The List: Five Things We (or at least I) Learned In Week 9.

by Martyvburen

Okay, so, yeah, first post and all. Sorry if the gimmick has been tried already.

On to the show:

1. The Patriots are all that and a bag of chips. Don't try to say the Pats were almost beat, that it took a miracle and some missing Colts players for New England to win this one. The fact is, the Pats won, and it's their last balls-to-the-wall challenge until they meet Indy again in January. Pittsburgh is the only team left that can hang with these guys, and the first hit Ben Roethlisberger takes in the New England game may be his last of the night. Truly Men amongst Boys.

2. Adrian Peterson, meet Larry Johnson. Two great young talents who are going to get run out of the league way too soon due to overuse by coaches holding on for dear life to their jobs. That said, the Vikings are a half-decent QB and a half-decent WR away from doing a lot of damage in the NFC.

3. The Washington Redskins constitute a poster for the mediocrity in the NFC. A 5-3 team that could, but for two or three plays, be either 3-5 or 7-1. They've beaten every team they should have beaten, and every loss (including the massacre at the hands of the Patriots) was to a team with a better record. It still doesn't make squeaking by Arizona and the Jets any easier to swallow.

4. Jon Kitna is well on his way to smelling like roses by season's end. Okay, he's not close to 5,000 yards, and we're probably all in agreement that the whole God-Healed-My-Concussion thing was a bit much, but he predicted 10 wins, and darn it if the Lions aren't proving him right on that most important point. There was not nearly the talent disparity of the WAS-NWE game last week, and still the Lions waxed the Broncos 44-7. We may have a fourth NFC Title contender, folks.

4-and-a-half. Your move, Mike Shanahan.

5. Donovan McNabb is going to look weird in a Falcons uniform a year or two from now. Granted, he should be looking great in an Eagles uniform, but something's gotta give, and it's probably going to be McNabb and Andy Reid.

MONDAY NIGHT BONUS:

The Steelers have themselves one hell of a fragile Quarterback. Don't get me wrong, he was unbelievably good against a depleted defense, but the fall that knocked him out of the game for some time didn't look all that bad, at least on TV. I have a sinking feeling that he's one good blind-side hit away from some extended time on the bench, and that hit probably comes against the Patriots.