Around the League: Great Minds, Great Names, Not Much Offense, and One Tough Dude

As if things couldn’t get any worse in Minnesota, victory-snatcher extraordinaire Mike Tice has now taken over the team’s play calling duties. This move should effectively consolidate all blame for the team over the next 15 weeks.

Daunte Culpepper is the newest member in the “what have you done for me lately” club, while “what have you done for me ever” member Joey Harrington isn't even there yet. Each completed 5 passes to players wearing a different color Sunday; only one division (NFC West) had 5 or more picks thrown by all of its QBs combined. Together, Joey and Daunte threw for three more picks than the entire AFC (7).

Champ Bailey came up with a big pick for six against the San Diego Superchargers just one week after separating his shoulder against Miami. Brother boss is proving himself in Detroit (14 tackles, 1 sack), while their brother Ronald has fallen victim to lowered naming standards, never making it out of the Georgia secondary, where he played from 95-97. Two new facts regarding Boss: his given name is Rodney; on the Lions webpage they list this under “Mane Facts.” Awesome.

Hard to decide whose offense looks the worst after week two. Last night’s “Redskins explosion,” which could be better described as “Horrific Zone Coverage by Roy Willams” takes them out of the running. Houston and Baltimore are catching some eyes, but definitely not any passes on their way to 7 and 8.5 points per game, respectively. But what really puts Minnesota over the top is their remarkable 12 turnovers, including 8 picks by Daunte, and it’s unbelievable that he hasn’t fumbled yet. It should be a real clash of titans when they make the trip to Lambeau October 23rd. Had anyone ever described a match-up as weakness vs. weakness?

No huge surprise, just a little one: the Chicago Bears are officially the class of the NFC North. From the start I liked their recipe of strong running and tough defense, but couldn’t have predicted them to put it together this quickly. They won't score a lot, and they won't win pretty, but they'll get nine wins. I thought about checking the schedule and then decided that playing Green Bay, Detroit, and Minnesota twice should be enough. Every Chicago fan should send a thank-you to Mike Tice immediately.

Byron, Byron, Byron. This kid takes some damn licks out there. Good news for Jaguar fans, it looks like he'll take the McNabb approach (Get hit, bounce back with a win) over the David Carr program (Get hit, throw 3 picks). If he ever shortens his tennis-swing throwing motion, he's gonna be super dangerous. Lending Fred Taylor a knee or two wouldn't hurt either.