Thoughts on the NFL

* If you need further proof of how bad the NFL is this season (and if you've been watching this season, you don't), the Vikings have won 3 games on the road by double digits and I wasn't impressed in the slightest. Why? Because the teams they beat were the Browns, Lions and Rams, three of the worst teams in the league (although the Lions at least compete on a weekly basis). I still wonder how good this team truly is. They're 5-0, but 3 of those wins were handed to them.

* The Vikings secretly aren't playing that well on defense recently. The Packers moved the ball, and a dropped pass in the end zone by Donald Lee was crucial. The Rams, with Kyle Boller at QB, also moved the ball but committed 3 turnovers in the red zone. A half-decent team moving the ball like the Rams did would have given the Vikings a run for their money. Instead, the game was a blowout. But a defensive performance like that against the Ravens this week will almost certainly result in a loss.

* A lot of people are clamoring for Vince Young to start for the Titans. Has anyone considered that you have to earn your starting job? The NBC announcers said there was no momentum in the Titans' locker room for Young, and it's pretty clear that Fisher doesn't feel he deserves to start. Besides, Kerry Collins is not the problem with this team. He's doing exactly what he did last year, and always has. The problem is their secondary, which went from very good last year to dreadful this year, an epic collapse that's maybe never been seen before.

* Speaking of the Titans...is Jeff Fisher a good coach? The guy has been coaching that team since 1995, and has never won the Super Bowl. That's a long time for one guy to coach a team without winning a Super Bowl. And while I do generally think Fisher is a good coach, if his name were "Norv Turner" or "Wade Phillips" there's no way I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. The Titans have absolutely fallen off a cliff, and Fisher deserves some of the blame. They've inexplicably fallen from a Super Bowl contender to one of the worst teams in the league.

* Here's what I love about the Raiders: they lose a game 44-7 and their QB only throws 13 passes. Most teams that get behind start putting the ball in the air and the QB ends up with 50 pass attempts. Josh Johnson threw 50 passes for the Bucs. Not the Raiders; they get behind and tighten up on offense. And don't think for a second this wasn't just to finish the day with a completion percentage over 50% for JaMarcus Russell. Hell of an organization they've got over there.

* I am hoping against hope that Brady Quinn gets traded this week. I don't care where, he just needs to leave that awful organization. Derek Anderson completed 2 passes this week. This is a team that has traded its two best receivers (Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards) and replaced them with no one. They should trade Anderson as well, so he can salvage his career.

* I would love to criticize teams for beating only weak teams; for instace, Dallas' wins this season are against Tampa Bay, Carolina and Kansas City. But this season, it's unavoidable. About 1/3 of the league is just dreadful this season. This is a league with a hard salary cap, the worst teams get the highest draft picks, etc., and 1/3 of the league is just awful. It's usually hyperbole to say I could run an NFL team, but I could hardly do any worse than some of these teams. I couldn't coach Derek Anderson to 2 completed passes? I couldn't lead the Raiders to a 44-7 beatdown in which Eli Manning doesn't even play a full half? This NFL season isn't even fun. There are so many bad teams that winning these games doesn't even seem fair. Beating the Browns, Lions and Rams is like beating on a disabled kid.