Coach from the Couch - Tuesday's look back on The NFL Week Eight.

By Dave Wiley

So, how about those Steelers huh? Coming off last years' Super Bowl victory, who'd a thunk they'd be tied with the Cleveland Browns for last place in the AFC Central. I'll tell you who.. NO ONE!! Yet, there they sit, in the AFC Central basement, covered in mildew; a shadow of the team of last year. This years' season is still salvageable if they can win their last nine games. That would put them at 11-5. Highly respectable. Highly unlikely. The Steelers probably won't even make .500, let alone the playoffs. Parity can't even begin to describe the fact that the Steelers can win a Super Bowl, return the next year with essentially the same team except for maybe a motorcycle accident, and lose to the lowly Oakland Raiders in week 8, making them 2-5 and on the fast train to no where. As for Oakland , they generate 98 yards of total offense, yes 98 yards, and win. They did not even go the length of a football field for three plus hours of television entertainment. That is offensive. Gangs all over the country are throwing out their Oakland Raider jackets and going back to school. I'm pretty sure this was Oakland 's grand plan. Stink so bad, you make children return to school for a better life than that of an NFL player on the Oakland Raiders. Since kids are in school, they can calculate stuff like Oakland scored 20 points on 98 yards of total offense, roughly one point for every 4.9 yards. That is a pretty efficient team. Why rack up a ton of yards when you can slack and still win? 98 yards. A win.. Massive celebration ensued I am sure.

Elsewhere in the NFL there were actually some GOOD games. Denver and the Colts lived up to the hype. The two teams came in with a combined record of 11-1. Denver showed off one of the best defenses in the league, Indianapolis showcased one of the best offenses in the league. Something would have to give, and it turned out to be Denver 's defense. Before the game, had someone told you Indy would end up scoring 34, you'd think they would win by at least 14 points, as Denver's' offense has not been so good. Conversely, if someone told you Denver scored 31, you'd think they'd win by 14 because of their stellar defensive play. As it turns out though, the Colts win 34-31 in a fantastic finish. Colts escape mile high stadium still undefeated - an amazing 7-0. Denver drops to 5-2. The only other undefeated team in the league, the Chicago Bears, also sitting at 7-0, wallop the San Francisco 49ers 41 to 10. The collision course of two undefeateds in the Super Bowl stays on track for another week. Remember, when this comes to fruition, you read it here first.

The Cleveland Browns, my particular team of choice, played host to the up-and-down NY Jets. This week was the Jets down week. The Browns KIND of took advantage of that. They get the W, even though the game ended on a spectacular touchdown reception for the Jets that would have tied it had it not been ruled out of bounds. Yet again the zany rules of replay applied. The play was for some reason not reviewable, even though it would have resulted in tying the football game and should have been reviewed, and possibly reversed. Oddly enough, had the Jets player been given the touchdown because he was pushed out of bounds, like replays appeared to show, THEN the play would have been reviewable. Go ahead, scratch your collective foreheads. It makes no sense to me either. Thankfully though, I am a Browns fan. Browns win, win is tainted, but no one in Cleveland really cares one way or the other. We move into a two way tie with Pittsburgh for last place in the AFC central. There is much rejoicing and gnashing of teeth.

Rams / Chargers and the Falcons / Bengals looked liked they would both be good games. They both lived up to the hype. Falcons / Bengals featured almost 600 yards of passing, five throwing TD's, and 56 total points. Two points decided the victory, and it went the Falcon's way. They win 29-27 and move to 5-2 while the Bengals drop to 4-3. Meanwhile the Rams / Chargers game had LaDainian Tomlinson running for 183 yards, leading the Chargers to a 38-24 victory over the Rams. Rams go to 4-3 on the season while the Chargers are a respectable 5-2.

The Seahawks and the Chiefs both started backup quarterbacks. Sounds like a good time to take the "Under". Unfortunately no one told Huard or Wallace, the backup QB's. Both had great games, while Larry Johnson added 155 yards on the ground for the Chiefs. They go on to win 35-28. Both teams sit at 4-3.

Titans / Texans is one I'm SURE you are all dying to know who won. Titans win. Texans lose. Both teams still suck at 2-5. In the other battle of teams that suck, Packers beat the Cardinals and move to (GASP) 3-4 while the Cards fall to 1-7.

The Giants climb to 5-2 after whipping up the Buccaneers 17-3. No one on either side has a particularly good or bad day. People eat hot dogs, drink beer, and go home happy or sad, depending on which team they were rooting for.

Ravens / Saints looked like a great match up on paper, but when the game is played, the Ravens are too much for the Saints and hand them their first home loss of the season, winning 35-22. Yet again, someone scores 22 and loses. If I were a professional football team, I would not want to score 22 points. It seems to be the kiss of death. Since 22 is really a 2 and a 2, and a tutu is a costume of dance, there really is not a place for 22 in the NFL anyhow, and teams that score that probably should lose. As a general rule of thumb, it appears you can now root for the opposing team to score 22 points, for surely your team will leave the victor.

Jaguars / Eagles was a 13-6 yawner. Jags are now 4-3. Eagles are 4-4 half of 4-4 is tutu. Scary. Must be Halloween. Halloween has two sets of double letters in it. 2-2. Coincidence?

Sunday night and Monday night surely would both be good games. The Sunday Night game was the Cowboys and Panthers, both teams that had to win. Only one of them did though, and it was the Cowboys. Bledsoe was benched last week and doesn't play. Romo throws for 270 yards. Bledsoe is probably done as the Cowboys' starting quarterback. Cowboys win 35-14 and the game wasn't half as good as you would have thought. That is ok though, because Monday night is really the game I wanted to see. The Patriots and the Vikings promised to be a good one. The outcome? 31-7. Was it a good one? The final score speaks for itself. The Patriots now have the unique opportunity to take out both undefeateds in the month of November as they get to play the Bears and the Colts. This scheduling leaves many to believe, including myself, that the match up of undefeateds in the Super Bowl is highly unlikely. And so ends another week of football.

Next week only has two games of note, only one being a Doozy. Colts play the Patriots on Sunday night no less. The Bengals play the Ravens.

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