I don't want to spoil it, but it was a good week. Let's review:

• Denver 6 (-3), Jacksonville 7: So Jacksonville will rely on their defense this year, while convincing the offense to just enough to get the win. With their defense, that's not a bad plan, but it won't hold up all year (oh yeah? Tell that to 01-02 Ravens!).
• Pittsburgh 13, Baltimore 30 (-4): I knew something didn't look right after last week's loss to the Browns. Looks like they fixed that problem, huh?
• Houston 16, Detroit 28 (-3): I somehow overlooked the Harrington / Carr match up here. Granted, Joey gets better protection than Carr does, but I would say Harrington won this one. Oh yeah. Roy Williams is the real deal, and I look forward to hearing "Harrington to Williams....touchdown!" for years to come.
• Indianapolis 31, Tennessee 17 (-2.5): I started watching this one, and the Colts looked bad. I switched to the Lions, and never looked back, so I missed Indy's second half, which I hear was something else.
• Washington 14 (-3). New York Giants 20: Seven turn overs? Hard to blame this on Mr. Gibbs, but a shame it ruined his perfect record in the new century.
• San Francisco 27, New Orleans (-7.5) 30: I told you New Orleans wasn't good enough to warrant a seven point spread. Of course, losing McAllister to injury didn't help.
• St. Louis 17, Atlanta (-2.5) 34: Mike Vick looked pretty good. He looks comfortable in the West Coast Offense too. St. Louis' reign as a perennial contender could be coming to an end.
• Carolina 28, Kansas City 17 (-6): I sense a theme here. One that should make KC scared. Here's the formula: Running Back + KC Defense = Big Day Rushing. First it was Quentin Griffin, and now its Shaun Foster. While KC has a solid offense (17 points against the Panthers is pretty good), their defensive woes will hurt them through out the season.
• Seattle 10 (-2.5), Tampa Bay 6: I didn't watch this game, but come on. Combining for 16 points? How exciting can that be? Of course, the award goes to Denver and Jacksonville, but that one at least had good defensive play.
• Cleveland 12, Dallas 19 (-5): Dallas may be better than I first thought. Or Cleveland could be worse than I thought. I didn't see the game, so I can't say one way or the other.
• New England 23 (-8), Arizona 12: My lock-pick of the week was right on. New England's winning streak runs one higher, after beating a pathetic Cards team. They couldn't even get a running game going against a weak run defense for the Patriots.
• Buffalo 10, Oakland 13 (-3.5): I picked the wrong bottom feeder. One key note: Jerry Rice ended his streak of consecutive games with a catch after 20 years. 20 years! That's longer than most player's careers. Of course, getting passes from guys like Joe Montana and Steve Young doesn't hurt either.
• New York Jets 34 (-3), San Diego 28: Curtis Martin continued to show that he doesn't know how old he is, running for another 100 yard day. Tomlinson didn't have the day I'd hoped for, and their offense was more productive than I thought they would be, but the Jets are riding high right now. It's almost too bad they are in their bye week already.
• Miami 13, Cincinnati 16 (-5): I watched the end of this one. It was a yawner. But there was one thing I saw in it: Marvin Lewis called a timeout right before the ball was snapped for a field goal. Yeah, Marvin Lewis called it. From the sidelines. A rule change. No one even knew the timeout was called until after the play was over! And then he had to rekick it. Look for other coaches to employ similar tactics, and the rule to change back next season.
• Minnesota vs. Philadelphia (-3): I'm writing this as the game is going on. I just saw T.O.'s "touchdown" catch, and the discussion of instant replays is starting up again. From the replays, it doesn't look like he even had possession. And the extra point was kicked fast, so there was no chance for Minnesota to realize they should challenge. And the MNF crew brings up a good point: Let replays on touchdowns happen until the kick off occurs. Why not? What would that hurt? Anyway, here's what I've noticed so far: the Philadelphia defense's plan to blitz Culpepper worked. They were getting to him on every snap. Many times the guy is untouched. Culpepper did a good job of avoiding a lot of it, and actually turning a few of them into decent gains. As is usually the case, the marquee match up of Culpepper / Moss vs. McNabb / Owens didn't really turn into anything for either side. Neither player really contributed until the game was almost over. Yeah, T.O. had a "TD", but he only has four receptions. Moss, well, I've been watching since half time, and I've seen him catch three passes (yes, a TD, but too little, too late).

Right at the end, I saw the tribute this weekend to Pat Tillman. I talked about Tillman's death before, but the sentiment still stands. I am glad that the NFL is honoring him, but every single man and woman who has given up his or her life for the freedom of this nation is a hero in my eyes.

Anyway, here are my updated stats so far.