Week 6, Pickup Sticks

I think that the word of the year for the NFL has to be "parity."  The two Super Bowl participants, the Colts and Saints, came into the week looking quite, well, not super.  Trendy playoff contenders in Dallas, Minnesota, San Diego, Green Bay, and San Francisco are a combined 9-19 through six weeks, while of the teams who had top-5 picks in this year's draft (the Rams, Lions, Bucs, Redskins, and Chiefs), four of them have records at .500 or better.

At least this week we got a little bit of clarity about a couple of the top teams in the league.
The Saints did recover from a lackluster past couple weeks with a blowout win over the upstart Bucs, potentially re-inserting themselves as the top team in the NFC South after the Falcons lost to the Eagles (who, once again, are looking at a quarterback controversy after Kevin Kolb lit up the Falcons secondary this afternoon).
The Jets and Patriots won again, despite Mark Sanchez finally turning the ball over (he had no turnovers this season going into the game, left with two INTs) and the Patriots losing Randy Moss to a trade.  The Pats' win was especially impressive, since most people were considering the Ravens to be a top AFC contender (and probably still consider them in that light).
The Steelers got Ben Roethlisberger back from suspension, and now "they are who we thought they were" (credit to Dennis Green).  Going 3-1 against teams who were a combined 14-5 through 5 weeks without their quarterback?  With all the PARITY that's going around this year, I don't see how they aren't the team to beat this year.

Interesting individual performances:

DWAYNE BOWE EXISTS!! Finally, he validates his spot on my fantasy teams.

Kevin Kolb is, in fact, an NFL quarterback.  He puts up a 23-29, 326, 3 TD, 1 INT line that reminds me of the kind of performances he put up in his two starts last year, when we thought he was the future of the franchise.

Greg Jennings had 101 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 catches in his last four games combined.  He had 133 yards and a touchdown on 6 catches today.  AND he was on my fantasy bench.  Sigh.

David Akers missed not one, not two, not four, but THREE field goals against the Falcons.  Fortunately for his health, the game was never really in question.

Tim Tebow has arrived!  He had six carries for 23 yards and his first NFL touchdown against the Jets.  OH MY GOD TIM TEBOW IS SENT FROM ABOVE.  HE SHOULD LIKE TOTALLY REPLACE KYLE ORTON, HE COMPLETED ONLY 41 PERCENT OF HIS PASSES TODAY.

This isn't really an individual performance, but did I hear that the Giants have knocked four quarterbacks out of the game this season?  Matt Moore (briefly), Jay Cutler, Todd Collins, and Shaun Hill.  Color me impressed.

And now, it's Phillies time.  Gotta get back into this series, and definitely gotta see something from Roy Oswalt tonight.  Get psyched.