Patriots dominating receiver statistics

Wow, the top two NFL receivers are both on the same team! I wonder if that's ever happened. ...and Wes Welker is doing it while having missed two games.

I remember when the Patriots used to spread the ball around. What happened? Did Brady lose a few good targets, or are Welker & Moss such better athletes that he doesn't have to spread it around any more?

Go Saints/Colts

The Saints & colts are both 9-0 now. I hope they both go undefeated, just to tie the Patriots 16 game regular season win record and hurt their pride a little. It'd be even better if one of them could even manage to win the Superbowl and beat the Patriots single-season win record by winning all 19 games.

The Raiders were robbed

Anyone who watched the Raider game last night could See Louis Murphy catch the ball in the end zone, bring it into his body (control the ball), and easily plant two feet in the end zone before being tackled.

The moment those 5 conditions were met (catch - control - left foot inbound - right foot inbound - ball past the plane of the end zone), the clock should have stopped and a touchdown ruled.

The Raiders were robbed by the replay official.

The funniest part was after halftime; either Steve Young or Mike Golic explained to the MNF audience that he checked with the instant replay crew, and showed the angle they used to make the call: then they showed the only camera angle that completely obscured the ball throughout the play. It had been ruled a touchdown on the field. If anything, it should have been ruled "the evidence is not conclusive to overturn the ruling".

I'm no Raider fan, but they beat the Chargers up & down the field for 58 minutes on Monday night, and they should have at least had a shot at overtime.

(Also, what's with the blackout on pictures? I can't find one picture of the controversial play on the internet. Did every cameraman fail to take a picture, or does the press collaborate with NFL to black out screwups by officials?)

Beatpaths builds NFL power rankings from win stats

At beatpaths.com, Curt Siffert generates NFL power rankings using a clever win/loss & automatic strength-of-schedule algorithm. This is where I kick myself for letting him beat me to it. I used to track team's rise & fall throughout seasons using ESPN's power rankings, but I've been annoyed by how much ESPN commentators let the wrong factors influence their subjective ranking system.

Curt's beatpath system is completely objective; to be ranked above another team, you have to beat that team, or beat a team that beat that team. It's simple, concise, and makes neat graphs. Check it out.

The 49ers need Brett Favre

This morning's news is that the bucs or jets are likely to get Favre. I think the 49ers should be fighting for him. Favre only missed the superbowl by a mere 3 points in last year's NFC championship, and he had success all season even with unreliable rushing. With the train wreck of an offense that the 49ers have fielded for years, and the complete failure of #1 pick Alex Smith, Favre could be a 1-season or 2-season savior that put people in the seats and give SF some hope.