The Dallas Cowboys (5-1) left their stadium after their game against New England (6-0) Patriots knowing exactly how far they are from being an elite team. They found out the hard way that they have a long way to go.

The Cowboys are an elite NFC team and were beaten by 21 points at home by the Patriots. Meanwhile, New England's real test comes three weeks from now at Indianapolis. That game will alert the rest of the league as to exactly what everyone can look forward to come Super Bowl Sunday.

Out West, though, San Diego is beginning get into gear behind the play of LaDanian Tomlinson on offense and an improved secondary that compliments an already talented defense. By season's end the Chargers may well yet well take their place alongside the Colts and Patriots as a legitimate Lombardi Trophy candidate.

Unfortunately for fans and followers of the NFL, we now know that, barring a catastrophic letdown, the AFC representative in the Super Bowl is going to blow out their NFC opponent. You see, the Cowboys and Green Bay, the present class team in the NFC, are going to get better as the season rolls along.

But what is most frightening is that as well as New England played in Cowboy stadium beating Dallas 48-27, they know they can perform even better. Minus a blocking miscue that led to Tom Brady being blindsided, fumbling, and having Jason Hatcher return the fumble 29 yards for a touchdown, the game would never have been close.

New England knew the Cowboys weakness resided in its secondary and took full advantage of this knowledge. Dallas tried valiantly in the beginning to offset this glaring secondary deficiency by throwing myriad front seven looks at New England. However, once Brady gained a full understanding of what Dallas could or could not do without leaving its cornerbacks and safeties utterly vulnerable, the game was essentially over. The offensive line made the necessary adjustments to keep their QB upright and Brady had as much time as he needed to strafe the Cowboys.

Brady was brilliant, throwing 46 passes, completing 31 for 388 yards and five touchdowns. The Patriots ran only 23 times yet controlled the ball for 38:15 to Dallas' 21:45. Sure the Cowboys took a momentary league early in the second half, but the Patriots immediately embarked on a 5:24 drive and regained the lead. The game was never again in doubt.

The league has done New England no favors with their schedule as the Patriots are in the midst of playing three of four weeks on the road. They must now travel to their AFC East nemesis, Miami, the team that, outside of Indianapolis, consistently plays the Patriots the toughest. Then New England comes home to play against on of the best defenses in the league in Washington before traveling to Indianapolis. Should they run this gauntlet and escape unbeaten and relatively injury free, the 1972 Dolphins can put away their champagne because New England will run the table.

It's just too bad for the rest of us that after week six we can see the future this clearly.

----------

Now for some short notes on the rest of the NFL games.

AD, baby, All Day. Adrian Peterson, aka All Day, had 361 all-purpose yards against the Chicago Bears. Peterson rushed for 224 yards on only 20 carries against the once-vaunted Chicago defense. For the Vikings, they now know who they can depend on in the clutch. For the Bears it showed that without injured safety Mike Brown, Chicago's defense is nothing. Even with Peterson's performance, the Vikings need a 55-yard field goal from Ryan Longwell to eke out a 34-31 win.

Washington (3-3) stole a win from itself at Green Bay. When wide receivers weren't dropping passes they were fumbling the game away. And Joe Gibbs mismanaged the clock and timeouts for what seems like the 20th time since his return to the NFL. As well as the Redskins defense played it could not overcome the ineptitude of its receivers and its head coach.

The Packers (5-1) won the kind of game (17-14) that, "teams of destiny" win. Green Bay did nothing particularly well on offense, but their defense kept them in the game and when Charles Woodson returned Santana Moss' fumble for a touchdown, won them the game.

St. Louis is horrible, just horrible. The Ravens 22-3 beating of the Rams proved nothing. Did I say St. Louis is horrible?

AFC teams need to beware: Cleveland (3-3) has game, at least offensively. The way Derek Anderson is playing (18-25, 245, 3-0) Brady Quinn won't see the line of scrimmage except from the sidelines or in mop-up duty and Romeo Crennel will keep his job. The Browns busted up Miami (0-6), 41-31. Then again, perhaps the Dolphins were looking ahead to next week's game against New England.

Not.

But they will play the game of their lives next week against New England.

David Garrard still hasn't thrown an interception this season and Jack Del Rio is looking more and more like a genius for getting rid of Byron Leftwich. Jacksonville (4-1) appears to have found some offensive punch as Houston (3-3) found out. The Jaguars pummeled the Texans 37-17 and Matt Schaub, without looked no better than David Carr, except Carr had receivers and Schaub's are hurt. Jacksonville plays the same stout defense it has for the past few years. But if the offense continues to hum, they might be a very dangerous team come playoff time.

Cincinnati (1-4) is a team in disarray. Marvin Lewis is, from all accounts, a great guy, but his team is falling apart around him. Now the offense is as inept as the defense which might portend the end of the line for Lewis' tenure with the Bengals. Kansas City beat the Bengals easily, 27-20, and the game wasn't that close. Even Larry Johnson got his groove on - or maybe he's just getting his game legs. Either way Cincinnati should have known but did little to keep LJ from breaking the century mark rushing for the first time this season. And again, the offense was out-of-synch all day. It looks like it's going to be a long season in Cinci.

Oh yeah, and Herm Edwards is a far better head coach then he gets credit for being. Damon Huard? Come on, he's not fooling anyone. Huard is a good backup QB, not a starter, yet the Chiefs are 3-3, which is pretty close to what most people thought their win total for the entire season might be.

The New York Womanginis got running back Thomas Jones in the offseason thinking that he was the perfect replacement for Curtis Martin and would be the key to helping the Jets make another playoff run. Well the Womanginis are 1-5 and going nowhere fast. Jones can't win by himself (130 yards on 24 carries)  and QB Chad Pennington can't find open receivers when he's flat on his back and completing only 11 passes (11-21, 128 yards). The Jets (1-5) played a one-and-a half man offense in Philadelphia's (2-3) Brian Westbrook and Donovan McNabb and still managed to lose 16-9.

Tampa Bay (4-2) was very lucky that Vince Young pulled a quadriceps muscle during the Bucs game against Tennessee (3-2). Jeff Garcia was very lucky that some of his down field heaves improbably found receivers for long gains. The result of the Tampa Bay good fortune was a 13-10 victory that the Bucs did not deserve. The Tennessee defense is good enough to keep them in any game they play this season. Let's hope they don't get too frustrated watching and offense that doesn't seem to be able to score more than 17 points in any given game.

And Jon Gruden continues to live a charmed life.

Arizona (3-3) had Carolina (4-2), let them get away, and ended up losing a frustrating 25-10 game. Steve smith was wonderful, as usual, but the Cardinals had every opportunity to win that game. Yes, Kurt Warner got hurt, but he wasn't playing all that well and Tim Rattay played well enough for 'Zona to win. One couldn't help but wonder if the Cardinals would have won that game if Matt Leinart was healthy.

They're baaaaaaack! Norv Turner listened to LaDanian Tomlinson a little more than two weeks ago when Tomlinson walked into Turner's office and told him San Diego (3-3) would win if he got the ball more. Turner got the ball to Tomlinson and the Chargers have easily won consecutive games. Oakland (2-3) is far better than they were a year ago, but need some time before they can catch up to the Chargers. San Diego defeated the Raiders, 28-14.

Watch out for San Diego, they are dangerous.

What's up with Seattle? They imploded in their 28-17 home loss to New Orleans. The Seahawks (3-3) are not good enough to think that they can take the field, play a mediocre game, and have that be good enough to beat anyone. But that's exactly what it seemed they did against previously winless New Orleans.

The Saints (1-4) have one win now.

The proof is in the details.The proof of racism in sports media is not in something like the fact of Michael Vick's guilt. Once the evidence came forth, we understand Vick's culpability in the dog fighting that took place on the grounds of the home in Surry County, Virginia. The proof of racism is in the manner in which the Vick case was reported. The proof is in the omission of details, the half-truths, and the lies in reporting the incident.

We watched as no member of mainstream or of Big Box sports media questioned how the Vick dog fighting case was assembled. No one ever questioned how the Davon Boddie marijuana bust turned into investigators walking onto Boddie's property and talking with someone other than a person who lives in the house; a someone who took investigators to a kennel full of pitbulls because the investigator "heard dogs barking." Yes, I said Boddie's property. Vick bought the property and oversaw the building of the home and the kennel (which we now know was not initially built for dog fighting dogs), but Boddie paid the bills and the property taxes. We know that Vick gave this property to Boddie in lieu of handing him a "just because" check every month, or so.

So, how did no reporter dig this information up before the seven to ten days? A journalist or some journalists. Some journalists knew that something was awry when police investigators turned what was a street bust into a home and property search. Some journalists had to know that something smelled funny about this.

Yet instead of doing the work, journalists saw Michael Vick, first black quarterback ever to be drafted number one overall, and ran with the thoughts of five minutes of fame dancing in their heads. Sensationalism and an easy target overtook journalistic responsibility.

To justify this greedy want, reporters everywhere, but especially in Atlanta and at ESPN, sought to establish themselves as the end-all purveyors of Vick news while cozying up to new NFL czar, Roger Goodell.

The initial news was benign, but Terrence Moore of the Atlanta Constitution-Journal went out of his way to paint a black picture of Vick. Moore repeatedly trotted out Vick flipping off fans - erroneously reporting that they were Atlanta fans. He harped on the "Ron Mexico" pseudonym used by Vick to find out if he did or did not have STDs. That is news for Internet sloth - football-specific sloth and otherwise; you know who they are - and the National Enquirer, not for a reputable newspaper of one of the largest cities in the U.S. Moore told bald-faced lies about the water bottle Vick refused to give up at Miami International Airport. The same bottle that when Vick said jewelry was in its secret compartment, was suddenly no longer discussed. Vick's failure to appear in front of Congress was a sign that he was nothing more than a thug.

As evidence for Vick's thugishness, Moore painted his cornrows, his posse, his nightlife, photos of Vick with a Black and Tan cigar that Moore swore was a joint. He howled to the moon in his column and implied that Vick should be run from the city or stoned; whichever came first.

ESPN rushed in to one up Moore and sent Kelly Naqi to set up camp outside Vick's home. Meanwhile the Worldwide Leader used a cadre of reporters to dress the investigation in the clothes of their choosing. When ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that team officials from the Atlanta Falcons and officials from the NFL league office both were told that no indictment of Vick was forthcoming, ESPN and Moore fell into mourning. Their nine-day silence - until the federal government surprised everyone with indictments - was palpable. Only the Internet sloth, whose very lives appeared to be tied to Vick's guilt, continued the drumbeat for further investigations into the Vick matter.

In those days Moore, ESPN, and the Internet sloth shifted gears and draped a dark gown of impropriety over the head of black prosecuting attorney of Surry County, Gerald Poindexter. They intimated that Poindexter was trying to let Vick off the hook because of shared skin color. They implied that Vick paid off not only Poindexter, but federal agents, as well. However, Poindexter repeated constantly that he had been burned by similar loose warrant language and that as soon as the language was cleared up, he would resume his investigation of the case.

ESPN wasn't listening. They had their hooks in two black men now and they weren't about to let them go until they tore them to shreds. They aired Vick specials, they put Jeremy Schaap on Outside the Lines to damn Vick in ways Bob Let would never dare. You see the results; what they did to sway public opinion of Vick before the feds had evidence. And to this day they continue to excoriate Poindexter. The latest charges in the hell-hounding of Poindexter are that he has failed to prosecute the case strongly enough; that the charges are less serious than they should be.

Lapdog Moore, who appeared on various ESPN news shows panting with excitement in his ability to play the black white journalist, currently wags his tail in agreement with ESPN's Poindexter stance.

Look at the coverage of Barry Bonds, which has been well-chronicled here at TSF. Not only did Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams allow the idea of a Pulitzer Prize to stain their thoughts, it tainted their integrity. And this extends especially to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury-News and any other reporter black or white with an ax to grind over Bonds. Again, though, the racism inherent in their reporting isn't in the shoddiness of their allegedly extensively detailed writings, it is in the manner in which they wrote, in what they chose to emphasize.

It is important to understand the racial undertone involved in placing an inordinate emphasis on Bonds' preoccupation with Mark McGwire. It is the story of the black man jealous of the white man's accomplishments and flying into an over-emotional rage and becoming unnecessarily consumed with the white man.

I have since heard from a very reputable source that Bonds did rant about McGwire at a bar-b-que at the home of Ken Griffey, Jr. However, to use a rant as the nexus of Bonds' alleged steroid and HGH use is a questionable leap of faith. Yet it was reported and taken as gospel truth because the general white public is so inattentive to its own racist tendencies that no one would dare attempt to punch holes in such a shoddy argument.

Think of how the white mistress, Kimberly Bell, was and is at opportune moments, shoved down our throats. Bonds confided, not in his wife, but in a white woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair. Bonds told Bell about his elbow injury and the need to use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to quickly recover from his surgery.

The problem with this white woman as deified to the black man fairy tale is that Bonds was separated from his wife at the time he was seeing Bell, so there was no affair, no mistress. It was a relationship between a man and a woman - period. And unlike the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment case where the black woman's -Anucha Browne Sanders - word has been challenged as much as Thomas' word, the word of the white and fair belle, Bell, goes unquestioned.

Notice the difference between Vick and Bonds coverage with that of St. Louis outfielder, Rick Ankiel. Now, before anyone says Vick and Bonds are more popular therefore blah, blah. blah, let's get something straight: Rick Ankiel was the panacea for all Bonds talk, all the Vick talk, all the black athlete gets busted for marijuana talk. Make no mistake; Rick Ankiel was the feel-good sports story of 2007.

And before we get into Ankiel, let me expound on the black athlete gets busted trick for just a moment. First, one name, Bill Maas. Whatever the hell happened to the sordid story of Bill Maas? Popular or not, as an ex-athlete who apparently had the broadcasting world by the tail, Maas makes very good copy. I never saw the mug shots of Maas and his female road trippin', drug-doin' cohort splashed on the homepage of ESPN.com or any of the blog sloth's homepages. Where are the ESPN.com Page 2 commentaries about Maas in a larger context, that context that everyone is susceptible, not just athletes - everyone. Where are all those writer who seek to find the out of the way angle, those important writers of great worth to us all who are bastions of the NFL press, like Peter King? They are completely and uniformly silent on the Maas issue - and believe me, I've been waiting.

As far as the black athlete gets busted for pot issue, doesn't it strike anyone odd that so many of these athletes get pulled over for failing to use a signal to change lanes or exit a highway or turn a corner: 'damn nigras, why do we let 'em drive?' Has one sports journalist ever stretched beyond the boundaries of the game to report the irrepressible fact that a marijuana smoker is arrested in America every 38 seconds? Thirty-eight seconds?! No one has reported that in 2006 that 829,635 persons were arrested with marijuana and put that into perspective when it comes to athletes - especially black athletes? Of these people, 738, 915 or 89% were arrested for possession of pot. This represents a 188% increase in arrests over the last 15 years costing taxpayers 10 to 12 billion dollars annually. It is little wonder, then that so many athletes make their way to the police blotter with a marijuana charge hanging around their necks.

Once again, our sports media has failed us when it comes to matters of race and sports.

Now, back to Ankiel. After he was named in the Signature Pharmacy scandal, the Mighty Wurlitzer, that is the national sports media, immediately churned out story after story excusing Ankiel for receiving a 12-month supply of HGH from the Pharmacy. They wrote that we should honor the "sacred" doctor-client privilege involved in the Ankiel case. Yet they failed and continue to fail to mention that Ankiel's "doctor" was an Internet physician who Ankiel did not visit in person. They failed and fail to note that no legitimate doctor would prescribe a 12-month supply of HGH to a patient and have a pharmacy ship the HGH to the patient so that the person could self-administer the drug.

They wrote that we have no solid proof that Ankiel even injected the HGH he received from Signature. Are you serious? Are you really serious?! Then where is the press conference with Ankiel breaking out his box of ampules showing the world that he, in fact, did not use HGH.

They wrote that the drug was not on the MLB banned drug list at the time he used HGH. Well then the same holds true for Barry Bonds, but no sports journalist ever reported that fact. The sporting press lamented the fact that Ankiel felt pressured to return to the majors and all-but lauded him for trying everything in his power to recover from an injury and finalize the switch from pitcher to outfielder. Hell, sports journalists found physicians who were and are willing to say, in relation to Ankiel, that HGH has no benefits that would help a baseball player.

Huh?!

No one ever mentioned that about Bonds. No one mentioned in glowing terms that Bonds was trying to return to his former self from elbow surgery and that he was trying to cope with arthritic knees. No one lamented that he felt the need to succumb to - in this day and age of over-hyped sports coverage - the use of PEDs to try to break Henry Aaron's home run record. No no no. As we all know Bonds was and is reviled for anything he might have done, though we have absolutely no proof that he injected or rubbed anything illegal on his body.

And where is the black press throughout this black athlete head hunting expedition, this safari through the plains and the cities of America to hang a black trophy head on the walls of sports desks everywhere?

They are pretty much nowhere to be found. Sure they trot themselves out for the Jena 6 - cookie time! Sure a few of them say enough is enough with Bonds, though they still believe that his head and feet grew because he was a wild HGH-steroid user who shot everything from the clear to cattle 'roids. If you believe what the black and white sports journalists say, Lyle Alzado had nothing on Bonds. Bonds, all because of Mark McGwire, went legendary jungle nigra crazy on the PEDs. If you believe all these scribes and their tall tales of PED abuse, Bonds might have about five years to live before his head explodes.

So, why aren't black reporters pounding down the doors of editor's offices - editors white and black - and demanding to have their voices heard?

Black reporters are subject to the same racist treatment as black athletes. They are watched, hand-picked and often removed from their communities by opportunistic editors. They are befriended by veteran white journalists and deprogrammed and remodeled as whiter black people. These reporters are sometimes handed high-paying, influential columnist jobs before they are ready, writing or experience-wise. They soon find that, implicit in maintaining their position is the knowledge that they are not to rock the boat or make waves by writing anything that challenges the established status quo.

After being thoroughly "systemized" these black journalists, like their athlete compatriots, know their place, no matter what they might try to say. At first, they make a conscious effort to not overstep their boundaries and it shows in their writing. In a few years, though, their master's wishes are ingrained in them, and their words become seamlessly meshed with their editor's wishes and compliance becomes their message. And they too, do the knee-jerk, reactionary, the black athlete is at fault thing. Sometimes, they'll jump on the boat before their masters, just ask Jason Whitlock.

Can all this change? Of course it can. Awareness and the ability to be unrelenting in seeking and reporting the heart of all sporting matters are the keys to maintaining a sense of self; that, and a sense of community, no matter how small or large.

However, less than a handful of black mainstream and Big Box writers accomplish this. We see them, read them. Many white readers despise them because they refuse to tow the line, unless it is the truth; and even then their reporting of a given event will reveal something entirely different than their peers. The majority of black writers though, will go along with the flow, smiling and dancing all the way to Mantan and Sleep 'n Eat purgatory, as they are never quite dead, but their words show they have certainly left life behind.

With their black peers along for the ride white writers are never forced to step out of their existences and truly see anything other than what is comfortable for them. The sporting world keeps spinning; black athletes keep losing while the media keeps winning.

Don't believe me. Take some time. Take a tour for a week or so and read for yourself. As receivers of this hegemonous message, you owe it to yourself to look around and truly decide if this is what you want your world to look like.

But whatever you do, do look. The proof is in the details.

addendum: A Memphis football player, Taylor Bradford, was shot and killed last night. Clay Bailey and Alex McPeak in their Memphis Commercial-Appeal article indicate that:

Memphis police have not established a motive and have no suspects in custody.

However, the Associated Press-ESPN News Services article say something entirely different about the shooting:

A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot on campus in a targeted attack and classes were canceled Monday as a precaution, officials said....

In an e-mail alert sent to faculty, staff and students at 3:40 a.m. Monday, officials wrote that "the initial investigation indicates this was an act directed specifically toward the victim and was not a random act of violence."

The university decided to cancel classes Monday, although police believe the person or persons involved in the shooting left the campus immediately.

"We feel like the campus is safe, but we'd rather err on the safety than not," [university spokesman Curt] Gunther said.

Is the AP in the business of providing "safety messages" for universities or is their article another indicator of how incidents are twisted to fit the image of people of color?

The dumbest coaching move is this: you're trying to protect a lead, time running out in the game, and it's 3rd down. Your opponent has two time outs left. Rather than allow the quarterback to snap the ball with two seconds left on the clock and take more time off the clock, you let the play clock run down to one second and use a timeout. You, coach have saved your opponent five seconds. Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt was the latest team leader to commit this blunder. Fortunately for Whisenhunt, Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception allowing the Cardinals to seal a 21-14 win over Pittsburgh.

One day, though, this move will cost a coach and a team a win.

Onward with an assessment of NFL teams after the first of a four quarter season....

How'd that QB change work for ya, Lovie Smith? Brian Griese goes 34-52, 286 with 2 TDs. It's too bad Griese also tossed three picks, two in the red zone which effectively blew the game for Chicago. I wonder if Rex Grossman thought at some point during the game, "Damn I could have done this." Detroit 37, Chicago 27.

Marty Schottemheimer is sitting somewhere laughing his head off. While Michael Smith made excuses for the San Diego Chargers, saying they lost to a division rival - Kansas City - that handed them one of their losses last year and isn't as bad as they look and blah blah blah, and I don't want to tell the truth because I might alienate my sources on either team, I'll tell you the truth.

The Chargers are a very undisciplined and fractured football team that believed the preseason hype and all the accolades they received from last season. Though no professional athlete handles losses well, LaDanian Tomlinson is showing that he's not even publicly the gracious guy everyone makes him out to be. Tomlinson showed as much after the playoff loss to New England that ended San Diego's season last year. This season after each of the Chargers' three losses, LaDanian looks like he's on the verge of snapping. Dude, get a grip on yourself and put on a good face for the cameras. Then walk into Norv Turner's office and demand that the team gets back to what it did last season, which was getting you the damn ball.

St. Louis is officially a horrible team. They started out okay against the Dallas Cowboys but just completely rolled over as the game wore on. Rams defense? Ack! No Stephen Jackson? Ack! Offensive line? Ack! The Rams will be lucky to win five games this season.

Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox is a few more crappy team performances away from losing his job at the end of the season. On paper, the Panthers are a playoff team, meanwhile, on the field they have holes on both sides of the ball that makes them look like a soft team. Opposing teams are not afraid of Carolina at all. Tampa Bay took the game right at them and ran the ball down Carolina's throats. When they committed a safety closer to the front seven, Jeff Garcia picked them apart with passes. And unless wideout Steve Smith switches positions to quarterback so that he can touch the ball every play, the Panthers will not improve offensively.

If the team plays remotely close to this for the next couple of games, they won't win seven games.

Atlanta beat a depleted Houston Texans team, 26-16 for their first win of the season. Atlanta isn't quite as bad as I thought they were - not based on the Houston game, but how they've accounted for themselves so far this season. They barely lost to both Jacksonville and Carolina after a poor opening day performance against Minnesota. It's just too bad they don't have more than five winnable games on their schedule.

Hail to Brett Favre, the new QB king. Fav-ray cab shooore play dat dere game, dat Fav-ray can. Really, Brett Favre is the best quarterback I have ever witnessed. Throughout his career he's played gunslinger, gotten himself together through an addiction to painkillers and led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win, made a fair-to-middling team much better than it was, suffered through the pains of off-field reality and didn't lose it any more than anyone else would have, watched the team he plays for revamp itself while choosing to play the game he loves rather than whine his way onto another team or out of the game, and now he's reinvented himself as a venerable graybeard leader.

Yes, Favre has had his ups and downs as a QB and more importantly as a human, but he's come out the other end of the tunnel. The young players on the Packers appear to actually look up to Favre as an example of how you can grow up to be a man despite all the temptations to remain a boy.

Hail to the king. And hail to the 4-0 Green Bay Packers. In a stadium - the Metrodome - that has been a house of horrors for Favre in the best of times, he reeled himself in and played a beautiful game and the Pack got a "W" against the Minnesota Vikings, 23-16. Green Bay is for real.

Somebody puhleeeeze attack Peyton Manning! Pleeeeeezzzze! Damn I'm sick of watching teams play scared against Indianapolis, or come out attacking and as soon as Manning hits a big play or two, go into a, 'pleas don't hurt us too badly Mr. Manning" shell. Attack Manning like he's any other top QB. Even if you don't win, down the road all the pounding will take it's toll on Peyton, just like any other player.

Obviously, he's well prepared. Obviously he's super-accurate with his passes. Obviously his receivers run precise, if not predictable pass routes. But the defense must try its darndest to dictate play to the Colts or play beta dog to Manning's alpha offense.

The Denver Broncos did one good thing to the Colts and that's run on their defense. However, it did not appear that Mike Shanahan made the proper adjustments at halftime, or perhaps he didn't have enough trust in Jay Cutler to switch to passing to set up the run instead of, as he did to open the game, run to set up the pass. Shanahan, for whatever reason, allowed the Colts defense to become comfortable. This gave Manning and crew the extra possessions it needed to ease away with a 38-20 win.

Good luck NFL.

Seattle looks very good, so far and San Francisco misses Norv Turner. Mike Nolan needn't worry, because if the Chargers keep going this season will mercifully bring to an end Turner's stint on the head coaching carousel and maybe he'll come back to the 49ers as their offensive coordinator, where he belongs.

In the next few weeks, Seattle needs to make sure they can effectively run the ball. As the weather changes the Seahawk offense will be bogged down just enough to need an efficient run game. I think Mike Holmgren can accomplish that goal, which means the NFC West will come down to Arizona and Seattle.

Oakland is in such a tough division that it will be tough for them to get to nine games and maybe sneak into the playoffs.

But.

Daunte Culpepper has something to prove and Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin has found a two-headed run game monster in Lamont Jordan and Justin Vargas. Culpepper has freed Jerry Porter and the rest of the Oakland receivers because they know the ball will be there, whether on deep or short pass patterns. Oakland's defense is very solid and, as the entire team gains more confidence in the offense, the defense will be even better.

Watch out for this team. If they get one AFC West signature win, they might just be the surprise of the NFL.

In a battle of the horribles, the New York Jets squandered away a sure win against the Buffalo Bills. Eric Womangini forgot he was playing against a rookie quarterback and forgot to come at Trent Edwards with myriad blitz packages. As a result, Edwards looked entirely too comfortable for a QB making his first start, and helped the Jets blow the game.

Buffalo stinks and so do the Jets. At least there's Miami to keep them from a battle for last place in the AFC East.

The Baltimore Ravens defense is beyond savvy; they're growing old before our eyes. Brian Billick is going to have to allow either Steve McNair or Kyle Boller to put some fear into opposing defenses. If he doesn't, we will witness the coming quick end to Ray Lewis and company. The defense is just under too much pressure to carry the team. I'm afraid they will struggle to get to nine wins.

What else did I see Sunday? Hmmm, Dallas is very, very good - the class of the NFC in quarter number one. Detroit is better than anyone expected; it's the revenge of Matt Millen. Tampa Bay has a serious defense and if the offensive line can keep Mr. Perma-Chip on My Shoulder, Jeff Garcia, afloat and upright, look for Chuckie's squad to return to the playoffs.

Minnesota is rudderless.

Pittsburgh's loss to Arizona showed Mike Tomlin exactly how much emotion must be maintained in the NFL to consistently win on the road. It also showed him that Troy Polomalu and Hines Ward are the two most important member of the Steelers team. Without them, that emotion needed to win on the road is sorely missing.

Maybe some of those young cats on Kansas City's defense grew up today.

Houston is not a deep team.

Philadelphia and the New York Giants are two teams in search of themselves. The Giants actually look closer than the Eagles do.

And no matter what happens in the New England-Cincinnati game, the Patriots, with Indianapolis, are the class of the NFL. And the Bengals need to, from here on out, forget all antics - yes, that means you Chad Johnson - and just play football for awhile. I single out Johnson because he has the potential to be the true leader of the Bengals team, ala Michael Irvin and the Dallas Cowboys. That means no more props, no more planned sideline celebrations, just bring your emotion and play the game.

It isn't that I dislike what you do, I laugh, too. However, not everybody can play at the level you do and still entertain the world. I have a hunch that you teammates will listen to you more than anyone else in the locker room and if you bring natural rather than planned celebrations to games and tell the other 52 fellas that it will take total concentration and togetherness to win, the Bengals will transform themselves into one of the best teams in the league.

That's all, Chad.

---------

Well, that's it's for the first quarter of the NFL season. Quarter two is separation time. It should be interesting.

addendum: I have to gloat a little, here. Everybody is suddenly - today - comparing Romo to Favre. I made that observation a week ago. You could see it last season, though Romo was getting dumped on for his arm angle and release point (and still is by Skip Bayless, which shows you how much he knows about the game) but he was trying too hard to play the way he knows how in a system not built for him and the talent around him.

Now that Wade Phillips tapped Jason Garrett, one of the bright offensive minds in the NFL, to take the shackles off the talent and attack defenses, Romo looks so Favre-like it's scary. He's inventive, fearless, and he has fun playing the game.

Okay, enough for tooting my own horn.... I'm sure there's something I've written about some player or team that will be turn out to be totally wrong in the coming weeks.

Only in ESPNland can Neil Boortz, Terrence Moore, Selena Roberts, and a jock, Terrence Mathis, be gathered and touted as an authoritative panel for a "town hall" meeting in Atlanta where the main topic is Michael Vick.

Boortz is a pro-Iraq War, pro-Patriot Act zealot. Moore is a black sports journalist who writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His, straight off the plantation house negro, anti-black people rants in the form of AJC commentaries and ESPN television appearances relative to the Vick case are the stuff of legend. Terrence Mathis? Ummm, sure, whatever. And Selena Roberts of the New York Times has contributed exactly how many important pieces about Michael Vick and the investigation into Vick's participation into dog fighting? Well, she wrote a 917-word commentary about pit bulls, dog fighting, and athletes. Let me clarify that. She wrote about black athletes with a nod to Jay-Z. Roberts also wrote an 830-word commentary about Michael Vick, his friends and how many athletes like Vick surround themselves with people who have known them since their childhoods. In other words, Selena Roberts contributed next-to-nothing of worth to the Vick-dog fighting conversation. If you read her two commentaries you will find that she has actually provided her audience nothing of worth concerning Vick.

Perhaps this quote town hall meeting should be held in the Disney-created and once-Disney owned town of Celebration, Florida. It is a town built in the spirit of the alleged pursuit of perfection. Like the Vick town hall meeting, Celebration is perfect - perfectly dysfunctional. Only a Disney product - ESPN - could actually believe any good will come from what can only be a propaganda-filled production.

This dysfunction is borne out in the fact that, until informed by outside sources, some writers from ESPN.com had no idea that the television arm of ESPN is holding a town hall-type meeting. Maybe the din of the wailing in objection over the panel guests would have been too much for the management at the ESPN enterprises to handle.

After all, what good can come from this meeting?

The guests will provide a gawking television audience with overblown depictions of Vick in a sure attempt to reduce him to a "thing" lower on the evolutionary tree than any Simian primate. The panel will depict all black people who cried out for temperance rather than an automatic judgment of Vick's guilt before the facts of the investigation were known as a monolithic voice of unthinking emotional reactionaries in the tried-and-true tradition of loaded racist verbiage. There will be side discussions about various athletes who defended Vick and, in their rabies-laden eyes, downplayed dog fighting; side discussions about athletes - black athletes - in general and dog fighting. Perhaps the panelists will try to make a "cultural connection" to the rural South, black people, and dog fighting. 

The goal will be to render moot all voices that hoped to provide a broader context by which we can view the Vick investigation and case. Most of the panelists will deny that there were elements of racism in the reportage of the investigation and subsequent case. Any overtures made implying that race did play a factor in the reporting of Vick will be met with derision. Should cultural differences concerning the treatment of dogs be brought to light, they will be quickly and summarily extinguished with a jingoistic contrast between third-world countries and highly-developed countries like the United States and those of Europe. It will be made clear that WE do not engage in those types of activities because WE are a land of mostly civil people. And "people" is the correct identifier, not peoples.

And if there are any protestations from Mathis, they will be subordinated by the "authorities" Boortz, Moore, and Roberts.

This will be the tone and the probable subject matter of the town hall meeting. ESPN will have once again secured its place as the purveyor of all that is good and wholesome about sports. It will reinforce the image that there will be no swell of a negative undercurrent within the sporting segment of America under the vigilant, watchful eye of the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

Some see this town hall meeting as being held a month too late. But in actuality, the timing could not be any more perfect. The powers that be at ESPN waited patiently to put on this ruse of an event. They carefully measured the sporting nation's temperature for its sentiment about the Vick case before putting such a biased ruse before the American people. They hope this event acts as an effective end game gambit to entrap and mute any future voices that draw parallels between the media's treatment of Vick and that of other black athletes.

ESPN feels it began the comprehensive coverage of the Vick affair when Kelly Naqi conducted the now-infamous interview with the anonymous informant who tied Vick to dog fighting. They tugged at the public's heartstrings, manipulated conversation, and never took an opposite tack on the affair, if for nothing else, to provide the semblance of balance in conveying the issues in and around the investigation. They continued pounding the 'Vick is guilty' drumbeat in the face of their own reporter's pronouncement that the Atlanta Falcons quarterback would not be indicted by federal investigators. As it turned out, by hook or by crook, they were correct. 

And the panel member lineup at the town hall meeting in Atlanta is the in your face dunk letting America know just how good it feels to be the worldwide leader of propaganda in sports.