Norv Turner can be wrong half the time and still keep his job.

If you heard a great gasping, sucking sound on Sunday, that was my life force being smote. How do you make a day where you are blacked out of one of the three potential TV games worse? Make one of the games you are forced to watch be the Packers-Vikings! Even worse? Get guilted into a lame family reunion type of thing, in which people actually want to talk to you. By the way, a special message to everyone who knows a meteorologist. The “meteorologists can be wrong half the time and still keep their job” joke STILL isn’t funny, and you aren’t the first person to tell it to me. Today. Let’s talk about the games that were.

Well, I didn’t want to believe Simmons when he mentioned it, but Brett Favre is having a good statistical season because he actually is playing really well. He broke his touchdown record while actually playing phenomenally, which is really the only way to do it. While the Vikings are completely miserable and may only win one more game, because they play the Raiders at home, their defense is still quite formidable. Favre absolutely picked them apart. I can totally see Favre doing an Elway and finishing his career with a Super Bowl win if things continue as they are. In the meantime, the Vikings are broken in a way Brad Childress can’t fix. Of course, I’m not sure Childress could fix himself a cheese sandwich, so I guess that’s not saying a whole lot.

The Colts looked brutal on defense for much of the first half. Then Harrison went down. Then I left the confines of my parents house to come home, drove home not keeping tabs on the game because it goes against my superstitions, arrived at my place, turned on the TV and the Colts were winning by 15. THIS IS WHY I DON’T LISTEN TO GAMES IN THE CAR! But seriously, if the Colts continue to play crappy defense like what I saw, the Patriots should already be booking tickets to Phoenix for early February.

On Sunday night (last I checked that’s still the official name, regardless of NBC lobbying to change the name of Sunday to Football) the Eagles went to New York to play the Giants in a heated NFC East match up which will be important later because oh my God I don’t care about the NFC East and I’m sick of watching them and please stop showing them on national television, I’d rather watch the Lions. Ahem.

Let’s mention the little spat between Chad Johnson and Carson Palmer. For all the attention that Johnson has received for his outspoken actions, and all the attention the Bengals have had for there less than stellar civil reputation, it’s surprising, somewhat, that Johnson hasn’t notably yapped at his quarterback until now. I would say that hey, this just goes with the territory for marquee receivers, or its just an extension of their incredibly poor team discipline, but given the relationship between Johnson and Palmer until now, I think it’s just a reflection of the fact that everyone is frustrated and the Bengals are playing like crap right now.

Without further ado, then, a look at the official Victoria Times rankings after week 4. Steve tells me they should start to shake up next week, because momentum and recent play will be different than overall record, so these should become a little more interesting…..
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As Ryan just mentioned, this week, the teams are once again more or less lined up by record, but that will change soon as momentum shifts and winning percentages become tighter as more games are played. This week, the Colts still top the list, again helped by the strength of their division, and the Dolphins are still in last after being humiliated at home by the Raiders. The biggest gainer was Arizona following their impressive win over Pittsburgh and the biggest losers were the 49ers, who have looked absolutely pathetic the past 2 weeks and now have to rely on Trent Dilfer and an Is It Sports/Victoria Times legend, Darrell Jackson. So without further ado…

1. Colts – 88.92 – Even
2. Cowboys – 81.24 – +4
3. Packers – 80.72 – Even
4. Patriots – 79.02 – +1
5. Steelers – 67.75 – -3
6. Buccaneers – 64.84 – +8
7. Seahawks – 63.91 – +8
8. Titans – 63.57 – -1
9. Jaguars – 62.56 – -1
10. Texans – 59.47 – -6
11. Lions – 58.99 – +2
12. Redskins – 56.68 – Even
13. Giants – 52.89 – +6
14. Cardinals – 52.55 – +10
15. Browns – 47.80 – +7
16. Panthers – 47.50 – -6
17. Ravens – 47.16 – -8
18. Raiders – 46.26 – +7
19. Chiefs – 45.91 – +7
20. 49ers – 45.81 – -9
21. Broncos – 45.23 – -4
22. Eagles – 44.85 – -6
23. Vikings – 39.03 – -2
24. Bears – 36.36 – -4
25. Bengals – 35.89 – -7
26. Chargers – 33.29 – -3
27. Falcons – 31.48 – +4
28. Bills – 29.20 – +1
29. Jets – 26.74 – -2
30. Rams – 16.94 – -2
31. Saints – 14.40 – -1
32. Dolphins – 12.66 – Even