Thoughts from this weekend

* Even more disappointing than Carson Palmer this weekend for the Bengals was their secondary. Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph should have had a field day against Sanchez, but instead he was 12 of 15 passing, and one of his incompletions was a good throw to Braylon Edwards in the end zone that was dropped (shocking, I know). The fact that Jerricho Cotchery kept making catches was extremely disappointing. And feel free to cover Dustin Keller next time.

* It's hard to believe the Cowboys could blow out the Eagles two weeks in a row, but there it is. The Eagles big play offense made one big play (Maclin's TD) and nothing else. McNabb wasn't very good, DeSean Jackson was invisible, and the myriad of weapons the Eagles supposedly had were a complete nonfactor. The only Eagle on offense who bothered to show up these past two weeks was Brent Celek.

* You really have to wonder if the Reid/McNabb combo is ever going to win a championship in Philadelphia. Two weeks ago they were in position to get a 2 seed in the NFC; now they're out of the playoffs. The Eagles have given McNabb weapons in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, and yet they still struggle to score in the playoffs. It's weird to be down on a team that is in the playoffs every year, but last year was a golden opportunity to get to the Super Bowl and they blew it against the Cardinals, and this year they again had an opportunity but fell flat two weeks in a row against Dallas.

* Dallas might be the best team in the NFC. I've been trying to find a weakness, but it's damn hard. I suppose if you block their pass rush, you can throw on their corners but Newman, Jenkins and Scandrick make a nice group of corners. Their pass rush is awesome with Ware, Ratliff and Spencer. Their offensive line is blowing shit up right now, creating holes for three different runners. Outside of Roy Williams, they have plenty of weapons in the passing game. Romo is playing really well, and Suisham even made a field goal this week. I don't know how exactly to beat this team; I suppose in a one-game situation anything can happen, but Dallas looks damn good.

* If Bill Belichik weren't Bill Belichick, you'd say the Patriots were a poorly coached team. They were completely unprepared to play today, and they have this strange infatuation with Laurence Maroney. I know they don't run the ball much, but when they do why waste carries on Maroney? Basically all of their old free agents were busts this year, from Joey Galloway to Fred Taylor to Shawn Springs. I don't know what exactly the Patriots do anymore; they aren't very good defensively anymore, Moss seems to be aging in dog years, and without Welker Brady can't complete passes to anybody. Speaking of which, Brady was really bad this week too. He's another person who would be criticized mercilessly if he wasn't who he was.

* It's fitting that a game that featured no defense ended on a defensive TD. The best part is that Rodgers himself kicked the ball in the air, which allowed Dansby to pick it up on the run. If Rodgers doesn't kick it, maybe it's ruled an incomplete pass (his arm was moving forward), or maybe Green Bay recovers the fumble. But watching that game, you just couldn't feel good about either team's chances at winning next week. Neither team could stop the other's passing game, and guess who else can throw the ball? New Orleans! The Cardinals don't stand a chance, but it was a nice win regardless.

* So Shayne Graham misses from 28 and 35, Neil Rackers misses from 34 at the end of regulation...what in the hell is going on here? Mason Crosby missed from 54, but that's understandable. Gostkowski also missed from 44 for the Patriots. Are kickers getting more questionable, or was it just a bad week? I expect this from college kickers, but these are paid professionals, and all are good kickers generally. It's a hell of a thing when you get so few chances to impact a game, and then when you do you miss it. But such is life as an NFL kicker.

* Looking foward to next week, I expect blowouts by San Diego and New Orleans. The Jets just aren't very good, and the Cardinals won't be able to stop the Saints' passing game. Dallas-Minnesota is closer, but I think any objective person would give Dallas the advantage. Minnesota HAS to control DeMarcus Ware to have a chance. Baltimore could give the Colts a run, but Joe Flacco seems to be regressing by the week (4-10, 34 yards, INT today) and I'll take Peyton Manning thank you very much. Then again, I'm the same guy who said Mark Sanchez would be a disaster and he wasn't, so what do I know.