9 yards a carry on a day that even surprised him

A 38-17 thumping on Monday night by the Saints had the New Orleans faithful chanting, "Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints" and left the Patriots in a pool of humility.Coach Bill Belichick said about his defense, "We had several blown coverages and they took advantage There were enormous mistakes on our part. You can't make those mistakes against a good team." In a summary, he called them "really bad." It seems clear now that Belichick doesn't have a lot of confidence in his young defense as evident by having his team convert a fourth-and-four on the New Orleans' 10-yard line in the third quarter. This move follows the much controversial fourth-and-two on New England's own 28 that Belichick decided to go for against the Colts with the game in hand. Are we seeing a declining Patriots defenseThe lack of pressure on the quarterback was clear from the Patriots. They have given up 73 points combined in their meetings with the Colts and Saints, playing well against the Colts but not when it counted later in the game. The only defensive player that was part of their last Super Bowl in 2004somebody an average NFL fan would recognizeis nose tackle Vince Wilfork.

The defense has played sufficiently for most of the season but was exposed Monday night by one of the league's top defenses.We expect the Pats to right the ship and make the playoffs but with obvious issues, will they stumble again Coach Belichick had to admit something this week that he often doesn't have to: he was "out coached.". The Bengals have definitely been a nice surprise in the NFL this year and as much as this might disgust fans of other AFC North teams, I'll even dare to call them the "darlings" of the league.The star of the Bengals' 16-7 victory over the Browns was running back Mr Larry "no one wanted me" Johnson. Cedric Benson's replacement had 22 carries and 107 yards, averaging 4.9 yards a carry on a day that even surprised him."By far, this isn't what I was expecting, I wasn't expecting to come in and play as much as I did today," Johnson said.They finished with 210 yards on the ground despite not having Benson and Bernard Scott struggling through a minor knee injury.Cincinnati only threw it 24 times as they wanted to take advantage of a weak Browns rush defense, which is allowing close to 160 yards a game. The Browns' only score came on a Brady Quinn rushing touchdown.First, the Bengals blew the doors off of their division this year as well as win close games in enduring fashion, earning the nick name "Cardiac Cats." Then they bring in troubled players in Cedric Benson and Larry Johnson and have success with them. Mind you none of their triumphs would be possible without the revived defense under Mike Zimmerman. Who knows what's next for these guys, but I'm honestly anxious too find out.. LaDainian Tomlinson passed Marcus Allen and Edgerrin James on Sunday with 12,257 career rushing yards, moving him to 10th on the all-time rushing list.

At 30, he's a back whose best years seem to be behind him, yet he's been putting up mostly modest performances this season. Although still averaging between 13 and 20 carries, his biggest asset to the team has been at the goal line. He currently leads the NFL with 26 goal-line touches and seven touchdowns down there.Whatever the future may be for L.T., the Chargers are surely getting the best they can from him this year They are now on their way to earn a No. The Chargers are 14-0 this month with Philip Rivers at QB and 9-0 under Coach Norv Turner.

Their toughest games ahead of them will be at Dallas, Cincinnati, and at Tennessee. The question is, can this team be elite in the playoffs and finally make a push to the Super Bowl. The Broncos defense, which had only 66 points to opposing teams during that winning streak, gave up 117 points over their four game skid. The 32-3 beating handed down by the Chargers had us thinking the Broncos were surely "pretenders" and would have another one of their disappointing Decembers.The Broncos haven't reached the postseason since 2005, when they lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship game Since then, the Chargers have dominated the Broncos. Still, the Broncos' defense is back at a respectable fifth place in the league and the offense looked more balanced despite their red-zone woes. They'll try to keep up with the Chargers as they take on a lowly Chiefs team on Sunday..