Week 4 in the NFL...

• The Patriots played well on Sunday. They weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they were pretty good. And while it's true that Mark Clayton's dropped helped seal the game, it's also true that without the Ravens recovering a fumble in the end-zone, it's a two-score game at that point. The defense is not yet as good as it is going to get, but I remain confident that it's going to be a very good defense when it's all said and done. And the offense is going to get everything put together and be very scary again.



• I am amazed by the amount of attention given to the roughing the passer calls in the New England-Baltimore game. Well, some of the roughing the passer calls. The Mike Wright roughing call, which was essentially the same as the Ngata penalty, doesn't seem to get mentioned. I didn't think that any of them were controversial or debatable under the rules of the game. Particularly the Suggs contact at Brady's knees - the fact that he only "brushed" against Brady's knees is due to the fact that Brady was aware enough to jump backwards. Had his feet been planted when Suggs arrived, they may well have carried him off the field.



• The Ravens need to learn how to lose to the Patriots without whining about the officiating.



• Note to NBC executives: The presence of Keith Olbermann drives many who would be interested in Football Night in America away from that program. Some of us don't make it back for the game. Whatever your ratings are, it is difficult for me to imagine that they wouldn't be higher without him.



• I saw the Rodney Harrison comments Sunday night. I cannot believe the amount of coverage that was expended on them yesterday. He was obviously joking about Brady, and both he and Brady said so first thing in the morning and people kept talking about them anyway.



• The Monday Night game was every bit as unwatchable as I feared it would be. I turned it on for about one minute, heard paeans of praise sung to Favre which would have been more appropriate if aimed at Mother Theresa, and turned it back off. Insufferable is an understatement.



• Obvious pick: Giants over Kansas City, 49ers over Rams



• Obvious Pick which was dead wrong: Tennessee over Jacksonville



• Somewhere in this world, there's a man that picked Denver to start the season 4-0. I'd like to have him managing my stock portfolio.



• Evidence that you should be listening carefully to what I say:
  
  

  Seattle at Indianapolis - "I don't know who's playing QB for the Seahawks. I don't care who's playing QB for the Seahawks. This one's not competitive."
  
  Baltimore at New England - "The Ravens have looked like a dominant team thus far, outscoring their opposition by 50 points in three games. This is mitigated somewhat by the opposition, as the Chiefs and Browns are two of them teams that look to be in the running for the first overall draft pick next year. The win in San Diego is a good win, but based on the Chargers have done otherwise, it doesn't look like a great win. The Patriots have been a little bit rusty, the offense has had big trouble in the red zone, but they've moved the ball and dominated time-of-possession thus far. The defense isn't what it's going to be, but it's been OK. This should be a very good game. I could certainly see New England losing this. If the defense gives up a couple of big plays and the offense fails to get into the end zone, they could be playing from behind, and that's a tough situation against a good team. On the whole, I think that they're getting better, and I think that, playing at home, they take this one."
  
  St. Louis at San Francisco - "We used to think it impossible for a team to go 0-16. Now we wonder whether it is possible for it to happen two years in a row."




• Evidence that you should be listening carefully to what I say (and betting the opposite):
  
  

  Buffalo at Miami - "This gives me pause, but I was already down on Miami, and with Pennington done, I really believe that Buffalo is the better team right now."
  
  Tennessee at Jacksonville - "I could never figure out how Tennessee got to 10-0 or 13-3 last year, and their 0-3 start doesn't really surprise me, but they're better than the Jaguars."




• For the week:
  Winners: 10-4
  ATS: 9-5-0



• For the season:
  Winners: 42-20
  ATS: 35-27-0