NFL Notes

-Why is the media so in love with Reggie Bush? When the guy went without a touchdown in his first four games, not much was said. But following Bush's first touchdown of the season in game five, they go back to saying he's the second-coming of Gale Sayers.

-Has anyone seen stranger throwing motions than San Diego and Tennessee quarterbacks Phillip Rivers and Vince Young? It appears as if Rivers is pushing or shot putting the ball to the receiver. With Young, it looks like a 6'5'' stiff sidearming a ball, almost like a Corey Bradford in baseball.

-Why was James Denton of "Desperate Housewives" invited up to the booth with the Monday Night guys during the Baltimore/Denver game last night? That show doesn't air on ESPN. He doesn't have a major history with football, so what was the deal?

-The "Deadskins" seem rather bipolar this year, don't they? Especially on offense. They've been shut down in three of their five games (all losses). Mark Brunell completed his first 22 pass attempts against Houston and they won an overtime shootout with Jacksonville.

-New to everybody bashing on Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and suggesting Charlie Batch should start over him. Yes, Batch is 1-0 this year. That one win came against the Miami Dolphins and it was more do to one missed call that favored Pittsburgh and Miami's self-destruction in the fourth quarter than anything else. Due to pre-season hype, that win looked to be rather impressive, but as we've learned, the Dolphins are anything but impressive.

-T.O. is already starting to complain. Why sign this guy? Yeah, he's a major talent, but I don't care how talented a player is if he distracts the rest of the team from doing their jobs. Dallas should just let the guy go. Sad thing is, somebody will be dumb enough to pick him up, because there will always be someone out there thinking, "Maybe I could straighten this guy out and get him to stop whining." Only way that could happen is if Owens became quarterback and got to have his hands on the ball every snap on offense.

-How good are the Saints? I think we may find out this upcoming Sunday, when they face off against the 4-1 Eagles. New Orleans struggled to beat Cleveland 19-14. They outscored Green Bay 34-27. It took a late punt return to beat winless Tampa Bay at home 24-21. They lost, but played it close to Carolina, 21-18. Their most impressive win to date was that Monday Night game against Atlanta and like I've said before, it didn't matter who the Saints played that night, they would've won. Excluding that aberration on Monday Night, the Saints three wins came against teams with a combined record of 2-12 (.143) and the wins came by the combined score of 77-62 (25.7-20.7). Are they new and improved? Yes, but I do feel that 4-1 record may be a bit misleading and they may fade down the stretch.

-To compare the final two unbeatens would be like for me to compare an unbeaten SEC team to an unbeaten in the Sun Belt Conference. Indianapolis may be 5-0, but have not looked as crisp on offense as in years past and appear to have a very sad run defense. The Tennessee Titans were ranked 30th in the league in rushing and they galloped for over 200 rushing yards last Sunday against the Colts. Indy doesn't have much of a rushing game and has not been able to rely on their talented wideouts for the big plays due to how defenses have been lining up against the Colts. As long as they keep finding ways to win, they'll be allright, but if they truly want to make a run in the playoffs, they'll need to work on that run defense and offense mightily. Meanwhile, Chicago is looking like a Texas or USC in college from a season ago. The only close game they've had thus far was against the pesky Vikings. Grossman even had two picks, one which went for a touchdown, and the Bears still found a way to win. It'll be extremely difficult to go 16-0 as some are already predicting, but if they keep playing the way they've been playing, it'll be very difficult to beat them.

-Never have I seen a quarterback (Vince Young) complete approximately 50% of his passes in a game and average around 3 yards per pass attempt. He passed for 63 yards against the Colts last week on over 20 pass attempts. He did run the ball effectively against the Colts, but then again, I could probably run for over 150 against Indy's defense, so we'll see how he does against the better or even average defenses in the league.

-Some wanted to hop on the Gale Sayers bandwagon when it came to Reggie Bush. From what I've seen thus far, he's no Gale Sayers. What he is is a hybrid of Dante Hall and Brian Westbrook. So, I'll refer to him as a Dante Westbrook. As Westbrook was, especially early in his career, Bush seems to be much more effective in the passing game than in the running game. I don't know if it deals more with New Orleans' offensive line, blocking schemes, Reggie's running style, lack of experience, or what the deal is, but he has been much more effective in catching the football this year than lining up behind the quarterback and running it. He also, as was seen on Sunday, can be explosive on punt returns. With time and experience, will Reggie's running improve as Westbrook's has? It's too early to tell, but for now, Deuce McCallister is definitely the better running back and the Saints are utilizing Reggie properly at this point in his career, by getting him the opportunity to be out in open field and make some guys miss.

-With Baltimore's loss last night to Denver, the Ravens have fallen to 4-1. Like with the Saints, I have to wonder if that record is a tad misleading. As usual, their defense is one of the top five in the league, but tailback Jamal Lewis still isn't as powerful or consistent as he was a couple years ago and Steve McNair is not getting any younger. While he provides leadership and poise behind center, he's not as mobile as he once was and doesn't have that zip on the ball that he used to. Baltimore's defense should keep them in about every game this season, but will their offense step up and put the finishing touches to win games this year? That's to be seen.

-How bad is Oakland? Blowing a 21-3 to Cleveland last week and then losing by two touchdowns to the 49ers? Ouch.