The only thing the Lions hadn't done all year is run the ball. Well, Jahvid Best's 163 yards on the ground Monday night changed that tune, and maintaining that balanced attack will be crticial for them as they play in bad-weather games away from the comfortable confines of Ford Field.

The Chargers continue to prove they actually can win in September and October, but they need to start creating more seperation between themselves and the average teams. Just when they begin to run the ball the way Norv Turner wants they get pretty banged up at the position. QB Philip Rivers misses his favorite target in TE Antonio Gates, and they will only get better when he returns from injury.

The Bills are for real on both sides of the ball, as they showed in Sunday's 31-24 win over Philly. Defensively, they give up a lot of yards, but are opportunistic in creating turnovers. Offensively, Ryan Fitzpatrick is the perfect QB to orchestrate Chan Gailey's offense, and RB Fred Jackson and WR Stevie Johnson are augmented by a couple of pretty good TEs.

Coming off a bye week, the Redskins have a chance to put a stake in the heart of the Eagles and keep themselves atop the NFC East. The Eagles will test the newfound strength of the Redskins defense, but the 'Skins likely will find success in the running game against a struggling Philly defense.

Yes, the Jets move up one spot after a loss. However, there is no shame in losing to my No. 5-ranked team on the road, and they actually were somewhat impressive in that loss. Oakland, Baltimore and New England have all run at will on the Jets. That is a concern.

The Falcons can't seem to put it all together offensively. They are built to be balanced and are not strong enough to lose the time-of-possession battle. QB Matt Ryan doesn't look right, and he won't until the offensive line can keep defenders out of his face.

Coming off a surprising loss to a Seahawks team that had failed to generate much offense coming into the game. Equally surprising was the lack of running game generated against a not-so-special Seattle defense. Eli Manning's 420 yards passing are great, but not if you throw three picks in the process.

After Cam Newton, Andy Dalton is the most impressive rookie quarterback. This is a team that has long forgotten the days of Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens. It is now all about Dalton, A.J. Green and Jermaine Gresham . . . and they are better off for it.

This may be the most impressive 1-4 team in recent memory. They haven't lost any of those games by more than a touchdown, and WR Steve Smith and QB Cam Newton already have outperformed the offense of a season ago. The Panthers will cause nightmares for a team fighting for a playoff spot late in the season.

I'm on record as saying that Kevin Kolb was the best available quarterback in the offseason, and if not for the explosion of Cam Newton, that still would be true. Having said that, he hasn't been performing that way of late, and the Cardinals aren't even close to being good enough to win during an off day from their quarterback.