Bad protection, big production for Pack's Rodgers

Peyton Manning looks like his old MVP self. Brett Favre looks like his young MVP self. Eli Manning looks like his future MVP self. Kyle Orton, gulp, is generating MVP buzz. Those four guys are a combined 20-0. But the single most impressive QB performance of the young season belongs to a guy whose team is 2-2. Aaron Rodgers has a 101.1 quarterback rating and has thrown only one interception in 127 attempts despite being hit more than a pinata. Cheddar may be the leading variety made in Wisconsin, but the Packers O-line has been strictly Swiss cheese, allowing a league-high 20 sacks. You know it's bad when a team has already had its bye week — meaning it has played 20 percent fewer games than 28 other teams — yet still leads the league in total sacks allowed. The retirement of right tackle Mark Tauscher and an injury to left tackle Chad Clifton have left the Packers backfield looking like a convention center for converging defensive ends. Adewale Ogunleye embarrassed right tackle Allen Barbre on opening night, spending the night in Rodgers' lap and recording two sacks. In Week 2, Antwan Odom tied a Bengals franchise record when he sacked Rodgers five times. Leonard Little sacked Rodgers twice in Week 3. Jared Allen set a Monday Night Football record with 4.5 sacks in Week 4, humiliating Daryn Colledge after bellowing, "That guy can't block me!" early in the game. Still, despite not always being upright to see the result of his passes, Rodgers has yet to have a bad game. His lowest QB rating — 83.4 — is only a couple of points below Tom Brady's season mark (85.9). And with the pocket constantly collapsing around him, Rodgers has proven himself an able scrambler, racking up 104 yards on 17 runs for a 6.1 average. But the running-for-his-life phase of Rodgers' 2009 season may be over. Clifton is set to return from his injury in Week 6, and the Packers have lured Tauscher out of retirement. If Rodgers can post a 101.1 QB rating with no time to throw, imagine what he'll do when he can stand in the pocket and wait for Greg Jennings and Donald Driver to get open. If seeing Clifton and Tauscher reunited makes Rodgers happy, seeing the Lions coming to town in Week 6 should make him ecstatic. Rodgers threw for 636 yards, six touchdowns and no picks in two games against Detroit last year.

Hottest hot seat

It seems about half the coaches in the NFL are under fire. But even though there are nine coaches whose teams have worse records heading into Week 6, no one's fate seems as sealed as Jim Zorn's. His situation has become so precarious his players are wondering aloud whether he'll make it through the year and demanding management let them know one way or another. The off-the-record quotes from three players didn't amount to a vote of confidence as much as a plea for some decisiveness so they wouldn't have to answer questions about Zorn's fate anymore. And now that the S-word — Shanahan — has surfaced, all the pieces seem to be in place for a midseason fragging. Who wouldn't want two-time Super Bowl champion and offensive genius Mike Shanahan running his team? Meanwhile, the Redskins will play their sixth straight game against a winless team this week, hosting the Chiefs.

Where the bad-call bar is set

While there has been much handwringing about "the Brady rule," over the past couple of weeks, all the data suggest roughing-the-passer calls have been meted out without bias toward the marquee quarterbacks the past five years. Guys like Byron Leftwich, Trent Edwards and Josh McCown have actually drawn roughing flags at a higher rate than poster boys Brady and Peyton Manning. But try telling that to Kyle Orton. One week after Brady got two calls for separate love taps — one too high, one too low — and the same week Manning enjoyed the same two-fer against the Titans, Orton was hit squarely below the knees against the Patriots and there was no call. Then again, Orton didn't turn to the ref with his palms up and plead for the flag.

Distraction of the Week

Has any team been harder to figure than the Jaguars? Even Maurice Jones-Drew can't figure them out. They score a total of 68 points in Weeks 3 and 4, then post a goose egg in a 41-0 blowout at Seattle. After averaging 94 yards rushing in Weeks 1-3, MJD has averaged 24 yards rushing the past two weeks. The star running back let his feelings be known about the team's play-calling, criticizing what he views as premature abandonment of the running game if the Jags fail to break big runs. "It just seems that if we don't get 30 yards, we just go away from it," he said. "I've never been a part of a team like that." As much disharmony as there is in Jacksonville right now, nothing can bring a team together like a visit from the Rams. Expect a happy Jones-Drew and a locker room full of smiles Sunday afternoon.

Worst week of sleep leading up to kickoff

Arizona middle linebacker Gerald Hayes is listed at 6-1, 246 pounds. So when he has a clean shot at a wide receiver — one standing essentially still as he collects a pass — you'd think Hayes would plant the guy. Such was not the case in the Cardinals' 28-21 victory over the Texans Sunday, in which Hayes was the first of three tacklers to fail to bring down Andre Johnson as he bulled his way into the end zone. Hayes had a clear, unobstructed shot at Johnson around the 5-yard line. But when he took said shot he merely bounced off, looking more like a cornerback trying to bring down Adrian Peterson than a linebacker trying to tackle a wide receiver. Now, Johnson, listed at 225, is no ordinary wide receiver, but that only slightly mitigates against the humiliation Hayes must have endured in film sessions this week. This week, Hayes and the Arizona defense, fresh off allowing 416 total yards, travel to Seattle, where the Seahawks put up 379 yards last week.

Raider Melodrama of the Week

To everyone who hates his boss, just think how much worse it could be. At least your supervisor didn't assault you this morning. With former Raiders assistant Randy Hanson finally sharing his version of events that left him with a broken jaw, it's hard to concoct a scenario where Tom Cable doesn't land in hot water with the Napa County district attorney and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. If Cable initiated any kind of physical contact and the result was serious injury — even if it was the result of fluky crash into a file cabinet — Cable will be held responsible. If Hanson was fabricating his story and had suffered his injury in some other manner, his allegations would have been shot down immediately by the witnesses in the room. But as it stands, Raiders assistants John Marshall, Lionel Washington and Willie Brown have all provided statements — presumably honest — to the police. If Cable committed a crime in that room, the police and DA know it, and it would seem to be just a matter of when — not if — he goes down. Meanwhile, on the field, the Raiders were so listless in a 44-7 loss to the Giants that New York linebacker Antonio Pierce said it was like playing a scrimmage.

The Week in Favre

Of all the arguments in favor of Brett Favre's staying retired, none was as compelling as the fact he'd played 18 years without sustaining a serious injury. Legacy? Hardly as important as being able to walk without pain.

Now, in his second start as a 40-something, Favre will be facing an angry Ravens defense and have to account for the missile Terrell Suggs launching himself on the fast track of the Metrodome. Maybe the mystical shield of protection that has kept the Ol' Gunslinger's body sound for all these years will hold for another season or two. But as I find myself rooting for him to make it off into the sunset intact, this week's matchup brings to mind the wrenching ending of "Shane." "He'd never been able to shoot you if you'd seen him. ... He'd never even have cleared the holster, would he, Shane?"

Victory that will spark biggest overreaction

When the Chargers give the Broncos their first loss of the season Monday night, the assumption will be that some sanity has been restored to the AFC West, where San Diego was expected to rule the roost. But a home victory coming off a bye week when your opponent has played the Cowboys and Patriots the previous two weeks will be deceiving. The Chargers can't run the ball (32nd overall) and can't stop the run (27th). Not exactly hallmarks of a contender. They win this one on Philip Rivers' arm, then enjoy two breezy weeks against the Chiefs and Raiders before plunging back to earth in Weeks 9, 10 and 11 at the Giants, home for the Eagles and at Denver.

L.A. Awaits, Franchise Relocation Watch

Imagine the ratings if this week's Jaguars-Rams game had something real on the line. Like if the loser — or better yet, the winner — got shipped to L.A. L.A. Rams has a nice, familiar ring to it, and wearing the throwbacks last week evoked images of Lawrence McCutcheon and Jack Snow. (And, as I've written here before, the Southland would happily welcome back USC's Jack Del Rio and UCLA's Maurice Jones-Drew to L.A.) Now that Dave Checketts has abandoned one bad idea in his ownership proposal — dumping Rush Limbaugh — maybe he should reconsider another: keeping the Rams in St. Louis. Why play in a half-empty dome in a small market when you could play for (at least initially) huge crowds out in the sunshine in the country's second-biggest market?

Fantasy Headache of the Week

Your first-round pick. Has there ever been a season where so many guys taken in the first round have so totally vexed their owners?

Fantasy impact

Feel the need to update your fantasy football team as a result of this? Get the lowdown from FOXSports.com's experts HERE.

Maurice Jones-Drew? One monster game, but 10 or fewer points in three others. LaDainian Tomlinson? The end is nigh. Steven Jackson? Ranked 15th among running backs. DeAngelo Williams? 26th. Steve Slaton? 19th. Even Tom Brady, despite attempting more passes than any other QB, is ranked only sixth overall, looking up at Joe Flacco, Eli Manning and Matt Schaub. Meanwhile, Ronnie Brown went 29th and Cedric Benson 68th in one of my drafts. Bet you'd trade your first and second picks for that pair of running backs.

Injury Roulette Wheel of the Week

Of all the challenges that make repeating as champs so tough, none can torpedo the quest faster than injuries. When Troy Polamalu went down in Week 1, the Pittsburgh D became very ordinary. The Steel Curtain became the Steel Turnstile, unable to get stops on critical fourth-quarter drives against the Bears and Bengals. Now comes more bad news: Stalwart defensive end Aaron Smith is out for the season with a shoulder injury. So much of what a 3-4 defensive does goes unnoticed, but Smith's occupying blockers on the left side is a big part of what allowed LaMarr Woodley to emerge as a star last season. The good news in Pittsburgh, though, is Polamalu is expected to return Sunday against the Browns.