Posted by Will Brinson

Anytime you get beat by 45 points, you're probably not happy. If you get beat by 45 points while giving up a franchise-record 59 to a division rival who has consistently failed to be anything even resembling mediocre, well, you're just downright embarrassed.

Like the apologetic Josh McDaniels, following Denver getting spanked -- at home, no less -- 59-14 by the Raiders on Sunday.

"Absolutely," McDaniels responded when asked if he was embarrassed. "I fail to believe that we couldn’t have put together a better performance than that. So, I take full responsibility for it. It’s not good enough – it’s not even close to good enough. I apologize to (Owner) Pat (Bowlen) and the organization, all the fans and everyone else. It was awful."

Kyle Orton also mentioned that the team has some "soul-searching" to do before they head to London. That's true, and McDaniels should be plenty concerned for his job at this point (bright side: Bowlen knows he has to convince someone to come in and take over a team that just burned a first-rounder on Tebow!) if the Broncos continue to descend into the cellar of a weakened division.

On the bright side, they get the 49ers in London -- provided that Alex Smith doesn't get really healthy really quickly, Denver's defense gets to face David Carr, the NFL equivalent of a slumpbuster.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

- The owners are getting more optimistic that a new labor deal can be reached before the end of the year. Those are the sentiments of New England’s Robert Kraft and the New York Jets’ Woody Johnson. Wondering why the shift toward positive thinking? Maybe it’s because the owners have learned they could lose as much as a billion dollars if they go ahead with a lockout. Strange how that works, eh?

- Seahawks coach Pete Carroll hasn’t named his starting RB. There’s a pretty good chance, though, it will be Marshawn Lynch.

- Coming off the charge by Denver’s Kyle Orton and coach Josh McDaniels that the Titans play dirty, the Jaguars were asked their thoughts about the issue. Jacksonville S Gerald Alexander said no. "They're one of those teams that play to and through the whistle," Alexander told the Florida Times Union. "So guys can take that as being dirty or being a cheap-shot artist or something like that. They play hard. Some teams may not be able to match that intensity, hence they say they play dirty." He kind of took a shot at Denver there, didn’t he?

- You’ve got to love a coach who will placate his fan base. The Dolphins fans really have to be loving Miami coach Tony Sparano. Oh, wait a minute. He kind of disparaged them, when he said this regarding whether fans think Chad Pennington should be starting at QB instead of Chad Henne, “This is no disrespect to any fans out there," Sparano said, as recorded by the Palm Beach Post, "but I could care less what they think about the quarterback situation." Nope, that doesn’t sound disrespectful at all.

- Rex Ryan said he’s a fan of the New York Giants. As of press time, Ryan was still employed as the head coach of the New York Jets.

- New York fans who want to watch the Giants play on TV – Rex Ryan, for instance – might not get the chance. That’s because the spat between Cablevision and FOX is ongoing. Three million Cablevision subscribers in the NYC area could be affected.

- Drew Brees takes to the airwaves and filmed an anti-bullying public service announcement. See it here at Pro Football Talk.

- Vikings C John Sullivan has had a rough year so far. He’s been injured, but he’s trying to stay positive.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

A sampling of this week’s offering from bodog.com and all the delicious prop bets on which you can wager.

Brett Favre – Will he publicly admit to sending pictures to the New York game hostess by Dec 31, 2010?

Yes 2/1

He will not.

Brett Favre – Will he be suspended by the NFL for at least 1 game in the 2010 NFL season for any off field conduct?

Yes 2/1

He will not.

Brett Favre – Will he publicly admit to sending text messages to any massage therapists by Dec 31, 2010?

Yes 5/1

He absolutely will not.

Ben Roethlisberger – Total passing yards Week 6 vs. Cleveland

Over/Under 235.5

Man, these Vegas guys are slick. At first glance, you might think, “Well, hell yeah, I’ll take the over. The Browns are no good.” But if you do some research, you’ll find Cleveland allows only 223.2 passing yards per game, slightly worse than the average in the league. So, if it’s me, I’m taking the under.

Colt McCoy – Total passing yards Week 6 vs. Pittsburgh

Over/Under 150.5

The under all day long.

Will Dan Marino’s single season passing yards record of 5,084 be broken during the 2010 NFL regular season?

Yes 4/1

In order to be on track to break the record, a QB would have accumulated at least 1,589 yards at this point in the season. Three players are past that mark five games in – Philip Rivers (1,759 yards), Kyle Orton (1,733) and Peyton Manning (1,609). In order to break the record, Rivers would have to average about 302 yards per game. I don’t think any of them will do it. In case you were wondering, the most yards Rivers has gained in a season is 4,254 (2009).

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Posted by Will Brinson

The jury is still out on science, but the verdict on math is F-U-N, so we present the week in NFL from a numbers perspective.

0 - Undefeated teams remaining in the NFL. If an expanded schedule is coming, this might have been the last decent shot at running the table, and no one even wanted to give an effort at making Mercury Morris cry.

2 - Blocked punts by the Raiders in the first quarter as the Chargers, resulting in a touchdown and safety against the continually awful special teams unit of San Diego.  

4 - Straight games in which the Bills have allowed 30-plus points, which is the first time that has happened in their franchise's history. That is not good news.

5 - Field goals by Josh Scobee, tying a Jaguars franchise record.

7 - Losses that the NFC West has taken while traveling.  

13  - Number of times the Raiders had lost to the Chargers in a row until Sunday, when they snapped the longest losing streak to another team with a shocking 35-27 upset.

29 - Yard missed field goal by John Carney, which should do wonders for the "kicker controversy" chatter.

44 - Games since the Detroit Lions last won by more than 30 points -- they beat Denver 44-7 on November 4, 2007 and then St. Louis 44-6 on Sunday.  

90 - Number of seconds  in which Carson Palmer managed to throw quarter interceptions while doing his "best Jake Delhomme impression" and helping the Bengals hand the Buccaneers a win.  

140 - Characters in which Darrelle Revis announced that he'll be playing on Monday before the team could tell anyone. Well, technically it was 110, but either way: OchoCinco News Network strikes again!

147 - Total passing yardage that FOUR quarterbacks (Jimmy Clausen, Matt Moore, Caleb Hanie and Todd Collins) combined for in the miserable-to-watch Bears-Panthers tilt. They also managed to throw SEVEN interceptions.

290 - Total passing yardage from Philip Rivers against the Raiders … in the first half.

314 - Yardage for Kyle Orton, which keeps him on pace to break Dan Marino's record. It's worth noting that he picked up about 65 or so of those in junk time though, and that the only number that really matters here is the "1" win the Ravens picked up.

1970 - The last season no one in the NFL made it to 4-0. Parity reigns supreme.

Posted by Will Brinson

There's been plenty of talk about the Tennessee Titans as a "dirty" team in the past week or so -- just in case you weren't convinced one way or the other, the NFL added a little fuel to the fire when they announced that Cortland Finnegan got fined $5,000 for his kerfuffle with Broncos lineman Chris Kuper on Sunday.

Per Jim Wyatt at the Tennessean, Finnegan's wallet is a little lighter than normal.

And yes, this is the same incident that prompted Kyle Orton to call Finnegan "ridiculous" (or at least the play in question ridiculous anyway), with Finnegan responding "I was just being me."

Given the national attention on the Titans over the past week, and the always heavy media attention on the Dallas Cowboys, don't be surprised if you hear an announcer mention the potentially "dirty" play at some point.

And be even less surprised if you see another incident on Sunday.

Posted by Josh Katzowitz

- We’re going to try to keep the Randy Moss chatter to a minimum (the chances of this happening? Um, 15-20 percent?), but first, Vikings coach Brad Childress said the trade for Moss had nothing to do with where Sidney Rice is in his rehab from hip surgery. The chances of people believing that statement. Um, 15-20 percent?

- Titans CB Cortland Finnegan shows some (false?) bravado by “inviting” Broncos QB Kyle Orton, who said after last week’s game that Tennessee was a dirty team, to Nashville to visit him.

- When Michael Vick returns to health, Eagles coach Andy Reid said he’ll be the starting quarterback once again. Funny, I seem to remember Reid saying something similar about Kevin Kolb after he suffered a concussion in Week 1. And how’d that work out for Kolb?

- Arizona needs to figure out its QB situation if they want to have a chance to keep Larry Fitzgerald for the long term.

- For some reason, new Panthers WR David Clowney felt the need to call out the Jets organization for its short-sightedness on him. “Maybe being here, I can actually get an opportunity to run different routes and get involved as a full, complete receiver,” he said.

- Free agent QB Chris Simms is due back in court today for a hearing on his charge of driving under the influence of marijuana. Simms had been with the Titans before the team released him last month.

- For those who care about what Patriots fans think about the Moss trade, here’s your chance to read about it. For those who don’t care, here’s your chance to ignore a fan story about Randy Moss. Choose wisely.

- Cardinals RB Beanie Wells and coach Ken Whisenhunt finally had a meeting about Wells’ playing time.

- Brett Favre might want to avoid checking out Deadspin.com tomorrow. It might not be very pretty. Here's the NY Daily News' take.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Give credit to Broncos coach Josh McDaniels for one thing: he doesn’t care how the rest of the coaching community feels about him, and I guess, in some ways, that’s refreshing.

That must have been his mindset today after ripping Tennessee for what he perceived as dirty play. It’s one thing for Denver QB Kyle Orton to say that, as he did in the aftermath of Tennessee’s win Sunday. Said Orton: "You always hear about how tough they are and all that stuff. I don't think they're tough, I think they're cheap.  And it was one of the cheapest games I've ever seen out of some of those players."

That’s fair enough and actually makes for pretty good copy. But usually – say, 98 percent of the time – coaches stay away from sound bites like that. Not McDaniels, though. Which makes him great for reporters (at least in this isolated case), but I imagine the rest of the league's coaches won't look kindly on those comments.

"I was proud of our team because we knew that was the kind of game it was going to be," McDaniels told the Denver media, as picked up by the Tennessean. "You can put any tape you want to of Tennessee and there’s going to be 10 penalties. You either coach it or you allow it to happen. That’s how I look at that.

"Our guys did a great job of keeping their poise and composure and not getting drawn into a big unsportsmanlike game because I know that’s what they were trying to entice us into doing."

"There’s a way to play tough and physical without being excessive and playing dirty after the snap. There’s a lot of teams in this league that play like that. Tough and physical but also within the rules."

His criticism of Fisher isn’t necessarily unfounded, and McDaniels isn’t the first person to intimate that the Titans aren’t very cuddly. But a coach to rip another coach, well that doesn’t usually occur.

Here’s what Fisher had to say in return: "We play aggressive — we don’t play cheap," Fisher said. "If there’s things after the whistle or during the play, players are fined for them. But we’re not a cheap football team. I don’t know what he’s referring to.

“We did have six sacks against the quarterback and numerous other times they did have some difficulty with protection and blocking our defensive line. Maybe he’s referring to that."

Now that’s how you rip another coach in public. You do it in code. Ah, but McDaniels is young. He’ll learn.

And speaking of Titans coaches who apparently do bad things, the NFL fined defensive coordinator Chuck “The Bird Flipper” Cecil $40,000. He was fined because he violated the rule that “prohibits use of abusive, threatening or insulting gestures toward officials.”

Naturally Cecil issued an apology through the team, saying his middle finger was inappropriate.

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Posted by Andy Benoit

The Cardinals managed a paltry 124 yards of total offense against the Chargers. And 124 is also only three times the number of points Arizona gave up.

Antonio Gates was targeted seven times. He finished with seven catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Those are the type of numbers a player puts up when going up against thin air.

The Chargers defense had nine sacks.

Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday started their NFL-record 158th game together. (The previous record of 157 was held by Jim Kelly and Kent Hull.)

Donovan McNabb completed just 8/19 passes in his return to Philly. That’s his lowest completion total in a win since his NFL starting debut (which, coincidentally, came against the Redskins).

Santana Moss had zero catches and was targeted just one time.

Quintin Mikell led the Eagles with seven tackles, though none were dynamic enough to make us forget the one he missed (you know, when Ryan Torain plowed over him for a touchdown run).

Arian Foster sat out the first quarter against the Raiders for disciplinary reasons. That allowed Derrick Ward to rise from the dead and finish the day with 12 carries for 80 yards. (Interesting that Steve Slaton wouldn’t get more carries in this instance.) Foster still got his, too. He gained 131 yards on 16 carries, including a sensational 74-yard touchdown.

Raiders tight end Zach Miller caught 11 passes for 122 yards and a score. On the other side, Texans backup tight end Joel Dreessen led the team with five catches for 73 yards and a score. (Perhaps the bigger news is that Owen Daniels, in a contract year and coming off a serious knee injury, seems to be assuming a backseat role).

Haloti Ngata had 11 tackles, one sack, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits against the Steelers. And yes, in just watching the down-to-down action, Ngata was indeed THAT dominant.

The Saints ran 79 plays Sunday. The Panthers ran 47. The Saints had 27 first downs. The Panthers had 10. (The game was close because the Saints were just 1/5 in the red zone and lost two fumbles.)

Panthers linebacker James Anderson had 16 tackles and a sack.

Saints safety Usama Young played well filling in for an injured Roman Harper. Young led the team with six tackles and recorded a sack and a tackle for a loss.

Seahawks running back Justin Forsett looked much better against the Rams than his 19-carry, 65-yards stat line suggests. Forsett showed great initial quickness and lateral agility between the tackles. Credit the Rams linebackers and defensive backs for keeping him in check.

Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemons had two sacks for the second straight week.

Kyle Orton threw for 341 yards against the Titans. He also attempted 50 passes for the third time this season (the Broncos are 1-2 when he does).

Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal both went over 100 receiving yards. It was Lloyd’s third 100-yard game of the season. Denver also had two 100-yard receivers against the Colts (Lloyd and Jabar Gaffney).

Chris Johnson’s longest run against the Broncos went for just eight yards. His backup, Javon Ringer, ripped off a 54-yarder. (To be fair, Ringer was ultimately chased down on that run; Johnson would have taken it to the house.)

Dave Ball had 2.5 of Tennessee’s six sacks of Kyle Orton.

The Lions ran 78 total plays; the Packers ran 40. A week after setting a franchise record with penalties 18 penalties for 152 yards, Green Bay benefitted from 13 Detroit penalties totaling 102 yards.

Charles Woodson recorded his 10th interception return for a touchdown, third most in NFL history. (Rod Woodson holds the record with 12; Sharper is next with 11. Deion Sanders had 9.)

Jordy Nelson lost two fumbles for the Packers. (And the lost fumbles never turned up…we think someone from the Lions may have found them.)

Brandon Pettigrew had a career day, catching eight passes for 91 yards. He’s another guy who has successfully bounced back from a late ’09 ACL injury.

Taylor Mays did not just have a spectacular blocked punt touchdown for the 49ers, he also led the team with 11 tackles. Looks like Michael Lewis won’t be getting his starting job back any time soon.

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