How about Matt Millen?

For all you Bengals fans (and I know you're out there), the above photo comes from downtown Cincinnati. Check out this apparently well funded blog for details.

Patriots carried by....Welker?

Patriots started off their AFC east divisional run with a nice win against the Bills on Sunday. Bills all of a sudden look terrible. NFL teams seem to have figured them out, and now they look sunk. Fortunately, head coach Dick Jauron locked up his contract extension weeks ago. Now he could care less what his ESPN coaches approval rating is.

Next up is the Jets. Color me nervous, but now that the Pats have lost yet another key player for the season, I'm starting to wonder how many injuries the Patriots can really withstand. Jets look like they are playing well, but I gotta think the home atmosphere will be a significant advantage for the Pats.

Quick thoughts:

-When Brady went down, everyone's first thought was that Randy Moss would have to lead the team. Looking back, it seems silly to think that anyone other than Welker would have put the offense on his shoulders and carried the team to victory. That little dude is amazing.

-Quick note on this aforementioned stupid ESPN coaches rating, but how spoiled are Patriot fans if Belichick only gets 78% approval? His handling of Matt Cassel should be the blueprint for any coach who wants to develop a young, flawed QB: start off with the dink and dunk ball-control offense, then slowly expand the playcalling as he gets more comfortable. Hardcore fans will remember that this is almost exactly how young Tom Brady was handled in 2001.

-He's played so well the past few weeks, that it's hard to remember that Cassel isn't really that good. He's definitely improved, but I think a large part of this is due to the O-line suddenly regaining their 2007 form. Some boneheaded team will sign Cassel as their starting QB next year--my money is on the Vikings.

-My fantasy team started 0-5. Now I'm 5-5 and in the playoff hunt. This doesn't really have any relevance to anything, but this seemed like an appropriate space to share this little nugget of info.