A record-setting NFL regular season has come and gone. Saints QB Drew Brees and Patriots QB Tom Brady set the record for most passing yards in a season, Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski set new single-season marks for receiving yards and touchdowns by a tight end, Cam Newton shattered all sorts of rookie marks, and a handful of quarterbacks combined for the most prolific passing season in the history of the league.

This was a year of transition, evolution and shift for football. Gone is the era that proclaimed “Defense Wins Championships.” We now sit in an age where quarterbacks win and lose games. Nine of the ten highest-rated quarterbacks in the league find themselves in the postseasons. Very simply, teams with elite passers make the playoffs. Will that moniker hold true throughout the second season? Will the league’s highest-rated quarterbacks find themselves fighting for football’s grandest prize in Indianapolis? The first pieces of the puzzle are laid in place during Wild Card Weekend.

Think Week 6 is too early to separate the men from the boys? The NFL is already starting to show where the power lies. The Lions finally fell back to Earth, the Patriots soared to the top of the AFC, and the young Buccaneers faced and conquered the Saints.

After their best start in over fifty years, the Detroit Lions headed into their mid-October match-up with the 49ers as one of two undefeated teams left standing. In what evolved into a shootout (as many expected), Alex Smith and the Niners forged a late drive to knock off the Motor City darlings. The real fireworks came after the game, though, as San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh and Detroit head coach Jim Schwartz got into a heated confrontation. Let’s slap a helmet and pads on these guys if they’re so keen on slugging it out. Both clubs left Ford Field at 5-1, trailing only the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers (6-0) in the NFC.

Meanwhile, Tom Brady and the Patriots were drawing up their vintage magic in Foxboro. They went back and forth with the Dallas Cowboys in a defensive struggle for three-and-a-half quarters. Then, as the Cowboys took a 16-13 lead late in the game, Brady orchestrated yet another seamless drive down the field for the go-ahead and eventual winning touchdown. In dropping the Cowboysto a woeful 2-3, the Patriots improved to 5-1 and grabbed the top spot in the AFC.

Down in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers took a huge step forward in their development. Super Bowl XLIV Champion Drew Brees led the favored Saints into “Buc Country” and came out bruised, battered, and in the case of head coach Sean Payton, broken. Payton was involved in a sideline collision that claimed his MCL and fractured his tibia. Ouch. Josh Freeman and the emerging Buccaneers took advantage of the reeling Saints and knocked them off, 26-20.

Tonight’s Monday Night match-up features the winless Dolphins traveling to northern New Jersey to take on the struggling Jets. That’s a marquee match-up if we’ve ever seen one.

If any of you watched the second half of the Jets game you had to see that Manning went into the first huddle knowing he was going to take over. His management, audibles, etc, are better than any QB ever! for the Saints sake, hopefully there will be saints watching over them.

Despite my feeling that Manning and his Colts can beat anyone, the news reports over the past several days (Pre Super Bowl) lead me to believe that the Saints need to win this one. Perhaps no other city ever has so much emotion vested in this game.  The City and its people need a big win! Go Saints!

I guess the Pats didn’t need that many camera’s in last nights debacle. The Patriots crushed the San Diego Chargers, the chic pick to win the Super Bowl.

The Pats beat them like the red-headed step-child they are. I know one thing, all this talk about them being cheats has motivated the best team in the league to prove something…not sure that was a good idea.

Well the Colts looked like a Super Bowl team last night didn’t they? There was a lot of talk about their defense being suspect but it held one of the best offenses to a measly 3 points. I must say I was very impressed with the entire Colts win. And this is coming from a Patriots fan!

Of course the NFC is really the junior varisty division of the NFL. There are probably 7 AFC teams that will be better than any NFC team so I’ll withhold my thoughts on how good the Colts really are.

On a side note I have to say that The Colts NFL Jersey is pretty boring. I really don’t like the Colts uniforms at all, they are so boring. The Colts really need a team makeover for sure.

I can’t wait for the Colts Pats game. That should be the game of the year.

With the Pats further fortifying an already potent team, Beantowners are likely to believe that they march to the Division Championship will be more of a sprint than a march.  While this may be true, the over achieving NY Mangini’s have proven to be a solid, mistake free team capable of beating the upper echelon teams in the league.

When healthy Chad Pennington, while not strong armed, has proven to be as good as any field general in the league. So keep the champagne stored away for a while. You may not get to pop the cork.

Chat with NFL and College Fantasy Football junkies.

This is where you tell us all about how you feel the referee, back judge or linesman really messed up! Does Instant Replay work in Football?

The college rankings are out and USC is ranked number 1. What do you think? No respect to LSU and returning champs Florida? USC would have won the championship last year if not for their upset loss to UCLA. USC in my opinion is the team to beat this year in college football.

USC has 7 freshman running backs. These are the best of the best so you know one of them will be a superstar. They have one of the best coaching staffs in college and 8 returning defensive allstars. I like USC so much I just went out and bought their college jersey.

GO SC!