Other thoughts from today

* I wish the Titans, Bucs, Chiefs, Browns and Rams would just forfeit their games. These teams are so bad they skew the results for everybody else. There will be a lot of "Tom Brady is back" stories this week, but the fact is he got to play the Titans and Bucs, and they make everyone better. The Chargers have had a down season, but not today against the Chiefs. The Browns gave the Packers an easy victory, making people think they can get back in the NFC North picture. And the Rams have lost 17 straight dating back to last season. I wish these teams would just go away. Sad thing is, I didn't even mention the Raiders, Bills, Lions, Panthers and a few other bad teams. In other words, the NFL has a great product this year.

* There's no way I can take the Bears seriously after their performance today. The Bengals scored 31 points on their first five possessions. Jay Cutler will no doubt take a lot of the blame, because people are idiots and always blame the QB. But the fact is, he's one of the few good players they have. Matt Forte is insanely overrated, those receivers are subpar and that defense has fallen off a cliff. Cutler is the anti-Kyle Orton, but not for reasons idiots on TV will tell you. Orton keeps falling into good situations in which his defense keeps the score limited, while Cutler keeps ending up on teams in which his defense sucks and forces him to score 30 every week. I would love to see "the winner" Kyle Orton win today's game against Cincinnati.

* The Raiders finally benched JaMarcus Russell, but Cable says he'll remain the starter. I'm sure Cable was scolded after the game for daring to bench Russell. In Al Davis' mind, Russell is the next John Elway. I'm happy though; bad seasons like this don't come around all that often. Usually QBs who play as badly as Russell do get benched, but Russell can have an all-time bad season when you figure how many opportunities Oakland will give him to screw up. Sure, Spergon Wynn was probably worse but nobody gave him 500 pass attempts to do it.

* Darrius Heyward-Bey caught his 4th pass of the season today, so he now officially has more catches than names this season. So the Raiders have that going for them. Crabtree caught 5 passes in one game, but whatever.

* Remember when Matt Cassel was "only" traded for a 2nd rounder? I want someone to watch his play in today's game and say with a straight face the guy is even worth an NFL contract, let alone a bunch of money and a 2nd round pick. I saw him miss WIDE OPEN receivers on back to back plays. Cassel is great at completing a bunch of passes for no yardage. Every week his completion percentage is solid, but his yardage is laughable. I don't know how to say this nicely...he can't play.

* Today's Colts-Rams game was the closest thing the NFL will have to the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals. At halftime they should have had Peyton Manning only play with his left hand and see if the Colts would still win. That would at least make this game interesting. I'm serious; I wish these teams would just forfeit. I would actually have more respect for them. Just don't play the games and work on getting better for next year. In the Rams's case, they should consider releasing about 50 players. I would rather have an expansion roster than what the Rams currently have.

* I actually feel better about the Vikings now than after any of their other games, despite them losing. The Steelers are one of the best teams in the league, and the Vikings showed they can go into Heinz Field and potentially win. A couple of fluke turnovers returned for TDs does not make me think less of this team. Sidney Rice is really coming along, and I gotta say that Favre is playing pretty well right now. The Vikings put the game on his shoulders in the 2nd half, and they really should have won. A couple fluke turnovers should not hamper people's opinion of this team. This is much more impressive than beating the Browns, Lions and Rams. This team showed they can play with the league's best.

* I may have counted Dallas out a bit too soon. That was an impressive win over Atlanta, Dallas' first over a quality opponent. It's really a shame the worthless Roy Williams gets in the way of their passing game, because Dallas has playmakes on offense between Miles Austin, Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett, Felix Jones, Marion Barber III and Tashard Choice. But since Roy Williams cost them so much, he'll no doubt continue to get undeserved playing time. He just gets in the way of true Dallas productivity.

* How's Braylon Edwards doing for the Jets? A week after Sanchez threw a bunch of INTs his way, he had 1 catch for 14 yards. The man is talented, but he's not productive and that's the bottom line (cause Stone Cold said so).

* Oakland's rush defense allowed two runners to go over 120 yards today. JaMarcus Russell takes a lot of heat, and rightfully so, but that is awful as well. Poor passing offense, poor rush defense...that's a helluva team in Oakland. At least they've got the highest paid punter in league history.

* I feel bad for having so many negative thoughts today, so here's a positive one; that AFC North race is going to be fantastic. The Bengals, Steelers and Ravens are all capable of winning it. I think the difference is going to be the Raven's pass defense (it's poor), and whether the Bengals can handle prosperity or not. No matter how well they play, and they were excellent today, you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop with the Bengals. And quite frankly, I don't trust Marvin Lewis.

* And by the same token, the NFC West race is going to be awful yet again. The Rams aren't even worth discussing, and neither is Seattle really. It's Arizona and San Francisco, and if you believe in Alex Smith you're fooling yourself. The story there isn't that Alex Smith came off the bench and played well, but that the 49ers thought they could compete for the AFC West title with Shaun Hill at QB. Sometimes teams can get too cute for their own good, and San Francisco wasn't nearly aggressive enough in upgrading their QB situation. It really is Alex Smith or bust, and that's a scary proposition.