Here's what happens when you sit an NFL Junkie down in front of multiple big screens with Sunday Ticket and fresh batteries in the remote...

I've said it before, but things move pretty fast around here. You have to pay attention. Looking back not too long ago, the Bills and Bledsoe were unstoppable, the Patriots had no chance without Lawyer Milloy, the Falcons would be ok with Doug Johnson, the Cowboys were in for a rough year, and Rush Limbaugh was getting good reviews on ESPN's countdown show...

Speaking of the Falcons and Cowboys, I bet Dallas wishes they could play that week one loss to Atlanta over again.

There were three weddings at Lambeau Field on Saturday night. I'll let you decide how that reflects on NFL fans as a whole, and Packers fans in particular...

Funny TV thing I saw: FOX has come up with the "Super Slo-Mo" camera for their baseball telecasts. You have to love the irony of a game that moves at the speed baseball does featuring a "Super Slo-Mo" camera.

And before my email box fills, once again for the record, I don't hate baseball. I just don't care about baseball anymore. Big difference. I'll take a shot at something I don't care about anytime.

I missed the game on TV as I was working on football stuff for you guys, but on a serious note, hats off to Cubs fans. That's a great baseball town. I've caught games in the bleachers at Wrigley and both the old and new Comiskey Parks. (liked the old one better) I know you guys take your stuff seriously. You made a great run and you've got a lot to be proud of. But please go easy on that poor guy who messed up in left field. Talk about your life changing in 5 seconds...

I bet Kansas City's Dante Hall wishes he hadn't said that stuff about the kicker not being a factor before he was taken down twice by Green Bay's punter Josh Bidwell. Hall took it pretty well though. After the game he joked, "That punter didn't tackle me by himself. He had help from the Vince Lombardi Ghost."

Eagle WR Todd Pinkston accomplished a remarkable feat, as he caught zero passes despite the fact that McNabb targeted him 10 times.

Here's the status of Baltimore's passing game. Not only have they gained more rushing yards than passing yards this season, they've gained a lot more rushing yards than passing yards. Like twice as many more. For the season, Baltimore has 998 rushing yards as a team. They have 486 passing yards as team. That's just not right.

To add insult to injury, their best wide receiver, Travis Taylor gained more yards rushing Sunday than he did receiving... I'm not making this up.

So far in 6 weeks of play, there have been 6 different RBs who led the NFL in rushing for the week.

Week 1: Tiki Barber, 146 Week 2: Jamal Lewis 295 Week 3: Ricky Williams, 153 Week 4: LaDainian Tomlinson, 187 Week 5: Stephen Davis, 159 Week 6: William Green, 145

Interestingly enough, the same goes for WRs (6 different weekly leaders)

Week 1: Anquan Boldin, 217 Week 2: Laveranues Coles, 180 Week 3: Reggie Wayne, 141 Week 4: Randy Moss, 172 Week 5: David Boston, 181 Week 6: Derrick Mason, 177

Seattle's Trent Dilfer is in awe of Brett Favre's streak of 179 consecutive starts: "I once got to 70 something starts, and it took everything in my total person to achieve that. Every drug, every shot, everything you can imagine to do 70. There are not many things I can't comprehend, but I don't know how you do it physically."

Miami's pass defense is the definition of "bend but don't break" going into this week, they rank # 29 in the league in passing yards allowed. Yet they're tied for first in passing touchdowns allowed with just two.

I don't think 2003 has been what Atlanta's Peerless Price thought it would be. Interestingly, it hasn't been a lot better for Price's replacement, Josh Reed in Buffalo.

Great example of rolling with the punches? Cleveland's Tim Couch. Coach Butch Davis is still saying Couch will play until Holcomb is "100% healthy". Don't be surprised to see Holcomb's health percentage determined by how well Couch is playing.

Interesting Couch fact: He has a 130.0 QB rating in the first half and a 47.0 rating in the 2nd half.

Quincy Carter is looking like he'll be one of those QBs who won't post much for fantasy numbers, but can lead their team to wins. Oddly enough, another Cowboy QB, Troy Aikman, was the poster boy for this type of QB.

Everyone (me included) is sure quick to jump on Donovan McNabb. But my gosh has he been terrible.

Why don't we hear more about Brad Johnson? Over the last two weeks, he's only thrown for 586 yards, 7 TDs with just one interception. While I'm on underrated QBs, is there a better quarterback in the league than Steve McNair?

Terrell Owens was targeted nine times Sunday and caught four of those passes for 36 yards. Number two wide receiver Tai Streets saw six passes thrown his way and caught five of them for 77 yards. Like our Mark Wimer, I have to ask "who is the playmaker there?"...

Washington running back Sultan McCullough shoots to the top 10 in my favorite names chart...

I hate to say it because I really like the guy, but Eddie George has been awful. And I don't see anything to make me think that's going to change. You know it's bad when he starts getting pulled at the goalline.

Is Edgerrin James the new Fred Taylor? Just asking...

Another game, another Tiki Barber fumble...

You've seen it on replay but how sweet was Jay Fiedler's perfect block on 6' 4" 265 pound defensive end Tony Brackens? What you may not have seen is that a couple of plays later, Brackens gave Fiedler an extra shot in the pocket that was very close to unnecessary roughness. Brackens must have been envisioning the film room harassing that was sure to follow.

Tampa's Todd Yoder blew up last week with two touchdowns. He must be good friends with tackle Roman Oben. After his first touchdown catch, he handed the ball to Oben to spike.

I love the guy, but unless he scores a TD, Peyton Manning always comes off the field looking constipated...

Note to defensive coordinators across the league: When Tampa lines up at the goalline, I don't care if it's Todd Yoder, Warren Sapp or the water boy at tight end. But you'd better put a body on that guy. Good grief.

Steve Spurrier was faced with an interesting call Sunday. Washington's Barker punted the ball 31 yards and pinned Tampa down at their own 7 yard line. But there was a defensive offsides on the play. They could decline the penalty and let Tampa start at their own 7. Or they could accept the penalty which wouldn't give them a first down, but would put the ball in place for a 51 yard field goal attempt. A missed field goal would obviously give the Buccaneers the ball in much better position. Spurrier went for the field goal and John Hall booted it through.

Terry Bradshaw called Jake Delhomme "Jack" Delhomme. The guys on the set act pretty much like any group of guys in that it took Howie Long all of 10 seconds to bust Bradshaw on it.

Dallas kicker Billy Cundiff has a shoe in the Hall of Fame in Canton. Yes, Billy Cundiff.

Great example of how coaching matters. Philadelphia's onside kick to open the game was no surprise at all. Dallas was clearly prepared for it and with 14:57 left on the clock on the clock in the first quarter, the Eagles were down a touchdown. In a game that was ultimately decided by 2 points, I'd call that pretty important.

Parcells downplayed it after the game though: "We knew they attempted some onside kicks in the past. I can't tell you I knew it was coming," Parcells said. "It was a lucky play. That is totally an unpredictable situation and unpredictable results." I think that goes under the thing about "the harder you work, the luckier you get..."

Randal Williams was the Cowboy to return the onside kick and he's had plenty of fun this week with folks kidding him about his speed. 37 yards in 3 seconds is pretty fast... (Of course the official time keeper had more than a little to do with it.)

You might have missed it but at the end of the game in Dallas, Quincy Carter took the final snap and raced toward the sidelines with the ball. I thought he might be taking it to Parcells. Instead, he gives it to Randal Williams who likely strained a muscle in his jaw from smiling so broadly. It's little things like that which can make a big difference.

Here's where Miami's passing game is right now: Obafemi Ayanbadejo was the leading receiver with 6 catches for 42 yards last week.

I've always thought it was interesting that Dallas wears the white jersey for a "home" jersey. With most teams choosing to wear the dark colored jerseys at home, Dallas winds up in the white jerseys for most every game. I would guess there is some psychological advantage to getting to wear your home jersey on the road. But doesn't the opposing team get the same advantage when they roll into Dallas and gets to wear their "home" jersey? I dunno.

I know FOX needs to promote baseball and all , but can we limit James Brown's "Game Break" segments to Football game breaks?

With 3:33 on the clock facing 3rd and 11 from the Colt 48, Carolina was leading Indianapolis by 7 points. The camera flashed to the sidelines and I couldn't believe how relaxed and happy everyone looked. You're about to give the ball to the hottest QB in the country with 3 minutes on the clock and you're not worried? Turns out they should have been as Manning led the team downfield for a game tying TD. And of course, in overtime, the Colts lost the coin flip and Manning never saw the field again.

You don't think being a good guy and respectful makes any difference with the refs? Manning was flagged for an intentional grounding penalty. The ball was miles away from the closest receiver. Manning questioned the call and next thing you know, the ref is picking up the flag and announces that "# 87 was in the area". What he meant was, "# 87 was on the field and Peyton's a good guy"...

Pittsburgh's Plaxico Burress goes old school and shuns the gloves. I'm sure there are more but Burress and Tim Brown are the only two wide receivers that come to mind that go without the gloves. If you've ever put on a pair of those gloves, I can't imagine why anyone would not want to wear them. They're so sticky they hold the ball like Velcro.

Two huge drops by defensive backs Sunday. Pittsburgh's Brent Alexander intercepted a ball early in the game that hit him squarely in the numbers. But on the last Denver drive, he failed to come up with an interception that he could have made which would have stopped the Bronco's game winning drive. In the Green Bay - Kansas City game, the Packers' Darren Sharper should have ended the game in overtime but dropped a Trent Green pass with nothing but the endzone in front of him. Just proving the old adage: "If defensive backs could catch, they'd be wide receivers..."

Watching the Bears - Saints game I had an XFL flashback. Those two teams are just not very good.

Legendary wide receivers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice were a combined 4 catches for 33 yards last week... In fact, an Oakland wide receiver didn't catch a pass until midway through the third quarter. How does that happen?

ESPN keeps advertising their new "Cold Pizza" show as "A Guy With Three Beautiful Women". I'm starting to think the guy that defined "beautiful" for them is the same guy who declared Playmakers a "hit".

Steve McNair completed 18 passes Sunday for 421 yards. Tom Brady and Kordell Stewart combined completed 18 passes for 264 yards...

Steve Young wasn't too complimentary on the Eagle's offense Sunday when he said it was like a BB gun. "It can hurt if it catches you in the eye maybe..."

One (of many) things I love about football: There's no set "formula". You can win with great defense and an average offense. You can win with great offense and an average defense. It's been very interesting to me the differences among extremely effective coaches. Grumpy Bill Parcells playing mind games with his players is on the far end of the spectrum from the cry at the drop of a hat Dick Vermeil. But both are leading their teams very effectively. The one thing they both have very much in common is that they've done this before. Cool.

Was Quincy Carter the best QB on the field Sunday in the Dallas - Philadelphia game? I'm just askin'...

You probably know about Jacksonville punter Chris Hanson taking a swing with Jack Del Rio's "motivational" axe at the wooden stump he placed in the locker room to encourage his players to "keep chopping wood". Hanson missed and cut his leg severely enough that he's out for the year. This is also the guy that hurt himself last year in a fondue cooking accident. That is just wrong on so many levels...

Del Rio obviously wasn't too interested in talking about it. He opened his daily news conference by explaining that Hanson was injured in "an accident". When pressed about what kind of accident, Del Rio responded, "It was a locker room accident".

Titans LB Keith Bullock was fairly adamant last week when he said of the Texans running game: "They're not going to run the ball, I don't care if it is Stacey Mack, Alvin Mack, Big Mac. No running back on the Houston Texans will get 100 yards on Sunday." He was right. In fact, all three Houston running backs combined only gained 91 yards rushing.

Oakland committed 19 penalties Sunday. Every team has to be good at something.

The Dolphins were even worse. They were penalized for more yards Sunday than Jay Fiedler threw for. And this is really unbelievable. Miami was called for back to back offensive holding penalties on first down giving them a 1st and 30 situation. This happened not once but twice. In case you don't believe me:

1-10-JAC18 (8:18) R.Williams right end to JAX 18 for no gain (L.Barnes).
PENALTY on MIA-T.Ruddy, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at JAX 18 - No Play.

1-20-JAC28 (7:53) R.Williams up the middle to JAX 29 for -1 yards (D.Darius).
PENALTY on MIA-O.Ayanbadejo, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at JAX 28 - No Play.

1-30-JAC38

And then later:

1-10-MIA48 (6:39) R.Williams up the middle to MIA 48 for no gain (M.Peterson).
PENALTY on MIA-T.Ruddy, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at MIA 48 - No Play.

1-20-MIA38 (6:19) R.Williams up the middle to MIA 38 for no gain (T.Brackens).
PENALTY on MIA-J.Nails, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at MIA 38 - No Play.

1-30-MIA28

That has got to be some sort of record.

ESPN's Michael Irvin has picked up where Sterling Sharpe left off with the splashy suits. Said the more conservatively dressed Tom Jackson Sunday, "I don't know whether to talk to him or date him".

I love those clips where they put the microphone on a coach or player. Sunday's pregame segment featured Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren. He was a fun contrast to Jon Gruden who they featured a few weeks ago. Holmgren would calmly and clearly call the play for quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. The one time he commented on the results of the play he said, "Jiminy Christmas, that looked so doggone slow!" Can you imagine Jon Gruden saying that? When Shaun Alexander scored the TD, Holmgren calmly said, "Very good...well done".

I've been fascinated with how Bill Parcells has handled his young quarterback (as you can probably tell because) After the game Sunday, Parcells said, "Give the kid credit. 'Cause all I do is yell at him."

The Andrea Kremer feature with Bill Romanowski freaked me out a little bit. I know he'll receive no sympathy, but I felt bad for the guy.

Watching 72 year old Don Zimmer try to take out Pedro Martinez had to be one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen in sports.

Something I did not know: Denver cornerback Jimmy Spencer is the first Player - Coach in the league since Dan Reeves in 1971. He's an assistant defensive backs coach. Mike Shanahan says he can handle it. "We talked about the workload and all the responsibility. But of all the people I've been around, I thought Jimmy could handle it because he's very mature and very smart. I think he's got a big upside in coaching." Good for him.

Is Donovan McNabb this year's version of 2002 Kurt Warner?

Of the Saints 63 offensive plays Sunday, Deuce McAllister touched the football 31 times. I'd call that being involved in the offense.

Enough already with Kobe Bryant. Do I really need an update every seven minutes?

Don't talk too loudly about it but not only did Denver's Clinton Portis struggle to finish with just 47 rushing yards Sunday, he coughed up his third fumble in two weeks...

What's the deal with everyone having transverse process injuries? Donovan McNabb, Edgerrin James and Peter Sirmon? And now Giant cornerback Will Peterson has a stress fracture in his back? Has this always been the case and I just didn't notice it as much?

Marshall Faulk kept a towel on his head for most of the game Monday night. It's not like it's that hot in the Edward Jones Dome is it?

On ESPN's Monday Countdown show, John Madden always does a little segment where they use action from his EA Sports Madden 2004 game to illustrate what he's talking about. They show the video game Marc Bulger throwing the TD to Isaac Bruce and such. I bet the guys who market ESPN's football video game don't like that.

The Giants gained 26 first downs Sunday and only posted 6 points on two field goals.

Chicago's Brian Urlacher wasn't happy with the referees Sunday: "I'm not going to point the finger at them, but they sucked".

Did you see the ESPN poll where you could vote for the "Sunday Stud"?

I love the Budweiser "Real Men of Genius" commercials. But the "Foot Long Hot Dog Invent-or" spot plays a lot better on radio...

For a guy in his seventeenth NFL season, Steve Beuerlein hangs awfully tough in that pocket for a long time. He was drafted in 1987 when Clinton Portis was 5 years old...

CBS' Phil Simms was rambling on about the new lineup of sitcoms on CBS and Greg Gumbel says, "There's a game going on, do you mind?"

I know commercials pay the bills. I understand how it works. But this sequence is too much: Touchdown. Three commercials. Kickoff. Three commercials...

Tired of the prima donna crybaby players? They're not all like that. Pay attention to the great story unfolding in Minnesota as undrafted free agent Brian Russell leads the league in interceptions. Russell isn't letting his fast start go to his head. "If I don't get another pick for the rest of the year and I play poorly, what does it matter that I started hot? But I plan to keep it up and keep contributing any way I can."

And you have to like his hungry attitude: "I feel like I've got to earn my job every game. I'm a free agent and I've always felt like I'm on the cutting block every week. Right or wrong, as a starter now, I still feel like if I don't produce they're going to get somebody else who will. Only guys who have gone that route, being a collegiate free agent, a practice-squad player, and a special teams guy, living at the bottom of the totem pole for a couple of years, they're the only ones who know how close you really are to getting a ticket home at any point.''

I really miss Melissa Stark. A ton.

Eagles guard John Welbourn in a Peter King interview had this to say about Warren Sapp: "I don't know if that's a social commentary or it just says something about Sapp's awareness. Sometimes I think Sapp should be on some medication. It makes me nervous for the future of America that people actually listen to what he says and look up to him." Welbourn was responding to the report that when Sapp was asked "Can Howard Dean beat George Bush in 2004?" Sapp replied, "Who's Howard Dean?"

Viking Coach Mike Tice gave several players, including Randy Moss, extra time off during their bye week. Have you ever noticed that when a team is winning, this type of behavior is a coach "being in tune with his players?" When the team is losing, this type of behavior is a coach with "no control over his team."

You probably saw Cleveland kicker Phil Dawson take off on the fake field goal Sunday. Here's a great quote from Browns defensive end, Kenard Lang: "Dawson looked like that guy Forest Gump. I was gonna yell, 'Run Forrest, run.' He didn't look all that pretty running but the result was beautiful, man."

There was also the hard luck endured by GB FS D. Sharper should have intercepted and scored a TD. Sharper's drop allowed the lucky Trent Green and Eddie Kennison owners to continue the drive and score the game winning touchdown.

Sometimes it's better to just not know

That'll do it for today, Folks. Here's to Football.

Joe

Joe Bryant is an owner of www.footballguys.com You can usually find him on Sunday afternoon staring at the Sunday Ticket broadcast muttering "this is so cool..."

Thanks to Footballguys Jeff Lewis and Jeff Haseley for the help on this one.