they were going to run away with their Division. Now they're looking up at both the Eagles and Cowboys, and they're just thankful to be in the same Division as the Redskins!

Meanwhile, 3 undefeated teams came into this weekend. The Colts survived a tough visit from the 49ers to go to 7-0. The Broncos went down, as predicted -- and went down hard -- in Baltimore. And the Saints stayed perfect in a wild one on Monday Night. (As I indicated in yesterday's post, the Falcons-Saints game was the first game of rooting-interest for us in our new "Plan B" mode, and it turned out right for us. We preferred an Atlanta loss.)

At the other end, two winless teams took the field on Sunday, and BOTH came out winners! The Titans and Vince Young effectively took care of the visiting Jaguars, and the Rams (somewhat surprisingly) went into Detroit and got one from the Lions.

So now the 0-7 Bucs, who were on their bye this week, are the only remaining winless team. And guess who gets to play them when they take the field next... No, not the Redskins, though that would be appropriate. But, no, the Packers get to travel to Tampa this coming Sunday. So happy days are here again!