Andy Richardson

The idea of parity in the NFL took a hit earlier in the year, with a handful of undefeated teams and even more winless or one-win teams. Has parity returned? The winless teams are gone, the undefeateds are down to two (as the Colts' horseshoe logo is taking on new meaning this year), and there was a whole lot of ugly and/or down-to-the-wire football between supposedly good and supposedly awful teams on display Sunday. Who else can't wait to talk about it? Off we go on a whirlwind tour of the games I saw the most of....

Falcons at Giants: One of the games of the day, and it certainly had a playoff type feel to it. Giants controlled the game most of the way, but Matt Ryan made some plays late, and Jason Snelling was better than expected (against a Giants front seven that's now really banged-up and not as good as anticipated; Snelling basically walked into the end zone on both of his touchdowns). Michael Jenkins had a good yardage day, for him, but dropped a touchdown. Four different Giants receivers put up at least 65 receiving yards: Manningham, Smith, Nicks and Boss. Manningham and Boss had the biggest numbers, but watching Nicks you really get the feeling he's going to be special; the guy makes big plays. The Falcons defense has some issues right now, but also, Eli Manning was on top of his game for most of the day. I kind of like the Giants to send the Broncos to 6-5 come Thursday.

Seahawks at Vikings: Watching the Vikings play you start to think they've got a real shot to lose another NFC Championship Game this season. They're good; they've certainly got the NFC's best running back, there isn't a quarterback playing any better than Brett Favre right now, and they've got a talented group of receivers. Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin make plays all over the field, Visanthe Shiancoe keeps getting in the end zone; all three are weekly starts. (Rice actually couldn't hang onto another touchdown after a hellacious hit.) The run defense is back in top form, they've got the league's best pass-rusher, and they've got essentially a four-game lead in their division. Oh sure, Adrian Peterson owners were disappointed today, but he'll make up for it down the stretch. As for Seattle, well, Justin Forsett at least delivered on the pass-catching potential. And my apologies to the guy I recommended John Carlson to, since he dropped a pair of catchable balls and was missed on an end-zone opportunity while being shutout. At least the reader's other option, Fred Davis, wasn't much better.

49ers at Packers: I'm not a big Aaron Rodgers fan, but the guy is clearly the team MVP. Green Bay is 6-4 and honestly I think they'd be 2-8 with a lot of other quarterbacks; they're not that good. Rodgers made some big throws, Green Bay raced out to a big lead, then gave most of it back, but they're firmly in the wildcard picture and should go to 7-4 at Detroit this week. For San Francisco, a nice touchdown grab by Michael Crabtree, and I liked his relatively tame celebration afterward; good job, rookie. Another Vernon Davis TD, too. And I may have been too hard all year on Ryan Grant, who really ran well against a good 49ers run defense; ran like his job was on the line (which maybe it is, depending how the rest of the season goes).

Colts at Ravens: Impressive showing by the Colts defense. Tough year for the Ravens, who are making losing heartbreakers a near-weekly occurrence. Super one-handed TD catch by Dallas Clark. A really impressive game by the Ravens D, but the Colts D was a little bit better -- plus the Ravens blew a goal-line opportunity with a quarterback sneak and two Willis McGahee runs that got stuffed. Ray Rice is your MVP; give him the ball. That's what Flacco was trying to do when he didn't see linebacker Gary Brackett and got picked off to end the game, of course. The Colts survive, again, and yes they've been a little bit lucky this year. But as Mickey Rourke said in Barfly, "Yeah, but that counts too!"

Jets at Patriots: Things are just kind of bad for Mark Sanchez right now. He follows up his good plays with poor ones, forces throws, isn't on the same page with his wideouts -- it's almost like he's a rookie quarterback playing from behind in most of his games (although sometimes those deficits are partly his fautl). Jerricho Cotchery finished with nice stats, while Braylon Edwards dropped a pass (ugh) and might have run a poor route on one pick; clearly he and Sanchez need to get some work in together in the offseason. But at this point, I'm not sure you can confidently use any Jets the rest of the way. As for New England, hey, that Wes Welker guy isn't bad.

Eagles at Bears: Chicago fans booed Jay Cutler unmercifully when he overthrew an open Greg Olsen and Devin Hester on consecutive plays that should have gone for touchdowns, then again at the end of another drive where the team had to settle for a field goal. (Perhaps on that one they were booing the playcalling, where Cutler was in the shotgun and threw a little dumpoff to Matt Forte that had no chance of going anywhere, then to a triple-covered Greg Olsen.) I guess it's fair, and since I don't have Cutler in my dynasty league anymore I've no need to make excuses for the guy anymore. At the same time, I mean, you guys have had Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton the last few years. Check out the touch on his touchdown to Kellen Davis, or his dart to Forte for a 2-point conversion. Not a lot of quarterbacks make both those throws. Give the new guy a little time here. I know, I know: If he wins you'll say you always knew he would.

Monday, Monday: I'm expecting lots of offense, lots of points, lots of passing, and a whole lot of Chris Johnson tonight. One of these teams (most likely the Texans) has an outside shot at a wildcard spot in the AFC, the one currently held by the mediocre Jaguars. Let's start doing predictions for these games, so people can laugh at me the next day. Titans 27, Texans 24.

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