The Post Mortem

The Raiders finally score, two NFC playoff contenders are seemingly out of the race and the Messiah rises from the dead. But the top story in the NFL, just how good are the San Diego Chargers?

The Chargers are the first team since the 1977 Oakland Raiders to pitch a shutout in the first seven quarters of the season. And really, Vince Young only got into the end zone because the Chargers were playing a soft zone after dominating the Titans all day. But is this defense legitimate?

Take a look at the competition�the Raiders and the Titans. Here is how bad the Titans are; they started a quarterback the Raiders didn�t think was good enough to play for their team. The Raiders brought Jeff George into camp this year as they let Kerry Collins walk away. It is a great start of the season, but there is still a lot of work to do with the Chargers before you start booking your tickets to Miami. (Those will be addressed during the finale of the Super Bowl Buzz Kill this week.) The Chargers will get their answer when they play host to Pittsburgh on October 8.

• How good was Eli�s comeback for the Giants? Eh. It seemed more like the Eagles choked rather than Eli leading a comeback. The Giants game-winning touchdown was more of a jump ball and a great athletic play by Plaxico Burress. Still that won�t preclude the talking heads of the NFL from declaring the Messiah as, well, the second coming. Thanks for nothing Philly. But as painful as it is to see the media gush over Messiah, it is equally as funny to see them make excuses for Donovan McNabb�who incidentally chokes so much, you are almost lead to believe that Archie Manning knocked up some Nubian princess.

• Even John Madden had to pipe in during the Cowboys/Redskins game to say that Messiah is going to be something. Hey John, you did the Manning Bowl last week. You can actually go an entire game without talking about the Manning family. Even Steve Tasker swooned about Peyton during the Ravens/Raiders game. Yeah, nice job beating up on the Houston Texans, Peyton. They should just allow Manning to play a bunch of fifth graders and then all of the NFL talking heads can get together and just rave about Manning�s poise.

• The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are done for the season. Only one team in the past three seasons has started 0-2 and gone on to the playoffs. And the Falcons and Saints are 2-0, with one of them will be 3-0 after next week�s Bono Bowl. Chris Simms might be the worst quarterback not wearing a Raiders uniform in the NFL.

• Speaking of the Raiders, it looks like the Andrew Walter era is set to begin as the Raiders scored six points (that means the Raiders will be ready to score 54 points in week 11). The Ravens have made a lot of changes since they won Super Bowl 35. But they still have that one play left in the playbook called, �Jump on the Raiders quarterback and break his shoulder� play. Stupid Ravens, though, Aaron Brooks was on the verge of setting an NFL record for fumbles after losing the football in two of his first three plays. It could have been a record-breaking day.

• The Angels are done and its not much of a surprise. Look for the Angels to bank on signing only one slugger this offseason and then not having a back-up plan if they lose him. Hey Dodgers, who is your Padre? The Padres are in first place and should take control of the lead on Monday.

• When Brent Lushberger labels an USC running at the next Reggie Bush, does he mean that he is going to take $100K from an agent?

• Somebody needs to let Madden know that the Redskins/Cowboys rivalry is done. Madden was throwing out all of the clich�s on Sunday night with �these teams don�t like each other� and �the intensity for this game is pitched up a little bit because its Cowboys and Redskins.� That might have been true in the 1970s when players played on the same team for a generation. But you get the feeling that former 49ers cornerback Mike Rumph and former St. Louis safety Adam Archuleta give a damn about beating the Cowboys? Well, not like they need to worry about beating the Cowboys this year, but you get the point.
  

• The Terrell Owens era in Dallas just blows. He needs to start openly campaigning for Tony Romo or throw some powder in Bill Parcells' eyes. Something. Now he�s got a bust hand, obviously from too much masturbation. Kind of like that hand model that George Costanza replaced on Seinfeld.

AND FINALLY
Nobody gives you college-betting winners like THN. Another perfect week as both Notre Dame lost and USC failed to cover (depending on when you fired in). But that Auburn/LSU game was a joke as predicted in this space. Nice offense. How can the AP voters justify putting Auburn ahead of USC? It is obvious that the writers don�t watch West Coast games, but do they even watch the SEC games? How anybody could watch that Auburn game and think they were a Top 10 team, let alone No. 2 is beyond comprehension.

Congratulations to Boise State who finally cracked the Top 25. The Broncos could go undefeated but will be left out of a BCS bowl because one-loss teams like Notre Dame will be given the nod.